Daily on energy: Top Trump environment picks advance in Senate

‘Preposterous nominee’: Democrats especially resent Harnett White, who they say holds views contrary to established science on climate change that make her unfit to lead the the Council on Environmental Quality, which coordinates environmental policy at the White House. White would be in charge of implementing President Trump’s executive orders on energy and the environment.

“A nominee who can’t follow the thread from carbon pollution, to ocean warming, to sea level rise, who imagines science that is not there, and ignores science that is there, is a preposterous nominee,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said before the vote.

Record of climate statements: White is former chairwoman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality who last worked at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank that has received funding from Koch Industries, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and other energy companies.

She has said that “carbon dioxide is not a pollutant” and once referred to former President Barack Obama’s climate change policies as “deluded and illegitimate.”

She also has said that those who believe in climate change follow a “kind of paganism” for “secular elites.”

Industry ties: Wheeler, tabbed for EPA’s No. 2 spot, is a energy industry lobbyist whose ties to Murray Energy, a privately owned coal giant, have drawn scrutiny. He previously worked on the staff of Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., a committee member and former chairman known for his climate change skepticism.

Wheeler told the committee during his confirmation hearing that he met with the Department of Energy on behalf of Murray a few months ago about Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s proposal to subsidize coal and nuclear plants.

Say no to ‘name calling’: Inhofe, at Wednesday’s vote, criticized Democrats for harshly rebuking White and Wheeler.

“I am sure name calling makes everyone on the Left feel better,” he said. “We have people out there singing [White’s] praises. You don’t need to get down in the mud and name calling on these things.”

Stark contrast: “The [Clean Power Plan] would be in stark conflict with [the Department of Energy’s] goal of preventing further retirements of coal-fired generating capacity,” said Vicky Sullivan, a vice president for the group.

Day two of hearings: The group testified during the second of two days of hearings in the heart of coal country in Charleston, W.Va., on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to repeal the Obama-era climate rules.

At the same time, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is considering a rule providing market incentives to prop up coal and nuclear power plants. The incentives were put forward by Perry for FERC to approve on an expedited schedule. A decision is expected by Dec. 11.

As many coal plants as two West Virginias: If the Obama climate plan were allowed to continue, it would close coal plants numbering twice the electricity supply of West Virginia, according to the coal group.

The EPA projected that the climate plan would have caused the retirement of 29,000 megawatts of coal-fired generating capacity by 2025, Sullivan said.

“For perspective, these CPP-caused coal retirements would be twice as large as the entire electricity supply of West Virginia,” Sullivan said, according to prepared remarks.

One good turn deserves another: The coalition said in a letter to lawmakers that while it appreciates the Senate not ending solar and wind tax subsidies early as the House bill does, it does see potential harm in the Base Erosion Anti-Abuse Tax, or BEAT, provisions in the Senate Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

Devastating for wind and solar: “As drafted, the BEAT program would have a devastating, if unintended, impact on wind and solar energy investment and deployment,” the letter said.

100 percent tax on subsidized energy: “While we are grateful that the Senate tax proposal leaves the current phase-down schedules for wind and solar energy tax credits unchanged, the bill’s BEAT provisions undermine our capacity to use renewable energy tax credits, which have value only if they can be monetized.”

For many of the renewable energy companies involved in building wind and solar projects in the U.S., the BEAT would make their subsidies subject to a new 100 percent tax.

Banks threaten to pull plug on capital: “Not surprisingly, major financial institutions have indicated that, under such a regime, they would no longer participate in tax equity financing, the principle mechanism for monetizing [ wind and solar] credits,” the letter said.

Wind firms, for example, are able to use the tax equity they gain from having access to the federal subsidies to get banks to lend them the capital to construct the plants. The BEAT provision would undermine that process in the equity market and stop renewable energy development.

Oil industry study: The American Petroleum Institute, coincidentally, issued a report Wednesday that underscored the need for STEM education for the fossil fuel industry.

“The oil and natural gas industry will experience significant turnover and growth in the years to come, greatly expanding career opportunities for women and communities of color,” said API President Jack Gerard. “This study shows that STEM education is the key to creating a workforce that reflects the many faces of this great nation with skilled workers of all backgrounds.”

