With help from Eric Wolff
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— The new administration is slowing the issuance of new oil and gas drilling permits on federal land and water — a potential first step before it proposes a total ban on new leases.
— The Biden administration announced a host of senior positions at EPA, returning several familiar faces to the agency.
— President Joe Biden is also embedding prominent climate experts in senior positions at the Transportation Department, the latest sign that he plans to follow through on campaign promises to tackle climate change across the federal government.
WELCOME TO FRIDAY! I’m your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. Stuart Ross at Clean Air Task Force gets the trivia win. Robert Frost was the first inaugural poet, who read “The Gift Outright” in 1961. For today: Who was the first vice president to live on the grounds of the United States Naval Observatory? Send your tips and trivia answers to [email protected].
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: Biden’s Day One: Get to work!
BIDEN’S FIRST STEP ON DRILLING: Keeping up with its flurry of action upon entering the White House, the Biden administration rolled out an Interior Department secretarial order this week that slows the issuance of new oil and gas drilling permits on federal land and water, Pro’s Ben Lefebvre reports.
In the order, new acting Secretary Scott de la Vega said he was suspending all but high-level staff’s ability “to issue any onshore or offshore fossil fuel authorization, including but not limited to a lease, amendment to a lease, affirmative extension of a lease, contract or other agreement, or permit to drill.” Interior spokesperson Tyler Cherry added that it does not impact “existing ongoing operations under valid leases” and doesn’t “preclude the issuance of leases, permits and other authorizations by those specified in the Order.”
The order could start the ball rolling on one of Biden’s most consequential energy and climate change promises: to halt new drilling on the nearly 30 percent of U.S. land that is owned by the federal government.
Robert Schuwerk, North American director for Carbon Tracker, a climate research organization, told Ben the order is most likely a first step before the Biden administration proposes a total ban on new leases. “I’d expect that Interior will be considering a range of issues, from royalties to methane emissions to financial assurance as it seeks to regulate in the public interest,” Schuwerk said.
The move drew immediate outrage from the oil industry. “Today’s announcement is intended as a temporary ban on leasing and permitting, but is also a precursor to a longer-term ban,” said Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma in a statement on Thursday, adding the group is “prepared to challenge this intended ban in court at the appropriate time.”
More to come: The Biden administration is poised to suspend the sale of oil and gas leases on federal land as part of a host of other climate policies to be unveiled next week, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.
ME FIRST: FERC PRESS CONFERENCES ARE BACK, BABY: New FERC Chair Rich Glick will revive the decades-old tradition of hosting post-meeting press conferences, a spokesperson tells ME. Former Chair James Danly had declined to talk to the press after the two meetings he led and declined any meetings with the media, saying they were not appropriate given FERC’s role as an adjudicator. Glick was promoted to the post Thursday morning, Pro’s Eric Wolff reports.
BIDEN STAFFS UP EPA: Dan Utech, a former Obama climate adviser, will serve as EPA’s chief of staff, one of a slate of political appointments at the agency announced on Thursday evening, Pro’s Alex Guillén and Annie Snider report. Among the other names was Vicki Arroyo, who will return to EPA as associate administrator for policy, after serving as executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center for 12 years. The Environmental Defense Fund’s Tomás Carbonell will be deputy assistant administrator for stationary sources in EPA’s air office, and Radhika Fox, CEO of the U.S. Water Alliance, will be principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s water office.
Joe Goffman, who played a major role in crafting the Clean Power Plan as a top adviser during the Obama administration, will leave the Environmental and Energy Law Program at Harvard Law School to be principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s air office. Michal Freedhoff, the Democratic oversight director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, will be principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s chemical and pesticide office. Melissa Hoffer will be principal deputy general counsel, bringing her experience as a top energy and environment official in the Massachusetts attorney general’s office where she participated in key lawsuits attacking Trump-era regulations.
— At USDA: The Agriculture Department on Thursday named Mae Wu deputy undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, Pro’s Helena Bottemiller Evich reports. Wu most recently served as senior director at the Natural Resource Defense Council and previously served on EPA’s Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee and its National Drinking Water Advisory Council. Robert Bonnie, who led the USDA transition for Biden, was named deputy chief of staff for policy and a senior adviser on climate issues, Morning Agriculture reports.
DOT GOES GREEN: The Biden administration has named several prominent climate experts to senior positions at the Transportation Department, in the latest sign he intends to follow through with his campaign promise to tackle climate change across his administration, Pro’s Sam Mintz, Zack Colman and Stephanie Beasley report.
Thursday’s elevation of three climate hawks comes as the administration confronts the vexing question of how to fundamentally transform transportation, the highest-emitting sector of the U.S. economy. The appointees include Steve Cliff, deputy executive director at the California Air Resources Board, who will serve as deputy administrator at NHTSA and Ann Carlson, a highly regarded climate expert and UCLA environmental law professor, to be NHTSA’s general counsel. Annie Petsonk, a lawyer at the Environmental Defense Fund, has been tapped to be principal deputy assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs.
Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary-designate Pete Buttigieg repeatedly discussed the role infrastructure can play in combating climate change during his nomination hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday, including building out electric vehicle charging capabilities and setting strong fuel economy standards. But after Buttigieg said that “all options” were on the table for funding infrastructure during his hearing, a spokesperson for the former mayor backpedaled, noting Buttigieg does not support increasing the federal gas tax, Sam reports.
CHARLES WAS IN CHARGE (AT DOE): The Energy Department was managed by Charles Verdon, deputy administrator for defense programs for the National Nuclear Security Administration, during a three-hour stretch on Wednesday between when former Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette resigned and Biden named David Huizenga, NNSA’s associate principal deputy administrator, as acting secretary.
As ME reported Thursday, neither Brouillette nor Deputy Secretary Mark Menezes made clear in their departure emails who was running the agency, and senior staff were left confused over lines of authority for the agency that, among its other duties, manages the nation’s nuclear weapons. “The Department of Energy has a well-established order of succession in the event of the absence or disability of the Secretary of Energy,” Ana Navarro, NNSA’s spokesperson, told ME in a statement. “At no time was DOE without leadership with the full duties and responsibilities of the Secretary of Energy.”
LOOKING FOR A READOUT: Biden is expected to speak to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today — his first call to a foreign leader — according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki. The pair will likely discuss the new president’s decision to revoke a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, Psaki said. Following news of the order on Wednesday, Trudeau indicated that he wouldn’t fight Washington on the decision: “[W]e are disappointed but acknowledge the President’s decision to fulfil his election campaign promise on Keystone XL.”
Asked about job losses, a day after Keystone XL’s statement that the permit denial would force the company to cut more than 1,000 positions, Psaki said Thursday that Biden is “committed to clean energy jobs, to jobs that are not only good, high-paying jobs, union jobs, but ones that are also good for our environment” and “thinks it’s possible to do both.”
Related: What Trudeau should raise in Joe Biden’s first call from the White House
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm is scheduled to appear before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Jan. 27 for her nomination hearing to be Energy secretary.
McKINLEY MADE TOP REPUBLICAN ON E&C SUBPANEL: Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) will become ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee, replacing retired Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), Pro’s Anthony Adragna reports. The change, announced Thursday by E&C ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), elevates a coal-state Republican who’s introduced bipartisan legislation to curb carbon emissions in the power sector 80 percent by 2050. Rep. Fred Upton (Mich.) will remain the top Republican on the E&C Energy Subcommittee.
INSIDE YELLEN’S WRITTEN RESPONSES: The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote on Janet Yellen’s nomination for Treasury secretary today after a hearing earlier this week where she pledged to create a team to focus on climate change. Yellen’s written responses to members of the Senate Finance Committee were released Thursday, spanning 114 pages. In the document, she notes the climate crisis can’t be solved without effective carbon pricing. “The President supports an enforcement mechanism that requires polluters to bear the full cost of the carbon pollution they are emitting,” she wrote.
Asked about the 45Q tax credit under the Biden administration, she wrote that “using the tax code to set incentives for businesses and individuals to adopt climate-friendly policies is a critical tool,” while noting that Biden has been supportive of carbon capture, utilization and storage and of tax incentives “to increase its availability and affordability.” She also wrote that “stranded assets are a possible result when new forms of clean energy, transportation, and production displace those that have contributed to climate change.”
ME FIRST: CLIMATE POWER LAUNCHES NEW AD: Climate Power 2020, an independent project from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club, is launching a six-figure ad buy Sunday to run digitally and on “Face the Nation,” “Meet the Press” and “This Week,” calling for action on clean energy and climate change. The ad is part of a larger paid media campaign that launched on Inauguration Day and will continue through Biden’s first weeks in office. The new ad will be digitally broadcast via geo-farming to reach the Biden administration and congressional staffers, ME is told.
— James Hewitt is now communications director for Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.). He most recently was associate administrator for public affairs at EPA and is a State Department alum. (H/t Playbook)
— Julia Nesheiwat is now a commissioner for the U.S. Arctic Research Commission (serving a four-year term) and will focus on climate, energy, the environment and national security. She most recently was the homeland security adviser in the White House and has served in multiple administrations. (H/t Playbook)
— “EU mulls call for global end to coal power,” via POLITICO Pro
— “Elon Musk to offer $100 million prize for ‘best’ carbon capture tech,” via Reuters.
— “Interior Department agencies move to streamline offshore wind permitting,” via Utility Dive.
— “After Trump no-show, Supreme Court fight over Wash. coal exports left to Biden,” via S&P Global Market Intelligence.
— “Historic $641M Flint water crisis class-action settlement just got closer to approval,” via Detroit Free Press.
— “Company appeals rejection of controversial Pebble Mine,” via The Hill.
THAT’S ALL FOR ME!
