What’s Lining up for Phase Four?
by Kelsey Tamborrino (Politico’s Morning Energy) … Both the House and Senate have begun work on surface transportation bills ahead of a September deadline to act, but lawmakers haven’t been able to settle on how to pay for the legislation, Pro’s Sam Mintz reports. House Transportation Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) wants to “double down on an infrastructure package that repairs the breach left by years of neglect.” As for the pay-for, an infrastructure lobbyist told Sam that given the record low gas prices, debate about the gas tax “could re-enter the equation.”
Clean energy: Renewable energy groups are also expected to push for green energy tax credits in the next package, as Pro’s Anthony Adragna, Zack Colman and Gavin Bade reported. The Coalition for Green Capital, a group advocating for a national infrastructure bank, put out new poll data today that found 71 percent of respondents said they’d support Congress including funding in a stimulus bill for the construction of clean energy and transportation infrastructure.
Fossil fuels: There could also be another push to include money for the Energy Department to buy oil to store in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, after the last relief package omitted the funds requested by the department and the president. “Expect both low-carbon and fossil energy interests to press their case for support in coming weeks,” according to analysts at BloombergNEF in a note Friday.
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GREENS WARN OF ‘STEALTH’ FOSSIL FUEL BAILOUTS: Environmental activists want to make sure a corporate debt purchasing program overseen by BlackRock does not turn into “stealth fossil fuel company bailouts,” Pro’s Zack Colman reports. “The Federal Reserve should not prop up industry destroying the climate and creating further risk to the financial system,” wrote Sierra Club, 350.org, Greenpeace and more than two dozen organizations in a letter Friday to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
The green groups requested more details on how the Fed would ensure BlackRock does not use the Fed’s lending powers, backed by the Treasury Department, to purchase the debt of companies in which it already owns a stake to avoid conflicts of interest. The groups also called for oil and gas companies to be denied bailouts that would interfere with a transition away from fossil fuels. READ MORE
A gas tax hike might be needed to spur economic recovery (Washington Post)
Protesting a Va. gas tax increase smacks of anti-tax zealotry (Washington Post)
States are doing it. So why hasn’t Congress increased the federal gas tax? (Washington Post)
Greater Washington Partnership joins national push to end transportation ‘logjams’ (Washington Post)
Trump administration proposes billions in transportation cuts — and new spending (Washington Post)
The Energy 202: Trump pumped up claims about oil and gas during State of the Union (Washington Post)
Mnuchin and top Democrat step up infrastructure talks, but some White House officials are skeptical (Washington Post)
Why the next coronavirus bill won’t come so easy (Politico’s Huddle)
Washington Insider — Tuesday: Next Phase in Virus Relief (DTN Progressive Farmer)
Trump signs $2 trillion CARES Act into law (Ethanol Producer Magazine)
Nearly $2T stimulus package omits direct renewable sector aid after Trump, McConnell opposition (Utility Dive)
SOLAR OUTLOOK DIMS, SETS SIGHTS ON PHASE 4: (Politico’s Morning Energy)
Trump Calls for New $2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill (Wall Street Journal)
WHAT’S IN STORE FOR PHASE 4? (Politico’s Morning Energy)
It Looks Like There Will Be Another Stimulus Bill – But Will It Be Clean and Green? (Our Daily Planet)
Durbin, Duckworth Join Bipartisan Letter Urging USDA To Ensure Continuity Of Food Supply By Supporting Farmers During COVID-19 Pandemic (Office of Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL))
Senate brawl derails fast push for new coronavirus relief (Politico)
Excerpt from Washington Post: According to the March 22 news article “Gas prices have fallen below $2 in 19 states,” gasoline prices are likely to fall even more. How serendipitous that the last time the federal gasoline tax rose (in 1993), the average price of gasoline was $1.11 a gallon, an inflation-adjusted $1.98. The 18.4-cents-a-gallon tax has been stuck in neutral ever since. Any chance Congress will have the courage to double the tax immediately to fund a massive infrastructure program to rebuild roads and bridges and airports?
Imagine what that could do to put people to work, counter the coronavirus’s gut punch to the economy and, surprise, not leave the bill for our grandchildren. (And still leave drivers paying less at the pump than just a few weeks ago; provisions could be made to compensate low-income Americans.) And, if higher prices enticed more commuters to use public transit, it would help counter the damage to those systems. READ MORE
Excerpt from Politico’s Morning Energy: WHAT’S IN STORE FOR PHASE 4? Consensus is building around lawmakers’ next coronavirus relief package, but it might mean some environmental provisions will have to wait, POLITICO’s Heather Caygle and Burgess Everett report. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shifted her tone on Friday, calling for a much more focused “Phase 4” relief package than the sprawling legislation she and other top Democrats were pushing earlier this week. Both in a television appearance and talking with reporters Friday, Pelosi said it’s clear the next tranche of relief funds should be an expansion of the massive $2 trillion package the president signed into law last week.
“While I’m very much in favor of doingsome things we need to do to meet the needs — clean water, more broadband, the rest of that — that may have to be for a bill beyond that right now,” she told CNBC. READ MORE
