With help from Anthony Adragna, Ben Lefebvre and Gavin Bade
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— House Democratic leaders are set to roll out a $760 billion infrastructure plan today that places a major emphasis on climate change.
— The Energy Department released documents last night related to former Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s interactions with government officials in Ukraine.
— House Energy and Commerce Democrats unveiled the draft text of their climate change legislation.
WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY! I’m your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. 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.
Cheniere’s Khary Cauthen knew there are a whopping 330 elevators across the U.S. Capitol grounds. For today: How many Smithsonians are located on the National Mall? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to ktamborrino@politico.com.
DON’T CALL IT INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK… But House Democratic leaders are expected to roll out their own infrastructure framework today with a particular focus on climate change. The framework comprises a mix of transportation and water legislation that Congress renews periodically, according to details confirmed by POLITICO. “But Democrats are putting a green tint on each element of the proposal, checking boxes on their climate goals while attempting to show that they are steering away from impeachment talk and toward legislating on big issues,” POLITICO’s Tanya Snyder reports.
The details: House Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio said the plan will be a radical departure from previous highway-focused transportation bills. Instead, the proposal will put clean energy and climate “resilience” at the center. “We’re looking at every sector under my jurisdiction and attempting to meet the goals of the Green New Deal,” he told reporters.
DeFazio said the measure will include everything from making federal buildings carbon-neutral to transitioning to renewable fuels for aviation. He also wants to improve rail and transit options “as a more efficient way to move passengers than short-haul airlines and automobiles” and use more climate-friendly building materials, like concrete with coal ash that “actually absorbs carbon.”
Sneak peek? A draft obtained by POLITICO on Tuesday describes a $760 billion, five-year plan that includes $319 billion for “transformative highway investments” and $50.5 billion for clean water, Tanya reports, though it’s unclear if that draft is the final version that will be unveiled today.
So far, Democrats haven’t produced any way to pay for the bill. Funding would be a conundrum even without the extra money they’re promising, as the Highway Trust Fund has been running dry for years because of the reduced purchasing power of the federal gasoline and diesel tax, which Congress last increased in 1993, Tanya reports.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE: An Energy Department release of documents relating to Rick Perry’s interactions with government officials in Ukraine didn’t turn up much of interest, but the most interesting parts may have been left out. Watchdog group American Oversight filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to Perry’s May 2019 trip to Ukraine as well as emails mentioning a number of figures in the ongoing impeachment scandal, including to Rudy Giuliani, Hunter Biden, Lev Parnas and others.
DOE said it found five relevant documents, but four of those were sent to the State Department instead of being released, DOE said in its response to American Oversight. “We’re entitled to these records from the Department of Energy through this FOIA lawsuit, and we will be following up with the government in the coming days on this and other questions,” American Oversight spokesman Clark Pettig told ME.
Perry talking points: About a third of the pages in the DOE release were redacted, and a significant number of other pages consisted of official biographies of the government officials attending the meetings. What DOE did release included Perry’s talking points to Ukrainian officials he met during trips in 2019. These included promoting U.S. LNG, scolding the Ukrainians to have state-owned natural gas company Naftogaz divest its distribution system, and reiterated U.S. opposition to Russian natural gas pipelines. Perry also said the U.S. “would like to work with Ukraine to ensure the tendering process” for oil and gas leases “is transparent and competitive, and in line with the recommendations of the business community.” The former Energy secretary would face criticism that an American company owned by two of his political backers won a potentially lucrative Ukrainian oil and gas lease despite being outbid by a competing company.
E&C CLIMATE BILL OUT: Democrats on the House E&C Committee released their 622-page climate change bill for feedback on Tuesday, Pro’s Anthony Adragna reports. No word on a markup date as they gather input on the sweeping legislation. The measure contains lots of dense policy meant to achieve net-zero emissions in all major segments of the economy, but here’s some notable provisions that immediately caught ME’s eye.
- New requirements for EPA to set emissions standards for cars, trucks, locomotive and aircraft engines (Sec. 401);
- Strengthened requirements concerning coal ash disposal and storage (Sec. 612);
- New mandates under the Superfund statute that companies have financial assurance for impacts likely to happen due to climate change or extreme weather (Sec. 621);
- Directs EPA to issue new rules delivering 90 percent reduction of methane emissions from oil and gas sources below 2012 levels by 2030 (Sec. 701);
- Requirements that each state develop its own plan for reaching net-zero emissions (Sec. 801);
- Creates a nonprofit national climate bank to “provide financing for low- and zero-emissions energy technologies” and other clean-energy projects (Sec. 811).
- A new national Clean Energy Standard that will require utilities to get increasing amounts of their power from zero-carbon sources, culminating in 100 percent in 2050, and pay escalating fines if they cannot comply (Sec. 203);
- Sets national policy to prioritize transmission lines for clean energy (Sec. 211) and directs FERC to open an investigation on how to expand them (Sec. 212);
- Directs FERC to take climate change into account when evaluating natural gas pipelines (Sec. 215) and prohibits pipelines from using eminent domain powers until they have all necessary state and federal permits (Sec. 216);
- Reverses some recent FERC changes to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act by mandating fixed contracts for qualifying generators (Sec. 224);
Greens displeased: Sierra Club climate policy director Liz Perera said “it’s concerning that on what is perhaps the central question of climate policy, what counts as clean energy, this bill includes options that could leave a door open to gas and coal.” Friends of the Earth senior policy analyst Lukas Ross was more direct: “Chairman [Frank] Pallone is posing as an environmentalist, while trying to keep the door wide open for fracked gas. This is the opposite of climate leadership.”
