With help from Kelsey Tamborrino, Anthony Adragna and Annie Snider.
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— A bipartisan infrastructure framework won some new friends and Sen. Joe Manchin is open to hearing more about reconciliation, but the path to an infrastructure package remains fraught.
— The Biden administration had better not exempt oil refiners from their biofuel blending mandates, a group of Democratic lawmakers warn after reports that it was considering doing so.
— Radhika Fox will be EPA’s newest water chief after a Senate confirmation vote, bringing in expertise in infrastructure and environmental justice.
HAPPY THURSDAY! I’m your host, Matthew Choi. Congrats to Carrie Domnitch of Chevron for knowing Julie Andrews sang publicly for the first time in “The Princess Diaries 2” after her fateful 1997 surgery. For today’s trivia: “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” was predominantly filmed in which German state? Send your tips and trivia answers to [email protected]. Find me on Twitter @matthewchoi2018.
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: Where America and Europe’s climate roads diverge.
INFRASTRUCTURE BUILDS: Democrats are still torn on how to move ahead on this infrastructure business, circling around a bipartisan infrastructure bill, while also eyeing a party-line spending package filled with many of their more partisan priorities on climate, immigration and human services. But just how big that second package will be is itself a major point of disagreement within the party.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is showing a little warmth to passing the catch-all spending bill through budget reconciliation, telling POLITICO’s Burgess Everett he’d be open to at least talking with his colleagues who are pushing for the strategy.
“I’d like to see a good piece of legislation, and I think we can all start working on it now,” Manchin said. “I’m not opposed to doing anything that’s going to help our country. Absolutely not opposed. Just need to see something.”
It’s a big development, but it doesn’t mean the Senate Energy Committee chair has given up on working with Republicans on an infrastructure proposal that is gaining more momentum. A bipartisan group of 10 senators negotiating a rough outline for an infrastructure deal ballooned to 21, with 11 new senators from both parties backing the proposal.
Among the energy portions that emerged Wednesday night: $15 billion for electric vehicle infrastructure and $73 billion for power infrastructure. Among potential pay-fors, lawmakers included annual surcharges on EVs. But it lacks any explicit mention of the comprehensive climate change provision progressives hope for. The whole proposal offers up $579 billion in new spending. Anthony Adragna breaks it down for Pros.
Progressives are still adamant that major climate measures be included in whatever infrastructure plan the party runs with — and they have some big names backing them up. Some of the largest environmental groups in America wrote to congressional leadership refusing to back any legislation that doesn’t include large-scale investments in climate change. Tom Steyer, the erstwhile climate-centered presidential candidate, and John Podesta, former Clinton chief of staff and founder of Center for American Progress, both signed on.
Meanwhile, two senior members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee — Reps. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) — offered legislation Wednesday that would set a national renewable energy standard requiring that 70 percent of the electricity mix come from renewable sources by 2030. Qualifying energy sources would be wind, solar, geothermal, marine energy and limited types of hydropower.
Under the bill, electricity suppliers would be required to address existing pollution disparities by placing more emphasis on boosting renewable energy in those communities. Providers would have to provide renewable energy credits for verification or do alternative compliance payments of $50 per megawatt hour. A fact sheet is available here.
Related: White House tries to privately calm Democratic fears on infrastructure deal, from Laura Barrón-López and Senate Democrats wrap first budget resolution meeting with few details, from Caitlin Emma and Jenna Scholtes.
PRESSURE’S ON: Fifteen Democratic lawmakers are warning the Biden administration against taking any steps to exempt oil refiners from biofuel blending mandates under the Renewable Fuel Standard — something Biden is reportedly considering, amid pressure from unions and oil-state senators. The lawmakers, led by Midwestern Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Cheri Bustos of Illinois, warn that doing so would run the risk of “directly undermin[ing] your commitment to address climate change and restore integrity to the RFS,” they wrote.
Instead, they called on the administration to stabilize the renewable fuels marketplace by setting strong blending targets in the proposed rule for the 2021 and 2022 Renewable Volume Obligations and by responding to a court remand to reinstate 500 million gallons of blending requirements waived from 2016’s targets.
PATIENCE TESTER: Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) urged Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to wrap up the department’s review of federal oil and gas leases, which DOI says needs to be finished before it can resume lease auctions. He joins Republicans and members of the fossil fuel industry in their frustration at the pause, which critics have characterized as a de facto ban that’s damaged local economies.
“As this review rolls on, a leasing pause gives folks working in the oil and gas industry a lot of uncertainty,” Tester said during an Appropriations hearing with Haaland on the DOI budget. “It’s getting harder and harder to extend that trust without hard information on the review.” Ben Lefebvre has more for Pros. A federal judge in Louisiana ruled on Tuesday Interior did not have the authority to stop holding lease sales.
FOX IS IN: Radhika Fox is set to be EPA’s next water chief after her Senate confirmation (55-43) on Wednesday. Fox, who comes to the job with a deep background working on environmental justice and infrastructure issues, said she’ll listen to all sides as she stakes a path forward on what’s protected under the Clean Water Act.
Fox had largely bipartisan support in the Environment and Public Works Committee, but some Republicans still had reservations, including ranking member Shelley Moore Capito. The West Virginia Republican said Wednesday that she remained unsatisfied with Fox’s responses to questions on the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which Biden’s EPA moved last week to reverse. Annie Snider has more for Pros.
