With help from Kelsey Tamborrino
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— Sen. Joe Manchin’s Energy Committee will shape about $200 billion of the reconciliation package’s $3.5 trillion, the West Virginian tells POLITICO.
— The infrastructure bill gives FERC clear authority over states to approve new transmission projects, which could pave the way for new lines and new renewable energy projects. State regulators are miffed at losing authority.
— The Senate Appropriations Committee considers spending plans for energy and water today.
HAPPY WEDNESDAY! I’m your host, Matthew Choi. Joseph Stanko of Hunton Andrews Kurth gets the trivia for knowing Nino Quincampoix was Amélie’s love interest in “Amélie Poulain.” For today: What was Ryan Atwood’s hometown in “The O.C.”? Send your tips and trivia answers to [email protected]. Find me on Twitter @matthewchoi2018.
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ENERGY PANEL’S PIECE OF THE PIE: The Senate Energy Committee will be responsible for $198 billion of Democrats’ forthcoming $3.5 trillion reconciliation measure, Chair Joe Manchin told Pro’s Anthony Adragna on Tuesday. Though the budget resolution’s text hasn’t yet surfaced, Manchin’s committee is likely to wield jurisdiction over some of Democrats’ premier climate priorities, like a clean energy standard.
That still doesn’t necessarily allay concerns among conservationists that the Interior Department may get short shrift in the budget resolution. “I don’t know because it’s mixed jurisdiction,” Manchin told Anthony. “They’re talking about that now. There’s a mix of jurisdiction.” Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders expects to have text for the budget resolution on the floor next week.
Meanwhile on the bipartisan front, Senate negotiators are locking arms to make sure their deal doesn’t flounder as the chamber considers amendments, report Pro’s Marianne LeVine and Burgess Everett.
“I think the bipartisan G-22 is going to vote en bloc,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “It’s going to be hard to make a serious play on a poison pill amendment.”
Major amendments that target some of the more sensitive compromises have tanked bills in the past, including the 2013 immigration reform push. But detractors this time around acknowledge making those kinds of significant changes will be a challenge, given the 60-vote threshold. And some Republicans are waiting for the Democrats’ budget resolution to cast their daggers, with Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who is against the bipartisan deal, saying “The main action on amendments will be in the budget reconciliation, not here.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer insisted to reporters Tuesday that the two parties were working well together through the amendment process and vowed to keep senators in Washington until the deal is done.
FERC’S CUT IS THE DEEPEST: The bipartisan infrastructure bill would grant FERC new powers to effectively veto state decisions rejecting new transmission siting, possibly cracking open the way to approve new power connections between areas like those in Midwest and West best suited for renewable energy and the population centers that consume the most energy. But it could also inflame already tense relationships between the commission and state regulators, reports Pro’s Gloria Gonzalez.
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners voiced their concerns to Manchin and Energy Ranking Member John Barrasso last month, saying it was “deeply troubled” by language in Manchin’s energy infrastructure bill that would grant FERC greater siting power. “In essence, this new provision simply gives the state an ultimatum: ‘Approve the project or FERC will approve it for you,’” Paul Kjellander, NARUC president, said in the letter.
But FERC Chair Rich Glick has already been working to grease the wheels and build ties with state regulators. FERC and NARUC announced a joint federal-state task force on transmission, with Glick noting in July that states are grappling with similar transmission issues.
Read more from Gloria on what the infrastructure deal could mean for FERC.
SENATE APPROPS TACKLE ENERGY: The Senate Appropriations Committee holds a mark up today of the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2022. The House energy and water appropriations bill (H.R. 4549, 117) was folded into a seven-bill minibus (H.R. 4502 (117)), which passed the chamber on a 219-208 vote last week.
RAISE THE ROOF: Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) introduced a bill Tuesday to expand tax credits for solar on homes and small businesses. The RAISE the Roof Act would offer tax credits for replacing roofs with ones supporting solar shingles as well as covering repairs. Current solar tax credits only cover the solar shingles themselves, but not the full roof — posing a financial barrier to homeowners looking for an upgrade, Reuters reports. Read the bill text here.
