Daily on Energy: Navalny’s poisoning sparks renewed push to block Nord Stream 2

“Halt the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to hold the Russians accountable,” tweeted Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, who is among the loudest critics of Nord Stream 2, which would deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany.

Cotton was responding to the German government reporting Wednesday that Navalny, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was poisoned with a Soviet-era chemical nerve agent.

Merkel has demanded an explanation from Russia. But she is already facing calls within her own government to drop her support for Nord Stream 2, which has proved difficult for opponents to stop. She said last week the Navalny case should not be linked to completion of the pipeline.

“We must pursue hard politics, we must respond with the only language Putin understands – that is gas sales,” Norbert Roettgen, the conservative head of Germany’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said on Thursday, according to Reuters.

Roettgen, who is candidate to lead Merkel’s Christian Democratic party when she retires in 2021, tweeted “The EU should jointly decide to stop Nord Stream 2.”

The pipeline keeps on trucking: Despite the constant agitating, completion of Nord Stream 2 has always appeared inevitable and it is already more than 90% complete.

The Trump administration has long lobbied against Nord Stream 2 for fear that it would increase Europe’s dependence on Russian gas, and has been shipping more U.S. LNG to compensate.

Congress passed sanctions against the pipeline last year as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which forced contractors to quit building it.

But it did not deter Gazprom, a Russian-controlled gas company, from moving to finish construction of Nord Stream 2. Senators led by Cotton, Republican Ted Cruz, and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen have proposed expanding sanctions as part of the new NDAA to target companies that do business with Russia and Gazprom to finish the pipeline, which could have the effect of punishing a German port that is supplying the project.

Merkel has sought to depoliticize the pipeline by calling it a commercial project that will ensure Germany’s long-term access to cheap Russian gas as it phases off coal and nuclear power. LNG from the U.S., which has to cross oceans, is more expensive. German officials have also chafed at the U.S. interfering in Germany’s affairs.

Is Nord Stream 2 a worthy target? Nikos Tsafos, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who studies geopolitics and natural gas, wrote an interesting tweet thread on the situation Thursday, arguing the energy security case against Nord Stream 2 is overstated. He suggested Germany would be able to cope if Russia were to cut off supply of gas in a geopolitical dispute, as some critics fear.

Tsafos told Josh in a follow-up conversation that Germany doesn’t have an “obvious way” to stop the pipeline from being built, since it’s already been permitted and the government doesn’t have a “political screening” process to block it for geopolitical reasons.

He questions whether Nord Stream 2 is worth being a target of geopolitical gamesmanship.

“I find it ridiculous that we have hinged so much on Nord Stream 2—is this really our best line of attack vis-à-vis Russia?” Tsafos tweeted.

“I’ve always thought of Nord Stream 2 as the lowest common denominator way to go after Russia without getting into more difficult and partisan components of our relationship with Russia,” he added in the conversation with Josh.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe) and Abby Smith (@AbbySmithDC). Email [email protected] or [email protected] 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.

DIAGNOSING THE PROBLEMS BEHIND CALIFORNIA’S BLACKOUTS: California’s energy woes leading to recent rolling blackouts boil down to the fact that oversight of its energy markets is a bit of a mess, according to Cheryl LaFleur, a former Democratic commissioner and chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The state’s grid operator, the California Independent System Operator, oversees dispatching power but ensuring enough resources are on hand is the job of state utility regulators. “In other words, the buck stops nowhere,” LaFleur, now a distinguished visiting fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, wrote in a blog post Wednesday.

Not enough resources: LaFleur also cautioned that California has been too quick to retire natural gas and nuclear plants before ensuring it has enough resources to replace them. The state has shuttered 5,000 megawatts of natural gas generation in the last three years, with the hopes of bringing online 3,000 MW of battery storage, but that hasn’t come to fruition yet.

“In a heat wave, when every resource is needed, this gap in resources came home to roost,” LaFleur wrote.

LaFleur suggests California lawmakers and FERC should smooth the coordination problems among the three state energy agencies. She also calls on California lawmakers to reconsider whether to set up a regional electricity market in the West, something they’ve shied away from in the past.

California’s next test is coming this weekend: Much of the state is set to experience potentially record-shattering heat over Labor Day weekend, all while huge wildfires still burn in the state.

INTERIOR’S LONG LIST OF PROJECTS RIPE TO EXPEDITE: The Interior Department identified more than 70 energy and infrastructure projects that could benefit from President Trump’s June executive order allowing them to skip environmental reviews and other requirements for quicker approval amid the economic downturn.