Republicans scoff: Ranking member Greg Walden dismissed the bill in a statement: “When you do the same thing over and over again, you shouldn’t expect a different result,” he said.
REPUBLICANS WANT DEETS ON EV TAX CREDIT: A group of 15 Republican senators, including Chuck Grassley, Ron Johnson, and John Barrasso, sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig calling for more details on how the IRS enforces the electric vehicle tax credit. The letter follows a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration audit report that detailed more than 16,000 individual tax returns that received potentially erroneous EV credits between 2014 and 2018. “Notably, in 2011, TIGTA released an audit finding $33 million in tax credits for plug-in electric drive motor vehicles—one in five of every claimed tax credit—were awarded to individuals who owned vehicles that did not qualify,” the senators wrote. “In other words, despite recognizing this fraud eight years ago, it has not only persisted but become even more widespread.”
EPA POINTS BACK AT MARYLAND: EPA is warning Maryland against suing neighboring Pennsylvania and the federal environmental agency over pollution flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. In a letter to Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Region 3 Administrator Cosmo Servidio reiterated the agency’s commitment to the Chesapeake Bay clean-up program and said that taking the dispute to court could hinder that work. Earlier this month, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan directed the state’s attorney general to sue EPA and Pennsylvania over the Keystone State’s lagging progress in the program and EPA’s failure to take action in response. “Diverting our collective resources to litigation will undoubtedly distract from efforts to restore the Bay and harm the existing partnership among the parties that has been the hallmark of this effort,” Servidio writes in the letter.
But while he acknowledges that EPA has identified five Bay jurisdictions, including Pennsylvania, that should do more to make their program goals, Servidio also writes, “Maryland has work to do to provide confidence it can comply with its own responsibilities necessary to have all controls and practices in place by 2025 to restore the Bay.”
WHERE ART THOU 45Q? Carbon capture advocates say they expect the Trump administration will soon unveil guidance on how to take advantage of a key carbon capture tax incentive, known has 45Q, Pro’s Eric Wolff and Anthony Adragna report. Occidental Petroleum, one of the leading advocates for the technology, said company officials have been “told the IRS will issue in the coming weeks” the guidance on revenue-sharing partnerships, which will make it easier to invest in carbon capture projects.
These promises have been made before, according to a source familiar with the ongoing wait. The IRS has previously assured industry it would push out key rules and guidance in the fall, which then slipped to the end of last year, and for which it is still waiting. The IRS first asked for public input last May on how to implement the expanded tax credit, and it received over 100 comments in response. An agency spokesperson said the IRS “is coordinating with other federal agencies to issue guidance as soon as possible” but did not offer a specific time frame for its release.
EPA, IG STANDOFF ENDS: EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson spoke to Office of Inspector General investigators on Dec. 18, according to a letter sent this month to lawmakers from former acting IG Charles Sheehan, largely ending an unusually hostile and public standoff between EPA’s political leadership and its internal watchdog, Pro’s Alex Guillén reports.
Jackson again declined to reveal where he received an advance copy of a scientist’s congressional testimony, a matter the OIG declared closed in December after Jackson had declined to reveal his source, according to Sheehan’s letter. Jackson told E&E News, which first reported on the letter, that he sat for the OIG interview for “it to be over with” and would only describe the topic as “personnel issues.”
SCIENTISTS BACK SANDERS ON CLIMATE PLAN: Fifty-seven scientists signed onto a letter in support of Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ Green New Deal plan. The letter was released by the Sanders campaign on Tuesday, following comments from former Vice President Joe Biden that “not a single solitary scientist” thinks the plan can work. “The Green New Deal you are proposing is not only possible, but it must be done if we want to save the planet for ourselves, our children, grandchildren, and future generations,” the letter said.
STEYER GETS GREEN SUPPORT: More than 75 names in clean energy and environmental activism endorsed billionaire Tom Steyer for president on Tuesday. Included in the pack: clean-energy expert and author Hal Harvey; Project Drawdown Founder Paul Hawken; and professor and author to reports for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Daniel Kammen.
SIERRA CLUB BACKS CUELLAR CHALLENGER: The Sierra Club endorsed Jessica Cisneros’ primary challenge to Rep. Henry Cuellar in a statement Tuesday. “The people of Texas 28th deserve to be represented by someone who will put their needs and their future above corporate polluter profits,” said Michael Brune, the group’s executive director. “Jessica Cisneros is the lone candidate who will do exactly that, which is why the Sierra Club is proud to endorse her for Congress.” The Sierra Club pledged to mobilize its members on Cisneros’ behalf.
— The Institute for Energy Research added David Kreutzer as a senior economist. Kreutzer previously served on IER’s inaugural advisory council and as a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He also worked with IER President Tom Pyle on Trump’s transition team.
— “Russia to go it alone on construction of Nord Stream 2 pipeline,” via Financial Times.
— “BlackRock targets storage with new multibillion-dollar renewables fund,” via GreenTech Media.
— “A ‘gap in protection’: Ariz. looks for a Plan B under WOTUS,” via E&E News.
— “Senators say door still open for energy bills after impeachment,” via Bloomberg Environment.
THAT’S ALL FOR ME!
