A Bill Bonanza: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Will Consider 23 Bills

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)Energy (DOE)Federal Agency/Executive Branch Federal Legislation Opinions Policy

July 16, 2019

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by Kelsey Tamborrino (Politico's Morning Energy) The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will consider 23 bills this morning on issues ranging from carbon capture to nuclear energy. Texas Sen. John Cornyn's bill, S. 1685 (116), for one, would require DOE to establish a carbon capture technology research program, while ranking member Joe Manchin's bill, S. 1201 (116) , would give DOE specific authorization and multi-year funding for carbon dioxide removal research and would boost traditional carbon capture programs.

A committee aide told ME today's bills are not expected to go to the Senate floor as one package, but are "ready to move" with the goal of advancing them as smaller packages. Manchin will reiterate today that he and Chairman Lisa Murkowski want to pass "multiple" energy innovation packages. "Every bill before us today moves us toward cleaner energy solutions," he'll say. READ MORE

EVs gain momentum ahead of Senate markup (Politico's Morning Energy)

When it comes to climate, Democrats love federalism (E&E News)

DEMS SET 'CLEAN ECONOMY' GOAL: (Politico's Morning Energy)

Rep. Ilhan Omar Introduces the Zero Waste Act (Office of Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN 5th)

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: OH SAY CAN YOU EV? The top Republican and Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee are still barreling toward a markup of surface transportation legislation Aug. 1 in committee and both indicated Monday they expect significant investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure would be part of the package. Chairman John Barrasso, who has called for ending tax breaks for electric vehicles, said that he favored more funding for charging infrastructure. "If you have an established market, you need infrastructure so it can be used but it doesn't need more tax subsidies to subsidize the purchase of those vehicles," Barrasso told reporters, while also calling for "some sort of user’s fee for the wear and tear that are produced by those vehicles." He said the EV investments would be greater than Congress had dedicated "previously" to the evolving market.

Barrasso said he and ranking member Tom Carper communicated over the weekend on the bill, which he said also "contains some of the streamlining of regulations to make it easier so you can do projects better and faster and cheaper and smarter." Carper told reporters he expected the measure to be unveiled July 29 ahead of an Aug. 1 markup. "We have not locked down every single item but huge progress has been made," the Delaware Democrat said.

Other climate measures? It's possible, Carper said, naming additional funds for EV charging as a top priority. "If you compared where we started off to where we've come, we've come a long ways," Carper said of climate-related provisions. "We aren't quite where we want to be but good progress has been made."

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WHAT'S THE PLAN? Democratic leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee today will unveil what they're calling a "bold new plan that will guide the Committee's approach to tackling the climate crisis." Chairman Frank Pallone and Reps. Paul Tonko, chairman of the Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee, and Bobby Rush, chairman of the Energy Subcommittee, will hold a 2 p.m. news conference (July 23, 2019) to announce the plan.

WHY LUNTZ: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who leads Democrats' ad-hoc climate panel, told reporters he invited GOP pollster Frank Luntz for his Thursday hearing in hopes he may offer "the path forward" for Republican lawmakers in addressing climate change. "A lot of them understand that they're in deep trouble with the electorate, even their own voters, on the climate issue and he's considered a guru to them," Schatz said. Asked about Luntz's work in the 2000s encouraging Republicans to cast doubt on climate science, Schatz replied: "I think he's coming around." READ MORE

Excerpt from E&E News: In a move sure to please 10th-grade civics teachers across the country, Senate Democrats are looking to cities and states as laboratories to help craft federal climate policy for 2021 and beyond.

Local emissions reduction and adaptation efforts got a microscopic focus at the packed first hearing of Senate Democrats' Special Committee on the Climate Crisis yesterday (July 17, 2019), which featured mayors from midsized cities across the country.

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While ambitious state-level climate policies have failed in Washington state and Oregon in the last year, they've prevailed elsewhere, particularly since the 2018 midterms. New York, for instance, is looking to decarbonize its power sector by midcentury, while New Mexico passed a law this year to eliminate power sector emissions by 2045.

Washington, D.C., and Maryland, too, have passed their own clean energy laws in recent months. And Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who was at yesterday's hearing, noted that her city is aiming to get to 100% clean energy by 2035 in its power sources and operations.

On Capitol Hill, Democratic lawmakers have hailed localities, cities and states for leading the way on climate in the face of congressional inaction.

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While Democrats might love federalism in the near term, they would likely have to work through the labyrinth of state policies to craft a federal law aimed at curbing power-sector emissions.

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The Trump administration is dealing with it right now as it tries to overcome California's Clean Air Act waiver in its quest to roll back federal fuel economy standards.

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On the more local level, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said that issue — how federal policy could affect local and state clean energy initiatives — is on his radar but not a large concern right now, since it hasn't been discussed on Capitol Hill in recent years.

But he did stress that any federal climate policies should maintain states' and cities' right to sue polluters for climate damages.

That's a concern that has popped up since the Climate Leadership Council, backed by oil companies and a variety of corporations, included a liability shield for past climate damages as part of its carbon-fee-and-dividend proposal.

"The fear is that the oil industry comes to Congress and says, 'Give us immunity, or prohibit cities from bringing action,'" Caldwell told E&E News after the hearing.

"And that would pull the rug out from under us because I think cities should have the ability to decide whether they want to pursue legal action for damages caused because of warming as a result of burning fossil fuels," he said.

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And on the city level, where most direct greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, the mayors said electric vehicles and other clean infrastructure should be a focus for federal policy.

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Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said he wants to see a Marshall Plan for the Midwest, focused on bringing clean energy jobs to the United States, an idea that Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) was especially interested in.

He noted that the entire United States has just 300 electric buses, while China has more than 400,000. Tax policies that incentivize that kind of manufacturing to the American Midwest would do more than pay lip service to mine and energy workers who could be put out of work by a transition away from fossil fuels, Peduto said.

In past conversations about economically depressed areas of Pennsylvania and the Midwest, "we basically told people who had given their lives working to build America that they could become coders," he said. "It was tone deaf."

"You want to turn a coal miner into an environmentalist? Put a paycheck in his hand," Peduto added. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: DEMS SET 'CLEAN ECONOMY' GOAL: House Energy and Commerce Democrats unveiled their plan Tuesday to decarbonize the U.S. economy — it hinges on a timeline to introduce legislation by the end of this year while embracing some of the goals of the progressive Green New Deal resolution, Pro's Anthony Adragna reports.

Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said the panel hoped to craft "comprehensive" legislation that would result in a "100 percent clean economy" by 2050. The Democrats vowed to hold hearings over the coming months to gather input from labor unions, environmental groups and businesses as they write legislation.

The Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee holds a hearing today on reducing carbon emissions to reach a zero-carbon economy by mid-century. READ MORE