Advanced BioFuels USA

by Kelsey Tamborrino (Politico’s Morning Energy)  With Democrats preparing to run the House, here’s how the committee leadership shuffle is expected to work out.

— Energy and Commerce Committee: New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone will grab the gavel of this panel with broad EPA, DOE, FERC and other energy-related jurisdiction. Current Chairman Greg Walden is expected to slot into ranking member.

— Natural Resources Committee: Arizona Democrat Raúl Grijalva will run this panel with oversight of Interior (where Secretary Ryan Zinke’s scandals will immediately go under the microscope), while Utah Republican Rob Bishop becomes ranking member in what’s expected to be his final term in Congress.

— Oversight Committee: Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings will lead the powerful panel tasked with oversight of vast swaths of the Trump administration. It’s not yet clear who his Republican counterpart will be with current Chairman Trey Gowdy retiring from Congress.

— Science Committee: It’ll be Texas Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson with the gavel, though her Republican counterpart isn’t yet set. Oklahoma Rep. Frank Lucas appears to have the inside track for the spot if he wants it, though he’s also interested in becoming the top Republican on the Financial Services Committee. Johnson promised she would “address the challenge of climate change, starting with acknowledging it is real, seeking to understand what climate science is telling us, and working to understand the ways we can mitigate it.”

ROLODEX CHEAT SHEET: The lawmakers have the gavels, but here are top staffers they’ll be leaning on:

— E&C Committee: Jeff Carroll, staff director. Democratic leadership on the committee promises to press the Trump administration on issues like climate change. Republicans and Democrats alike also speak highly of Rick Kessler , now a senior adviser on the committee and a one-time chief of staff for former E&C impresario Rep. John Dingell.

— Oversight Committee: Dave Rapallo, staff director. Armed with subpoena power, the committee will be leading the biggest investigations into the Trump administration, and Rapallo is a veteran of the Henry Waxman-led Oversight Committee.

— Natural Resources Committee: With more than two decades of experience on the House Natural Resources Committee, David Watkins will bring a wealth of policy and institutional knowledge as the panel conducts oversight of Zinke’s controversies and potential conflicts of interest between the Trump administration and its “energy dominance” agenda.

— Science Committee: Dick Obermann , the new chief of staff for the committee, is a literal rocket scientist, holding a doctorate in aerospace and mechanical science from Princeton. Obermann has been with the committee since 1990, starting as a science adviser to the subcommittee on space. 

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2020 vision: Democrats are also already looking toward the 2020 election, and Nancy Pelosi , who’s likely to be speaker of the House, wants to avoid boxing candidates and the party into politically perilous positions, a House Democratic aide told Anthony and Zack. “There isn’t right now any sort of Democratic climate bill. Leadership is going to have to work this out,” the aide said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal party deliberations freely. “She thinks about herself in terms of, ‘I have to look out for the potential nominee,’ so there is going to be some tension there,” the aide said.

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Scott poised to take Senate seat: Florida Gov. Rick Scott appears on course to knock out incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, POLITICO’s Marc Caputo reports. A win for Scott would mean prevailing in a state where climate change is central, and where a red tide and blue-green algae haunted voters throughout the campaign.

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— Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who has tried to steer his party toward action on climate change, lost his reelection bid to Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. Curbelo is co-chair of the House Climate Solutions Caucus, which saw its Republican ranks thin considerably in the election. He also sponsored a carbon fee bill that would have increased highway funding. Curbelo pressed his climate credentials during the campaign in hopes of setting himself apart from other Republicans who environmentalists and liberal critics accused of using the caucus to greenwash their poor records records fighting climate change. Mucarsel-Powell, a former associate dean at Florida International University, earned the endorsement of the Climate Hawks Vote super PAC.

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Paul Blair of Americans for Tax Reform, on Twitter , singled out Curbelo’s carbon tax as the reason for his loss. But teasing out how the climate change issue affected those races is difficult. Many of those Republicans were in moderate districts that succumbed to a motivated Democratic base, Jerry Taylor, president of the libertarian Niskanen Center, which backed Curbelo’s carbon tax bill, tweeted in response to Blair.

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— Washington voters rejected Initiative 1631, knocking down what would have been the nation’s first fee on carbon emissions, Anthony reports. The oil and gas industry spent heavily to convince voters to reject the measure, and its loss is a significant blow to environmentalists who had hoped to score state-level wins to fight climate change.

— Nevada voters rejected a ballot initiative to break up the state’s power monopoly, after its largest utility flooded $60 million into the campaign, Pro’s Darius Dixon reports.

