Energy

Town hall takeaways


With help from Annie Snider, Gavin Bade, Eric Wolff, Zack Colman and Anthony Adragna

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It was a marathon, not a sprint, but last night’s climate town halls ran the gamut — putting candidates on record on whether they’d back nuclear, abolish the filibuster, or enact a carbon tax.

The Trump administration is considering separating a rule blocking California from enforcing strict emissions standards from a more complicated auto rulemaking, a White House official told POLITICO.

FERC’s first meeting since Democrat Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur stepped down could kick off a fall agenda that includes grid resilience, transmission incentives and a review of the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act, Chairman Neil Chatterjee told reporters Wednesday.

IT’S ALMOST FRIDAY! I’m your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. The American Petroleum Institute’s Ben Marter was the first to name our neighbor to the North, Canada, as the country home to Lake Manitou on Manitoulin Island as the largest lake within a freshwater island. For today: Which congressional district currently holds the record for the youngest median age? Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to ktamborrino@politico.com.

TOWN HALL TAKEAWAYS: We watched all seven hours of CNN’s back-to-back climate town halls, where the leading Democratic candidates showed the first signs of weaponizing climate change in the primary campaign, as POLTICIO’s David Siders and Zack Colman report.

Here were the key takeaways:

Former Vice President Joe Biden sidestepped questions about his political centrism. He got heat for a scheduled fundraiser hosted by the co-founder of an LNG company, Pro’s Zack Colman reports. Biden initially denied an assertion that Andrew Goldman, co-founder of Houston-based Western LNG, was involved in the natural gas industry, but eventually conceded he would look into the matter.

Biden later added that his staff told him Goldman did not have any responsibility related to the company, was not on the board and he was not involved in its operations. But David Turnbull, strategic communications director of Oil Change US — a member organization of the No Fossil Fuel Money coalition — said that while it’s true Goldman did not technically violate the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge, “it pretty clearly goes against the spirit of the pledge.” (Read POLITICO Magazine’s “CNN’s Climate Forum Went Badly for Biden“)

Biden also settled into the role of political and climate realist. He said he would support a carbon tax, but suggested passing one would be difficult; said achieving net-zero emissions by 2030 doesn’t appear possible and getting Congress to pass a national fracking ban would be unlikely; and said if the U.S. did everything it could to eliminate emissions, it still wouldn’t be enough if other countries don’t follow.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called for a phase-out of nuclear energy and a nationwide ban on fracking alongside massive public utility investment in renewable energy. Sander reiterated his plan to expand federal utilities to deliver 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030 and said Congress could likely pass his ambitious agenda through the once-a-year budget reconciliation process. “If your question is if we’re going to need 60 votes to save the planet, the answer is no we will not,” he said.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to eventually get the United States off of nuclear power, Pro’s Eric Wolff reports. “We’re not going to build any nuclear power plants and we’re going to start weaning ourselves off of nuclear energy and replacing it with renewable fuels,” Warren said.

Sen. Cory Booker took a different approach and argued that nuclear power is necessary to achieve ambitious zero-carbon electricity timelines.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) articulated a defense of existing nuclear plants as a carbon-free source of power, while opposing expanding use of the technology.

Beto O’Rourke said he supported a cap-and-trade system to help reduce carbon emissions — the first time the former congressman committed to a form of carbon pricing for his climate plan.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg largely tracked with his climate plan, but also pitched a religious and moral argument for combating climate change, comparing the issue to “a kind of sin.”

California Sen. Kamala Harris put herself on the side of banning fracking and offshore drilling. She also said she would get rid of the filibuster in order to pass a Green New Deal, as Pro’s Anthony Adragna reports.

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro said he would not support a nationwide ban on fracking for natural gas. Castro said he would ban oil and gas exploration on public lands and increase renewable energy to “get us to net zero [carbon emissions] by 2045.”

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang would end all federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry but would not immediately seek to stop exports of fossil fuels, Anthony also reports.

Compare and contrast: All 10 candidates on stage last night have unveiled their own climate proposals, as Pro DataPoint’s Patterson Clark breaks down.