BARRASSO GRILLS BIDEN PICKS: Barrasso challenged the qualifications of President Joe Biden’s nominees for the Energy Department’s Office of Science and the Interior Department during a testy confirmation hearing Tuesday. Barrasso contended Asmeret Berhe didn’t have experience relevant to the work of the DOE Office of Science, and he said Cynthia Weiner Stachelberg appeared “to have little, if any, background or experience” in policy areas relevant to the Interior Department, where she is nominated to serve as assistant secretary for policy, management and budget.
It was a familiar refrain for Barrasso, who was gone after Biden picks, including Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, whom he described as too radical during her hearing and has driven a multi-week campaign against Biden’s pick for BLM director, Tracy Stone-Manning, over her past ties to environmental extremists. Barrasso repeatedly asked Stachelberg about tree spiking and threatening federal agents, in an apparent reference to the controversy around Stone-Manning.
Democrats rebuffed his criticisms and said both candidates were fully qualified for the jobs. Berhe is a professor of soil biogeochemistry at the University of California, Merced, and Stachelberg is the executive vice president for external affairs at CAP. Kelsey Tamborrino has more for Pros.
ANWR OIL LEASES UNDER REVIEW: The Interior Department plans to kick off an environmental review on oil and gas leases in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — possibly leading to lease sale changes, Pro’s Ben Lefebvre reports. Secretary Deb Haaland first called for the review in June.
The Trump administration held a lease sale in the refuge back in January, drawing criticism from environmentalists who said the sale was riddled with legal problems. Only two small companies and the state of Alaska ended up winning leases.
Conservationists welcomed the move, but called on the Biden administration to go further. “The Trump administration aggressively moved to get leases into the hands of oil companies prior to the end of its only term, and until those leases are canceled and the Arctic Refuge drilling mandate reversed, one of the wildest places left in America will remain under threat,” said Kristen Miller, acting executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League in a statement.
REVOKE AND REPEAT: The Energy Department released a notice of proposed rulemaking Tuesday to revoke Trump-era rules that advocates say could undercut energy and water efficiency for certain dishwashers and washers and dryers. The Trump administration published two rules in October and December of last year that established new short-cycle “product classes” for residential dishwashers and washers and dryers, which effectively removed the energy and water conservation standards that had previously applied to those products.
In its proposal, the Biden DOE says that in amending the standards, the Trump administration failed to consider whether the change met the criteria of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, and said that DOE did not determine, as required, that the amended standards were designed to achieve the maximum improvement in energy efficiency that is technologically feasible and economically justified. The proposal opens up a 60-day comment, and the department will hold a webinar on Sept. 23.
DO IT OVER AGAIN: A federal appeals court ordered FERC to redo permits for two Texas LNG projects because of concerns over their environmental impacts. The Rio Grande LNG and the Texas Brownsville LNG project, which FERC greenlit in November, would export a combined 31 million metric tons of LNG per year.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit had issues with how the commission conducted its environmental reviews, which did not take into account the social cost of carbon or other common methodologies for calculating the projects’ impact on climate change. It also found FERC used arbitrary parameters while consulting with residents affected by the projects. Ben Lefebvre has more for Pros.
— Allison Nyholm is joining the American Council on Renewable Energy as vice president of policy. Nyholm is an alumna of Steptoe and Johnson LLP and former policy adviser for Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
— The Breakthrough Institute named Kathryn Salam as the new executive editor of the Breakthrough Journal. She has previously held editing positions at Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs magazines.
— Mike Saccone has been promoted to the National Wildlife Federation‘s vice president for communications. He was previously an associate VP for communications, and is alum of U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Attorney General John Suthers (R-Colo.).
— “‘Ignore us at your peril’: Democrats fear losing House as party leaders push to sharpen message,” via CNN.
— ”U.S. bread, donut makers urge Biden to roll back biofuel requirements,” via Reuters.
— ”Climate threats could destabilize North Korea,” via E&E News.
— “HollyFrontier to buy most of Sinclair Oil’s assets in $2.6 bln deal,” via Reuters.
THAT’S ALL FOR ME!
