Chevron’s first solar casualty

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Jul 03, 2024 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell Francis Chung/POLITICO (Supreme Court); Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images (solar) Solar developers just got some bad news. The Supreme Court’s recent decision to limit federal agencies’ authority is threatening a solar project in Montana, along with the industry more broadly — dealing a blow to President Joe Biden’s goal of greening the grid by decade’s end. The justices on Tuesday ordered a lower court to rethink a greenlight it gave to the Broadview solar array and battery storage facility in Billings, Montana, now that the Chevron doctrine is dead, writes Niina H. Farah. The 40-year-old legal standard had directed courts to defer to federal agencies’ reasonable readings of unclear statutes, until the conservative-dominated Supreme Court gave it the boot last week. In Chevron’s wake, the justices have ordered a review of at least nine recent rulings that relied on the legal doctrine. In the case of the Montana solar project, the D.C. Circuit court had deferred to the nation’s top energy regulator’s interpretation of a law governing utilities and required the utility NorthWestern Energy to buy power from the Broadview project. The law in question — the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act — required utilities to buy power from small energy projects under certain circumstances. Qualifying projects cannot produce more than 80 megawatts of power. While the Broadview solar project is capable of producing more, it sent no more than 80 megawatts to the electric grid. So the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said that counts, and the D.C. Circuit relied on the Chevron doctrine to defer to FERC’s interpretation. The ruling was heralded as a major victory for the solar industry and an important legal precedent to help clean energy developers sell more power to the grid — a major Biden administration climate goal. But with Chevron gone, the D.C. Circuit must now rethink its ruling. It could reverse course and rule that utilities do not have to buy power from the Broadview project. Joel Eisen, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told Niina another option would be for the court to greenlight the project using a different legal rationale, such as something called Skidmore deference. Under Skidmore, a court can defer to an agency’s long-standing interpretation of statutes.   It's Wednesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net. Programming note: We’ll be off this Thursday and Friday for the Fourth of July, but Power Switch will be back in your inboxes on Monday. I, however, will catch you in late August when I return from parental leave.   THE GOLD STANDARD OF DEFENSE POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries, like defense, equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists. Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other. Our defense reporting team—including Lara Seligman, Joe Gould, Paul McCleary, Connor O’Brien and Lee Hudson—is embedded with the market-moving legislative committees and agencies in Washington and across states, delivering unparalleled coverage of defense policy and the defense industry. We bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY.     eyes to the sky NOAA's National Weather Service Beryl watch: The strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded this early in the season could wreak havoc on South Texas late in the weekend or early next week as it barrels westward. If the Category 4 storm takes a strong turn to the north, which some forecasters are predicting, areas farther north along Texas's coast could feel the impact. Power Centers Gabriel Infante, 24, died of heatstroke in 2021 while digging trenches in 100-degree heat. | Velma Infante Inside Biden’s push to stop heat deaths In announcing the nation's first federal safety standard for working in the heat, Biden is trying to break an impasse that has prevented such protections since the Nixon administration, writes Ariel Wittenberg. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ignored calls from health experts to address heat for decades and began to work on the rule only at Biden’s insistence. SCOTUS is just getting started The Supreme Court took a wrecking ball to the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to stop pollution and curb climate change this term — even in cases that don’t directly involve the agency, writes Pamela King. There’s more in store for the agency and environmental regulators next term. The Supreme Court has already added two significant environmental cases to its calendar, and conservative justices are signaling interest in revisiting the long-dormant nondelegation doctrine, which says Congress can’t hand off too much power to executive agencies. In Other News Artificial world: Google has fallen short of an important climate target. The company blamed the electricity needs of AI. Climate conspiracies: How Europe’s conspiracy influencers went from Covid-19 to climate change.   SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW.     Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy speaks at an "America Is All In" event in Seattle, May 23, 2024. | Nataworry Photography A group of high-profile experts and advocates is pushing Biden to adopt stronger climate commitments as the nation veers toward an uncertain election that could put former President Donald Trump back in the White House. There’s a red-blue divide over heat protections for workers in California and Florida, yet another example of the scorched-earth feud between the states’ governors, Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis. American automakers are pressing the Biden administration to pause tariffs on Chinese graphite, arguing that prices for electric vehicles will go up if the levies are put in place too soon. That’s it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, and have a great Fourth of July weekend!   Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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