| | | | | |  | | By Kelsey Tamborrino | Presented by the American Petroleum Institute | With help from Samantha Maldonado and Marie J. French 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. PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Energy will not publish from Thursday, Dec. 24–Friday, Jan. 1. We'll be back on our normal schedule on Monday, Jan. 4. | | | | | | | — Congress is expected to vote today on a stimulus package after negotiators reached a deal over the weekend. — President-elect Joe Biden introduced his climate team over the weekend with a promise that they "are committed to facing climate change by delivering environmental justice" as they put the country on a path to eliminating greenhouse gases by mid-century. — Republican senators are already signaling they intend to put up a fight on some of the president-elect's climate and energy nominees. WELCOME TO MONDAY! I'm your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. American Petroleum Institute's Carrie Domnitch gets the trivia win for correctly naming former Interior Secretary Rogers Morton, from Maryland, as the last Interior secretary to be appointed from the East Coast. For today: Which of Santa's reindeer have names associated with weather? 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. | | | | A message from the American Petroleum Institute: Reducing emissions and providing affordable, reliable energy shouldn't be a choice. We can and must do both. Today, America is leading the world in CO2 emission reductions. As we look toward tomorrow and the future, America's natural gas and oil companies are working with the country's brightest minds and organizations to continue that progress while reliably delivering essential energy. Join us to create real, lasting progress – together. | | | | | | DOWN TO THE WIRE: Lawmakers clinched a coronavirus stimulus deal over the weekend after days of negotiations — setting up quick votes to pass the deal today in the House, with the Senate to follow quickly afterward, POLITICO's Burgess Everett, Andrew Desiderio, Melanie Zanona and Heather Caygle report. The $900 billion package will ride alongside a $1.4 trillion bill to fund the government through next September. In the meantime, Congress approved a one-day stop-gap funding bill Sunday , buying a little extra time to avoid a government shutdown. The 11th-hour breakthrough comes after Congress has struggled for months to deliver another relief package. | 
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) heads to his office from the floor of the Senate on Dec. 20, 2020 in Washington, D.C. | Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images | What's inside? The legislative text has yet to be released, but it is expected to include a sprawling energy package that would boost a host of technologies, including energy storage, advanced nuclear power and direct air carbon capture. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer confirmed in a joint statement Sunday the agreement will phase out hydrofluorocarbons, a climate change inducing coolant, and includes clean energy reforms, research and development enhancements, efficiency incentives and extends clean energy tax breaks. The agreement also includes the bipartisan the Water Resources Development Act of 2020, S. 1811 (116), the lawmakers said. In his own statement Sunday night, Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said the spending package would delay the phase downs for wind and solar tax credits, as well as include expanded credits for offshore wind and waste heat to power technology. | | | MEET THE TEAM: President-elect Joe Biden formally introduced his team of six White House and Cabinet officials who will be tasked with eliminating U.S. greenhouse gases by mid-century, POLITICO's Alex Guillén reports . "Today's nominees are ready on Day One, which is essential because we literally have no time to waste," Biden said Saturday at an event in Wilmington, Del. Former EPA chief Gina McCarthy, tapped as the newly created national climate adviser, noted in her remarks that climate change will require action across the board. "It will be my incredible honor to help turn this plan into promises kept by marshaling every part of our government, working directly with communities, and harnessing the force of science and the values of environmental justice to build a better future for my two — very soon to be three — little grandchildren, and for generations of Americans to come," she said. | 
