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LIFE AFTER MANCHIN: Sen. Joe Manchin shocked Washington when he announced that he would not be running for reelection in the Senate – igniting a number of questions around who would next lead Energy and Natural Resources Committee Democrats, a position the West Virginian has commanded since 2019.
Many are looking at Sen. Martin Heinrich, a more liberal Democrat from New Mexico who is one of the few engineers in the Senate. Heinrich – who doesn’t chair any “A” committees, and is currently a chair of an appropriations subcommittee – would be next in line for the position.
Aren’t there more senior members? Well, yes – but they would have to give up their other plum committee chair assignments for ENR. And if history is any indication, that’s not likely to happen. In 2018, then-ranking member Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington jumped ship to chair the Commerce Committee, leaving the position open for grabs. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, didn’t trade positions. Neither did Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who was the then-ranking member of the Budget Committee and now committee chair.
A compare and contrast: Heinrich, who came into Congress in 2009 and the Senate in 2013, stands to the left of Manchin on energy and environment issues. Before coming into Congress, he served on the executive committee of the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande chapter, and later received an endorsement from the advocacy group during the 2012 and 2018 election cycle.
In contrast to Manchin running a campaign ad depicting himself shooting a copy of the 2009 cap and trade bill, Heinrich supported the legislation – voting yes on the House-passed bill that would set limits on emissions while allowing utilities and manufacturers to trade pollution allowances amongst themselves. The legislation was stalled in the Senate, however.
In 2019, the New Mexico Democrat was one of 14 senators to support the Green New Deal – a congressional resolution that would establish goals of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Furthermore, Heinrich has been more open with his support of renewables. Just earlier this month, he introduced a bill with other Democratic senators that would aim to streamline the permitting process for qualifying home energy systems, including rooftop solar and wind power systems.
Reality check: Heinrich still represents a blue state that’s heavily reliant on oil and gas, with New Mexico being the second top crude oil producer in the U.S., right after Texas. Following concerns from industry groups that Biden would take aim at oil and gas companies with a series of new executive orders in his first month of presidency, Heinrich stated that while he did not support a permanent, unilateral ban on new oil leases, he said that a pause was appropriate.
“It’s also crystal clear that the zero carbon, zero pollution economy is coming,” Heinrich told the AP at the time. “Even oil and gas majors are planning for that future. To weather that change, New Mexico needs a transition plan with a predictable glide path for producers and robust investments in the communities where our energy veterans have produced our country’s transportation fuels.”
It’s up to the New Mexico Democrat on whether or not he wants the gig. We’ve reached out to his office, but did not immediately hear back for comment.
Other possible candidates: Other senators that fall after Heinrich in seniority include Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who are also more liberal than Manchin in their energy policy stances.
If we were to put a score to it: Heinrich has a lifetime environmental score of 94%, according to the League of Conservation Voters’s scorecard. Hirono has a lifetime score of 96%, while Angus King has a lifetime score of 92%.
The bottom line: Anyone that steps up to the mantle will be to the left of Manchin’s record, as the West Virginian was arguably the most conservative member on the Democratic side of the panel.
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.
JUDGE UPHOLDS WILLOW APPROVAL, IN BLOW TO ENVIRONMENTALISTS: A federal judge upheld the approval of the controversial Willow oil drilling project yesterday, siding with the Biden administration and clearing the way for ConocoPhillips to begin construction of the massive, nearly 600-million-barrel project in Alaska’s North Slope this winter.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason, an Obama appointee, rejected a motion to vacate filed by native groups and environmentalists, who have been staunchly opposed to the project.
In upholding Interior’s approval, the ruling clears the way for ConocoPhillips to move ahead with their plans for winter construction.
“Willow underwent nearly five years of rigorous regulatory review and environmental analysis, including extensive public involvement from the communities closest to the project site,” ConocoPhillips Alaska president Erec Isaacson said in a statement.
“We now want to make this project a reality and help Alaskan communities realize the extensive benefits of responsible energy development,” he added.
Meanwhile, environmentalists vowed to appeal: “While today’s ruling is disappointing, we are entirely confident in our claims,” said Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe.
GOP TEXAS REPS CALLS FOR DOD SUPPORT IN CRITICAL MINERALS APPLICATION: Texas Republican lawmakers are pressing the Department of Defense to support a proposal that would develop a critical mineral processing facility off of the Texas Gulf Coast, arguing that the project could help strengthen the U.S. supply chain in the face of competition from China.
In a letter to the assistant secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, GOP Texas Reps. Wesley Hunt, Randy Weber, Troy Nehls, Dan Crenshaw, and Morgan Luttrell are calling for the DOD to support an application from DeepGreen Resources, a Canadian metals company, to build the facility under a Defense Production Act authorization. The authorization allows the agency to increase domestic mining and the processing of critical minerals for the U.S.’ large capacity battery supply chain.
