| | | | | |  | | By Kelsey Tamborrino | Presented by Chevron | With help from Anthony Adragna, Eric Wolff and Daniel Lippman Editor's Note: Morning Energy is a free version of POLITICO Pro Energy's morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro . | | | | | | | — Climate activists who helped rally support for Joe Biden are now testing their political capital by putting the president-elect's nominees through a kind of purity test to make sure they are devoted to eliminating fossil fuels. — The Republican Steering Committee will pick the new top Republicans on the Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources panels today. — The Energy Department unveiled new guidance aimed at fueling a domestic supply chain of critical minerals. WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY! I'm your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. Cheniere's Khary Cauthen was the first to correctly name former Deputy Energy Secretary Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, who, alongside her brother, were the first sibling team of Rhodes scholars. Today marks the 50-year anniversary of the formation of the EPA. In honor of the occasion, today's question: Who served as the permanent EPA administrator after William Ruckelshaus? Send your tips and trivia answers to ktamborrino@politico.com. 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. On today's episode: Climate change: A mortgage disaster in the making? | | | | | | BIDEN FACES CLIMATE PURITY TEST: Many green activists who supported Joe Biden are now calling on him to reject anyone for a climate-focused post in his administration who previously worked with fossil fuel companies or Wall Street firms that invested in coal, oil or natural gas. But that no-compromise stance is causing splits inside the climate movement, Pro's Zack Colman reports this morning, since it would prevent some top Obama-era officials with years of experience from helping implement the climate policies that Biden has said would be a centerpiece of his presidency. Look no further than the news this week that Biden plans to nominate Brian Deese to lead his National Economic Council. Deese is a former Obama adviser who spearheaded some of the former president's most successful climate moves, but he has since joined BlackRock to help the investment management giant bring climate change into its decision-making. | 
Brian Deese, senior adviser, right, accompanied by White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, speaks to the media at the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 19, 2015. | AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin | "There's a certain amount of pressure [Biden's team will] expect, and that's appropriate," said Democratic strategist and former Obama adviser John Podesta. "Where you risk your credibility is where the litmus test you're applying ends up producing a result against your own interest. And I would argue that's the case with respect to Deese." Despite praise from some greens, including 350.org founder Bill McKibben, Deese's work at BlackRock prompted groups like the Revolving Door Project to warn against his hire. Some activists say the climate crisis has only worsened over the past four years, and the lost time means protecting the planet now requires a more aggressive effort by a government free of people who may be sympathetic to the fossil fuels that are blamed for the problem. "We're sort of being told the only people qualified to address the problem we're facing are the people who have already had the opportunity to work on those things," said Moira Birss, climate and finance director with Amazon Watch. "But they didn't fix the problem the first time." | | A message from Chevron: It's only human to want to build a better future for all. Chevron is working together with women and minority owned businesses, spending $4 billion since 2014. Because valuable ideas only come when you value everyone. Learn more. | | | | | | NEW LEADERS INCOMING: The Republican Steering Committee gathers today to select the top new GOP lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources committees — panels with sweeping authority over energy, environmental and public lands issues. It's a three-way race at E&C among Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, Michael Burgess of Texas and Bob Latta of Ohio, though most watchers give the edge to McMorris Rodgers. That's in part due to her tenure in House leadership — she served six years as chair of the Republican Caucus — and the historic prospect of her elevation. McMorris Rodgers would be the first woman of either party to serve in a leadership role on E&C. Burgess, ranking member on E&C's Health Subcommittee, would bring a medical background at a time when health care is expected to remain a top tier issue for Congress and a Texan understanding of energy issues. Latta is seen as a less likely pick, but said in a statement he's "intimately familiar with a broad span of policy issues" and authored laws in each of the panel's subcommittees. Over at the Natural Resources Committee, it appears to be a two-man race between Reps. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas and Paul Gosar of Arizona, though most observers tell ME they think Westerman is almost certain to prevail. Westerman worked closely with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy last year on a push to plant 1 trillion trees, as the party unveiled a modest set of proposals to address climate change. Gosar is the outgoing chair of the Congressional Western Caucus, who has previously referenced " climate hoax believers" and continues to spread baseless voter fraud claims following last month's election. Reminder: These races are to replace retiring E&C ranking member Greg Walden of Oregon and Natural Resources ranking member Rob Bishop of Utah. DeLAURO BACKED BY STEERING FOR APPROPS CHAIR: The Democratic House Steering and Policy Committee endorsed Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut on Tuesday as the next chair of the Appropriations Committee. DeLauro has been in a three-way fight with Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Marcy Kaptur of Ohio for nearly a year over the gavel. Kaptur, the most senior Democrat on the spending panel, also chairs the Energy-Water subcommittee. But the battle isn't over yet, Pro's Caitlin Emma and Sarah Ferris report; a final vote among the full Democratic caucus is set for Thursday. While the full caucus typically backs the Steering Committee's pick, an upset has occurred as recently as 2014. MINERALS HITCH A RIDE? A provision in the latest Senate Republican offer for a coronavirus relief package contains the text of a Senate Energy Committee "proposal to make us less dependent on China and other unstable, unreliable and hostile regimes for critical minerals." That appears to refer to the American Mineral Security Act, S. 1317 (116) , a bipartisan proposal that would require greater analysis of the nation's supply of critical minerals. However, Democrats appear unlikely to support Majority Leader Mitch McConnelll's slimmed-down offer. FOR YOUR RADAR: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee this morning will take up bipartisan legislation, S. 4897 (116), from Chair John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) that would expand advanced nuclear technologies and revitalize domestic nuclear energy supply chain infrastructure. | | | |   | | | | | | KNOWING MARY NICHOLS: Mary Nichols, a Yale-trained lawyer who first helmed the California Air Resources Board in the 1970s, has made a career of bringing industry on board with groundbreaking environmental policies in ways that others have struggled — and failed — to replicate, Pro's Debra Kahn reports . One reason is that she's better than most at negotiating with industry. | 
California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols looks on during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | Nichols' ability to convince wary policymakers and industry executives that the environment and economy are not at odds lies at the heart of her success in forging a bipartisan consensus on climate change action in California. And it may be the reason that Nichols, who is termed out as chair of the state air pollution agency at the end of the year, tops the list of Biden's potential picks to head the EPA, although she's not a slam dunk for the job. Under Biden, EPA will need to reverse the Trump administration's rollbacks of climate policies and go even farther. Getting businesses on board and convincing them that environmental progress doesn't come at the expense of economic gains — during a deep recession and pandemic-induced economic anxiety, no less — will be key. Even if she doesn't wind up heading the EPA , whoever does is likely to use her playbook going forward as the incoming Biden administration races to make up time lost during the Trump years, Debra reports. "The way I have operated and the way I've been successful is because I've been able to bring in the affected stakeholders and also maintain the momentum of the agencies themselves," Nichols said. Related: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has told the the Biden transition team he supports nominating Nichols to lead EPA, a person with direct knowledge of the conversation tells Pro's Anthony Adragna. | | | | TUNE IN TO OUR GLOBAL TRANSLATIONS PODCAST: The world has long been beset by big problems that defy political boundaries, and these issues have exploded in 2020 amid a global pandemic. Global Translations podcast, presented by Citi, unpacks the roadblocks to smart policy decisions and examines the long-term costs of the short-term thinking that drives many political and business decisions. Subscribe for Season Two, available now. | | | | | | | | DOE ISSUES GUIDANCE FOR CRITICAL MINERALS: New guidance from the Energy Department aims to boost a domestic supply chain of critical minerals, including rare earth elements, through shifting federal loan funding that President Donald Trump previously proposed eliminating. A notice posted Tuesday in the Federal Register directs the department's Loan Programs Office to "broadly" interpret the Title