— Voters kept California’s gas tax alive by rejecting a ballot measure that would have repealed the 12-cent state tax increase, Zack reports. The tax increase was a key part of the funding bill Gov. Jerry Brown signed last year, but became a rallying cry for conservatives who said the ballot measure’s passage would send a signal that similar policies are politically unpopular 

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— Florida voters approved a ballot measure Tuesday to permanently ban offshore drilling for oil and natural gas on all state-owned waters, which extend three nautical miles into the Atlantic Ocean and nine nautical miles into the Gulf of Mexico.

QUOTABLE: “What we learned from this election, in states like Colorado, Arizona, and Washington, is that voters reject policies that would make energy more expensive and less reliable to them, their families, and the larger economy,” American Energy Alliance President Tom Pyle said in a statement.

GOVERNORS FOR CLEAN ENERGY: Democrats with strong clean-energy platforms took multiple governorships last night.   READ MORE

Midterms 2018: Mixed Results for the Renewable Energy Agenda (Green Tech Media)

Voters rejected most ballot measures aimed at curbing climate change (Washington Post)

The Energy 202: The nation just elected a bunch of governors who campaigned on clean energy (Washington Post)

GAVEL GAZING: (Politico’s Morning Energy)

Clean energy ballot initiatives fare better at local than state level (Utility Dive) 

Nearly a third of Democrats who flipped U.S. House seats refuse Fossil Fuel industry money (Oil Change United States)

House Dems plan to bring back committee on climate change (The Hill)

Working With a New Congress: Farm Groups Can Work With House Democrats on Some Issues, NCGA CEO Says (DTN The Progressive Farmer)

Midterms shift balance in Washington for oil sector (Houston Chronicle)

American Voters Just Sent a Surprising Message About the Trade War (Bloomberg)

Democrats plan to use House majority to prep for major climate change legislation in 2020 (Washington Examiner)

2018 Midterm Elections—Implications for the Bioeconomy  (Environmental and Energy Study Institute)

5 Election Winners to Watch on Climate as Environment Crusaders Head to Congress (Inside Climate News)

The Energy 202: Green protests at Pelosi’s office signal rift over Democratic climate strategy (Washington Post)

CLIMATE CONTRETEMPS:  and HEIR APPARENT? (Politico’s Morning Energy)

Defiant in defeat, Carlos Curbelo says climate change activism will help GOP (Washington Examiner)

LET’S MAKE A (GREEN NEW) DEAL: (Politico’s Morning Energy)

Excerpt from Politico’s Morning Energy: Another Democratic congressman is pointing to climate change as the top item on his agenda when the House changes hands next year. New York Rep. Paul Tonko, who’s expected to wield the gavel at the Energy and Commerce Committee’s environment panel, tells Pro’s Eric Wolff that he’s looking to turn up the oversight of the Trump administration, and that his goal would be to ensure “the top priority will be a bold response to climate change,” he said.

But Tonko also echoes what POLITICO has previously reported : The prospects of the party moving any climate change legislation under the Trump administration are slim. “Being realistic, it may be tough for legislation to be approved by this administration, but there are many acts to building a legislative agenda. We’ll be looking into an agenda that would advance efficiency, grid modernization, and maybe rolling it into a larger infrastructure bill that addresses both improving resilience for adaptation and investing in our infrastructure with issues like [electric vehicle] charging deployment,” he tells Eric. Read the full interview. READ MORE

Excerpt from Utility Dive:  An increasing number of Congressional representatives have pledged to refuse campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry as well. More than 30 members of Congress have pledged to not take donations from the fossil fuels industry, including about a third of the Democrats who flipped House seats this week, according to climate advocacy group Oil Change USA.

Excerpt from Houston Chronicle:  After almost a decade of oil-friendly Republicans controlling Congress, the energy sector faced a dramatically different landscape Wednesday on Capitol Hill.

Where Republicans pushed an end to the oil export ban and looser environmental regulations around drilling, the new Democratic-led House is expected to be more interested in combating climate change than boosting oil and gas production.

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“It’ll be noisier. There will be hearings o-rama. But in terms of action not so much,” said Robert McNally, president of the Rapidan Energy Group, a consulting firm outside Washington. “We don’t see them rolling President Trump, but the pace of deregulation at EPA will probably slow down because officials will be much busier dealing with subpoenas.”

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Without key allies like Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, who lost to political newcomer Lizzie Fletcher, and Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, who lost to former NFL player Colin Allred, energy executives are expected to be called to Washington to explain their role in the Trump administration’s regulatory rollbacks.

But looking across the nation, Tuesday’s election did not come without some good news for Texas’ oil business.

