| | | | | |  | | By Kelsey Tamborrino | Presented by The Wilderness Society | With help from Alex Guillén 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. | | | | | | | — The new chair of the House Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee, Chellie Pingree, discussed her role with POLITICO, vowing to pursue rebuilding the two agencies under her purview: Interior and EPA. — There's a flurry of action on the Hill this week for President Joe Biden's nominees, including a hearing Wednesday for his EPA pick and a committee vote for his choice to head the Energy Department. — The Depression-era Commodity Credit Corp. was used by Trump's Agriculture Department to dole out billions to farmers. Now, the Biden team could use the pot of money to help tackle climate change. WELCOME TO FEBRUARY! I'm your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. The trivia win goes to Catherine Boland of the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association for correctly identifying the four U.S. states that begin and end with different vowels: Idaho, Iowa, Indiana and Oklahoma. For today: What is the southernmost capital city in the world? 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: The future of ethanol under Biden | | A message from The Wilderness Society: President Biden recently took strong action to fight the climate crisis and protect public lands by setting a goal of protecting 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030; pausing new oil and gas leasing on public lands; supporting conservation and clean energy jobs; and prioritizing environmental justice across the government. These actions set a necessary course for the nation to tackle climate change and prioritize the health of our communities and economy. Learn More | | | | | | PINGREE TALKS NEW APPROPRIATIONS ROLE: Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree will take the gavel of the powerful Appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding EPA and Interior Department, and she's vowed to pursue rebuilding the two agencies that she fears lost large numbers of staff and functionality during the Trump administration. In an interview Thursday, Pingree told Pro's Anthony Adragna the selection of Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) to lead Interior was crucial to dealing with the "morass of challenges" facing Native Americans, and she praised Michael Regan, Biden's pick to lead the EPA, as "extremely qualified." | 
Rep. Chellie Pingree speaks at a Jan. 27, 2020 news conference in Portland, Maine. | Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo | The Maine Democrat also discussed her priorities in the new role. "I feel like it's a perfect moment in time because we have this new administration coming in with a clear focus on climate change and environmental issues," she said. "And we've just had four years of an administration that really disliked those issues and dismantled a lot of the capacity at places like the Department of the Interior or the EPA. There's a lot of rebuilding to do." And, Pingree pushed back on Republican criticism to Biden's climate executive action. "It's as if some of the same talking points are on the desk with certain Republicans and they have no idea that the auto industry, for instance, is already tooling up to make electric cars and we'd be crazy to miss that opportunity," she said. "Or that in many states there's more solar industry jobs than there are coal or fossil fuel jobs anymore, even if it's perceived that way. Or that Texas is producing wind power. They're going to need a crash course in what industry does and doesn't care about, instead of sort of clinging to some ideological thoughts from yesterday." Read the full Q-and-A. | | | NOMINEES ON THE MOVE: Regan, Biden's pick to run EPA, will appear before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for his nomination hearing Wednesday. A North Carolina environmental regulator, Regan will likely be pressed by Republicans on his regulatory plans, particularly after a federal appeals court tossed out the Trump EPA's power plant regulations, opening the door for Biden's administration to pursue a more aggressive approach. Incoming ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) has already promised "pointed questions for the Biden administration and its nominees concerning its plans and their legality as it relates to regulating the power sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions" following the appeals court decision last month, Anthony reported for Pros. Not alone: Biden's pick to lead the Agriculture Department, Tom Vilsack, will also appear for his nomination hearing Tuesday before the Senate Agriculture Committee. And his pick to lead the Labor Department, Marty Walsh — who will likely play a critical role in Biden's climate plans that hinge on the labor movement's support for clean energy — appears before the Senate HELP Committee on Thursday. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is expected to vote to advance Biden's nominee to head the Energy Department, Jennifer Granholm, on Wednesday morning. | | | | A message from The Wilderness Society:   | | | | | | EPA ASKS COURT TO KILL SCIENCE RULE: The Biden administration on Sunday night asked a federal judge in Montana to vacate the Trump-era scientific transparency rule (Reg. 2080-AA14) and send it back to EPA. The move comes just days after the judge indicated he has "significant doubt" about the agency's basic legal authority to even issue the rule. "In these circumstances, Defendants acknowledge that vacatur of the Final Rule is appropriate and therefore respectfully request that the Court vacate the Final Rule and remand the matter to EPA," the agency wrote in its Sunday motion. It asked for a ruling by Tuesday, noting the rule is slated to take effect on Friday, though EPA could delay it further on its own if it is not vacated by then. THE $30B FUND AT USDA: There's a $30 billion pot of money at the Agriculture Department that the Biden administration wants to deploy to tackle climate change, support restaurants and kickstart other programs without waiting for Congress, POLITICO's Liz Crampton reports. The Commodity Credit Corp. was previously used in narrow ways to support farm income and prices, like helping cotton growers with ginning costs and purchasing cheese to boost dairy farmers. It's also used to fund certain conservation programs, foreign market development, export credit and commodity purchases. But under President Donald Trump it became a signature tool used to dole out billions in aid to farmers suffering from the administration's trade wars. | 
President Joe Biden looks on as Tom Vilsack, Biden's nominee to head the Agriculture Department, delivers remarks at the Queen Theater Dec. 11, 2020 in Wilmington, Del. | Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | Trump's Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue "certainly took the training wheels off," said Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group. Perdue's aggressive approach could now give Vilsack wide leeway to pursue his own priorities. Biden officials have their own ideas about how the money should be spent, setting up a tug-of-war over its limited resources. The trick will be convincing Congress that the USDA has the authority to use funds to create a "carbon bank" to pay producers for using sustainable farming practices to capture carbon in soil. Vilsack already indicated in an interview with the Storm Lake Times that he believes he will have significant executive authority through the corporation and he will "create demonstration projects that can be incorporated as full programs into the next farm bill in two years." But Vilsack could run into some problems before the USDA can start writing checks, Liz reports. His intentions with the CCC are expected to draw questions during his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday. The fund, which borrows from the U.S. Treasury, must be replenished through the congressional appropriation process. CUOMO AIDE TO LEAD BOEM: Amanda Lefton, first assistant secretary for energy and environment under New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is widely expected to lead the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management under Biden, multiple sources familiar with the move tell Pro's Marie J. French . Lefton came to the Cuomo administration after working as a policy expert at The Nature Conservancy in New York for seven years. Why it matters: BOEM is a key agency for both Biden's and Cuomo's clean energy agendas. New York policymakers have a lengthy wishlist, starting with opening more areas for leases and speedier permitting for offshore wind projects. | | | | THE UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO OFFICIAL WASHINGTON: Washington hasn't slowed down in 2021. A new administration and Congress are off and running, and our new Playbook team is two steps ahead of the pack to keep you up to speed. The new Playbook foursome of Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza and Tara Palmeri is canvassing every corner of Washington, bringing you the big stories and scoops you need to know—and the insider nuggets that you want to know—about the new power centers and players. "This town" has changed. And no one covers this town like Playbook. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | | WHITE HOUSE HAS 'NO PLANS' TO MEET WITH GOP ON EOs: Biden will not immediately meet with a group of 26 Republican senators who wrote to him objecting to his executive actions blocking permits for the Keystone XL pipeline and putting restrictions on drilling for oil and gas on federal lands, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday. "We have no plans for a meeting of that kind that I can read out for you at this point in time — sounds like a lot of people to be in a meeting during Covid, too — but he is certainly engaged on an individual basis," she said at a press briefing. The Republicans, led by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and joined by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, asked for a meeting soon to discuss concerns about job losses in the fossil fuel sector from Biden's early executive orders, Anthony reports . "Industries which will create new 'green jobs' that can replace the ones lost are still years away from maturing, and provide no immediate hope for our workers," they wrote. As ME highlighted last week, Biden's order pausing new leases for drilling on public lands has drawn loud pushback from Republicans, and we're closely watching the reaction in New Mexico, a blue state that relies heavily on oil revenue to fund its budget. Case in point: The mayor of Carlsbad, N.M., sent a letter obtained by ME to Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, as well as Rep. Yvette Herrell (R), last week that said "an unchecked suspension will ultimately cost tens of thousands of New Mexicans their jobs and result in this state losing billions of dollars." The letter adds that "the vast oil and gas resources beneath the Delaware Basin" are the key to its economic recovery from the