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WHAT GREEN GROUPS WANT FROM SCHUMER: During an event last week celebrating the one year anniversary of Sens. Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin announcing the Inflation Reduction Act, the majority leader vowed that if Democrats sweep the 2024 elections, they would pass an even bigger climate bill.
“Even though we passed the IRA, you ain’t gonna see nothing yet,” Schumer said last Wednesday. “We’re gonna do even bigger and better.”
The IRA included roughly $369 billion in climate provisions that range from electric vehicle subsidies, home energy efficiency tax credits, electrification rebates, investment in solar and geothermal, and funds for the agricultural sector. But there were provisions in the bill’s original blueprint – President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan – that didn’t make it into the final cut. That includes a clean electricity standard, a ban on fracking in certain regions, and high speed rail – all areas of possibility for a Schumer bill.
We talked to a number of left-leaning green groups about what they wanted to see in a bigger climate bill, and here’s what they said:
A clean electricity standard: What didn’t make it into the final version of the IRA is a requirement for a certain percentage of retail electricity sales to come from non or low-emitting sources. The Biden administration aims to transform the electric grid to run entirely on clean electricity by 2035 – but the bill itself does not include a regulation that requires that.
“If we could get the utilities incentivized to make quicker moves faster towards renewables, and those that are dragging their feet would be potentially penalized if they don’t take advantage of the incentives, then that would accelerate the whole electrification of everything, which is where we’re going,” said Steve Smith, the executive director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
More on transmission: One key part of a transition to clean energy will be the buildout of transmission lines to carry energy to different regions across the country. Many of the hubs for clean energy stand in the middle parts of the country, and would need to be transported through transmission lines to reach a large portion of consumers.
While the IRA allocates approximately $3 billion in the buildout of transmission lines, green groups are calling for further investment to keep pace with the development of clean energy – possibly in the form of some sort of tax incentive.
Civilian Climate Corps: Soon after taking office, Biden signed an executive order that called for creating a Civilian Climate Corps, which would put 300,000 members to work on conserving public lands and addressing climate change. Build Back Better proposed investing up to $30 billion in funding the initiative. However, the New Deal-esque proposal was stripped from the bill that was signed into law – although the program seemed to be hugely popular Americans, according to polling from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
Matthew Davis, the Vice President of Federal Policy for the League of Conservation Voters, argued for its revival in a new climate bill.
“There’s a number of pieces that didn’t make it across the finish line that I think would be ripe places to go back to,” Davis said.
More aid for lower-income households: The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy suggested beefing up the tax provisions within the IRA to help ensure that poorer households are qualifying for credits instead of rebates when purchasing energy efficient products, such as solar panels and electric stoves.
“There are a number of people who could really benefit from getting those comparable tax credits, even if they don’t have tax liabilities through a direct rebate,” said Smith.
Tackling carbon emissions in industrial sectors: While the IRA extends and increases a carbon oxide capture credit for industrial carbon capture, industrial and transport emissions were found to have the least emission reductions in comparison to the electric power and carbon power sector, according to a modeling analysis by the Rhodium Group.
LCV made the case for in lessening carbon emissions in these lagging fields – but didn’t provide any exact policy proposals.
(Why it’s hard to decarbonize industry): Steel, cement, and chemicals are the top three carbon-emitting industries, but some of the most difficult to decarbonize due to technical factors, such as the need for high heat and the large amounts of carbon released during the chemical processes.
More below…
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep) and Nancy Vu (@NancyVu99). 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.
CONTINUED…SKEPTICISM OF SCHUMER’S PLANS Other green groups were hesitant to read too much into the majority leader’s remarks – especially those who criticized the deal struck between Manchin and Schumer that included measures to finish the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline.
“It’s hard for us to really look too much into what Sen. Schumer is saying and believe it because we see a lot of broken promises out there, including [from] Biden,” said Jay Waxse, an organizer with green group Climate Defiance – which is known for disrupting Democratic events. The group rallied outside the majority leader’s home back in May, protesting the pipeline.
