FAA AMENDMENTS RUNDOWN: Senators are back in town to negotiate amendments to a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration for the next five years – and lawmakers have introduced a host of measures, looking to cram their legislative priorities into the must-pass bill before a May 10 deadline.
A number of amendments are environment and energy-related – here’s a breakdown of those that caught our attention:
Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto proposed an amendment meant to increase the adoption of electric vehicles at and around airports, and within the travel and tourism sector at large. The amendment would emphasize to states and other recipients of funding from the National Electric Vehicle Formula Program – a bipartisan infrastructure program to build out EV charging stations – to consider strategies for increased EV adoption and stress the importance of driver education of where and how to charge an EV. The amendment would also give grants for charging and fuel infrastructure.
One amendment from Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski would enact the “Alaska Offshore Parity Act,” which requires the Department of Treasury to share more revenues derived from energy and mineral development in the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf. Currently, only revenues generated by certain areas of the OCS region are shared with Alaska. The bill’s enactment, however, will allow newly shared revenues to be used for coastal protection, infrastructure, systems to reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, and higher education.
An amendment from Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich and GOP Sen. Jim Risch would create a pilot permitting program to allow for state agencies and local groups to clean up and improve water quality in and around abandoned hardrock mines. The program was designed for low-risk projects improving water or soil quality. The measure passed the Environment and Public Works Committee in January.
Another amendment, from GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, would provide compensation for victims exposed to nuclear radiation. The bill had previously passed the Senate on a standalone vote, but has stalled in the House.
Republican Sen. Roger Marshall proposed an amendment to support the growth of sustainable aviation fuels. The bill creates a sustainable aviation fuel working group that would employ both private and public sector entities to identify the regulatory changes needed to implement a SAF tax credit and a Clean Fuel Production Credit in the Inflation Reduction Act. The group is also required to submit a report a year from the law’s enactment that would identify the research and development needs for the sector.
One from Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, would establish streams of funding for coastal infrastructure and resiliency to communities affected by rising sea levels. The bill creates a revenue-sharing model that shares funds generated from offshore wind projects with certain states, and allows these states to use the money for coastal restoration and conservation.
Another bipartisan amendment – this time from GOP Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly – would streamline the approval of semiconductor projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, and shore up American competition against China for the production of semiconductors. The bill would allow for these projects to be given categorical exclusions from NEPA requirements. The bill was originally included in last year’s annual defense bill, but was stripped from the final bill during negotiations.
One notable amendment from Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, Tom Carper, Whitehouse and others, includes major nuclear regulation reform to help build out the next generation of nuclear reactors. We’ve reported in detail about the amendment – read about it here.
What’s next: Senators will need to secure a time agreement on amendments and final passage of the bill in order to move forward. However, more than 70 amendments have been included – and Senate Minority Whip John Thune previously suggested that a short-term extension of the FAA’s authority might be needed if senators aren’t able to come to an agreement before authority expires on May 10. We’ll keep our ears to the ground on what passes, and what didn’t make the final cut.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment writer Nancy Vu (@NancyVu99), with help from policy editor Joseph Lawler. Email nancy.vu@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
BIDEN GETS SUPPORT FROM 70+ DEMOCRATS FOR LNG PAUSE: The Biden administration got a show of congressional support for its pause on new LNG export approvals in the form of a letter this morning from a group of more than 70 Democrats.
Led by Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the Democrats argue that LNG exports “harm U.S. households and industrial consumers” by raising prices. They also say that LNG exports pose a threat in terms of contributions to climate change.
Democratic support is helpful for the Biden administration as it faces skepticism about the pause from some party members in Congress, including not just centrist Sen. Joe Manchin but also Democrats from gas-producing states, such as Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.
LUCID CEO PROMISES ‘BEST SUV IN THE WORLD’ THIS YEAR: Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said yesterday that the company’s electric Gravity SUV model is on track for production later this year and “is on track to become the best SUV in the world.” Lucid has touted the Gravity as a sub-$80k offering with unprecedented range.
Still, the good news about the SUV model was not enough to offset the larger-than-expected losses in the first quarter, leading to a dip in Lucid share prices yesterday after its earnings report. Lucid produced 1,728 vehicles and delivered 1,967 vehicles in the first quarter.
STARTUP AIMS TO USE BATTERIES TO PROFIT FROM TEXAS GRID VOLATILITY: A startup run by Zach Dell, the son of Dell founder Michael Dell, intends to reap profits by offering homeowners energy security in Texas.
The business model, as laid out in a Bloomberg profile, is to sell homeowners large batteries at basically the cost of installation. The company, Base, can then fill the batteries when energy is cheap and draw on them when prices are high, making money by arbitraging the differences across the network. Users would be offered savings and reliability in the event of blackouts, which have threatened Texas in recent years as energy demand has soared. In that way, it is similar to the concept of the Virtual Power Plant experiment by Tesla.
Base has been operating in the state for the past year, but only launched publicly today. Dell and his cofounder have been going door-to-door to try to convince homeowners to install the batteries.
WARREN GREEN TRANSPORTATION BILL REINTRODUCED: Yesterday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren reintroduced her BUILD GREEN Act, which would give the Department of Transportation $500 billion to spend over 10 years on public transportation and infrastructure for electric transportation. The legislation is geared toward addressing liberal climate activists’ worries that the climate legislation enacted in the past few years does not do enough to steer the country away from gas cars.
Saul Levin of the Green New Deal Network said in a press release from Warren’s office that the bill would “speed us along the tracks towards a Green New Deal for Transportation.”
The bill was introduced by Rep. Robert Garcia of California in the House, and has a number of cosponsors in both chambers. A one-page summary is here.
SANCTIONS WATCH – ENVOY PLEDGES ‘FRANK DISCUSSIONS’ WITH MALAYSIA: U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia Edgard Kagan said that he anticipates “candid and frank discussions” with government officials about the country’s trade in oil with countries under U.S. sanctions, such as Iran and Russia.
Kagan made the remarks to reporters in Kuala Lumpur, according to the New Straits Times, while discussing the visit of Brian Nelson, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Nelson is visiting Malaysia and Singapore this week to discuss sanctions and the sales of sanctioned oil in East Asia. Of particular concern are shipments that skirt sanctions via ship-to-ship transfers in international waters near Singapore and Malaysia. The sharp increase in sales of oil from Malaysia to China, in excess of Malaysia’s total production, have been cited as a key weakness in the G-7 price cap on Russian oil. There has also reportedly been an increase in money moving to Iran and its proxies via the Malaysian financial system.
RUNDOWN
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