CURTIS TALKS SENATE ASPIRATIONS: In case you missed it, we had a sit-down with Republican Rep. John Curtis on his bid for Utah’s open Senate seat. But we wanted to take an even closer look at how Curtis plans to navigate the upper chamber if he wins.
Eyeing the Senate EPW committee: The Utah Republican is looking toward the Environment and Public Works Committee, reasoning that a large part of the district he represents currently consist of public lands, while noting that Utah Sen. Mike Lee is already on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Of course, assignments will be determined by a group of senators, and guided by party rules and practices.
His policy stances: One key area of divergence between Curtis and the senator he’s seeking to replace is their stances on a carbon tax. While Sen. Mitt Romney is more supportive of the idea – but has stopped short of endorsing specific legislation – Curtis stands firmly against the idea of levying a fee on carbon emissions.
FYI: Some Senate Republicans have introduced a bill that would tax imported products based on the pollution intensity of the country they are coming from – the first Republican-led measure that would intertwine trade and climate change policy. However, Republicans have been hesitant to join the bill, with one cosponsor going as far as to pull his support.
Curtis also stated that he hasn’t seen any proposals for a national cap-and-trade system or a clean energy standard that he would support.
“One of the mistakes that we’re making in the … environmental movement is pre-determining the solution instead of pre-determining the outcome,” he told Nancy. “In my experiences, the market is ahead of our regulations in almost all places.… I think one of the mistakes we make as a government is pre-determining what clean, reliable, and affordable [energy] means, and that the marketplace would actually get there quicker if we told them what the end outcome was.”
Nuclear buildout reform: One of the things that Curtis wants to tackle in the upper chamber is reform to the buildout of nuclear power, as it becomes an increasingly bipartisan issue with more buy-in from Democrats. Curtis cited a deal that collapsed between nuclear company NuScale and the Utah Associated Municipal Power System to build six reactors for a 462 megawatt project. Several utilities pulled out of the project due to cost overruns.
“We watched them go for over a decade trying to get permitted – and spent over $100 million trying to get permitted, and then finally give out,” Curtis noted. “We’ve got to figure out how to streamline the process.”
Historically, nuclear projects take around five years to construct, according to the World Nuclear Association – but the application review process can take up to five years to complete under the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an independent agency that oversees commercial nuclear power plants.
When asked about whether he’d be open to working on reform to the NRC, his answer: “Absolutely.”
The age-old issue of permitting reform: Curtis also aims to advance permitting reform. A deal is being worked on in the Senate between Energy Committee leaders Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and John Barrasso of Wyoming. But if a deal hasn’t been reached by the end of the 118th Congress, Curtis wants to be involved. His approach would focus on streamlining the process for all energy projects – a sticking point for some Democrats, who are opposed to accelerating reviews of fossil fuel projects.
But for the remainder of the year, Curtis says, he’s focused on being “intimately involved” in the House’s version of any legislation.
“The reality of it is, it’s not going to pass if it just says what one side wants in it,” Curtis said. “We’ve got to come up with energy permitting reform that really encompasses what everybody wants.”
The Trump question: But the other big question is how Curtis plans to navigate the Senate if former President Donald Trump ends up winning the White House. One of their most striking differences is their approach to climate, with Trump calling climate change “a hoax.”
“I really push back on the narrative that you’re either all in or all out on Trump. And the reality is, he does some things I like … and he’s done some things – and I’ll point to spending as an example of things – that are out of harmony with me and my district.”
Curtis stated that he would not endorse a candidate in the Republican presidential race, but would vote for the Republican nominee.
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.
ARCTIC COLD FOR MILLIONS: An Arctic blast continued to sweep through much of the U.S. today, putting millions of Americans at risk.
At least 41 U.S. states are currently under winter weather alerts, with conditions threatening to break more than 250 cold weather records. Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi declared an official state of emergency Monday, while others were warned of “life-threatening” wind chills of up to -45 degrees, which can cause frostbite on exposed skin in just five minutes.
The National Weather Service said conditions are expected to last through mid-week, warning individuals living in affected areas to limit travel or do so only with a “cold survival kit” in tow.
Why it matters: In its latest Winter Reliability Assessment, NERC warned roughly more than one half of the U.S. population is at risk for a winter power outage in extreme cold this winter—which officials said is due in large part to inadequate generator weatherization and limitations to natural gas infrastructure.
Some states are reporting power outages: More than 160,000 residents and businesses in Oregon lost power yesterday, and more than 100,000 are still reporting outages, while Texas climbed into second place this morning with 30,000 reported blackouts. Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin also appeared to be struggling with outages, according to data from Poweroutage.us.