The list, obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity and made public Wednesday, includes 21 fossil fuel and mining projects, such as the contentious Jordan Cove liquid natural gas export terminal in Oregon. At least some of the projects listed, such as drilling plans in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, have been completed since the Interior Department’s letter, dated July 15.

“These documents show that dozens of dangerous projects could be rubber-stamped without any environmental review,” said Brett Hartl, the Center for Biological Diversity’s government affairs director. “We’ll fight every one of them in court if need be to stop this administration’s relentless assault on our environment.”

The list isn’t all fossil fuel projects, however. It also included major renewable energy projects such as the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm in Massachusetts, several solar projects, and electric transmission lines.

CLIMATE LAWSUITS AGAINST BIG OIL ARE PILING UP: Hoboken, New Jersey, became the latest city Wednesday to sue Exxon Mobil Corp. and other oil majors to force them to pay hundreds of millions of dollars toward its efforts to adapt to the effects of climate change.

It’s the 20th such lawsuit facing the oil industry. Cities, counties, and states have accused the companies of lying to cover up the effects that their products would have on greenhouse gas emissions.

Hoboken’s lawsuit is also the second to name the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s big trade group.

“We cannot stand idly by and allow Big Oil to continue profiteering at the expense of Hoboken residents,” Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla said in a press conference. “It’s time these companies pay their fair share and be held accountable for their actions and their role in climate change.”

Worth remembering: The oil industry has lost several bids to move similar lawsuits from state court to federal court, thought to be a more favorable venue for the companies. As Abby has previously reported, environmentalists say those setbacks all but guarantee at least one of the lawsuits will head to trial.

WISH FULFILLED…SAUDIS ARE LIMITING CRUDE EXPORTS TO US: Saudi Arabia’s oil exports to the U.S. in August plunged to 310,000 barrels per day, the lowest level on a monthly basis since 1985, according to Bloomberg reporter Javier Blas, who cited EIA data.

That’s a fraction of the 1.3 million barrels per day the Saudis shipped to America in April, at the height of its price war with Russia when the Kingdom flooded the market.

If you recall, Republican senators at the time sought to pressure Trump to block a deluge of Saudi tankers from U.S. shores, warning it would worsen the price crash.

Only 3% of the oil used by U.S. refineries last year came from Saudi Arabia, a portion trending downward over recent years as domestic shale has become dominant.

GOING OUT WEST: The EPA announced Wednesday it is creating a new office focused on western lands issues that the agency expects will help speed cleanups of abandoned hardrock mining sites.

The new Office of Mountains, Deserts, and Plains will be located in Lakewood, Colorado. Doug Benevento, EPA’s associate deputy administrator, unveiled the office during a news conference at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry, along with Greg Sopkin, who leads the EPA regional office overseeing six Western states including Colorado.

Mine cleanups, including cleanups of abandoned uranium mines on Navajo Nation lands, will be better served by EPA staff located in the West, not in D.C., according to Benevento. “This uniquely western work needs an integrated western presence,” he said.

LET’S HAVE A CLIMATE DEBATE: A coalition of 43 progressive and environmental groups called on the newly-announced debate moderators to emphasize climate change when Trump and Joe Biden face off three times before Election Day.

There were no questions on climate asked during the 2016 general election presidential debates.

“As moderators, it is your responsibility to ensure all candidates provide clear answers on their specific plans to protect communities from the climate emergency starting on day one and throughout their term,” the groups, led by Climate Power 2020, wrote in a letter Thursday to moderators Chris Wallace, Steve Scully, Kristen Welker, and Susan Page.

Dozens of House Democrats have demanded the same thing.

R&B STAR AKON PLANS SOLAR CITY IN SENEGAL: Akon has announced an ambitious plan to build a $6 billion solar city off the Senegalese coast, reports the Washington Examiner’s Spencer Neale.

Akon, who was born in Senegal, said he hopes the city, located 60 miles south of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, will provide a boost in tourism for the West African nation.

Akon found worldwide success in the early 2000s with hits such as Locked Up and Smack That along with memorable features on Soul Survivor and Bartender (and don’t forget the underrated I’m So Paid).

Work on the new solar project will begin in 2021, with the first phase set to be completed by 2023.

The Rundown

Bloomberg Trump made a promise to save coal in 2016. He couldn’t keep it

Bloomberg Aramco shelves $20 billion petrochemical plan after oil’s crash

New York Times Its electric grid under strain, California turns to batteries

Associated Press Approvals for new oil and gas wells up in California

Calendar

THURSDAY | SEP. 3

The House and Senate are out.