| | | | |  | | By Matthew Choi | Programming announcement: Starting June 27, Morning Energy will be exclusively available to POLITICO Pro subscribers. Subscription benefits include access to an expanded daily Morning Energy newsletter and POLITICO Pro's exclusive suite of non-partisan news, real-time intelligence, in-depth analysis, bill tracking, and research tools. Please visit our website to learn more about a POLITICO Pro subscription.
| | | — Increasingly volatile weather and surging gas prices could jeopardize grid reliability in large portions of the country this summer. What that means for the energy transition is dividing regulators. — European Union leaders sealed a compromise deal to reduce the bloc's purchases of Russian oil. — President Joe Biden hosts Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in the Oval Office today as inflation creates a political headache for the administration and a financial strain for millions of Americans. HAPPY TUESDAY! I'm your host, Matthew Choi. Congrats to NRDC's Joan Matthews for knowing Ramsay is Guy Fieri's middle name. For today's trivia: In what year did Spain get rid of its mandatory military service? Send your tips and trivia answers to mchoi@politico.com. Find me on Twitter @matthewchoi2018. Check out the POLITICO Energy podcast — all the energy and environmental politics and policy news you need to start your day, in just five minutes. Listen and subscribe for free at politico.com/energy-podcast. On today's episode: Can offshore wind prosper in oil and gas territory?
| | | | A PUSH OR A PULL: Large swaths of the country face greater risk of blackouts this summer, and it's dividing regulators on what that means for a transition to clean energy, POLITICO's Catherine Morehouse reports. More fossil fuel-generating plants are retiring and being replaced with weather-dependent renewables while other technologies such as battery storage develop. The blackouts in Texas and California last year due to extreme weather drew some unwarranted finger pointing from critics of renewables, further politicizing the energy transition. "The biggest concern is that you do have another wide-scale event that does erode that confidence of society and the electric sector being able to be that foundation for decarbonizing," Daniel Brooks, vice president of integrated grid and energy systems at the Electric Power Research Institute, told Catherine. Republican FERC regulators and some grid operators assert precarious reliability should be a warning to slow down the transition away from fossil generation. But other grid experts retort that all forms of generation could be at greater risk due to climate change. Hotter, drier summers mean less water is available to cool fossil fuel plants, and they are calling instead for more focus on large-scale energy efficiency projects and long-distance transmission. Any doubts about the electricity sector's ability to deliver on growing demand as more of the economy electrifies "makes it much harder for us to get to the net-zero objectives that we have in the timelines that we need," Brooks said. "So it's really important that we all realize ... resiliency is not a barrier to getting to decarbonization. It's a prerequisite." Read more from Catherine here.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | A EUROPEAN OIL BAN DEAL: After weeks of drawn-out deliberations on a sanctions package, Europe Union leaders struck a deal to wind down Russian oil imports. Hungary's Viktor Orban had been the biggest impediment in the negotiations, saying cutting off Russian oil would ruin his country's economy, but a late night agreement emerged to cut off the main source of funding for President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The compromise will allow Russia's pipeline oil exports to the EU to continue temporarily, while seaborne shipments are blocked by the end of the year, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced earlier this month. Von der Leyen tweeted that the leaders' agreement "will effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year." Germany and Poland, which could benefit from the pipeline exemption, have committed themselves to a de facto shutdown of the northern Druzhba pipeline, several EU diplomats said. The potential oil sanctions were likely to send oil prices higher, with light, sweet crude futures in the U.S. jumping more than two percent in Monday evening trade. ICYMI: " The G-7 wants to dump natural gas … but not yet," via POLITICO's Karl Mathiesen and Zia Weise. FOR YOUR RADAR: Saudi Arabia has a new climate envoy, Bloomberg reports . Adel al-Jubeir, minister of state for foreign affairs, will add the gig to his current portfolio. He was previously foreign minister. The kingdom is working to improve its climate image abroad, unveiling a 2060 goal to reach net-zero emissions, though it continues to plan increases in oil production.
| | | POWELL IN THE OVAL: President Joe Biden will huddle with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to chat about the "state of the American and global economy" today, according to the White House. It's Powell's first one-on-one with the president since Biden nominated him last year for another term at the top of the Fed. Biden continues to be in political trouble with voters who are suffering from inflation and eager to pin the blame on the president. Gasoline prices continue to go up, breaking yet another all-time record Memorial Day averaging at $4.619. ICYMI: FRESH FMSHRC DRAMA: The Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission has been racked by infighting for the past several weeks, with two of its Republican commissioners feuding with its Democratic chair, Arthur Traynor, in a bitter argument involving allegations of financial malfeasance by senior staffers and toxic workplace conduct. House and Senate Republicans have been probing the allegations, and staffers at the commission describe a a tense and volatile work environment. Over the weekend, your host reported that Traynor requested an inspector general review of one Republican commissioner's use of a private network of outside sources in making internal personnel decisions. At least one person in the network appears to be a coal industry executive, though the commissioner, Marco Rajkovich, has declined to divulge the names of his contacts. Reaching out to sources outside the commission for internal hiring decisions could go against the Antideficiency Act, which bars federal employees from accepting volunteer work, Traynor wrote, and it could show a conflict of interest if Rajkovich sought insight from industry sources. The commission normally has five members, but two seats remain vacant as Biden's nominees, Mary Lu Jordan and Tim Baker, languish in the Senate (both were advanced out of the HELP committee in February). And with the commission's relative obscurity, that could mean the nominations are kept on hold while partisan fights continue to loom over the agency. Read more from your host here.
| | | BIZARRE BIOFUEL BUDDIES: Conservative farmers may not be at the forefront of the fight against climate change, but some in America's breadbasket are teaming up with the Sierra Club to fight pipeline proposals to transport carbon captured from the ethanol industry across their land, E&E News' Ariel Wittenberg reports. Three proposed pipelines would carry emissions from ethanol refineries to storage facilities underground in North Dakota and Illinois. One is getting backing from Iowa Republican kingmaker Bruce Rastetter, who asserts the pipelines would help boost the state's ethanol business. But farmers fear the pipelines could reduce their crop yield and expose them to hazardous gas. The Sierra Club, meanwhile, is pushing back on the projects, having long opposed carbon capture as a technology to prolong the use of fossil fuels. It's a conflict that breaks through conventional party lines. Democrats in Biden's orbit have largely supported carbon capture as an important tool to cut down emissions while meeting the country's energy needs — and support for carbon capture is likely going to be an important element of any energy and climate deal struck with Sen. Joe Manchin. Read more from Ariel's dispatch from Hardin County, Iowa .
| | | | DON'T MISS DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | — Scott Yager is now environmental VP at the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America. He previously worked as chief environmental counsel for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, and is an EPA alum. (H/t Playbook)
| | | — "War surges Norway's oil, gas profit. Now, it's urged to help," via The AP. — "German chancellor accused of comparing climate activists to Nazis," via POLITICO. — " Israel renews gas exploration, expects export deal to Europe," via Reuters. — "California, New Zealand announce climate change partnership," via The AP. — "Hit Hard by High Energy Costs, Hawaii Looks to the Sun," via The New York Times. — " Mon Power, Potomac Edison customers can start purchasing solar energy credits," via West Virginia Metro News. THAT'S ALL FOR ME! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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