GETTING CHIPPY: “As Washington prepares to pump $39 billion in federal subsidies into new microchip plants, the chip lobby is pressuring the Biden administration to relax environmental review requirements or risk ceding the semiconductor supply chain to China,” POLITICO’s Brendan Bordelon reports. — “The Semiconductor Industry Association — the chip industry’s main voice in Washington — is pressing the Commerce Department to grant new manufacturing projects a ‘categorical exclusion’ from federal environmental review law. 'With billions ready to be spent under the CHIPS and Science Act, industry lobbyists worry the law’s review requirements could delay domestic chip production for years.'” — “In a public filing that has not previously been reported, SIA warned that failure to provide chipmakers with an exemption could ‘pose significant delays in the disbursement of CHIPS funds and result in delays in the construction and operation of facilities.’ It urged the Commerce Department to use its administrative powers to ‘streamline and expedite reviews to the greatest extent possible.’” — “While many industries, like highway builders or other infrastructure contractors, have decades of experience dealing with the law, it’s something new for the semiconductor industry — and it’s hoping to avoid it, arguing that any delays could spell trouble for Washington’s broader chip plans.” — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has pushed a similar line of argument, and the chip industry “has also been working lawmakers on Capitol Hill. In a hearing on Feb. 1, House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said chip manufacturers ‘are coming to us looking for exemptions from NEPA, because the federal dollars are triggering long and erroneous environmental reviews for them.’” FLY-IN SZN: A coalition of cleantech incubators led by Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator are kicking off a fly-in today with entrepreneurs and incubator leaders from across the country. The coalition will push for more funding for the Energy Department’s Technology Transitions and Clean Energy Demonstrations divisions, and for full funding of a national clean energy incubator program authorized in the CHIPS and Science Act. — They’ve got meetings with nearly two dozen offices and congressional committees on the Hill, including with Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), White House clean energy czar John Podesta, Energy Department commercialization official Vanessa Chan and Gabe Klein, who is overseeing the Biden administration’s push to build out EV charging infrastructure. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores will begin a two-day fly-in tomorrow, where members of the trade group will reiterate their push for pharmacy benefit manager reforms as well as changes to direct and indirect remuneration fees and Medicare coverage for expanded services like testing and treatment for infectious diseases provided by pharmacists. WHERE LEO’S $1.6B WINDFALL IS GOING: “Conservative activists are coordinating a multimillion-dollar national campaign to make ESG the next CRT,” and they’re getting financial backing from the vast dark money network overseen by conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo, per The Wall Street Journal’s Julie Bykowicz and Angel Au-Yeung. — Activists’ goal is to “transform the acronym for environmental, social and corporate-governance investing into a rallying cry against ‘woke capitalism,’ much the way critical race theory became shorthand for broader criticisms about how race is taught in schools. The same conservative money is behind both efforts, documents and interviews show.” — “A conservative nonprofit called Marble Freedom Trust and its consulting firm, CRC Advisors, are leading the anti-ESG push and have spent more than $10 million on the effort so far, mostly through the group Consumers’ Research, people familiar with the spending said." — “Formed in 2020, Marble Freedom Trust has received $1.6 billion in funding from Chicago billionaire and former manufacturer Barre Seid. Since then, it has distributed money to groups fighting some of the top conservative causes, including limits on abortion and opposition to critical race theory, according to tax records, advertisements and interviews. Also on that list is pushing back on ESG.” CRYPTO’S NEW PLAYBOOK: “Crypto lobbyists have a new cudgel in their intensifying battle with U.S. regulators: Europe wants their business. Industry leaders are increasingly making the trans-Atlantic juxtaposition to argue for clearer regulations as U.S. agencies begin to enforce decades-old rules for trading and banking in the crypto world,” POLITICO’s Zachary Warmbrodt and Bjarke Smith-Meyer write. — “Congress is nowhere near the point where it might craft a federal standard for digital currency, so regulators appointed by President Joe Biden are filling the void. That’s in contrast with the European Union, which is preparing to activate new laws tailor-made for digital asset companies. Many European officials are beginning to pitch the EU as a welcoming place for crypto businesses to set up shop.” — “It’s an argument that no U.S. policymaker is in a position to make, with American politicians at odds over whether to embrace or discourage the growth of crypto and regulators taking matters into their own hands,” and “lobbyists and sympathetic lawmakers stateside are trying to keep pressure on Congress by warning that the U.S. is falling behind the rest of the world without a clearer set of rules.” MISSING DISCLOSURE: “CNN’s State of the Union and host Dana Bash held a Sunday roundtable discussion about the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment featuring CNN political commentator David Urban, who said that ‘there's plenty of blame to go around on this’ and pivoted to criticizing the Biden administration. CNN never disclosed or asked Urban about his work for Norfolk Southern, which paid him and his then-lobbying firm over a million dollars,” Eric Hananoki reports for liberal media watchdog Media Matters. — “Urban was until 2020 the president of the lobbying firm American Continental Group, where he lobbied for Norfolk Southern on ‘transportation issues related to railways’ starting in 2009, according to federal disclosure forms.” In many cases, Urban was the only lobbyist listed on the account, and the railroad parted ways with ACG when Urban left — not before doling out more than $1 million to the firm. — Urban is now at BGR Group, which represents rail clients (though Urban is not registered to lobby for any). On Sunday, Urban “participated in a panel discussion about East Palestine. CNN identified him on screen as a CNN political commentator and former Trump campaign adviser.” — “CNN and Bash didn’t disclose Urban’s work for Norfolk Southern and BGR’s connections to the railroad industry. And Bash didn’t challenge him on whether any of the ‘blame’ should go to Norfolk Southern or about his own work for the company. Norfolk Southern, specifically, lobbied against safety regulations.”
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