THE NUCLEAR BILL: Legislative text for a bicameral, bipartisan nuclear package was revealed yesterday – and it’s being offered as an amendment to the bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization.
The details: The 95-paged amendment was offered by Environment and Public Works Ranking Member Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who had told us last month that members had reached a “pretty good consensus” on the package and were looking for a legislative vehicle for it. The bill would enact a major overhaul of the nuclear industry by streamlining the regulatory process for advanced reactors.
Here’s what’s in the package: The bill mainly keeps the similar language between two bills meant to update nuclear regulations and encourage buildout – the Senate’s ADVANCE Act and the House’s Atomic Energy Advancement Act. The bill directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to establish an accelerated licensing review process to site and construct reactors at existing nuclear sites, and mandates the NRC to establish a licensing structure that would allow for more timely and predictable regulatory review.
The bill is also meant to strengthen the workforce of the NRC, which has long suffered from staffing shortfalls.
The bill would also make regulatory changes to approve the export of American technology to global markets, and would require the NRC to update its mission statement.
The more controversial bits: The bill does touch on the National Environmental Policy Act – a 1970 law that requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of their actions. Changes to NEPA, generally, have remained controversial among Democrats. Most interestingly, the bill requires the NRC to streamline the NEPA review process, charging it to finish final environmental impact statements or assessments after 18 months (it takes approximately two to three years for nuclear projects to complete the process today). The bill also requires the NRC to tell Congress how it’s updating its own regulations implementing NEPA.
What’s next: The FAA reauthorization bill passed a procedural step on Wednesday, but the current authorization expires May 10 – leaving the Senate less than four legislative business days to finish up voting on amendments and pass the finalized bill. We’ll keep you updated if the nuclear package makes it into the final bill.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment writers Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep) and Nancy Vu (@NancyVu99). Email bdeppisch@washingtonexaminer dot com or 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 TOUTING LEAD PIPE REPLACEMENT IN NORTH CAROLINA TODAY: President Joe Biden this afternoon in North Carolina is going to tout new administration plans to distribute another $3 billion in funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to replace lead pipes throughout the country. In the town of Wilmington, where a lead pipe replacement project is already underway, he will announce $76 million specifically for North Carolina, a battleground state in this year’s election.
Biden’s goal is to replace all the lead pipes in the country within a decade. The funding announced so far will replace up to 1.7 million lead pipes across the country, according to a White House fact sheet.
BIDEN EXPANDS MONUMENTS IN CALIFORNIA: Biden will sign proclamations today expanding the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument outside Los Angeles and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Northern California. Both monuments were created by President Barack Obama.
The expansions will protect nearly 120,000 acres, the White House said in a fact sheet. It also said the designations would honor native tribes and indigenous people by protecting sacred ancestral places, as well as conserving public land and protecting wildlife.
The designations are Biden’s ninth and tenth uses of the Antiquities Act.
FTC ACCUSES PIONEER FOUNDER OF COLLUSION WHILE OKAYING EXXON DEAL: Exxon Mobil is set to close its $64.5 billion acquisition of shale giant Pioneer Natural Resources after the Federal Trade Commission indicated this morning that it won’t challenge the deal.
The FTC said, though, that to resolve antitrust concerns, it was ordering that Pioneer founder and former Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield not be given a seat on the merged company’s board, or advising it.
The agency said that Sheffield had tried to collude with OPEC+ by coordinating production across the Permian Basin. It said that it had texts, WhatsApp messages, and evidence of private meetings in which he sought to align drilling in West Texas and New Mexico with OPEC+ members.
“Mr. Sheffield’s past conduct makes it crystal clear that he should be nowhere near Exxon’s boardroom. American consumers shouldn’t pay unfair prices at the pump simply to pad a corporate executive’s pocketbook,” Kyle Mach, Deputy Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said in a statement.
YOUTH CLIMATE SUIT DISMISSED: A panel of judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday dismissed a lawsuit filed by youth arguing that the federal government had abridged their constitutional rights through actions that worsen climate change.
This is the second time the case has been dismissed. After the first time the suit was thrown out, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint with the district court. The federal government asked the appellate court to turn it away, and yesterday’s order granted that request, saying the 21 plaintiffs lacked standing.
“This is a tragic and unjust ruling, but it is not over,” the youth plaintiffs said in a press release. “President Biden can still make this right by coming to the settlement table.” The group also suggested they might ask the full 9th Circuit to review the decision.
RUNDOWN
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