WHITE HOUSE COULD SPLIT AUTO RULES: A White House official tells POLITICO the Trump administration is considering finalizing its rule to block California from enforcing strict greenhouse gas emissions auto standards separately from a larger rulemaking weakening the national standards, Pro’s Alex Guillén and Daniel Lippman report. The proposed rule contained two major components: a freeze on national auto emissions and fuel economy standards starting with model year 2021 vehicles, and language essentially revoking California’s legal authority to enforce more stringent rules for itself and 14 other states. The official pointed out that a decision on splitting the preemption issue off and finalizing it more quickly has not yet been made.

AN OLIVE BRANCH? President Donald Trump will meet with the chairman and CEO of General Motors this afternoon in the Oval Office. The meeting follows a Trump tweet attacking the auto company after a new report detailed the company’s shrinking domestic workforce.

WHAT FERC WILL DO: FERC’s Sept. 19 meeting could feature an “update” on the grid resilience proceeding and on policy inquiries regarding PURPA implementation and incentives for transmission lines and pipelines, Chatterjee told reporters Wednesday.

Along with continuing to approve gas pipelines and export facilities, “these are all things that I think the commission can tackle in the coming days, weeks and months,” Chatterjee said. But the chairman said some of the general policy reviews, particularly on how FERC approves natural gas pipelines, will likely have to wait until the president nominates two more regulators to fill the commission, Pro’s Gavin Bade reports.

MEDICAL DEVICE INDUSTRY WEIGHS IN ON PFAS: With negotiations between the House and Senate over a major package to regulate toxic PFAS chemicals now at a critical juncture, the powerful medical device industry is weighing in against several key House provisions. In a letter sent last week and obtained by POLITICO, the Advanced Medical Technology Association urged House and Senate Armed Services Committee leaders to nix provisions in the House’s package that would designate all roughly 5,000 chemicals in the PFAS class as hazardous for the purposes of cleanups and require permit limits for discharges of any of the chemicals.

According to the association, medical devices like stents, pacemakers and catheters can contain fluoropolymers, a type of PFAS, and the group argues that these devices have been “thoroughly assessed” for safety by the Food and Drug Association. “Circumventing the existing regulatory process for determining hazardous substances and wastes could threaten the ability of our members to continue to provide patients with life-saving devices,” the group wrote.

ABOUT THAT: Democratic Sen. Tom Udall, ranking member of the Appropriations Interior-Environment Subcommittee, sent a letter to Interior’s designated ethics official asking whether former Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joe Balash complied with federal conflict of interest laws and ethics guidelines, following his exit and employment at Oil Search in Alaska LLC.

E&C BEGINS TO MOVE ON CFATS: The House Energy and Commerce Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee announced Wednesday it would hold a hearing Sept. 11 on legislation H.R. 3256 (116) that would extend the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program, which aims to protect large industrial facilities from terrorist attacks, through 2025.

UMWA CHIEF: COAL’S NOT BACK: United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts declared Wednesday that “coal’s not back” during remarks at the National Press Club on the future of coal. “Nobody saved the coal industry,” he said. “Now that’s a harsh fact and it’s a harsh reality.”

The union leader called for presidential candidates to account for coal workers who will lose their jobs in a move to cheaper natural gas and as Democrats’ plans call for cuts to fossil fuel extraction. “We need to develop technology to remove carbon from the burning of coal, or you’re never … going to resolve climate change,” he said.

Roberts also called out lawmakers for failing to adequately protect workers at bankrupt mining companies, Pro’s Ian Kullgren reports. “First of all the CEO gets millions of dollars for filing bankruptcy,” Roberts said. “… Congress has known this forever and has done nothing about it.”

— The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis added Samantha Medlock as senior counsel, focusing on climate adaptation and resilience. Medlock previously served in the Council on Environmental Quality and Office of Management and Budget under Obama.

— “Martin Weitzman, virtuoso climate change economist, dies at 77,” via The New York Times.

— “U.S. offers cash to tanker captains in bid to seize Iranian ships,” via Financial Times.

— “Drowning in plastic: Visualising the world’s addiction to plastic bottles,” via Reuters.

— “Environmentalists want New Mexico uranium mine blocked,” via Associated Press.

THAT’S ALL FOR ME!



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