XVII and Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan programs to encourage the manufacturing, recycling and recovery of critical minerals and other minerals, Pro's Sarah Cammarata and Eric Wolff report. A department official told reporters Tuesday that the programs had never been used to develop critical minerals before. The guidance follows a September executive order from Trump that directed a multi-agency push to expand U.S. production of rare earth minerals. China has dominated the rare earth industry, and the U.S. is reliant on Beijing for the majority of its supply. The U.S. has no domestic production of 14 of the 35 critical minerals, a DOE official said. LISTEN UP: Tune into the newest episode of POLITICO's podcast Global Translations that digs into cobalt and its role in lithium-ion batteries that power smart devices and electric vehicles. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE BLENDING RULE: Growth Energy, an ethanol trade group, alerted EPA that it will sue after the agency missed its Monday's statutory deadline to finalize the 2021 blending rule. EPA hasn't even proposed a rule, making it almost impossible, given commenting requirements, to finalize anything by the end of the year. The agency could take no action until inauguration, leaving the issue for the Biden administration. | | | VINEYARD PRESSES PAUSE ON PERMITTING REVIEW: Vineyard Wind has temporarily paused the federal permitting review for the nation's first commercial-scale offshore wind power facility as it conducts its "final due diligence." The company announced Tuesday it had selected GE wind turbine generators for the 800-megawatt project, the first utility-scale offshore wind installation in the U.S. and that it would temporarily withdraw its construction and operations plan from further review by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to allow a final technical review including GE's Haliade-X wind turbine generators. Vineyard Wind expects the review to take several weeks. "While the decision to pause the ongoing process was difficult, taking this step now avoids potentially more federal delays and we are convinced it will provide the shortest overall timeline for delivering the project as planned," CEO Lars Pedersen said in a statement. SIEMENS' EMISSIONS PROGRESS: Siemens announced this morning it has reduced its Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 54 percent since 2014 and is on track to be carbon neutral by 2030. The company's CEO pledged back in 2015 it would become carbon neutral in all of its operations by 2030. "At present, we (Siemens Energy) have already reduced our CO2 emissions by nearly 1.2 million metric tons of CO2 compared to 2014," the company said in its 2020 sustainability report released today. Company-wide, the report said, more than 70 percent of Siemens electricity needs for fiscal 2020 came from green electricity. | | | | NEXT WEEK - DON'T MISS THE MILKEN INSTITUTE FUTURE OF HEALTH SUMMIT 2020: POLITICO will feature a special edition Future Pulse newsletter at the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit. The newsletter takes readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of global health industry leaders and innovators determined to confront and conquer the most significant health challenges. Covid-19 has exposed weaknesses across our health systems, particularly in the treatment of our most vulnerable communities, driving the focus of the 2020 conference on the converging crises of public health, economic insecurity, and social justice. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage from December 7–9. | | | | | | | | — Kimberly Harriman is joining AVANGRID, Inc. as VP for state government and public affairs. She most recently was SVP of public and regulatory affairs at the New York Power Authority. — Alex Fitzsimmons will be a senior program director at ClearPath. He previously was deputy assistant Energy secretary for energy efficiency. — New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine McCabe will step down from her post early next year and retire from public service, POLITICO's Samantha Maldonado reports. McCabe briefly served as the head of EPA before moving to New Jersey. — The INGAA Foundation board of directors elected Susan Waller as the new chair of the organization, and Marty Jorgensen as vice chair. Waller is currently executive director of Natural Allies for Clean Energy, while Jorgensen is president of Barnard Pipeline, Inc. — Greg Sopkin has rejoined Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP as a partner in the Denver office. Sopkin was previously EPA's Region 8 administrator. | | | — "Groups allege Interior extended Minnesota mine leases after pressure campaign," via POLITICO Pro. — "U.S. air monitors routinely miss pollution — even refinery explosions," via Reuters. — "Tackling the natural gas industry's biggest problem," via OilPrice.com. — "Peak Oil is suddenly upon us," via Bloomberg. — "BlackRock unveils new way to assess climate investment risk," via Axios. THAT'S ALL FOR ME!
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