Energy

Senate passes emergency package without green provisions


With help from Annie Snider and Anthony Adragna

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After days of negotiation, the Senate last night unanimously passed a $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill. But it omits both money for oil purchases and the provisions greens had hoped to see.

Climate scientists and health experts warn that rising temperatures will enable infectious diseases to spread across the United States.

A virtual meeting today of the G-20 will provide the U.S. a chance to press Saudi Arabia on its role in a price war that has led to decreasing oil prices.

WELCOME TO THURSDAY! I’m your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. 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.

Stephen Myrow of Beacon Policy Advisors gets the trivia win. There are currently 14 physicians in the House. For today: Which national park is home to the deepest cave in the United States? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to [email protected].

SENATE PASSES RELIEF PACKAGE: The Senate last night unanimously passed a mammoth $2 trillion coronavirus rescue package, POLITICO’s Melanie Zanona, Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle report. The measure, which is the biggest economic rescue package in U.S. history, passed by a 96-0 vote. The bill now goes to the House where passage is expected Friday.

Who gets what? Final text of the “phase three” emergency relief package, H.R. 748 (116), emerged just hours before senators voted Wednesday. The package left out nearly all of House Democrats’ green initiatives — most prominently, cuts to airline emissions — and it also ignored a request from the Trump administration to buy oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Pro’s Eric Wolff reports.

The bill preserves levels of funding for energy-related departments, including $158 million for the Interior Department, $127.5 million for the Energy Department, $7.2 million for EPA, and $3.3 million for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It also appropriates extra cash for science activities: $2.25 million for EPA’s science and technology office and $99.5 million for DOE’s science operations. And it allows DOE to delay legally required sales of oil from the SPR intended to fund renovations to the four storage caverns in the reserve.

Drinking water and wastewater utilities did not make the cut in the final deal, though, despite arguing that they’re going to face a major crunch as revenues decline by an estimated 20 percent even as they are reconnecting delinquent accounts as a matter of public safety. “At a time when proper sanitation and the flow of clean water to every home, hospital, and essential industry is more critical than ever before, the decision to not include meaningful support for this sector is shameful,” Adam Krantz, CEO of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, said in a statement.

THE LOOMING DISEASE THREAT SPURRED BY CLIMATE CHANGE: While the U.S. grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, climate scientists and health experts are anxiously eyeing other threats from infectious diseases — this time spurred by rising temperatures, Pro’s Zack Colman reports. Scientists say mosquito-driven illnesses like dengue fever, West Nile, chikungunya and Zika will become more common this century as the insects that transmit them expand their habitat.

“I’m worried. We’re not prepared,” said Kris Ebi, an climate change and public health expert at the University of Washington and contributor to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. “When you look at climate change, there’s a lot of worst-case scenarios, including with vector-borne diseases like yellow fever. In public health, we worry about worst-case scenarios, but the people who write the checks don’t want to hear about them.”

Some of those diseases are already emerging in the U.S., but scientists say tackling climate change would limit the spread and costs of such diseases. A business-as-usual emissions scenario would result in a $689 million increase in annual U.S. medical costs in 2050 from West Nile alone, according to a 2017 study published in the American Journal of Climactic Change. Those estimates may be particularly eye-opening as the federal government moves ahead with its $2 trillion package to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Zack reports.

G-20 LEVERAGE? Leaders of G-20 countries and other global organizations will confer today during a virtual summit on a coordinated response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its widespread implications. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud will chair the meeting, Riyadh announced earlier this week. President Donald Trump is expected to participate in the video teleconference.

The virtual confab will provide the United States with an opportunity to press the Saudis to rein in the price war playing out between Saudi Arabia and Russia that has flooded the market and led to cascading oil prices. That might appease the half-dozen GOP oil-state senators who on Wednesday night accused the Saudis of “economic warfare” and warned they would consider tariffs, sanctions or pulling support for the Saudi war in Yemen if Riyadh didn’t back off.

Some perspective: The conflict between Russia and Saudi Arabia “could always be ended by a phone call among the principals, but given their entrenched positions, stopping the price war and easing the market turmoil may well require collaboration through some broader framework, such as the Group of 20,” wrote IHS Markit’s Dan Yergin and Roger Diwan in a joint op-ed. “That would permit a discussion going beyond the present Russia-Saudi impasse, bringing in the United States and a larger group of producers and consumers, including Brazil, China, France, Germany, Mexico and the United Kingdom.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo already spoke to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to try to convince the monarch that his country ratcheting up oil production was hurting the global economy, Pro’s Ben Lefebvre reports. “The Secretary stressed that as a leader of the G-20 and an important energy leader, Saudi Arabia has a real opportunity to rise to the occasion and reassure global energy and financial markets when the world faces serious economic uncertainty,” department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a press release Wednesday.

TRUMP JUMPS ON BIDEN ‘GREEN DEAL’ COMMENT: During a briefing with reporters Wednesday, former Vice President Joe Biden indicated future stimulus bills might offer an opportunity to “use … my Green Deal” to help the economy and create jobs. Biden has called the Green New Deal a crucial framework for his clean energy initiatives for months now, but it didn’t stop the Trump campaign from pouncing on the comment. “Biden cares more about appeasing the extreme fringe of his party than he does about real solutions,” said Tim Murtaugh, Trump 2020 communications director, in a statement.

