LNG PAUSE MEASURE LEFT OUT OF FOREIGN AID BILLS: Speaker Mike Johnson had floated the idea of tying a provision reversing the Department of Energy’s pause on new liquified natural gas exports to help incentivize conservatives to vote for the bills providing aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. But ultimately, the measure was nowhere to be found in the text released yesterday.
“The LNG [provision] is part of the national security concept and philosophy here, because energy security is national security,” Johnson told reporters during a press conference yesterday. “We tried to put it in this package and every package. We’ll continue to fight for that and we’ll continue to make the case because it’s critical for our stability.”
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee expressed their disappointment that the provision wasn’t included in the bills – but some acknowledged the measure wouldn’t have been enough to win over those that were opposed to funds for Ukraine.
“For the people who are less than excited” about the LNG measure, “they were under the understanding that under all circumstances, we would leverage Ukraine for border” reform, said Rep. Kelly Armstrong. “And so, I don’t know how much getting LNG attached to it helps politically on our side.”
Armstrong, along with Rep. Jeff Duncan, mentioned that they believed leadership was trying to minimize the scope of the package so as to avoid poison pills that could prevent its passage.
Still, E&C subcommittee Chairman Rep. Buddy Carter said he believed that the LNG provision would’ve been “a selling point” to some Republicans.
A number of GOP members had also reasoned that the pause didn’t affect short-term LNG export approvals, but would instead affect long-term approvals – and therefore wasn’t as immediate as the need for foreign aid as geopolitical conflicts around the globe intensified.
“It’s not gonna affect anything today because we’re still building LNG export terminals and exporting LNG, but you have to plan for the future,” Duncan said.
Still, some Democrats were hesitant to call this a win just yet, as lawmakers were still looking through the bills to make sure there weren’t any hidden poison pills. “I’m just concerned that some of these bills will be weighted down with policy that belongs in another discussion,” said Democratic Rep. Paul Tonko. “Getting these immediate efforts done for national security are important, but I can’t see tailoring them around major environment and energy policy.”
Biden-approved package: President Joe Biden expressed his support for the national security supplemental in a statement Wednesday, asking both chambers of Congress to pass the bills.
There are energy-related provisions in the package, however: The fourth bill, which would impose sanctions on Russia and Iran, includes measures that would counter Iran’s efforts to sell its oil. One measure that passed the House earlier this week would expand secondary sanctions on Chinese purchases of Iranian oil. Another provision would sanction people and bodies that help Iran sell its oil.
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VENEZUELA SANCTIONS FALLOUT: The Biden administration’s decision yesterday to re-impose sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas sector over President Nicolás Maduro’s handling of elections is likely to leave some tankers at risk of getting stuck at port, Reuters reports. The U.S. allowed 45 days for a wind-down of purchases, but that may not be enough time to work through the backlog of ships waiting to load in Venezuela, and will likely result in many of them seeking individual licenses.
Republicans call on Biden to go further: Sens. Jim Risch, the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Marco Rubio, who’s been active on policy related to Venezuela, said yesterday in a joint statement that the decision to put the sanctions back in place was “long-overdue and insufficient” given Maduro’s treatment of the opposition party. They asked the administration to persuade the European Union and other “democratic partners” to increase sanctions on the Maduro regime.
BIDEN REPORTEDLY SET TO REIMPOSE TARIFFS ON SOLAR PANELS: The Biden administration plans to reverse a tariff exemption for bifacial solar modules, Reuters reports, citing two people familiar with the White House plans.
The South Korean-based manufacturer Hanwha Qcells, which has two factories in Georgia, had called for an end to the exemption in a request to the U.S. Trade Representative in February, with the support of other domestic manufacturers.
Imposing tariffs on the modules, which account for the bulk of imports, would be a boon to domestic manufacturers, and in turn would aid the Biden administration’s goal of boosting American production of solar. Of note, Georgia’s senators had recently called on Biden to lift the exemption.
Yet tariffs are at odds with the rapid buildout of solar power and have been opposed by installers. The Solar Energy Industries Association said in a statement to Reuters on the reimposition of the tariffs that it hopes the administration “is prepared to directly support increased domestic manufacturing of solar modules by raising the tariff rate quota on cells.”
LNG PAUSE TIMING UPDATE: DOE Assistant Secretary Brad Crabtree said in testimony this morning that the LNG exports pause is going to finish in the first quarter of 2025, as the agency finishes up updating its analysis of the economic and environmental effects of exports.
“We estimate that the update will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2025,” Crabtree said in a hearing in the House Oversight subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs.
Previously, information about the timing of the pause had been limited to hints from Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and others.
NEW YORK TO GIVE OUT REBATES FOR EFFICIENT APPLIANCES UNDER IRA: New York state will begin giving out rebates to households for purchases of energy-efficient appliances this late spring or summer, making it the first state to set up such a program using the $8.8 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding available.
The Department of Energy said today it had approved an application from the state and signed off on a $158 million award. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is set to proceed with the rebates for low-income households.
Households can get up to $14,000 in rebates under the program for energy upgrades, including up to $8,000 for heat pumps, $4,000 for electrical panels, $2,500 for electrical wiring, and $840 for upgraded electric heat pump clothes dryers or electric stoves, ranges, or ovens.
DOE said that 11 other states have submitted applications for the program: Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.
ECUADOR IMPOSES THREE-DAY WORKWEEK BECAUSE OF ENERGY CRISIS: Here’s an example of energy policy gone very wrong: Ecuador has ordered workers to take Thursday and Friday off in an effort to address an energy crisis, the Telegraph reports. The country has been suffering blackouts, thanks in large part to a drought that has limited hydroelectric power.
President Daniel Noboa, though, has blamed the crisis on “saboteurs,” including energy minister Andrea Arrobo, whom he’s fired.
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