A proposed carbon fee in Washington state was defeated in a referendum, as was a Colorado proposal to ban oil and gas drilling within roughly half a mile of buildings. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., who has been campaigning for a carbon tax, narrowly lost his re-election bid.  READ MORE

Excerpt from Oil Change United States: Oil Change United States-endorsed climate leaders who won their elections include:

Ilhan Omar, U.S. House, MN-05

Deb Haaland, U.S. House, NM-01

Nika Elugardo, Massachusetts State House, 15th Suffolk District

Danielle Friel Otten, Pennsylvania State House, 155th District

Stephanie Garcia Richard, Public Lands Commissioner of New Mexico

Full list of No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge signers: http://nofossilfuelmoney.org/pledge-signers/

No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge signers who won their elections include:

Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senate, CA

Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senate, VT

Ruben Gallego, U.S. House, AZ-07

Barbara Lee, U.S. House, CA-13

Ro Khanna, U.S. House, CA-17

Zoe Lofgren, U.S. House, CA-19

Katie Hill, U.S. House, CA-25 (likely winner)

Nanette Barragán, U.S. House, CA-44

Harley Rouda, U.S. House, CA-48 (likely winner)

Mike Levin, U.S. House, CA-49 (likely winner)

Darren Soto, U.S. House, FL-09

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, U.S. House, FL-26

Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. House, HI-02

Jesús “Chuy” García, U.S. House, IL-04

Jan Schakowsky, U.S. House, IL-09

Ayanna Pressley, U.S. House, MA-07

Jamie Raskin, U.S. House, MD-08

Chellie Pingree, U.S. House, ME-01

Andy Levin, U.S. House, MI-08

Rashida Tlaib, U.S. House, MI-13

Dean Phillips, U.S. House, MN-03

Ilhan Omar, U.S. House, MN-05

Chris Pappas, U.S. House, NH-01

Deb Haaland, U.S. House, NM-01

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, U.S. House, NY-14

Madeleine Dean, U.S. House, PA-04

Mary Gay Scanlon, U.S. House, PA-05

Mary Gay Scanlon, U.S. House, PA-07 (special election)

Susan Ellis Wild, U.S. House, PA-07

Susan Ellis Wild, U.S. House, PA-15 (special election; likely winner)

Elaine Luria U.S. House, VA-02

Jennifer Wexton, U.S. House, VA-10

Pramila Jayapal, U.S. House, WA-07

Kim Schrier, U.S. House, WA-08 (likely winner)

Adam Smith, U.S. House, WA-09

Gavin Newsom, Governor of California

Eleni Kounalakis, Lieutenant Governor of California

John Fetterman, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania

David Zuckerman, Lieutenant Governor of Vermont

Mandela Barnes, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin

Dana Nessel, Attorney General of Michigan

Keith Ellison, Attorney General of Minnesota

Jim Condos, Secretary of State of Vermont

Fiona Ma, State Treasurer of California

Beth Pearce, State Treasurer of Vermont

Doug Hoffer, State Auditor of Vermont  READ MORE

Excerpt from SunDay Campaign:  The freshman class of the 116th Congress will have a striking number of members who have been environmental crusaders. With track records of taking on powerful fossil fuel interests or building clean energy businesses, many of them are talking about a “Green New Deal” – a massive federal government effort for clean energy and jobs. They include:
**Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Bronx and Queens, New York
**Sean Casten, suburbs of Chicago, Illinois
**Rashida Tlaib, Detroit, Michigan
**Mike Levin, suburbs of San Diego, California
**Veronica Escobar, El Paso, Texas
Another new House Member to watch is:
**Antonio Delgado, New York’s 19th Congressional District

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Governors-elect in Colorado and Connecticut want a 100% renewables mandate. Approaching 100% is the goal for governors-elect in Illinois, Nevada and Maine. Campaign statements made by governors-elect include:
**Colorado Governor-elect Jared Polis said on his campaign website “I’m running on a plan to bring Colorado to 100% renewable energy by 2040; we can’t afford to wait.”
**Connecticut Governor-elect Ned Lamont said on his campaign website “I support strengthening the state’s RPS to at least 35 percent Class I renewable energy sources by 2025; at least 50 percent by 2030; at least 80 percent by 2040; and 100 percent by 2050.”
**Illinois Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker said on his campaign website “As governor, I will bring all stakeholders to the table to put Illinois on a path toward 100% clean, renewable energy and make sure that every community justly benefits during this transition.”
**Nevada Governor-elect Steve Sisolak said in a campaign video “I am fully supportive of the ballot proposal to increase our renewable energy to 50% by 2030.  In fact, as governor, I’d like to get us on the road to 100%.”
**Maine Governor-elect Janet Mills said “I believe that by 2050 we can transition to a healthy and prosperous economy relying virtually entirely on renewable energy. That’s my goal.”

