Daily on Energy: Klobuchar faces backlash over natural gas

“I actually see natural gas as a transition fuel,” the Minnesota senator said when asked why she didn’t support a ban on fracking. “It’s a transition fuel to where we get to carbon neutral.”

Can a centrist appeal to greens? The rancorous reaction to Klobuchar’s comments shows how far to the left the environmental movement is pushing.

The Sunrise Movement, for example, slammed Klobuchar on Twitter for suggesting most of the Democratic candidates have similar climate plans. The youth climate group, one of the main forces pushing the Green New Deal, endorsed Bernie Sanders last week.

Natural gas is “a bridge to hell. For communities on the frontlines of fracking, and the planet,” Evan Weber, Sunrise’s political director, tweeted Tuesday night.

Other advocates criticized Klobuchar’s view as behind the times. “The methane leakage and public health impacts are coming into sharp and terrifying focus,” tweeted Julian Brave NoiseCat, vice president of policy and strategy for Data for Progress, which has done analysis for Elizabeth Warren’s climate plans. “Klobuchar is behind on the science.”

Both Sanders and Warren support an outright ban on fracking.

Klobuchar isn’t the only Democratic candidate that doesn’t want to block natural gas, though. Neither former Vice President Joe Biden nor former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg have gone that far.

Nonetheless, environmentalists’ pressure has already moved the needle: All major Democratic candidates, including Klobuchar, say in their climate plans that they’d ban new fossil fuel drilling on federal lands — a much stronger position than where much of the party was four years ago.

The six candidates on stage didn’t get to debate their differences on the role of natural gas, however. Moderators quickly moved on, but not before Sanders had his say (as well as some vigorous head shaking on the split screen during Klobuchar’s comments).

“Let’s be clear. If we as a nation do not transform our energy system away from fossil fuel, not by 2050, not by 2040, but unless we lead the world right now — not easy stuff— the planet we are leaving our kids will be uninhabitable and unhealthy,” Sanders said.

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.

TRUMP’S INITIAL TRADE DEAL A PARTIAL WIN FOR OIL AND GAS: President Trump signed a “phase one” of a trade deal Wednesday with China, giving the oil and gas industry a partial victory.

China is expected to purchase more than $200 billion in U.S. goods and services as part of the deal, including $50 billion in energy products (crude oil and natural gas).

But several issues remain unresolved to getting a follow-up trade deal that actually lifts tariffs, with the 2020 election looming.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that finishing the first part would put pressure on China to address remaining issues in order to get the U.S. tariffs lifted.

Energy tariffs are the biggest thorn: Retaliatory tariffs imposed by China on imports of U.S. energy do not appear to have been lifted or reduced by the new trade deal, sources tell Josh.

That includes a 25% tariff on imports of U.S. LNG and a 5% tariff on crude oil.

Removing these tariffs is the key priority of the oil and gas industry. Although the phase one deal signals a de-escalation of trade tensions, the industry is worried about losing out to one of world’s largest energy markets.

Since the beginning of the trade war in July 2018, exports of U.S. natural gas, oil, and refined products to China have sharply declined, data kept by the American Petroleum Institute shows.

Details of the new agreement is expected to come out later Wednesday, after Trump holds a signing ceremony with Chinese officials at the White House.

NASA CONFIRMS RECORD HEAT IN 2019: Global temperatures in 2019 were the second-highest recorded, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday.

The past five years have been the warmest of the past 140 years, the independent federal government agencies reported Wednesday, with 2019 coming in second to 2016.

The average global surface temperature is now more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit above what it was in the late 19th century, a long-term heating caused by increased emissions of greenhouse gases from human activity.

“This shows that what’s happening is persistent, not a fluke due to some weather phenomenon. We know that the long-term trends are being driven by the increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

PROGRESS ON LICENSING ADVANCED NUCLEAR REACTORS: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is making progress fulfilling a law signed by Trump last year to streamline the regulatory process for small advanced nuclear reactors, the agency assured lawmakers Wednesday.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hosted a hearing to get an update from the NRC on progress made toward implementing the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, which required the agency to develop and implement strategies to modernize approvals for small reactors.

“Smaller, safer nuclear technologies should not be subject to the rigid, costly requirements imposed on yesterday’s designs,” said committee chairman Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming. “Preserving and expanding our use of nuclear energy is necessary to address climate change.”

Margaret Doane, the NRC’s executive director for operations, said the agency has “successfully implemented” the law’s requirements. The NRC approved a proposed rule for emergency planning of advanced nuclear reactors in December, and issued a draft regulatory guide in May for a “performance-based” licensing approach for advanced reactors.

“A lot of work is being done is to ensure we are not a barrier to new technology,” Doane said.

