FERC NOMINEES ADVANCE: Three nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sailed through committee in an overwhelming bipartisan manner, bringing the slate closer to Senate confirmation.
The details: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources held a business meeting Tuesday to consider nominees who would fill current or expected vacancies on the commission. The nominees are Democrats Judy Chang and David Rosner and Republican Lindsey See.
The vote breakdown: Rosner and See sailed through with a vote of 16-3, while Chang passed committee with a vote of 15-4.
Those who opposed Rosner were Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Republican Sens. Josh Hawley and Mike Lee. Sanders and Hawley, along with Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono, voted against See’s nomination. And four Republicans voted against Chang’s nomination: Sens. Hawley, Lee, Steve Daines, and John Hoeven.
Something to note: After grilling Chang in March on her record advocating for clean energy and predicting the phaseout of natural gas for New England, the committee’s ranking member Sen. John Barrasso said he had met with the nominee for a “productive discussion,” and would be supporting her.
Barrasso stated that during these discussions, Chang reiterated her commitment to the agency’s “independent and nonpartisan mission,” and had promised to “uphold FERC’s statutory mandate to encourage the development of abundant supplies of natural gas at reasonable prices.” Barrasso also mentioned that Chang stated that FERC’s role was to not regulate greenhouse gas emissions or address climate change.
“I’m taking Miss Chang at her word and I believe that the addition of three nominees together would improve the commission’s current markup,” Barrasso said in his opening remarks. Barrasso voted for all three nominees.
The senator who opposed all three nominees: Hawley, who had opposed a voice vote to move the nominees in bloc, voted against all three nominees. He reasoned that he didn’t find the nominees’ answers to his line of questioning back in March to be particularly satisfying – specifically, his questions on the issue of electric transmission lines within his home state, and how farmers’ lands are affected.
During the nomination hearing, the Missouri Republican asked the nominees whether they would take into consideration the interests of local farmers and ranchers when the Department of Energy designates national transmission corridors – or would they bypass states’ regulatory processes when approving transmission projects.
All three nominees agreed to look at the issues “closely” during the hearing.
“Frankly, I’m disappointed in the answers of the nominees, but I’m particularly disappointed – I didn’t necessarily expect the Democrat nominees to take a strong stance on this, but I sure as heck hope Republicans will and would – and I’m disappointed [See] didn’t,” Hawley said.
The senator said he plans to oppose all the nominees on the floor.
The next steps: A vote on the Senate floor. It’s unclear if there has been a vote scheduled already to move the nominees forward. A spokesperson for Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But, the upper chamber will have to move fast if one of the current commissioners, Allison Clements, decides to leave the agency once her term expires on June 30 – which would leave the body without a quorum.
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OIL PRICES LOWEST IN MONTHS POST-OPEC+ MOVE: West Texas Intermediate fell again this morning to near $73, the lowest since February, as investors digested the fallout from the OPEC+ production decision.
As we noted yesterday, the cartel agreed over the weekend to extend supply cuts into 2025. But eight countries, including Saudi Arabia, that have additionally cut 2.2 million barrels per day of production said that they would maintain those cuts only for an additional three months, meaning that supply will increase starting this fall.
Why it matters: The possibility of higher oil prices at the hands of OPEC+, and the higher gas prices that would go along with that, poses a major threat to President Joe Biden’s reelection. This week’s trading makes that possibility less likely.
The movement also brings the price of oil well below the Department of Energy’s $79.99 target price for soliciting bids to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
CLIMATE CHANGE POLLING FROM AP/NORC: A new poll illustrates that younger Republican voters are closer to Democrats than their older GOP counterparts in their views on fossil fuel development. Younger GOP voters are also more likely to believe climate change is human-driven, according to the new poll.
An Associated Press/National Opinion Research Center poll found 40% of young Republican voters saying they believe climate change is primarily human-driven, up from 26% in 2017, while the percentage for older Republicans has stayed at 26% through the years. Younger Republicans’ support for fossil fuel development, standing at 35%, was closer to that of Democrats (28%) than of older Republicans (53%). Younger Republicans were also more likely to support clean energy expansion than older Republicans (37% vs. 28%).
A monthly carbon fee? Most Americans aren’t willing to pay a monthly carbon fee on their energy use. 45% of Amerians would be willing to support a fee of $1 – but only 25% would support a $75 or $100 monthly fee. Democrats are more willing to support the efforts than Independents and Republicans.
Who’s responsible for addressing climate change? While previous polls had detailed Americans believing that developing countries had the least responsibility when it came to addressing climate change, that changed when the participants were asked about rapidly developing countries such as India and China. While a majority of Americans believe that the federal government, corporations and industry, and developed nations outside the U.S. bear a great deal of responsibility for addressing climate change, 57% believed that India and China would also need to address the issue.
More than 6,000 participants aged 18 and older were interviewed throughout March and April for the poll. Read the poll here.
EVERGREEN USES WHITMER AND EVERS TO BOOST IRA: Evergreen Collaborative launched a new ad campaign in the swing states of Wisconsin and Michigan touting the Biden administration’s clean energy policies.
The ads feature Govs. Tony Evers of Wisconsin and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, both of whom have enjoyed better approval ratings than Biden.
The ads, which the group said it will spend seven figures to air in the Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, and Flint media markets, don’t mention the Inflation Reduction Act by name, but do include shout-outs to Biden. The ad featuring Whitmer touches on IRA domestic battery manufacturing provisions. Evers’s version focuses on IRA home energy rebates.
A FAMILIAR OBSTACLE TO JAPAN’S NUCLEAR GOALS: Japan is expected to formally lay out goals for ramping up nuclear power in its updated energy policy planning, but local opposition to construction is likely to pose a major obstacle, Reuters reports.
Experts and industry figures told the publication that they expect the government to call for a higher share of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix by 2040, a reflection of the higher priority placed on energy security in light of geopolitical tensions.
But building nuclear plants is a daunting task thanks to regulatory hurdles and opposition from local stakeholders. Alex Whitworth, a vice president at Wood Mackenzie, said that the “nuclear power target is the most unrealistic because it’s actually outside of the government’s control to be able to reach that target due to the need for getting local consent for restarts.”
Why it matters: Local opposition and permitting problems are major obstacles to building clean energy not just in Japan, but in the U.S. Nuclear power became disfavored in Japan after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. But the government came around on it after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted energy markets, which was particularly damaging to Japan because it relies heavily on imports. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said soon after in 2022 that Japan would seek to restart idled nuclear plants and build new ones.
Speaking of local opposition: France24 has an interesting story about residents of France’s Provence region who went so far to oppose the construction of a solar farm on a picturesque mountainside that they physically placed themselves under the wheels of machinery to slow construction.
CLIMEWORKS TO BUILD NEW CARBON CAPTURE TECH IN LOUISIANA: Climeworks announced today that it has developed new carbon capture technology that is significantly more efficient. It will be used at the Department of Energy-backed direct air capture hub in Louisiana with construction starting in 2026.
The new tech is an updated process for using an engineered material called a solid sorbent to attract carbon dioxide molecules when air passes through it, Heatmaps reports. Climeworks says the tech can double the carbon capture while using half the energy.
Climeworks already operates the two largest DAC plants in the world, both in Iceland. The newest and largest is set to be capable of removing 36,000 metric tons of CO2 annually. The Louisiana plant, in comparison, is expected to have a capacity of 1 million metric tons annually.
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