Reality check: Senate Democrats are facing a tough Senate map in 2024, with battleground races in Ohio, Montana, and West Virginia – states that have grown more red in recent years. The party will have to make it through the elections before vowing to pass anything, including a beefed up climate bill.
TREASURY TOUTS RUSSIAN OIL PRICE CAP SUCCESS EVEN AS PROFITS RISE: The Russian oil price cap has been successful in choking off the Kremlin’s war revenue while also keeping its supplies on the market, Eric Van Nostrand, the Treasury Department’s acting assistant secretary for economic policy, said today, even as he acknowledged recent trading house data that show its barrels are fetching profits above the $60 limit.
Van Nostrand said at an event at UK Finance that it is “not surprising” that some Russian oil is still being shipped to buyers at or above the $60 cap for Urals crude, both via a fleet of illegal “shadow” tankers and service providers outside the price cap coalition.
“But even those transactions come with a cost,” he said.
Citing data from the Russian Ministry of Finance, he said Russian oil revenues for the first half of this year have fallen 50% compared to previous years, even as its exports have increased.
That’s because any oil sold outside the price cap coalition is still sold at a discount relative to Brent crude, meaning any investment Russia makes to amass its shadow fleet or insure its own cargoes draws more funding away from the war.
…But there’s still a healthy degree of skepticism among analysts, traders, and academics—some of whom have advocated for a lower capped price. Recent data from Argus Media and other trading houses shows Urals was shipped above the capped price in July, and its discount relative to Brent has also narrowed to $20 per barrel—roughly half of where it stood in January. Read more from Breanne here.
OIL RISES ON NEWS OF SAUDI AND RUSSIAN OIL CUTS: Saudi Arabia and Russia said today that they will extend their voluntary oil supply cuts through September, marking the third straight month of such declines even as lower supplies and rising demand continue to push oil prices sharply higher.
Citing an official from the Saudi Ministry of Energy, state-run news outlet SPA said the kingdom’s voluntary oil cuts of one million bpd would be “extended for another month to include the month of September” which can either be “extended or extended and deepened.”
“This additional voluntary cut comes to reinforce the precautionary efforts made by OPEC+ countries with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets,” the ministry official said, according to SPA, which said the kingdom’s production for the month of September will be approximately 9 million bpd.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak separately announced his country would also cut supplies by 300,000 bpd in September.
News of the cuts immediately pushed oil prices higher, with futures for international benchmark Brent crude rising as high as $83.96 per barrel by mid-morning, while U.S.-based West Texas Intermediate increased to $80.32.
NEW YORK MUST TRIPLE RENEWABLE CAPACITY TO DELIVER ON 2030 TARGETS: If New York hopes to deliver on its renewable energy goals by 2030, it needs to more than triple its renewable capacity compared to 2022 levels, according to a new report from the state’s comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, who cited the length and complexity of the permitting process as one of the key hurdles that risks preventing New York from delivering on its goals.
In fact, he said in the report, just 3.1% of total projects contracted out in the state since 2015 have become operational.
In order to accelerate the pace of renewables projects in the state, the report said, three parallel processes are needed: Incentives, permitting, and interconnection. Read the full report here.
CALIFORNIA CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST TESLA: Three Tesla owners in California sued the car manufacturer in a proposed class action lawsuit, accusing the company of falsely advertising the estimated driving range of its electric vehicles, according to Reuters.
The lawsuit alleges Tesla breached vehicle warranties, while engaging in fraud and unfair competition. The three plaintiffs cited instances where their Teslas didn’t achieve close to their advertised driving ranges and said they had complained to the company without success. The complaint seeks class-action status to represent all individuals that purchased a new Tesla Model 3, Model S, Model Y and Model X vehicle. It seeks unspecified damages.
The suit follows a Reuters investigation that found that Tesla created a special team to quash customer complaints about cars falling short of estimated ranges.
And it comes as Tesla is facing several lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny over its autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” technology, along with claims of safety of those systems. Read more here.
The Rundown
Wall Street Journal PG&E scraps tree-trimming program once seen as key to fire prevention
Bloomberg Floating solar panels turn old industrial sites into green energy goldmines
