Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation
| | | | |  | | By Arianna Skibell | |  Oak Creek Power Plant in Wisconsin. | We Energies | | Efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions from power plants used to be overwhelmingly about coal. Now, regulators are turning a lot more attention to natural gas. Yet a last-minute White House effort to include existing gas-burning power plants in a draft carbon regulation released this month forced the Environmental Protection Agency to scramble to broaden the proposal, writes Jean Chemnick. The lack of a detailed analysis of existing gas plants in EPA’s proposal exposes the eleventh-hour push to shoehorn gas into the plan for cutting power-sector emissions. Over the past decade, electricity generated from natural gas has replaced a lot of coal, and that’s increased the emphasis among environmental advocates on the role gas plays as a contributor to climate change. Adding existing gas-fired power to EPA’s proposal is a key component to helping meet the Biden administration’s target of cutting power plant pollution 80 percent by 2030. Natural gas accounts for 43 percent of the heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions tied to electricity generation. Last-minute scramble: EPA’s rushed decision to include existing gas plants can be seen through the agency’s 182-page examination of compliance costs, pollution outcomes and other variables. It employed a peer-reviewed energy economy model to see how the rule could interact with the electric grid, energy markets and recent laws. Ultimately, EPA’s language on gas will change again as it winds its way toward a final regulation — and then on to court. Republicans have already pledged to challenge the EPA rule. “I don’t think that’s their biggest legal problem,” said Jeff Holmstead, a former EPA air chief and a partner at Bracewell LLP, referring to the modeling part. If this looks anything like EPA’s previous efforts to regulate carbon, then attorneys general from red states like West Virginia will carry the torch for killing the regulation. And if the rule survives, it would be the country’s first federal standard for curbing greenhouse gas emissions from electricity producers.
| | | It's Monday — 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.
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Atlas EV Hub | | March marked the highest-ever month for new electric vehicle sales in the U.S., though market share was down slightly at 8.7 percent, according to new data from Atlas Public Policy, an EV advisory group. Tesla continues to dominate the market. Ford's sales dipped, while Stellantis and Daimler had their highest EV sales to date.
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The Colorado River flows at Horseshoe Bend in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area on June 8, 2022, in Page, Ariz. | Brittany Peterson/AP Photo | Water is power
Colorado River states announced a deal to reduce water deliveries to California, Arizona and Nevada to ensure enough water remains in major reservoirs to preserve hydropower generation in the drought-plagued river, writes Jennifer Yachnin. The deal comes after nearly a year of contentious negotiations about how to share the pain of reductions in water use. The Biden administration touted the “historic” proposal, which would require the federal government to give $1.2 billion to the three states and other users taking cuts. Biden's new foe
Elizabeth Murrill, a rising star and major critic of President Joe Biden’s energy and climate agenda, is running to be the first woman to serve as Louisiana’s chief legal officer, writes Niina H. Farah. Her name may not be widely known outside of Republican legal circles, but Murrill played a leading role as the state’s first solicitor general in crafting high-profile GOP court challenges against the Biden administration.
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Trucks drive through the Port of Oakland on March 31 in Oakland, Calif. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | The trucking industry is close to finalizing a plan that would allow electric-powered trucks to use a single type of heavy-duty charger across North America — and possibly the world. At the same time, the House is slated to vote this week on legislation that would block the Biden administration's new rule to curb pollution from heavy-duty trucks. Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) announced he will not run for reelection, leaving behind an environmental legacy that’s spanned more than 20 years. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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