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| By Kelsey Tamborrino |
Presented by The Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition (CHFC) |
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Federal Energy Regulatory Commission headquarters in Washington. | Francis Chung/E&E News |
Thursday marks a year since Democrats secured the surprise deal that led to the biggest climate law in U.S. history, with hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies aimed at transforming the economy around green power. But the resulting Inflation Reduction Act still faces a huge gap that threatens to throttle President Joe Biden’s goals. The big problem: The U.S. needs thousands of miles of new transmission lines to support the planned deluge of solar and wind projects. But it can take a decade or more to get a transmission line through all its permitting hoops — and years of vows by lawmakers of both parties have failed to make the process any faster. The debt ceiling deal passed earlier this year mandated a study on the issue, but that’s it. Meanwhile, recent research found that the U.S. must add transmission capacity at double its current rate, or else miss out on half the possible carbon reductions from expanding renewables. In the absence of any legislative rescue, Democrats are looking beyond the Hill for help. Enter FERC: Pressure is now on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — which meets Thursday — to help free up the congested transmission system. The regulatory agency has proposed a rule that would change how to plan and allocate the costs of large transmission lines. “The success or failure of this commission will be defined by how they address these critical transmission rules,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a release this week. Clean energy advocates will be watching Thursday to see how the commission handles a proposal to require grid operators to place a priority on connection requests for projects that have reached certain commercial milestones. The aim is to weed out projects less likely to get built, as Miranda Willson and Kelsey Brugger wrote this week. But experts say the rule would only address part of the problem — easing the large backlog of renewables waiting to be connected to the grid.
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It's Wednesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to ktamborrino@politico.com.
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| A message from The Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition (CHFC): The clean hydrogen future is coming. Let’s get there faster. Clean hydrogen can help power the heavy industries America relies on with lower CO2 emissions. That’s why we support practical clean hydrogen rules in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). So we can build the clean hydrogen industry of the future now using clean power sources America already has today. See who’s working to speed up America’s clean hydrogen economy. |
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Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Zack Colman digs in on the president’s rocky relationship with Big Labor and the climate stakes.
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| A message from The Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition (CHFC):   |
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President Joe Biden shows a wind turbine size comparison chart during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on June 23, 2022. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo |
Gone with the wind Up and down the East Coast, energy companies are struggling to finance planned offshore wind projects, prompting governors and utility regulators to ask for more money so they can start building the turbines they have already promised to deliver. It’s a dynamic that is sowing unrest in statehouses and among a public wary of already-rising power bills, write Ry Rivard and Marie J. French, and it could also threaten Biden’s — as well as the nation’s greenest Democratic governors’ — climate change goals. All of which has positioned 2023 as a crossroads for offshore wind. Advocates are trying to shore up as many projects as they can, in case Republicans hostile to the industry — like former President Donald Trump — retake Washington. “We cannot meet our goals without offshore wind advancing,” said Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters. “Given the length of time it takes to do permitting, we certainly cannot step backward and lose these wind farms.”
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Francis Chung/POLITICO (Supreme Court); joelbeeb/Wikipedia (smokestack); Mary Altaffer/AP (oil rig) |
Full court press
The Biden administration’s biggest climate and energy goals are on the docket across federal courts during the last half of the year, writes Niina H. Farah. Litigation before the courts target fossil fuel deals, including in Alaska’s North Slope and the Gulf of Mexico, as the White House attempts to rapidly increase renewable energy production, as well as FERC’s authority and a price on greenhouse gas emissions. Conservatives launch battle plan
A conservative coalition — dubbed Project 2025 — is out with a sweeping plan to target most of the federal government’s work on climate and clean energy that is designed to be implemented on the first day of a Republican presidency, reports Scott Waldman. It was written by hundreds of conservative policy experts, energy lobbyists, industry consultants and former Trump administration officials. The plan would block the expansion of the electrical grid for wind and solar energy, slash funding for the EPA environmental justice office, shutter the Energy Department’s renewable energy offices, prevent states from adopting California’s electric car standards, and give Republican state officials more power to regulate polluting industries. An act of Congress
More than two dozen members of Congress own electric vehicles, according to a tally by POLITICO's E&E News — an increase from just a handful a few years ago. It comes as EV sales have skyrocketed nationwide. But for now, bipartisan interest in electric hasn’t narrowed the partisan divide about government efforts to promote the technology.
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| HITTING YOUR INBOX AUGUST 14—CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Cut through the jargon and get the latest developments in California as lawmakers and industry leaders adapt to the changing climate. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes. |
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| In charge: Major automakers, including GM, Honda and Stellantis, are making a joint investment to build thousands of EV chargers across the U.S. The plan is to invest at least $1 billion in a joint-venture company that will build out the charging stations. Current news: The Atlantic Ocean’s closely watched circulation system has become slower and less resilient, according to a new analysis, raising the possibility it could collapse within the next few decades.
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| A message from The Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition (CHFC): Clean hydrogen can power the heavy industries our nation relies on with lower CO2 emissions. The Inflation Reduction Act is poised to jump-start the clean hydrogen economy in the US, and help decarbonize critical industries like refining, steel and fertilizer production.
That’s why the Clean Hydrogen Future Coalition supports practical clean hydrogen rules. We can bring clean hydrogen to market faster using the clean power sources America already has today, and annually match that power to hydrogen production, while we invest in the clean hydrogen industry of the future.
America can’t wait to start decarbonizing the industries our nation relies on. We're working to speed up America’s clean hydrogen economy. |
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A showcase of some of our best subscriber content.
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A flare to burn methane from oil production. | Matthew Brown/AP Photo |
The Biden administration announced a new Cabinet-level task force aimed at detecting and cracking down on methane leaks. House Republicans want to cut a $6 billion nuclear program meant to keep struggling reactors from shutting down. Some nuclear energy advocates aren't entirely against the GOP move. House Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, are pushing legislation to nix pro-oil provisions from last year’s climate law. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
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