With help from Eric Wolff, Annie Snider, Alex Guillén and Gavin Bade
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— Another fight over the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and Trump’s border wall are likely to play out this morning when House appropriators mark up the Energy-Water spending bill for fiscal 2020.
— The Energy and Commerce Committee will hold an oversight hearing on EPA’s mercury protections.
— The Senate Energy Committee will vote on two Interior Department nominees tasked with handling ethics issues at the department.
WELCOME TO TUESDAY! I’m your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. Cassidy and Associates’ Kai Anderson knew that Oregon has the only double-sided flag. For today: Which president holds the record for most failed Supreme Court nominations? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to ktamborrino@politico.com.
SHOWTIME! HOUSE APPROPRIATORS READY TO MARK UP ENERGY-WATER BILL: Nuclear waste policy and the border wall will likely generate at least a few fireworks today as the full House Appropriations Committee takes up the energy and water funding bill, typically one of the least acrimonious of the annual spending measures.
Yucca it up: Rep. Mike Simpson, the top Republican on the Energy-Water subcommittee, will introduce an amendment to fund licensing activities for the long-stalled Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. When Simpson held the gavel last year, the item was in the appropriation bill that advanced out of committee, but it was stripped out of the “minibus” spending package that passed in September. Subcommittee Chairwoman Marcy Kaptur, who has for years supported spending money to license Yucca, said at last week’s subcommittee markup “as a country we have to be diligent in finding our way out of this labyrinth.”
And the lawmakers will tussle over a rider that prohibits funds for a border wall and would prevent President Donald Trump from bypassing Congress to divert Army Corps of Engineers funding from previously approved projects.
Everglades rising: The White House last week submitted a budget amendment that increased the administration’s request for Everglades restoration from $63 million to $200 million — a move that ‘glades proponents promised to revisit today.
Old favorites: Expect a new iteration of policy amendments on old partisan favorites like the Waters of the U.S. rule rewrite and firearms at Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds.
Catch up: The House Appropriations Committee released its report for the fiscal 2020 Energy-Water appropriations bill here.
HOUSE PANEL TACKLES MATS: EPA’s proposal to alter the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule comes under the microscope today at the House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee, which is examining a recent agency plan questioning whether it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate mercury from power plants under the Clean Air Act.
Ahead of the hearing, Subcommittee Chairwoman Diana DeGette questioned EPA’s commitment to the public. “If it’s going to ignore how a new rule would benefit public health going forward, then our committee — which is charged with overseeing the EPA — has serious questions as to whether it would still be acting in the public’s best interest,” she said in a statement.
The Obama-era Mercury and Air Toxics Standards has been a top target for coal producers like Murray Energy, but some utility trade associations, labor unions and bipartisan lawmakers have opposed the plan. EPA has not proposed actually revoking the mercury limits, but it left the door open to doing so.
Janet McCabe, the former acting EPA air chief, sees a broader tactical move by the Trump administration to narrow how EPA weighs it rules. She’ll warn at the hearing that EPA “is choosing to paint itself into this corner. … If EPA finalizes a rule that minimizes or eliminates altogether consideration of co-benefits on the health benefits side of the balance sheet, we can reasonably expect to see this approach in every EPA rule going forward.”
Ranking member Greg Walden will say in his opening statement: “The Clean Air Act is silent on whether, or how, the EPA should consider co-benefits in the rulemaking process. I remind my colleagues that this body has the ability to change the law and statutorily determine whether and how co-benefits should be considered.” And he expects that without congressional action, the issue is likely to end up in the Supreme Court.
TWO INTERIOR NOMS GET VOTES: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a business meeting at 10:15 to vote on the nominations of two Interior Department officials — Daniel Jorjani to be solicitor and Mark Lee Greenblatt to be inspector general.
Earlier this month committee Democrats criticized Jorjani, saying his record shows more allegiance to the Trump administration than impartial policymaking. Greenblatt, by contrast, could draw concerns from Republican members over a previous statement that he would “have no problem” referring Interior’s political staff to the Justice Department if they try to impede investigations.
— After the business meeting, ENR members will hold a hearing on energy efficiency and renewable energy featuring DOE Assistant Secretary Dan Simmons, who runs the office overseeing those technologies. Simmons has recently faced criticism for DOE missing multiple deadlines to finalize energy efficiency rules that were to be written by his office.
SENATORS ASK FOR CARBON TAX CREDIT GUIDANCE: Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) led a bipartisan letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday calling for interim guidance on implementing the carbon capture utilization and storage tax credit program. Signers of the letter sponsored a law, the FUTURE Act, S. 1535 (115), that amended the Internal Revenue Code to expand the so-called 45Q tax credit for carbon dioxide sequestration.
The senators write that it has been well over a year since the law’s passage, but “taxpayers remain unable to claim the revised credit.” The IRS in early May requested comment on how it should write the rules to implement tax credits for carbon capture.
— Speaking of: The Carbon Capture Coalition unveiled its policy blueprint Monday for the deployment of carbon capture technologies. On the list of priorities: ensuring effective implementation of the 45Q tax credit by Treasury.
XCEL ENERGY TO SPEED UP COAL PLANT CLOSURES: Xcel Energy will retire its last two remaining coal plants in the Upper Midwest by 2030, it announced Monday. The closures will come a decade ahead of schedule and amid the utility’s push to transition to clean energy by expanding wind and solar and using natural gas. If approved, the closures would equate to a 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions in the region by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. Xcel has set a 2050 target for 100 percent carbon-free electricity.
The utility said it will shutter its majority-owned Sherco 3 plant in 2030, a decade earlier than its previous schedule, according to the Star Tribune, and close the Allen S. King coal plant in 2028, nine years early. Xcel added Monday it aims to extend operation of its Monticello nuclear plant until at least 2040.
The company said it worked with a coalition of environmental and labor organizations, reaching agreement “on key elements of the plan relating to its coal, solar and natural gas plans.” That included the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Union of Concerned Scientists, Sierra Club and LIUNA Minnesota and North Dakota.
MAKING IT OFFICIAL: The Energy Department will mark its recently announced research partnership between the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Exxon Mobil and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with a signing ceremony today at its headquarters. NETL Director Brian Anderson and NREL Director Martin Keller will participate with Exxon Vice President for R&D Vijay Swarup. Energy Undersecretary Mark Menezes will attend as a witness.
Earlier this month, Exxon committed to investing $100 million over 10 years in research and development for advanced lower-emissions technologies in collaboration with the two national labs.
— EPA has brought on two new attorneys in recent weeks: Kamila Lis-Coghlan is a new deputy general counsel; she previously was an environmental attorney at Covington & Burling. EPA has also scooped up Katharine Willey, who previously was counsel for the Republican majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee, though the agency did not return questions Monday about her role at the agency.
Meanwhile, EPA has hired Jonathan Hackett in Kansas City to advise on renewable fuels; he previously was a lobbyist and executive for Iowa biodiesel company Renewable Energy Group, and prior to that was counsel for Jim Inhofe on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee from 2009 to 2012.
— Earth and Water Law Group added Angela Morrison as a partner, where she’ll lead the firm’s newly opened Tallahassee office. Morrison is the founder of Morrison Environmental Law.
— “Tesla in ‘code red situation’ as sell-off exceeds 20 percent,'” Bloomberg.
— “Officials say Iran quadruples production of enriched uranium,” Associated Press.
— “OPEC is poised to defy Trump once again by keeping a lid on oil output,” CNBC.
— “Millions of abandoned wells spark climate, safety fears,” E&E News.
THAT’S ALL FOR ME!