Nuclear power generally faces higher regulatory costs than other energy sources due to safety concerns. Smaller reactors, however, are being designed with enhanced safety measures.

Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette recently told Josh in an interview that there are more than 50 companies working with the NRC on applications for small reactors. NuScale, the company the farthest along in the process, is hoping to complete the license process by September 2020, and to have its reactors in commercial operation by 2026.

COOLANT BILL PITS REPUBLICANS AGAINST INDUSTRY: Top Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee aren’t convinced appliance makers know what’s best for them or consumers, and they don’t seem likely to support a bipartisan bill to reduce potent greenhouse gas refrigerants.

Their hostility to the legislation — introduced last week by Democrat Paul Tonko of New York and Republican Pete Olson of Texas — comes despite CEOs of major appliance makers urging Congress to help them out. Without the legislation, which would help the companies meet a 2016 global deal to phase down hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, U.S. businesses will lose jobs and global market share, they argued.

What’s Republicans’ beef with the bill? It doesn’t include language specifying the federal HFC regulations outlined in the legislation would be the dominant rules nationwide. In other words, the bill leaves the door open for states (like California) to bypass federal rules and set their own stricter HFC limits.

The lack of federal preemption is “by far” the biggest concern with the bill, Congressman John Shimkus of Illinois told Abby after a hearing Tuesday on the bill. “I mean, listen, the industry had to sell out and not push that.”

John Galyen, president of Danfoss North America, repeatedly dodged questions from Republicans during the hearing on whether preemption was necessary, insisting industry’s priority was a “federal framework.”

Galyen, speaking to Abby after the hearing, said he hopes preemption doesn’t hang up the effort. “Obviously, we’d prefer one standard, but we don’t necessarily think that [preemption is] required” because of how states worked with the federal government in the past to cut ozone-depleting chemicals, he added.

Preemption is the poison pill: The HFC legislation is a rarity in Washington climate politics in that it unites a coalition of industry and environmentalists. A preemption provision risks breaking up the team, which has been pushing for years to bring Trump on board with the global HFC deal.

‘THEY ARE THE SAME IN THIS ISSUE’: Sanders reiterated at last night’s debate he considers climate change and global trade closely connected, which is why he can’t support Trump’s renegotiated North American trade deal.

The Vermont senator said he won’t vote for any trade agreement that doesn’t include “very, very strong principles to significantly lower fossil fuel emissions in the world.”

The lone opponent: Sanders was the only Democrat on last night’s stage to voice strong opposition to the trade deal. Many Democrats on the Senate Environment committee, despite sharing similar climate concerns as Sanders, voted to approve the deal Tuesday.

BLOOMBERG’S PLAN FOR ZERO-CARBON BUILDINGS: The morning after being left off the debate stage, Michael Bloomberg released a plan Wednesday setting a target of making all new buildings zero-carbon by 2025.

Bloomberg would also push for energy efficiency upgrades in existing homes and buildings through federal incentives and standards.

Buildings are responsible for 12% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

He would achieve his goals by creating a new “Bucks for Boilers” program that encourages people to trade in oil and gas boilers, heaters, and other equipment for all-electric options.

He would offer the chance for people to upgrade their home or building’s energy efficiency “at as close to zero up-front cost as possible.”

Bloomberg would offer rebates, tax credits, and other financing for appliances and building renovation, such as insulation and new windows.

He’d also work with cities and states to adopt energy efficiency standards for existing buildings that require owners of large buildings to gradually reduce their emissions, and for localites to adopt new building codes.

Bloomberg pledges to raise appliance efficiency standards and for other equipment “as fast as possible.”

He’d also adopt aggressive federal energy efficiency targets for utilities, and encourage the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to enact rules to do that.

CONSERVATIVE CLEAN ENERGY GROUPS STAFFS UP: ClearPath has added former Duke Energy official Colleen Moss as its government affairs director.

Liz Seidel, a former Trump administration White House official, is also joining ClearPath as a government affairs associate, the conservative group announced Wednesday.

“Adding direct industry, Capitol Hill and Administration experience to our team provides a big boost to advancing cutting edge policy that supports clean and reliable energy technologies,” said ClearPath executive director Rich Powell.

The Rundown

Reuters US greenhouse gases to billow on Gulf Coast petrochemicals: study

Bloomberg California city shuts a key coal-export route in name of climate

New York Times Who controls Trump’s environmental policy?

Reuters Australia softens climate change rhetoric as bushfires, and voters, rage

Bloomberg Green hydrogen could price gas out of power markets by 2050

Calendar

WEDNESDAY | JAN. 15

2 p.m. 2318 Rayburn. The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology holds a hearing entitled “The Department of Energy’s Office of Science: Exploring the Next Frontiers in Energy Research and Scientific Discovery.”