ESG BILL GOES FORWARD: The House narrowly passed a bill, H.R. 1187 (117), that would require companies to disclose a wider range of information to the SEC. No Republicans voted for the bill, and four Democrats voted against it. The bill would mandate corporations to regularly “disclose their environmental, social and governance standards, political spending, employee pay increases, climate change risks, and taxes paid in foreign countries,” Pro’s Eleanor Mueller reports. It now heads to the Senate.
MOVING ALONG: The House Energy and Commerce Environment Subcommittee advanced a trio of drinking water measures on Wednesday to the full committee, over a series of Republican objections. H.R. 3291 (117), which would invest $105 billion in drinking water infrastructure, and H.R. 3293 (117) to establish a low-income water assistance program, are being teed up for the House’s package to take to conference with the Senate’s water infrastructure legislation (S. 914 (117)). The latest version of the PFAS Action Act (H.R. 2467 (117)) was also approved by the committee, with a pair of Republicans representing districts that have major PFAS contamination problems joining Democrats in support of the measure.
PROBING PFBS: EPA’s independent watchdog opened a probe into the Trump administration’s health assessment for PFBS, a “forever chemical” used in firefighting foam, carpeting and food packaging, Annie reports. The Biden EPA pulled the assessment back in February, following the administration’s concerns that it had been subjected to last-minute changes and political interference. A revised version came out in April.
HAALAND IN NEW ENGLAND: Haaland is heading to Maine on Friday to talk with state and tribal leaders, including Gov. Janet Mills and all four members of the state’s congressional delegation. The trip, which includes a visit to Acadia National Park, will focus on investments in public lands and local job growth. And Yo-Yo Ma will perform with Wabanaki musicians during a 4:05 a.m. (yes, a.m.) performance, The Portland Press Herald reports.
ICYMI: FERC Chair Rich Glick shot down calls from some green circles for the commission to unilaterally impose carbon pricing, casting doubt it had the authority to do so. He also offered some biting words about the Texas grid’s independence, saying they certainly would have been better off if they had better connections. Eric Wolff has more from Glick’s comments at the American Council on Renewable Energy virtual conference Wednesday.
FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE? Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva on Wednesday, and you bet cyberattacks came up. Biden asked Putin how he would feel if Russian oil pipelines fell victim to a ransomware attack — a reference to the Colonial Pipeline attack that U.S. intelligence believes was carried out by actors in Russia. Biden expressed his dissatisfaction at Russia’s efforts to prevent those attacks (the Justice Department didn’t bother working with its Russian counterparts after the attack because, CyberScoop reports, it would have been a waste of time).
Biden even said America would hack back in retaliation for future digital assaults, telling reporters Putin knows the U.S. has “significant cyber capability.”
Back at you: Putin said that Colonial-type attacks occur in his country every year, and Western hackers are just as responsible for them. Still, Putin later said Russia and the U.S. had agreed to “consultations” on cybersecurity, though he was stingy on the details, POLITICO’s Martin Matishak reports.
Some more takeaways from the summit: Both Biden and Putin said it was a relatively amicable affair, though there were not many solid action items to come from it, apart from the U.S. and Russia sending their respective ambassadors back to their posts (Putin offered this vague timeline for their return: “It’s a technical question as to exactly when that will happen — tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or whatever”). It was less amicable for reporters, who faced shouting matches and scuffles with security and each other.
— “European Commission mulls 60 percent emissions cut for cars by 2030 and 100 percent by 2035,” from our colleagues in Brussels.
BIRDS UNIONIZE TOGETHER: National Audubon Society staffers will hold a rally at the organization’s D.C. office before delivering a petition to CEO Elizabeth Gray urging management to recognize their labor union. The organizing effort has grown out of complaints of a toxic workplace culture that was first reported by POLITICO as well as concerns over how two rounds of layoffs and employee healthcare coverage were handled. The petition, which has 10,000 signatures including from Democrats Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Grace Meng of New York, comes after Audubon management decided against voluntarily recognizing the union.
— Stephenne Harding returned to the White House Council on Environmental Quality this week as senior director for lands. Harding was previously president of Great Northern Strategies and directed National Geographic Society’s Campaign for Nature. She has also previously served as an associate director of legislative affairs at CEQ. Harding is an alum of Sens. Tom Udall and Jon Tester, as well as DOI.
— Brian Kearns is now serving as the United States Energy Association’s chief operating officer. He was previously the group’s chief financial officer.
— Jeff Ostermayer rejoined the Edison Electric Institute as a senior director of strategic and policy communications. Jeff recently served as lead communications specialist for corporate affairs at Florida Power & Light Company. He had previously led EEI’s media relations team.
— John Rucker is joining Arcadia as CFO. He has previously served as CFO at General Assembly, Rent the Runway and Splice.
— “China Denies Radiation Leak at Reactor but Admits Fuel Rod Damage,” via The New York Times.
— “The Man Who Beat Shell: How an Unknown Lawyer Won Historic Suit,” via Bloomberg.
— “Manchin privately strategizes with GOP on his party’s stalled elections bill,” via POLITICO.
THAT’S ALL FOR ME!
