A risky plan to save the climate

Presented by Chevron: Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

May 16, 2023 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell Presented by Chevron Illustration by Doug Chayka for POLITICO; Photos by Getty Images, iStock The United States is sinking billions of dollars into developing an industry that captures planet-warming pollution and stores it deep underground. But a three-month POLITICO investigation by reporters Ben Lefebvre and Zack Colman found that both the federal government and state agencies lack the resources to process the hundreds of applications they’re receiving for carbon dioxide storage — or properly investigate the safety of the emerging technology. Communities near proposed carbon storage projects fear that caverns full of the gas could leak into their groundwater and that pipelines transporting it could burst. In high concentrations, the colorless, odorless gas can choke people unconscious. Or worse. The gamble: President Joe Biden’s climate law authorized $12 billion to create CO2 storage. Some analysts estimate it could become a $4 trillion industry by 2050. Carbon capture technology is also the cornerstone of the administration’s new plan to slash greenhouse gases from power plants — even though only one power plant in the world is using it at scale. Funding a commercially unproven technology is a massive gamble but one worth taking, said Samantha Gross, who was director for international climate and clean energy at the Energy Department’s Office of International Affairs during the Obama administration. “You want to take some risk — that’s the point. It’s a technology that we need,” said Gross, who now directs the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution. Backlogs and bottlenecks: While the federal dollars are flowing, the permit approvals are not. EPA has processed just two out of the at least 75 applications for carbon storage projects it has received in recent months. That’s in part because Republican lawmakers cut EPA to the bone during the Trump administration. The agency simply lacks the necessary staff. So EPA is now negotiating with states like Louisiana to take the job over. Lawmakers even gave EPA $50 million in 2021 to help transfer oversight of carbon dioxide injection wells to state and tribal governments’ control. But that move troubles locals, many of whom say state governments are even less ready or willing than federal regulators to oversee the safety of injecting massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the ground.   It's Tuesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net. POLITICO Energy Summit: Register here to attend POLITICO’s first-ever energy summit exploring how the U.S. is positioning itself in a complicated energy future and featuring guests such as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi.   A message from Chevron: We’re working to help lower the lifecycle carbon emissions of transportation fuels. Find out how Chevron’s renewable diesel can help fuel the way to a lower carbon future.   Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Gavin Bade breaks down why Biden is trying to reshape the global economic system and what it could mean for America’s energy policy. Cuts both ways The U.S. Supreme Court, as photographed Sept. 2, 2021. | Francis Chung/E&E News The Supreme Court has signaled it could do away with — or at least narrow — a key legal defense for federal environmental rules. That may spell trouble for not just Biden's climate ambitions, but also a future Republican president with different objectives, writes Pamela King. A future president keen to walk back climate regulations could find their hands tied by the absence of the Chevron doctrine, a 40-year-old legal precedent that says courts should defer to agencies’ reasonable interpretation of ambiguous statutes.   A message from Chevron:   Power Centers Flames rise near homes during the Blue Ridge Fire in Chino Hills, Calif., in 2020. | David McNew/Getty Images The West on fire A new study determined that the world’s top corporate carbon emitters are responsible for more than a third of the area burned by wildfires in the western United States and southwestern Canada since the 1980s, writes Chelsea Harvey. The climate attribution study focuses on the top 88 fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers, which emit a majority of the world’s greenhouse gases. The study builds on research connecting rising temperatures with worsening wildfires and the source of the pollution that has spurred them. Debt ceiling talks House Republican leaders are pushing a debt ceiling deal that would include narrow efforts to speed up permits for energy projects, but postpone action on Democrats’ proposals to ease the movement of wind and solar power, writes Josh Siegel. Republicans would offer assurances that they would later take up Democratic proposals to give the federal government a bigger role in approving interstate power transmission lines. Rural electrification The Agriculture Department is kicking off the awards process for nearly $11 billion in funding to move rural parts of the United States away from fossil fuels, writes Brian Dabbs. Drawing from two pots of money enacted in Biden's climate law, the funding is available for a sweeping set of potential projects, from new or retrofitted transmission lines to hydrogen projects and carbon capture. In Other News Unintended consequences: California’s green-fuel program is getting too popular for its own good. Activism: One of Vietnam’s leading environmental activists has been freed from prison five months before the end of her sentence.   DON’T MISS THE POLITICO ENERGY SUMMIT: A new world energy order is emerging and America’s place in it is at a critical juncture. Join POLITICO on Thursday, May 18 for our first-ever energy summit to explore how the U.S. is positioning itself in a complicated energy future. We’ll explore progress on infrastructure and climate funding dedicated to building a renewable energy economy, Biden’s environmental justice proposals, and so much more. REGISTER HERE.     Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Aerial photo of the Washington Monument with the Capitol in the background in Washington, D.C. | Andy Dunaway/Getty Images The Biden administration will begin purchasing lower-carbon construction materials under a new pilot program designed to reduce federal buildings’ climate impacts. Biden vetoed a resolution Tuesday that would rescind his two-year moratorium on tariffs for imports of solar equipment from four Southeast Asian countries. A special election Tuesday in the Philadelphia suburbs could offer Republicans a chance to kneecap Pennsylvania’s capacity for climate action. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE.       A message from Chevron: Renewable fuels can help lower lifecycle carbon emissions in industries around the world. At Chevron, we’re working to bring more renewable fuels to vehicles, today. Our renewable diesel can fuel trucks, trains, heavy-duty vehicles, and more, without requiring new equipment or infrastructure. The fuel—which is made with bio feedstock—has lower carbon intensity than regular diesel. It’s just one of the ways Chevron is committed to increasing our renewable fuel production, and fueling a lower carbon world. Find out more about our renewable diesel.     Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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