Jobs, jobs, jobs: The Mining Act would secure “the opportunity for job creators to present mining plans in an area already authorized for mining twice by Congress and rejects political and unwarranted actions taken by the previous administration that will harm responsible mineral production, kill jobs and decimate education revenues,” according to the House Congressional Western Caucus.

Four billion tons of benefits: Four billion tons of mineral ore and valuable metals such as copper and nickel are “within the area the previous administration tried to shut down, which represents the largest known undeveloped deposit of strategic and critical metals in the world,” according to the caucus.

Keeps protections: The lawmakers point out that the bill is not seeking to erode environmental protections. “No one is proposing to mine in the 1.1 million-acre Boundary Waters Wilderness Area, an area that already has significant buffers, and the bill actually protects this area,” according to the statement.  

The lawmakers say they only want to ensure that the economic benefits of public land development is able to be realized. They say that $1.5 billion in annual wages and $2.5 billion annually for the local economy “are at risk” if the House doesn’t pass the bill.  

How we got here: Trump ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review 27 national monuments shortly after his inauguration. The administration says previous presidents abused their authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act to unilaterally declare national monuments, by setting aside larger and larger swaths of public land.

Ear me out: Zinke recommended that Trump shrink the contentious Bears Ears, a 1.35 million-acre monument covering mesas and canyons in Utah’s poorest county.

Obama created Bears Ears just before he left office. It is an area in the southeastern part of the state that five Native American tribes consider sacred. The president will reduce Bears Ears by more than 1 million acres, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Stair master: Zinke also proposed reducing the size of the 1.9 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante monument, which President Bill Clinton declared in 1996.

Ron Dean, an aide to Sen. Orrin G. Hatch R-Utah, testified before the Utah Legislature’s Commission for the Stewardship of Public Lands this month that Grand Staircase “will probably be somewhere between 700,000 acres and 1.2 million” under Trump’s revised boundaries.

Big picture: The commitment is less than 10 percent of Shell’s total investment dollars. Still, it’s another recent example of the energy industry showing it is committed to combating climate change even as the Trump administration rolls back regulations, and President Trump pulls out of the Paris climate change agreement.

Pro Paris: Van Beurden told investors Shell supports the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature at which many scientists say the world would see irreversible effects from climate change.

New era, new rules: The agency says this is the first time in two years that the government has approved drilling exploration on the American section of the Arctic Ocean, which is part of the Outer Continental Shelf.

Dems oppose: Environmentalists and many Democrats say it’s too hazardous and expensive to drill in the Outer Continental Shelf.

The theory: Critics have speculated that Chatterjee could be delaying Republican Kevin McIntyre, slated to be the new FERC chairman, and Democrat Richard Glick, from being sworn in so that he can ensure a favorable vote on Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s proposal to subsidize coal and nuclear plants.

Not ‘nefarious’: “I do want to be clear with everybody: You guys are reading way too much into this. There is no conspiracy here. There is no intentional delay or dragging things out to some nefarious end,” Chatterjee told reporters Tuesday morning after speaking at a Consumer Energy Alliance Event.

Glick sworn in: Glick was sworn in Wednesday morning, FERC confirmed. However, the commission has not said when McIntyre will be sworn in.

Permit please: Nebraska regulators on Nov. 20 approved a key permit for the Keystone XL expansion of the pipeline network, but it rejected TransCanada’s preferred route, approving a costlier alternative that would move the pipeline further east.

Reaching out: “The alternate route would involve a number of new landowners for us, and as always, we’re striving to understand their perspectives on the project,” Dean Patry, TransCanada’s senior vice president of liquids, told investors in Toronto on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

The company must secure property easements from a new group of landowners to build the pipeline.

‘Encouraged’ by economics: TransCanada is expected to decide next month whether to proceed with the long-delayed project as it weighs whether the pipeline would still be economically viable after nine years of planning.

CEO Russ Girling said Tuesday the company has been “very encouraged” with the discussions with potential shippers over the past week and expects to “conclude sufficient binding shipping commitments to advance the project.”