Keep an eye on Texas: Many parts of the state are seeing below-freezing temperatures and lower operating reserves, ERCOT said Monday in its latest update, resulting in “higher electrical demand and the potential for lower reserves.”
Residents in the Lone Star State are particularly concerned about the grid, the failures of which left 4.5 million residents without power during the 2021 Winter Storm Uri and resulted in 246 deaths.
Late last week, ERCOT officials predicted a roughly one-in-six chance of rolling blackouts this year if conditions mirrored 2022’s Winter Storm Elliott (in fact, they are expected to be worse).
Despite new solar and battery additions, and repeated assurances from ERCOT officials that it has taken steps to shore up its capacity, Texas has continued to struggle to keep its grid adequately supplied during extreme heat or cold, and shattered demand records 10 separate times in 2023 alone.
AL GORE FLAGS ‘LOOPHOLES’ AND ‘TRICKY PHRASES’ IN COP28 FOSSIL FUEL PLEDGE: Former Vice President Al Gore issued a warning today to countries trying to renege on the landmark fossil fuel agreement struck at COP28 last month, saying the agreement contains “loopholes” and “tricky phrases.”
Speaking outside the World Economic Forum this morning, Gore said that some of the 197 countries that signed the landmark COP28 agreement to “phase out” fossil fuels have started to claim that that pledge and an item calling for the tripling of renewable power, are optional.
“All of that language enabled everybody to believe that all of these eight items are choices,” Gore told BloombergTV.
“Some of those who signed on to that pledge are now trying to claim it was optional and trying to walk it back a little bit,” he added.
He also objected to Azerbaijan hosting COP29 this year and its former oil CEO, Mukhtar Babayev serving as president. “The percentage of oil and gas revenue coming in for Azerbaijan, the host of this COP, is even larger than it was in the Emirates,” he said. “It’s not that they’re bad people or have bad intentions — it’s that they have a structural conflict of interest.” See the full interview here.
QATARI LNG COMPANY REROUTES HALTS RED SEA TRAVEL: QatarEnergy announced it is halting its LNG shipments in the Red Sea due to the rise in attacks from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on commercial ships, Reuters reported.
The Qatari firm is the latest to either pause or reroute its shipments away from the Bab el Mandeb Strait and the Suez Canal and around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope amid the deteriorating security situation.
Some 12% of total seaborne oil and 8% of LNG exports annually are shipped through the Suez, including many supplies bound for Europe.
QatarEnergy’s decision comes after the U.S. and British forces launched retaliatory strikes on dozens of Houthi sites in Yemen late last week in accordance with the Prosperity Guardian freedom of navigation operation. The retaliatory strikes held up at least four Qatari LNG ships over the weekend.
Sailing around Africa is longer and more costly than using the Suez, adding 10-20 days in transit time, and costs that are nearly three times as high as using the Suez, Breanne reports. The number of vessels entering the Red Sea dropped by 50% in the first week of January compared to 2023, and fears of sustained violence in the region pushed oil prices up to $80 per barrel late last week.
ICYMI: EPA OUTLINES NEW RULE FOR METHANE EMISSIONS FEE: The EPA on Friday released a draft rule outlining its plans to tax oil and gas companies for their excess methane emissions, the latest in a series of steps the Biden administration has taken to crack down on emissions of the potent greenhouse gas from U.S. oil and gas producers.
The new proposal details how and when it will begin taxing U.S. oil and gas operators for excess methane emissions and builds on the administration’s final methane rule announced at the COP28 summit in Dubai.
That rule requires U.S. oil and gas operators to perform comprehensive monitoring, establish new emissions reduction standards for certain equipment, and eliminate routine methane flaring over the next two years.
EPA officials said Friday that any excess methane produced by U.S. onshore oil and gas producers will result in a charge of $900 per ton beginning this year—an amount that increases to $1,200 per ton in 2025 and $1,500 per ton in 2026 and beyond. It also outlined what companies might be eligible for exemptions to the methane emissions tax, and how those exemptions could be applied.
Why it matters: The U.S. oil and gas sector is the nation’s largest source of industrial methane emissions, and Biden administration officials estimate the new rule will prevent up to 58 million tons of methane emissions from escaping into the air through 2038.
Still, Republicans and oil and gas operators have criticized EPA’s final methane rule as posing a “serious threat” to small- and medium-sized producers, arguing it imposes harsh regulations that could force some to shut down completely.
RUNDOWN
Bloomberg US, China start new climate era after veteran envoys step down
Financial Times Strong Davos snowfall belies climate change toll across Europe