Excerpt from Politico’s Morning Energy: CLIMATE CONTRETEMPS: Nancy Pelosi’s plan to revive a select committee on climate change is generating pushback on day one from both liberal activists who say Democrats need to do more and from at least one member of the old establishment. Rep. Frank Pallone , who is in line to lead the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, dismissed a new panel as a waste of time because it would duplicate the oversight responsibilities of existing committees without being able to produce new legislation, Pro’s Anthony Adragna reports. “I don’t think it’s necessary,” the New Jersey Democrat said. Pallone’s comments came the same day climate activists protested outside Pelosi’s office demanding more aggressive action to fight climate change.

Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the liberal rising star who joined the protests at Pelosi’s office, pushed in the opposite direction. She is calling for a “Select Committee For A Green New Deal” that would be empowered to write legislation aimed at achieving 100 percent renewable energy in 10 years, among other lofty goals, and she said members who accepted contributions from the fossil fuel industry should not serve on the panel. It’s unclear if those ideas will catch on with most Democrats, but Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the Progressive caucus, endorsed the proposal in a tweet Tuesday. “This is an existential challenge of our time,” he wrote. Rep.-elects Rashida Tlaib and Deb Haaland also endorsed the plan.

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HEIR APPARENT?On the GOP side of the aisle, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick told ME he intends to keep up the push from Republicans for action on climate change in the aftermath of the loss of Rep. Carlos Curbelo, co-founder of the Climate Solutions Caucus. “I’m going to do whatever needs to be done,” the Pennsylvania Republican said. “I’m going to stay with the fight. Somebody’s got to do it.” He called Curbelo, a friend, “irreplaceable.”   READ MORE

Excerpt from Washington Examiner:  Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., defiant after losing his seat in Congress, is taking aim at a segment of the Republican Party that argues his defeat proves that GOP lawmakers cannot win by running on a platform to combat climate change.

Curbelo in an interview Friday in his Washington, D.C. office, expressed anger at conservative groups, such as Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the Heartland Institute, that have cited his loss as proof of the political unpopularity of a carbon tax.

“Those are fraudulent claims,” Curbelo said. “Those groups are as disingenuous and dishonest and corrosive to our politics as groups on the Left.” 

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Curbelo warned liberals, and some environmentalists, to not dismiss Republicans like him and the 20 or so surviving members of the climate caucus, because he contends any future major policy to mitigate global warming must be bipartisan to pass.

“These disingenuous environmental groups need to decide if they want a climate solution or if they want a political solution,” Curbelo said.

Curbelo, a centrist 38-year-old Cuban-American first elected in 2014, used his position as the representative of a low-lying South Florida district that is vulnerable to worsening floods and sea level rise to make the case for legislation to address climate change.

In the interview, he vowed to devote a substantial portion of his life as a private citizen to promoting a carbon tax, which he sees as the “only real solution” to climate change, although he would not detail his specific plans, wanting to wait until after he leaves Congress.

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“One of the big criticisms of Republicans today is it isn’t the party of solutions anymore,” Curbelo said. “Do you want to try to solve big problems and save the planet and a lot of coastal communities, or do you want to exploit this for political gain?”    READ MORE

Excerpt from Morning Energy by Politico: Energized by protests at the offices of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Frank Pallone last week , youth climate advocates will gather today at congressional district offices across the country to urge lawmakers to back Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s call for a special select committee empowered to craft legislation implementing a “Green New Deal.” The Sunrise Movement, which organized the protests, says it already has 10 lawmakers backing a special panel.

Ones to watch: Jesse Meisenhelter, an organizer with Sunrise, said the group expects strong turnout at events in the district offices of Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee (Calif.), David Cicilline (R.I.), Dwight Evans (Pa.), Ted Deutch (Fla.), Diana DeGette (Colo.), Jerry Nadler (N.Y.), Peter DeFazio (Ore.), Jamie Raskin (Md.), Mary Gay Scanlon (Pa.), Ted Lieu (Calif.) and Katherine Clark (Mass.). Sunrise also said it has sent nearly 200 letters to the editor calling for a Green New Deal to news outlets in 21 states.

GREENS JUDGE FUDGE: Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge has not made a final decision on whether to seek the speakership, but some environmental advocates are decidedly cool to her potential bid.  READ MORE