THE WEEK AHEAD: There’s plenty of action happening on Capitol Hill this week – here’s the rundown of what’s ahead:
Tuesday: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday at 10 a.m. examining the opportunities and challenges associated with growing demand for electric power in the U.S. Panelists include American Electric Power Company Interim CEO and President Ben Fowke, Electricity Consumers Resource Council President and CEO Karen Onaran, and Micron Corporate Vice President Scott Gatzemeier.
Wednesday: The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will also mark-up the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 – biennial legislation that authorizes projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dealing with flood control, navigation, and ecosystem restoration. The hearing starts at 9:45 a.m.
The Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development will review the president’s budget request for the Department of Energy at 10 a.m. – and Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm is slated to be a witness.
The Senate Budget Committee will have a climate change hearing examining water scarcity at 10:30 a.m.
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security will look at how green building policies could impact homeownership at 2 p.m.
The Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources for the House Natural Resources Committee will examine the president’s budget request for the Geological Survey and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement at 2 p.m.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety will host a hearing looking at new health and safety practices in mining at 2:30 p.m.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will analyze the Department of Energy’s atomic energy defense efforts and the Defense Department’s nuclear weapons programs ahead of the annual defense bill and the Future Years Defense Program at 4:45 p.m.
Thursday: The House Oversight Committee will have a hearing overlooking the DOE under Granholm. Republicans are set to grill Granholm over the administration’s pause on liquified natural gas exports, the use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and more, following a months-long effort to secure Granholm as a witness. The hearing starts at 9 a.m.
The House Natural Resources Subcommittee will have an oversight hearing examining the budget request for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue. That will start at 10 a.m.
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.
SANCTIONS WATCH: RUSSIAN OIL EXPORTS TO CHINA UP 30% ON YEAR: Russian oil exports to China in April were up 30% from the year before, Reuters reports.
Russia has now been the top supplier to China for 12 months in a row, illustrating the shift in export patterns following the imposition of the G-7 oil price cap and other sanctions. China has been the beneficiary of discounted shipments thanks to the price cap.
China imported 2.25 million barrels per day of oil from Russia in April, in total. It also imported 980,000 bpd from Malaysia, which has served as a pass-through for sanctioned oil from Iran and Venezuela. Treasury officials raised the problem of Malaysia helping sanctioned countries sell oil via ship-to-ship transfers in a visit to the country this month.
CALPERS WILL OPPOSE ALL EXXON BOARD MEMBERS: The California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, significantly escalated its battle against Exxon Mobil over climate shareholder resolutions this morning, saying that it would oppose all of the corporation’s directors because of the oil giant’s lawsuit against activist investors.
CalPERS, which is the largest public pension plan, said in a filing that the “lawsuit may have a chilling effect on future shareowner proposals in the United States,” Bloomberg reports.
Why this matters: CalPERS is engaging in more ESG-related activities, including massive new green investments, at the same time that funds in GOP-led states are pulling out of ESG. And it is now a source of notable opposition to Exxon’s efforts to gain an upper hand against climate-minded activist investors.
As background, in February, Exxon asked a federal court to continue its suit against the climate activist investors Arjuna Capital and Follow This even after they withdrew a resolution in question to force the company to establish Scope 3 emissions targets. Exxon has framed the suit as a matter of clarifying Securities and Exchange Commission Rules, but CalPERS is now arguing that it amounts to improperly shutting down investor voices.
ANDREW WHEELER’S VIEW OF A SECOND TRUMP TERM: Former Environmental Protection Agency administration Andrew Wheeler dished to Daily on Energy alum Josh Siegel on what he would expect if Donald Trump retakes the presidency.
Wheeler said that courts would likely strike down key parts of the Biden EPA’s agenda, including the new power plant rules.
He also predicted that auto manufacturers would be content to see the auto emissions rules fall by the wayside. “They don’t necessarily want to go out and tell their customers or their investors, yes, this needs to be overturned, but they’re looking at the same data that everybody else is looking at — and that the American public is not fully behind EV cars yet,” Wheeler said.
He hinted, though, that Inflation Reduction Act incentives for clean energy production could stay in place.
Wheeler said that he would be open to leading the EPA again if Trump asked him. “Whenever a president or a governor asks you to do something for your country, you step up and you do it,” he said.
COPPER PRICES HIT ALL-TIME RECORD, DRIVEN IN PART BY ENERGY TRANSITION: Copper prices hit an all-time high of more than $11,000 a ton this morning.
The price of copper has been seen for centuries as an economic barometer because of its use in a wide range of commercial applications. Prices have been rising over the past few months in part because of trader optimism that demand is rising for copper to be used in electric vehicles and renewable energy projects, in addition to artificial intelligence, according to Reuters.
A caveat: The bullish signals coming from copper markets in the past few days might be a bit overstated because some of the growth is being driven by a short squeeze.
DATAPOINT – TWENTY ELECTRIC VEHICLES PER PUBLIC CHARGER: The number of electric vehicles per public charging point has risen from seven in 2016 to 20 today, the Washington Post reports.
By that metric, access to public charging has gotten worse even as the federal government has enacted multiple laws meant to accelerate the buildout of charging infrastructure. Difficulty accessing chargers remains a top obstacle to EV adoption.
RUNDOWN
Financial Times European utilities cut renewable targets as high costs and low power prices bite
Washington Post A water war is brewing between the U.S. and Mexico. Here’s why.