THE LATEST FROM THE GOP ON GAS STOVES: Republicans still hate the Department of Energy’s revised gas stove rule – and are planning on campaigning on the Biden administration’s attempts to regulate home appliances.
Some background: The finalized DOE rule would enact efficiency standards for residential cooking products such as gas and electric stoves, along with oven ranges. However, the rule is expected to affect only 3% of gas stoves and 23% of electric stoves on the market – compared to a February proposal that was estimated to impact 50% of gas stove models. The pared-back rule follows blowback from both Republicans and Democrats, who argued that the original proposal was too far-reaching and would burden consumers.
Even though the new rule has been diluted, some Republicans still aren’t happy.
“They need to back off completely,” Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told the Washington Examiner. “Hard-working Americans don’t need any more bogus regulations by this out-of-touch White House. Innovation and capitalism is what will drive change – not a bunch of government bureaucrats that are sitting behind some tax-subsidized entity.”
Other Republicans noted that while they were happy that the administration scaled back the rule, they pointed to other regulations imposed by the executive branch to enact efficiency standards on home appliances, such as gas furnaces and heat pumps.
“I think the ‘nanny’ state and caving to the most radical version of whatever environmental policy looks like is pretty par for the course,” said Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota, vice chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and the sponsor of a bill that would prohibit the use of federal funds to ban gas stoves. “You can roll back your gas stove efficiency [rule], but now you’re banning new natural gas exports or LNG terminals. They’re all part and parcel of the same thing.”
Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona, who was the lead sponsor of a bill that would prevent the Energy Department from enacting the efficiency standards, said Republicans still have plenty to go after the Biden administration for.
“They’re going after gas furnaces, which would be a huge detriment to the elderly people in my district,” Lesko said. She said she is hoping for a floor vote for another bill she has introduced, the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act.
The significance: Republicans have heavily campaigned on the gas stove rule, which has become a flashpoint in a much larger culture war.
Many of the Republicans noted that the backlash against the regulation was bipartisan – and election-year politics could’ve shaped the final version.
“He’s absolutely seeing resistance from everyday Americans to the rules and regulations that they’re passing that are going to increase their cost of living in the country,” said Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “And I will tell you with regard to the Biden administration, but for this being an election year, they probably wouldn’t have rolled back the rule.”
Democrats, however, are pushing back on the narrative from Republicans that the agencies are looking to take away voters’ gas stoves – but acknowledged that the GOP is going to go after President Joe Biden, regardless of how stringent the rule is.
“The Republicans are trying to give the impression that you’re going to have repurpose the one you have, which is not the case,” said E&C ranking member Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey. “The Republicans are going to attack him no matter what he does.”
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment writers Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep) and Nancy Vu (@NancyVu99). Email bdeppisch@washingtonexaminer dot com or nancy.vu@washingtonexaminer dot com 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.
GOP SCRUTINIZES BIDEN PLAN FOR LOWER SNAKE RIVER DAMS: Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee questioned federal officials today over the future of four hydroelectric dams in the Lower Snake River, arguing at a hearing this morning that any push to breach the dams—as Republicans fear— could be economically disastrous to Washington state and others who rely on the Columbia River Basin for power, irrigation, and navigation.
The hearing is a response to the Biden administration saying in December it would spend more than $1 billion over the next 10 years to help restore the depleted salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin, siding with environmental groups and tribes in the region in their decades-long push to protect salmon and other native fish. Though the deal did not call for a breach of the Snake River dams, it sparked fierce backlash from Republicans, who have argued that the agreement is a path to dismantling them.
A leaked copy of the draft agreement released late last year that said the government is willing to build clean energy projects in the region to offset the hydropower generated by the dams has sparked intense outcry, including from House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, whose district is home to some of those dams.
“This critical infrastructure helped transform our region into one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world,” Rodgers said today of the Columbia River System and the Lower Snake River Dams, which produce roughly 900 MW of hydroelectric power annually.
“For more than two years, the Biden administration worked behind closed doors with a select group for early-settle litigation—temporarily—over the future of our river system,” McMorris Rodgers said.
Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington, whose district also includes the dams, introduced a bill last week that would preclude any federal funds from being used in breaching or altering the Lower Snake River Dams. Read more on that effort here.
SAUDI ARAMCO ABRUPTLY REVERSES PRODUCTION INCREASE PLANS: Saudi Aramco said today it will abandon its plan to expand oil production capacity further, an abrupt 180-degree pivot from the world’s largest oil exporter, and one that immediately touched off speculation as to what it could mean for global demand.
Saudi Aramco said in November it was making good progress on its plans to boost production capacity to 13 million barrels per day by 2027—a plan first ordered by Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry in 2020.
The kingdom currently has enough capacity to produce 12 million barrels of oil per day. But it is currently producing far less than that—around 9 million barrels per day—due to voluntary oil production cuts announced by the kingdom and Russia last year.
Though the oil giant did not provide a reason for the lower target, people familiar with their thinking poured cold water on the idea that it reflected any expectations for future demand scenarios. “If the government decides to go the other way, the company is ready,” this person told Reuters.
They also pointed to the company’s spare capacity, which gives it more flexibility to respond to any near-term market volatility. “Aramco currently has spare capacity of 3 million bpd and that will be supported in the near future by a very important liquids displacement programme which will avail another 1 million bpd of oil and refined products for production,” this person added.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Saudi Aramco will update its capital spending plan in March when it announces its annual earnings and budget for the year ahead.
…And speaking of demand: J.P. Morgan said today that the escalating Middle East conflict poses a growing risk to global energy markets and oil shipments, citing both the ongoing displacement of shipping vessels from the Red Sea, as well as recent drone attacks and attempted attacks on Russian oil facilities.
The bank said today that the drone attacks on Russian oil refining facilities and export terminals will likely spark a reduction, adding further volatility to global markets at a time when energy shipments via the Suez Canal—the key shipping waypoint linking Asia to Europe—have also been disrupted by Iran-backed Houthi attacks on commercial vessels.
“At $82, we estimate Brent is trading today only about $4 above its fair-value, with $2 added to account for increased freight costs,” the bank said today in the market note.
GREECE HIT RECORD RENEWABLE GROWTH IN 2023: Greece saw record output from renewable energy resources in 2023, according to power grid operator IPTO, with power generated by wind, solar, and hydroelectric plants accounting for roughly 57% of the country’s total energy mix. According to a statement from IPTO, that’s an 8.5% increase from 2022, and more than double its renewable energy output from 2014.
Greece is moving to fully phase out its coal-fired power plants by 2026 and become a net exporter of renewable resources to other countries in the bloc.
Grid operators are aiming to expand capacity from 18 GW to 29 GW, IPTO CEO Manos Manousakis said today, with the aim of providing power to neighboring European countries and potentially to Egypt as well as countries in West and Central Europe— including Germany, Slovenia, and Austria—pending construction of two undersea pipelines in the Adriatic Sea. Read more from Reuters here.
RUNDOWN
New York Times G.M. profits hurt by electric car business and strike
ProPublica How Georgia’s small power companies endanger their most vulnerable customers
Bloomberg Spain’s Catalonia is spending $2.6 billion to survive without rain
