With help from Anthony Adragna, Ben Lefebvre, Eric Wolff and Alex Guillén
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— President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Interior Department, Rep. Deb Haaland, will testify today before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the face of strong Republican opposition to her nomination.
— FERC said Monday it will probe market activity during Texas’ extreme cold weather to determine whether market participants engaged in manipulation.
— EPA reversed course and announced Monday it now supports a federal court decision limiting refiners’ exemptions from biofuels blending requirements.
GOOD MORNING, IT’S TUESDAY! I’m your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. Devin Mogler of Green Plains gets the trivia win for knowing John Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth — the 59th anniversary of which was marked this past Saturday. For today: In 1982, James Watt, who was the Interior secretary under Ronald Reagan, changed the seal for the Interior Department to what? 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: Deb Haaland’s historic confirmation battle
ALL IN ON HAALAND: It’s a historic day in Washington as Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) takes her seat in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this morning for her confirmation hearing to lead the Interior Department. If confirmed, she will become the first Native American in a Cabinet position, but she must first overcome the narrowest of margins in the Senate and charges from GOP lawmakers that she’s a “radical” bent on destroying the U.S. energy industry.
Haaland, who has opposed fossil fuel projects, softened her tone in an opening statement released Monday, acknowledging they will play “a major role in America for years to come.” And she vowed to fight for “the families of fossil fuel workers who help build our country, ranchers and farmers who care deeply for their lands, communities with legacies of toxic pollution, people of color whose stories deserve to be heard, and those who want jobs of the future.”
Lobbyists for the oil and gas industry struck different tones on Haaland’s nomination. The American Energy Alliance, an arch-conservative group, said: “Americans should be very concerned about President Biden’s radical choice for the Department of the Interior.” But others were a bit more resigned to her passing through the Senate. The industry is “perhaps reluctantly resigned to the political reality of someone openly hostile toward the industry helming DOI,” one lobbyist told ME. “At least one nominee goes down, maybe two, every administration but it does not appear today that Haaland will be one of them unless something emerges in her background no one knows about.”
Other dynamics ME is watching: Will Rep. Don Young‘s introduction of Haaland influence his fellow Alaskan and the former chair — and perennial Senate swing vote — Sen. Lisa Murkowski? Young and Haaland worked together on at least a dozen bills related to tribal issues. And does Rep. Tom Cole‘s support for Haaland have any sway over Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma?
Any clear support from Manchin? The panel’s chair, Sen. Joe Manchin, has repeatedly stressed — including to POLITICO — his inclination toward deference for new presidents assembling their Cabinets, but he’s made waves in opposing Neera Tanden to lead OMB. He remains undecided on Haaland’s nomination, a spokesperson confirmed to ME ahead of today’s hearing. Will we get a clear indication of his thinking on the nominee by the hearing’s end?
What issues will dominate the hearing? Republican senators have already raised concerns about Haaland’s sponsorship of the Green New Deal and support for Biden’s executive order pausing new oil and gas leases in federal lands and waters. ME wonders how extensively lawmakers will delve into revenue concerns, tying the move away from fossil fuel production to struggles funding public education in states like New Mexico.
Reminder: POLITICO’s Anthony Adragna and Ben Lefebvre reported how early opposition to Haaland from Republican Sens. Steve Daines, John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis — even before today’s hearing — struck many Native Americans as evocative of the stereotyping that tribes have long experienced in dealings with the U.S. government. Several people raised the question of whether former Sen. Tom Udall, another leading contender for the post with similar policy ideas, would have also been labeled “extreme” and “radical.”
The deets: The hearing gavels in at 9:30 in Dirksen 366 and will be livestreamed.
FERC TO PROBE PRICE SPIKE: FERC said Monday it will investigate market activity during the sharp spike in natural gas and electricity prices during last week’s power failure in Texas to determine whether market participants engaged in manipulation, Pro’s Eric Wolff reports. The commission also opened a new docket on how climate change threatens electric reliability. Power prices surged to $9,000 a megawatt hour in Texas during a five-day energy crisis last week. Roughly 30 gigawatts of generation tripped offline early Feb. 15, leading to the high prices.
EPA FLIPS ON BIOFUEL WAIVERS: EPA did an about face on Monday and said it now supports a January 2020 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit that said only refineries that had received waivers annually from EPA since the Renewable Fuel Standard program began in 2011 should be eligible for new exemptions. The agency said the shift better reflected Congress’ goal in enacting the RFS and said it would not make any decisions on the 46 pending requests until the Supreme Court rules on the case before it, which it expects in July, Eric also reports for Pros.
Recall: EPA under the Trump administration told the 10th Circuit Court in 2019 that all small refineries should at least be eligible to request exemptions — a position Monday’s announcement reverses.
Now what? EPA’s decision to wait on the pending requests for exemptions could force refineries to make difficult decisions on how to comply with the program, Eric reports. The companies face a compliance deadline for 2020 at the end of March, and refineries typically need to know by then whether they have received exemptions before they submit the required number of credits.
“EPA’s decision doesn’t just abandon facilities that have, until this point, always been considered energy and national security assets, it will also inflate the cost of RFS compliance credits for every obligated party — making it harder for U.S. fuel manufacturers to stay in operation,” said a spokesperson for the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, which backs refiners.
LIFE IN THE PFAS LANE: Biden’s EPA also said Monday it will move forward with two regulations relating to toxic “forever chemicals” that were signed by the Trump administration in its final days, Pro’s Annie Snider reports. The regulations — a final determination that the chemicals PFOA and PFOS should be regulated in drinking water (Reg. 2040-AF93) and a proposal to require national drinking water monitoring for 29 chemicals in the class (Reg. 2040-AF89) — had been paused as part of the regulatory freeze Biden implemented on his first day in office.