pandemic. BIPARTISAN GROUP LAUNCHES TO PROTECT AMAZON: A bipartisan group of former Cabinet officials and climate negotiators is pressing the Biden White House to protect Amazon rainforests, issuing a spate of policy recommendations Congress and special climate envoy John Kerry can take to mobilize $20 billion. The group's recommendations call for invoking public and private funding, trade, supply chains and diplomacy. Dubbed The Climate Principals, it includes Bruce Babbitt, former Interior secretary under President Bill Clinton; William Reilly, former EPA administrator under President George H.W. Bush; Todd Stern, former special envoy for climate change during the Obama administration; and Christine Whitman, former EPA chief under George W. Bush; as well as Tim Wirth and Frank E. Loy, undersecretaries of state for global affairs in the Clinton administration, and Stuart Eizenstat, who led the U.S. delegation during the Kyoto talks. | | A message from The Wilderness Society: Thank you, President Biden, for showing us that clean air matters, clean water matters, environmental justice matters, jobs matter and people matter. After four years of division and disregard for truth, science and justice we are ready to make our public lands part of the climate solution. Keep up the fight. | | | | | | APPEAL COURT STRIKES DOWN OZONE TRADING PROGRAM: The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a key trading provision included in a rule implementing the 2015 ozone air quality standard, Pro's Alex Guillén reports . In 2018, EPA issued a rule to implement the 2015 ozone standard of 70 parts per billion, which included an "interprecursor trading program" that allowed state permitting authorities to satisfy offset requirements by swapping reductions of NOx for reductions of VOCs, or vice versa. A three-judge panel on Friday agreed with environmental groups that the Clean Air Act does not allow for such a trading program. Congress would have used different language in key statutory passages if it wanted EPA to allow interprecursor trading for offsets, wrote Judge David Tatel, joined by Gregory Katsas and Harry T. Edwards. The panel struck down two other provisions as well. | | | REPORT: EXXON, CHEVRON TEST WATERS FOR MERGER: Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth and Exxon CEO Darren Woods spoke last year about combining the two oil giants, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the talks. The two executives reportedly spoke shortly after the coronavirus pandemic began, and the people said the discussions were described as preliminary and aren't ongoing, but could come back in the future. Such a deal, should it come to fruition, would be one of the largest corporate mergers ever. REGULATOR OKs PERMIT FOR LINE 5 TUNNEL: Enbridge won approval Friday from a Michigan environmental agency to build a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac to house its proposed Line 5 replacement, Pro's Lauren Gardner reports. The decision affirmed the conclusion drawn by the state's natural resources department that the current pipeline system poses an environmental risk to the Great Lakes. But while the agency acknowledged the proposed tunnel project is controversial, it said Enbridge's application showed it could be built in compliance with state laws. | | | — Greg Dotson is joining the Senate EPW Committee as its new chief counsel, replacing Andrew Rogers, who left the committee to become chief counsel for the Federal Highway Administration. Dotson is a professor at the University of Oregon School of Law and previously was vice president for energy policy at the Center for American Progress. He also was a long-time energy and environment policy staffer for former Rep. Henry Waxman and was the lead staffer on the Waxman-Markey bill. — Evergreen Action Co-founder Jamal Raad is now executive director; Sam Holman, who previously ran Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's digital media program, is now visual director; and Holly Burke, senior communications adviser to the Maine Democratic Party in the 2020 Senate race, is now press secretary. Co-founder Wes Gobar, previously executive aide and confidential assistant to Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, is deputy press secretary and Becca Ellison, the team's former senior policy fellow, is now policy manager. | | | | JOIN TUESDAY - THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN ENERGY: President Joe Biden is pushing for an ambitious agenda to tackle the climate crisis amid a gridlocked Washington. Biden's signature plan "Build Back Better" includes a $400B investment in clean energy research, establishing a new agency to focus on climate, among other initiatives. Join POLITICO for a virtual conversation to explore policy proposals and practices to help communities with economies that rely on fossil fuels to navigate the energy transition. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | — "10 Senate Republicans seek meeting with Biden on Covid relief," via POLITICO. — "Two Biden priorities, climate and inequality, meet on black-owned farms," via The New York Times. — " Biden environmental challenge: Filling vacant scientist jobs," via Associated Press. — "Shareholders create coalition to pressure Exxon for change," via Reuters. — "With Democrats in power, an emboldened environmental movement confronts them," via Los Angeles Times. — "Biden revokes oil drilling permits for additional review," via Bloomberg. THAT'S ALL FOR ME! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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