Nominee for secretary of Interior, Rep. Deb Haaland , speaks after President-elect Joe Biden announced his climate and energy appointments at the Queen Theater on Dec. 19, 2020 in Wilmington, Del. | Photo by Joshua Roberts/Getty Images | New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland, the nominee for Interior secretary , noted that the Interior Department has a role to play in addressing impacts of climate change and environmental injustice. "We know that climate change can only be solved with participation of every department and of every community coming together in common purpose — this country can and will tackle this challenge," said Haaland, who, if confirmed, would be the first Native American Cabinet secretary in U.S. history. CONFIRMATION FIGHTS AHEAD: Republicans have begun signaling that they expect to grill Biden's nominees, Alex notes. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) on Friday predicted "a bit of a brawl" over Michael Regan, the nominee for EPA administrator, and Haaland. Cramer specifically criticized Regan, a North Carolina regulator, because the state sued the Trump administration over its Waters of the U.S. rule and for denying permits to the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline's Southgate extension . He also blasted Haaland for supporting the Green New Deal. "We're going to have to stand our ground and fight the fight," he said on Fox Business' "Varney & Co." Meanwhile, Senate Environment and Public Works Chair John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said Sunday that Republicans plan to make Biden's Cabinet nominees "run the gauntlet" at their confirmations if they keep their Senate majority in January, POLITICO's Jesse Naranjo reports. The Senate's No. 3 Republican said the party is "not going to forget what happened with President [Donald] Trump's administration and the delayed process that went through it" — referring to the pace of confirmations for Trump's nominees. Barrasso said the nominees announced so far look like a "third term of the Obama administration" and pointed to former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who has been tapped to run the Energy Department, as an example of a nominee whose past comments on fossil fuels he took issue with, given that Wyoming is a major coal-producing state. Barrasso is slated to take the helm of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which would consider Granholm's nomination. GRANHOLM TALKS HACK: Granholm said Sunday she had not yet been briefed on the scope of the breach at the Energy Department, but said the incoming Biden administration is taking it "extremely" seriously. "As in all things, we are certainly concerned about any secrets being compromised," she said on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" on Sunday. "We haven't gotten that information yet. But, believe me, Joe Biden will have a very significant response. And it may be a multinational response, depending on who is compromised." — The former Michigan governor also discussed an economic opportunity for the U.S. in combating climate change. "There's going to be trillions of dollars spent globally on combating climate change by countries around the world. And so, for us as a nation, we have to decide, are we going to get in the game economically?" she said. "Every country is going to be buying solar panels , and they're going to be buying wind turbines, and they're going to be buying electric vehicles and the batteries, and they're going to upgrade their electric grids. We could be producing that material, those products here in the United States, and stamping them made in America and exporting them around the country," she added. | | | | TUNE IN TO NEW EPISODE OF GLOBAL TRANSLATIONS: Our Global Translations podcast, presented by Citi, examines the long-term costs of the short-term thinking that drives many political and business decisions. The world has long been beset by big problems that defy political boundaries, and these issues have exploded over the past year amid a global pandemic. This podcast helps to identify and understand the impediments to smart policymaking. Subscribe for Season Two, available now. | | | | | | | | TOP REGULATORS PREVIEW CLIMATE ROAD MAP: Federal regulators who may lead Wall Street oversight under Biden vowed Friday to ramp up scrutiny of climate change risks at banks and in financial markets, Pro's Zachary Warmbrodt reports . At an event hosted by the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, top officials from the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission provided a road map for how the agencies will likely approach climate change in the coming years. SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee, who may be tapped to lead the regulator under Biden, said the agency should pursue standardized disclosure requirements for public companies and specific disclosure rules for financial firms that support carbon-intensive industries. FDIC board member Martin Gruenberg meanwhile said regulators should direct big banks to develop detailed plans to deal with climate change and that stress tests should be part of it. He called on federal banking and market regulators to cooperate via the multi-agency Financial Stability Oversight Council and to join the international Network for Greening the Financial System. Asked by CAP founder John Podesta about potential climate stress tests for banks, Fed Gov. Lael Brainard said "scenario analysis" would be potentially useful but that effort would be distinct from existing regulatory stress tests used to assess banks' short-term capital requirements. GUIDE THIS: EPA on Friday released interim guidance mandated by lawmakers in last year's defense bill that lays out the state of the science behind various technologies available for destroying products like firefighting foam, stain-resistant carpeting and manufacturing waste that contains PFAS — no easy feat, given their nickname "forever chemicals." Particularly as the military has moved to incinerate its stocks of PFAS-containing firefighting foam, concern has mounted that such moves simply shift the waste stream into the air. Green groups have called for EPA to ban the disposal of PFAS through incineration, landfills and injection wells until regulations are put in place. | | | | A NEW YEAR, A NEW HUDDLE: Huddle, our daily must-read in congressional offices, will have a new author in 2021! Olivia Beavers will take the reins on Jan. 4, and she has some big plans in store. Don't miss out, subscribe to our Huddle newsletter, the essential guide to all things Capitol Hill. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | DEMS OUTLINE CLIMATE RECOMMENDATIONS: Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) called on Biden over the weekend to ensure that new officials named to his administration are armed "with the staff, budget, and coordinating power needed [to] supercharge the federal fight against the existential threat of climate change, in a way that also catalyzes and empowers local and state initiatives." In a letter to the president-elect , the Democratic senators called on the Biden administration to create "an overarching entity" that reports directly to the president and "is endowed with all the powers necessary to coordinate a national climate strategy across all federal departments and agencies," as a complement to special climate envoy John Kerry's work and to facilitate McCarthy's domestic climate agenda. TO THE PRESIDENT: The Senate passed a bill, H.R. 4031 (116), that would reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative — sending it to the president's desk for his signature. The Trump administration previously sought to slash funding for the broadly bipartisan Great Lakes program, but reversed to support it in the election year. | | | |   | | | | | | TCI MOMENT OF TRUTH: A sweeping regional cap-and-trade program for emissions from car and truck fuels will likely miss out on having two of the largest states in the Northeast sign on to a draft agreement expected today. Six sources familiar with the talks don't expect New York or New Jersey to be among the signatories to a draft memorandum of understanding for the Transportation and Climate Initiative. The two states — and others that don't sign on — will likely continue to engage in discussions, but it's a blow to a policy heralded by supporters as an opportunity to begin ratcheting down the largest source of emissions in the region while raising revenue to fund electric vehicles, mass transit and other clean transportation alternatives. "While this is a regional approach, each state needs to do what they feel is right, but even the fact that a few states are going in shows this policy has potential and each state needs to figure out how it works for them," said Robert Freudenberg, vice president of energy and environment at the Regional Plan Association. The proposal faced opposition from environmental justice groups who were skeptical of a market-based policy without clear guarantees of reduced pollution in the communities where truck depots and distribution hubs exacerbate illnesses linked to poor air quality. New York could consider joining TCI in line with recommendations from the state's Climate Action Council, which won't move forward with a scoping plan for another year. In New Jersey, the Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Transportation are set to brief stakeholders today on a clean transportation plan, the details of which are sparse. The DEP apparently told stakeholders that "they don't think anyone's going to be disappointed on Monday," said a source familiar with conversations. "There's no way everyone's going to be happy on Monday." | | | — "Ottawa unveils small modular nuclear reactor action plan," via POLITICO Pro. — "Council votes to uphold permit for Wyoming's first coal mine in decades," via Casper Star-Tribune. — "In last rush, Trump grants mining and energy firms access to public lands," via The New York Times. — "Interior shuts Washington Monument after Interior secretary tests positive for the coronavirus," via The Washington Post. — " JPMorgan's Lee Raymond steps down from board after 33 years," via Bloomberg. — "APS's plan for closing coal plants could be a gamechanger, analysts say, but who will pay?" via Utility Dive. THAT'S ALL FOR ME! | | | | A message from the American Petroleum Institute: Even as CO2 emissions have dropped, the U.S. has reduced dependence on foreign energy and became one of the world's top energy exporters thanks in part to natural gas. Natural gas has helped provide electricity to millions around the world for the first time. All while American families have enjoyed relatively flat household energy costs over the past 15 years while other costs have jumped. We don't have to choose between making lasting, tangible climate progress and reliable energy; we can and must do both. Join us to learn how we can do even more – together. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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