NEW BLM HEAD NAMED: Nada Culver, a public lands expert who previously worked at the Audubon Society and The Wilderness Society, has been appointed deputy director of policy and programs at the Bureau of Land Management, replacing William Perry Pendley, who was the top BLM official under the Trump administration. Culver’s position will for now “be performing delegated duties of the director,” an Interior official told Ben.
Staffing up: The department also named Daniel Cordalis, a former attorney for Earthjustice and the Yurok tribe, as deputy solicitor for water issues. Bryan Newland, a former tribal president for the Bay Mills Indian Community and chief judge of the Bay Mills Tribal Court, was named principal deputy assistant secretary for Indian Affairs and Shakiyya Bland was named Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow in the Office of the Secretary. Bland previously worked as a congressional policy fellow in Haaland’s office.
GRANHOLM HEADS TO THE FLOOR: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday announced the chamber would vote this week on former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s nomination to lead the Energy Department, following confirmation votes for Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and Tom Vilsack to lead the Agriculture Department.
HOUSE TEES UP LANDS BILL: The House is expected to consider sweeping legislation, H.R. 803 (117), this week that would permanently protect the area around the Grand Canyon and several hundred thousand acres in Colorado from new oil and gas development. The Rules Committee meets today to report a rule for the hefty package, which is cobbled together from a group of bills considered in prior sessions of Congress, as Anthony reported last week for Pros.
Lawmakers have filed amendments to the package ahead of today’s meeting, including a bipartisan measure to standardize the definition of renewable biomass for trees and tree residues like sawdust, wood chips, shavings and bark. Republicans have also lined up a bevy of amendments, including one to require the Interior secretary to establish a fund for energy and mining workers displaced or laid off as a result of the bill or the president’s executive orders, and another requiring the BLM headquarters to remain in Grand Junction, Colo.
COURT CLEARS WAY FOR ACE REPLACEMENT WORK: The D.C. Circuit has cleared the way for the Biden administration to work on a third iteration of carbon dioxide rule for power plants. The panel that struck down the Trump EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy rule on Monday granted the Biden administration’s request to hold off on a procedural step that would formally undo the repeal of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. The practical effect is that there will be no climate rule for power plants on the books, providing certainty to states that they did not have to act in the meantime. The judges instructed EPA to provide updates every 90 days. EPA cheered the order but declined to reveal a timeline for issuing a replacement rule.
SCOTUS HEARS FLORIDA-GEORGIA WATER CASE: Supreme Court justices appeared to embrace Georgia’s argument Monday that the collapse of the Apalachicola Bay’s oyster population in 2012 was caused by Florida wildlife officials allowing overharvesting, Pro’s Bruce Ritchie reports. The justices, meanwhile, hammered Florida’s lawyer over the state’s request that the court restrict water use by Georgia farmers to protect the bay’s oyster industry.
SOLAR, CLEAN ENERGY GROUPS CALL ON BIDEN TO EASE TARIFFS: The Solar Energy Industries Association and the American Clean Power Association, both trade associations, on Monday called on Biden to revoke a presidential proclamation issued last year that stiffened penalties on imported solar tariffs. Former President Donald Trump’s action in October raised the 2021 tariff to 18 percent, from the 15 percent it would have been, and rescinded a loophole created for two-sided panels used in utility-scale solar projects. Trump imposed the four-year tariff in 2018, and it is in its final year. “The good news is that it is not too late — or difficult — to course correct,” the groups said in a letter. By rescinding the order, “your Administration will restore business certainty and immediately kickstart one of America’s most promising industries.”
Or not: Biden, who has made clean energy promises but also holds little love for China, also has the option of extending the tariff for additional years. As part of its midterm review of the tariff, the U.S. International Trade Commission included the option of adding more years.
THE PRICE IS HIGH: The American Public Power Association, which represents electric utilities, and the American Public Gas Association, which represents publicly owned natural gas distribution systems, called on Biden in a letter sent last week to help them by capping gas prices that surged in the Midwest and Texas because of the cold weather, leading to huge financial problems. “In one case, a municipal utility spent its monthly gas budget each day over the President’s Day weekend. In another, a joint action agency expended three times its annual gas purchasing budget just to buy gas for its customers for four days,” they wrote.
The groups urge Biden to use his authority under Section 301 of the Natural Gas Policy Act to declare a natural gas supply emergency and to authorize the Energy secretary to exercise the authority to cap the fuel’s price. “While the natural gas supply emergency authority under the NGPA has been used sparingly, we believe this financial crisis is significant enough to merit such action,” they add. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
— HBW Resources will announce today it has hired John Northington, Jr., as director of federal affairs. During the Obama administration, Northington served as special adviser to the director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
— Venable added Jim Reilly, a former chief of staff to Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.), as a senior policy adviser, POLITICO Influence reports. Reilly, who will focus on issues like energy, infrastructure and the environment, joins the firm from the American Wind Energy Association, where he led the federal affairs team.
— “Yellen signals interest in climate-related stress tests for banks,” via POLITICO Pro.
— “As cities grapple with climate change, gas utilities fight to stay in business,” via NPR.
— “Companies say they care about the climate. Their actions fall short,” via The New York Times.
— “Days before blackouts, one Texas power giant sounded the alarm,” via Bloomberg.
— “Colorado in danger of Texas-style blackouts,” via Axios.
— “Electric truck maker Xos to go public via $2 billion SPAC merger,” via Reuters.
THAT’S ALL FOR ME!