“Support for the project would represent an investment in our national security, domestic economy, and production of materials to support the energy transition – in an area where recent reports show China seeking dominance,” the lawmakers wrote.
The members also cited robust marine and energy infrastructure concentrated along the coast, “position[ing] the region well to support facility requirements,” the letter reads. Read the letter here.
CHAMBER OUTLINES CASE AGAINST EPA PM2.5 RULE: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce published a new report against EPA’s proposed particulate matter PM2.5 air quality standards—arguing that, if passed, the standards could cause permitting gridlock across the country.
According to the report, some 850 U.S. counties, or 30% of the country, could be in violation of EPA’s proposed standards, putting them into so-called “permitting gridlock” and hampering economic growth.
Counties found to be in violation of the PM2.5 standard could face blocked permits for new manufacturing facilities, a halt in construction of roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. The PM2.5 rule could also place an outsize burden on the private sector to implement mitigation measures, the authors argued, despite the fact that wildfires are the main source of PM2.5 emissions.
“We strongly urge the Administration to consider the unintended consequences and unnecessary burdens this discretionary rule would place on American businesses—especially considering fires are the main PM2.5 source,” Chad Whiteman, vice president of environment and regulatory affairs at Chamber’s Global Energy Institute, said in a statement.
“This rule would increase costs and further worsen inflationary impacts of doing business in the U.S.—threatening the economy and putting American jobs at risk,” Whiteman added. Read more here.
PG&E FILES EXTENSION TO KEEP DIABLO ONLINE THROUGH 2045: Operators of California’s largest nuclear power plant filed an extension this week with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the life of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant through 2045, just a little more than a year after state lawmakers approved an effort to keep its Unit 1 and Unit 2 reactors online through 2030 pending the approval of federal regulators.
Diablo is the single largest energy source in California, generating roughly 2,200 MW of carbon-free power, or roughly 17% of the state’s total zero-carbon power, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. But it is also something of a political lightning rod, generating stark opposition from some environmental groups in the state, who have cited concerns about the safety of the plant and risk for embrittlement or damage due to shaking from nearby earthquake faults.
In a petition filed earlier this fall, Digby Macdonald, a Berkeley nuclear engineering professor, said these concerns pose “an unreasonable risk to public health and safety” due to the potential for serious embrittlement.
Supporters of the push to keep Diablo online argue that keeping it is crucial to helping the state achieve its goal of reaching 100% clean electricity by 2045, and to avoid blackouts during peak summer demand. A study from the Brattle Group found that extending Diablo Canyon’s lifespan could help California decarbonize “more quickly, more reliably, and at a lower cost” — approximately $5 billion less — than if the plant shut down in 2025 as previously planned.
“PG&E is committed to answering the state’s call to ensure the continued operation of the facility and safely deliver affordable, reliable and clean energy for California,” PG&E CEO Patti Poppe said in a statement.
FIRST U.S. COMMERCIAL CARBON CAPTURE PLANT OPENED IN CALIFORNIA: California-based climate tech company Heirloom opened the first-ever commercial direct air capture facility in the U.S. yesterday, a major milestone for the development of the nascent DAC technology that scientists and Biden administration officials say is crucial to hit global climate goals.
Heirloom’s impact will be small (for now): According to company estimates, it will be able to remove roughly 1,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per year, or the equivalent to the output of just 62 U.S. residents.
But Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, whose agency selected Heirloom earlier this year as one of three companies that will begin building a pair of industrial-scale DAC hubs, praised it as a first step for an industry she sees as rife with opportunity.
“We have been polluting with carbon our atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution and you cannot unpollute. Except with this,” Granholm said yesterday at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility. “We see such promise in this company, and in this technology and in what it does for the world.”
RUSSIAN CYBER SPIES BEHIND 2022 ATTACK ON UKRAINE POWER GRID: REPORT: Russian cyber spies with the group Sandworm are believed to be behind an attack late last year that majorly disrupted a portion of Ukraine’s power grid, plunging thousands of people into darkness and majorly disrupting power supplies across the country, according to a new report published by the U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant.
According to the report, the attack on Ukraine’s power grids was carried out by the group known as Sandworm, or the cyberwarfare unit of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency that carried out the first known attack on Ukraine’s power infrastructure in 2015.
Mandiant said the attackers likely had access to Ukraine’s power system for up to three months.
While the report itself is quite dense, it shows that Sandworm is using advanced new technology to attack industrial control systems, and to then deploy data wiping technology to cover their tracks. It also underscores the necessity for other countries to take action to protect against similar intrusions.
“This attack represents the latest evolution in Russia’s cyber physical attack capability, which has been increasingly visible since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” said the report. Read it in full here.
The Rundown
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