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CHANGING POLITICS: President Trump’s re-election campaign posted a second-term agenda Sunday night that contains no mention of climate change.
Meanwhile, Republican National Committee members voted to extend the party’s 2016 platform, which mostly criticizes the Obama administration’s “top-down, command-and-control” climate agenda without offering other ideas.
The political stakes: Trump, if he wins, won’t be on the ballot again. But some Republicans say it’s risky not to differentiate the party from Trump.
“The biggest climate-related political risk is that Republican candidates, both incumbents and newcomers, will not campaign on or work towards addressing climate change as long as Trump is in office,” said Shane Skelton, a former energy adviser to former GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan, who runs the consulting group S2C Pacific.
Public sentiment on the climate has changed over the past four years, including among young Republicans, who have become more sensitive to worsening floods, wildfires, and sea level rise.
“Young people are widely demanding action, but need representation and leadership. Meanwhile, the planet gets warmer and the effects of climate become more obvious,” Joseph Majkut, a climate scientist with the Niskanen Center, told Josh.
Mike McKenna, a fossil fuel lobbyist and former legislative aide in the Trump administration, argues voters are less inclined to punish Republicans for ignoring climate change when the country is grappling with an economic downturn.
“It has almost certainly fallen even further down the priority list,” McKenna told Josh. “It is the Democrats who have not adjusted to the moment with respect to climate policy.”
Other Republicans say there’s a diversity of views among the party, and Trump won’t stop small-scale policy progress like investing in carbon capture technology and legislation focused on adaptation, agriculture, and planting trees.
“The president may not make climate change a central plank in his campaign, but that’s not the same thing as saying the party hasn’t done anything on the issue,” Dan Eberhart, a Trump campaign donor and CEO of the oil services firm Canary, told Josh.
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WORRYING ABOUT THE POTENTIAL FOR SMALL NUCLEAR REACTORS: The company expected to be the first in the United States to operate a small nuclear reactor is facing setbacks, Josh reports. NuScale Power, based in Oregon, learned its first customer needed to push back the timeline for when it plans to operate the first reactor from 2026 to 2029. The entire plant of 12 individual 60-megawatt reactors won’t be completed until 2030, a slip from an expected 2027 time frame.
Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, a group of small community-owned utilities in six Western states, cited a rise in expected costs for the NuScale reactors. The group is counting on the nuclear power to provide around-the-clock, zero-carbon electricity to replace a coal plant it plans to close, but its members say they won’t need the new cleaner electricity source until later than expected.
“The setbacks are not fatal,” said Erik Olson, a climate and energy analyst at the Breakthrough Institute. “But if this project falls through, that would be an enormous blow to the promised next wave of nuclear power.”
The cost has to check out: UAMPS, as the coalition is known, could still abandon the project altogether. It is planning to convene in mid-September to approve a budget and could decide then to quit. The group says it is in negotiations with the Energy Department for the federal government to provide a $1.4 billion grant, which the utilities say they need to defray the rising cost of buying nuclear power.
NuScale or bust? Energy Department Deputy Secretary Mark Menezes told Josh the delay has caused him to think about the possibility of NuScale failing. But, he added, “a lot of exciting things are coming down the pike” in addition to NuScale.
NuScale, however, has been counted on as the first to operate a small reactor in the U.S. because its light-water technology is familiar to regulators.
Chris Colbert, NuScale’s chief strategy officer, told Josh even if UAMPS pulls out, NuScale’s reactors will be ready for use by 2027 for other customers if one were to sign on. That’s easier said than done, as utilities are reluctant to be first for an untested technology. “There’s a long list of people who want to be second,” Colbert said.
PEBBLE DEVELOPERS URGE TRUMP TO KEEP POLITICS OUT OF PERMITTING: In an ad that will begin running on TV channels, including Fox News, Tuesday ahead of the Republican National Convention, Pebble Mine developers are calling on Trump to “continue to stand tall” and “don’t let politics enter the Pebble Mine review process.”
The ad comes as news reports say the Trump administration is poised to essentially block the proposed gold and copper mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, after Donald Trump Jr. and other prominent conservatives came out publicly against the project.
EPA APPROVES DISINFECTANT THAT KILLS COVID FOR SEVEN DAYS: It’s the first approval for a disinfectant that offers long-lasting protection against the coronavirus, continuously killing the virus on surfaces for seven days.
American Airlines will begin applying the product, known as SurfaceWise2, to the interior of its entire aircraft fleet, close to 1,500 planes, said David Seymour, the company’s chief operating officer. Texas-based Total Orthopedics Sports and Spine Clinics will also use the product at two of its facilities in the state.
The approval only applies to these applications in Texas for now: Allied BioScience, the maker of SurfaceWise2, has applied for widespread approval of its product on all surfaces. The EPA is working to complete that approval as quickly as possible, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler told reporters Monday.
In the meantime, other state agencies can apply to use SurfaceWise2 in their states in various capacities. The approval of SurfaceWise2 adds to the EPA’s work over the last several months to quickly clear disinfectants for use against COVID-19.
EXPECT MORE OIL BANKRUPTCIES THROUGH 2022: Even with oil prices stabilizing above $40 per barrel, another 150 oil and gas exploration and production companies (E&Ps) could file for bankruptcy over the next few years, research group Rystad Energy projected Friday.
So far this year, according to Haynes & Boone, 32 E&Ps have filed for bankruptcy, with the companies holding a cumulative debt of about $40 billion.
If WTI, the U.S. benchmark, remains at about $40, Rystad estimates 29 more E&P bankruptcy filings this year, with another 68 filings in 2021, and 57 more in 2022.
The number of filings so far since the pandemic-fueled price crash has actually been lower than in the previous downturn. The quicker-than-expected recovery in oil prices this year has staved off “a significant number” of bankruptcies, but “the current price environment is in no way sufficient for a large number of E&Ps in the medium-term,” said Artem Abramov, Rystad’s head of shale research.
FEDERAL AGENCIES TO SIGN HYDROPOWER AGREEMENT: The Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of Energy, and the Army Corps of Engineers will sign a memorandum of understanding Monday supporting the development of hydropower, which had long been the nation’s largest source of renewable power until wind surpassed it last year.
The three agencies will sign the memo at the Hoover Dam, in what appears to be a largely symbolic move to commemorate National Hydropower Day. The Bureau of Reclamation is the nation’s second largest producer of hydropower, according to a media advisory.
TWIN STORMS THREATEN GULF COAST: The utility trade group Edison Electric Institute is advising residents to prepare for power outages as two storms threaten the Gulf Coast.
“We know how important electricity [is], especially now, and our entire industry stands ready to support impacted companies and the power restoration mission, if needed,” said Scott Aaronson, EEI’s vice president of security & preparedness, who added the pandemic creates additional challenges for storm response and emergency power restoration.
The first, Hurricane Marco, is expected to hit the Louisiana coast today, while the second, Tropical Storm Laura, was expected to make landfall as a category two or category three hurricane in southwest Louisiana or southeast Texas on Wednesday.
Benjamin Schott of the National Weather Service said two hurricanes have never hit the same state within 48 hours of each other in modern meteorological history, calling the situation “remarkably odd.”
Earlier this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projected a worse than average hurricane season.
The Rundown
Associated Press Thousands allowed to bypass environmental rules in pandemic
Los Angeles Times Northern California braces as huge wildfires rage, more lightning is forecast
Wall Street Journal Preserving trees becomes big business, driven by emissions rules
New York Times Electric vehicle makers find a back door to Wall Street
Calendar
MONDAY | AUG 24
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