A coal-state Republican and a centrist Democrat are pitching a compromise alternative to one of President Joe Biden’s signature proposals to address climate change.
Republican Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia and Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader of Oregon are introducing legislation later this week, called the Clean Energy Future through Innovation Act, to impose a clean electricity standard requiring utilities to slash emissions 80% by 2050.
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The bipartisan duo introduced the bill last Congress, but it got little traction and failed to pick up any additional co-sponsors.
But their effort is taking on new urgency as the White House and Democratic leaders look to include a more aggressive mandate for entirely carbon-free power in infrastructure legislation.
Biden’s clean electricity standard, floated as part of his American Jobs Plan, would mandate 100% carbon-free power by 2035.
The McKinley and Schrader mandate for 80% clean power would not kick in until 10 years after enacting the bill, after first imposing a massive scale-up of research and development spending for clean energy technologies through 2030 to lower their cost.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, McKinley said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone of New Jersey, a Democrat, has agreed to discuss the bipartisan bill in a hearing focused on clean electricity standard policies.
Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee adopted Biden’s 2035 target for carbon-free power as part of their sweeping climate bill, known as the Clean Future Act, unveiled in March.
“Ours is bipartisan compared to his, and it gives us a chance to talk about an alternative,” McKinley said. “This just might be a fair compromise.”
While McKinley acknowledged the Democratic proposal could pass the House, he said it could struggle to gain the support of the party’s centrist voters in the split 50-50 Senate, such as Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Climate activists and liberals in Congress have pushed Democratic leaders to pass Biden’s clean electricity standard through the reconciliation process, which would require a simple majority vote, arguing a standard could be designed in a way that complies with strict budget rules.
“The Democratic conference is putting a lot of pressure on [Pallone] to not negotiate and soften, but to stay the hard course,” McKinley said. “Without it being bipartisan, he faces a very hard fall in the Senate.”
McKinley and Schrader say their “innovate first, regulate after” approach would put federal government muscle and dollars behind making clean energy technologies affordable and readily available to utilities.
In April, a group of 13 utilities wrote to Biden supporting a standard requiring 80% carbon-free power by 2030.
But the utility industry has warned it would be difficult to reach 100% carbon-free power by 2035 without building more transmission lines to deliver wind and solar power and advancing nascent low-carbon technologies such as small nuclear reactors, carbon capture, and long-duration energy storage.
“For the most part, utilities don’t think the 2035 net-zero emissions goal is feasible unless there is significant developments in technology,” said Jeff Holmstead, an attorney with Bracewell who represents utilities and a former deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the George W. Bush administration.
The 10-year innovation program in the McKinley-Schrader bill would include a dramatic increase in appropriations for research and development of a suite of clean energy technologies, including renewable energy, advanced nuclear power, carbon capture and storage, electric transmission lines, and battery storage.
It would also expand federal incentives for those technologies. For example, the bill extends deadlines for tax credits for carbon capture and onshore wind and solar power by 10 years. It also creates new tax incentives for energy storage, offshore wind, hydropower at nongenerating dams, enhanced geothermal, and direct air capture.
Bob Perciasepe, former deputy administrator of the EPA in the Obama administration, said the “unique framework” of the McKinley-Schrader approach could attract Republican support.
“It’s an intriguing approach to try to bridge the gap between Democrats and Republicans,” said Perciasepe, who is now president of the nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.
But Perciasepe also said McKinley-Schrader would likely need to bolster its clean electricity standard to require 100% carbon-free power to attract more Democrats, even if the date for requiring that is later than Biden’s 2035 target.
“The utilities, given everything they have publicly committed, will want to see a more aggressive goal at the end too,” Perciasepe said.
McKinley said, “It may not take much to get to 100% by 2050.” Still, he and Schrader decided to keep the 80% emissions reduction target to ensure affordability for utilities and ratepayers.
He said he’s discussed the bill with other Republicans, and it’s gained “much better reception” than previous years, but none have signed on.
McKinley’s pitch to Republicans highlights how the legislation would allow for the continued use of fossil fuels by spending on carbon capture, enabling the export of the technology to countries building more coal, such as China.
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McKinley also recognizes the need for a more aggressive climate policy given “Wall Street and other business people have changed” to favor moving faster to clean energy.
“They understand the train has left the station,” McKinley said. “We Republicans can’t be against everything. That runs afoul of my DNA.”