SUNRISE TARGETS 2: The youth-led Sunrise Movement will back two more liberal candidates challenging long-time Democratic congressmen in primaries this year, POLITICO’s Alex Thompson reports. The group is endorsing Holyoke, Mass., Mayor Alex Morse, who is running against Rep. Richard Neal, and Jamaal Bowman, a Bronx middle-school principal who is taking on Rep. Eliot Engel.

COURT ORDERS NEW DAPL REVIEW: The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the Army Corp of Engineers must conduct a new environmental review of the Dakota Access pipeline, handing a victory to the Standing Rock Sioux and other Native American tribes that had challenged the pipeline. Judge James Boasberg on Wednesday ruled that the Corps’ previous environmental review did not adequately address concerns that technical experts had raised in public comments regarding the potential environmental impact of the pipeline, Pro’s Ben Lefebvre reports.

The pipeline can still operate while the Corps finishes its review, said Liz Trotter, spokesperson for environmental group Earthjustice, which is representing the tribes in the case. But opponents of the pipeline could request it be shut down during a status hearing Boasberg called for April, she added.

FORMER DOI OFFICIAL ABRUPTLY TRANSFERRED: Heather Swift was removed as deputy assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, according to two former senior DHS officials familiar with the matter, POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman reports. Swift was abruptly pushed out of her position on Friday after the Presidential Personnel Office raised questions about her loyalty to Trump, said one of the former DHS officials. Swift joined the Trump administration in early 2017 as press secretary for former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke before becoming senior adviser at the Interior Department. She has been moved to a senior post at the National Endowment for the Arts.

EPA DRAFT FLOATS CONSTRUCTION BEFORE PERMIT: EPA released draft guidance on Wednesday that would allow power plants, refineries and other major sources of air pollution to begin certain construction activities while awaiting a permit under the New Source Review program, Pro’s Alex Guillén reports. “Under EPA’s revised interpretation, a source owner or operator may, prior to obtaining an NSR permit, undertake physical on-site activities — including activities that may be costly, that may significantly alter the site, and/or are permanent in nature — provided that those activities do not constitute physical construction on an emissions unit,” the draft memo said, with emphasis added by EPA.

CARPER DRAWS LINE BETWEEN COVID-19 AND SECRET SCIENCE: Senate Environment and Public Works ranking member Tom Carper called on EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to withdraw the agency’s so-called secret science proposal, expressing concerns the policy would hurt EPA’s response to crises like the coronavirus. “The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the importance of ensuring rapid access and response to scientific information, as well as the utilization of that information,” Carper wrote. “Unfortunately, if this rule is finalized, I fear the result will be just the opposite.” (Reg. 2080-AA14)

LAWMAKERS CALL FOR LOOK AT DOE’S WASTE CLEANUP: House Science Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and ranking member Frank Lucas requested the Government Accountability Office evaluate the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management science and technology development priorities. The DOE office is responsible for the clean-up of hazardous and radioactive waste from energy research and nuclear weapons production. “The National Academies found that while [EM’s science and technology development] can increase the efficiency and reduce future costs of clean up, this has been a diminishing priority for EM,” the lawmakers wrote.

SHALE NO: The Pennsylvania-based Marcellus Shale Coalition warned Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a letter Wednesday of the unintended consequences for natural gas producers in the Appalachian Basin should the U.S. impose of tariffs on imports of petroleum. Several Republican lawmakers have recently called on the Trump administration to pursue the tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 in the interest of national security. Any tariffs could result in increased U.S. crude production, leading to more associated or “free: gas to be produced from those plays. “[T]ariffs of this sort may even do harm to natural gas producers at a time when the economic crisis related to the COVID-19 health concern has put producers in serious difficulty in terms of adequate access to capital,” wrote MSC President David Spigelmyer.

SURVEY SAYS: The coronavirus pandemic could cost U.S. renewable energy businesses as much as $5 billion this year, according to a survey released by the American Council on Renewable Energy. Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents also said that uncertainty about qualifying for tax credits amid the crisis could pose a “significant impact” to their businesses.

Landon Stevens was added as the Conservative Energy Network’s first director of policy and advocacy. Stevens previously was a policy adviser for two commissioners with the Arizona Corporation Commission, and a policy director for Strata and the Institute for Energy Research.

— “EPA HQ staffer tests positive for coronavirus” via E&E News.

— “PFAS found in landfills; no clear path on what to do about it,” via Bloomberg Environment.

— “Electricity demand dips as coronavirus alters work, school patterns,” via S&P Global Market Intelligence.

— “Coronavirus: ‘Nature is sending us a message,’ says U.N. environment chief,” via The Guardian.

— “‘I’m just praying’: Miners fear the impacts Covid-19 could have in coal country,” via Gizmodo.

THAT’S ALL FOR ME!



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