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HOW MICHIGAN GOT ITS NEW CLEAN ENERGY MEASURES: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to sign a package of clean energy bills into law this afternoon, cementing the manufacturing state as a leader in policies meant to fight climate change.
How did Michigan get here?
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Michigan state Sen. Sam Singh – one of the lead cosponsors of the bills within the upper chamber – said the package moves Michigan toward a clean energy standard pragmatically while ensuring reliability and cost-effectiveness for consumers. His bills, specifically, would enact new waste reduction standards and create an office meant to help with the transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a greener one.
This wasn’t Singh’s first rodeo – he was the lead Democratic negotiator in the House for a 2016 clean energy package that included reforms for state utilities, one of which would require them to buy or produce at least 15% of their energy from renewables by 2021.
The package has gone through a number of changes before it was able to pass through both chambers – most notably, a provision requiring utilities to use carbon-free energy sources went through a few rewrites before crossing the finish line. When the bill was first introduced in the Senate by Democratic state Sen. Erika Geiss, the measure would’ve enforced a 100% clean energy standard by 2035. However, after the bill passed the upper chamber and faced changes in the House, the standard became less aggressive, with Michigan requiring utilities to use 50% clean energy by 2030, 60% by 2035, and 100% by 2040.
Singh said there were rounds of modeling done to ensure the standards were “practical,” so the state could realistically meet the benchmarks it was implementing.
“I think there’s always hope that we can go further, and I think there’s always opportunity down the road,” Singh told Nancy. “I think what we wanted to do was ensure that we had a set of bills that could pass both chambers, obviously that could be signed by the governor. And I think that negotiations that happened this fall created a very progressive set of climate policies.”
But a few environmentalist requests were left out, such as a provision that would allow localities to create community solar projects and share the generated energy with residents.
“We couldn’t get everything done under one set of policies,” Singh reasoned. However, the Democratic lawmaker hinted that the measure could be in play later.
Blowback on energy sources inclusion: Environmentalists criticized the inclusion of energy sources such as nuclear and natural gas using carbon capture technology within their clean energy standard. Singh defended their inclusion, advocating for the state to have a “diverse” set of sources to ensure reliability through the winter months.
“Overall, what we want to be able to do is ensure that we have reliability on our grid at all times, especially being a cold-weather state,” Singh said. “You need to have that baseload, especially in those coldest of cold days, especially in places where perhaps wind and solar won’t be enough.”
Looking ahead: The legislative session has ended, but lawmakers are expected to head back in January. Singh said he hopes that the next priority for lawmakers will be protecting the waters within the Great Lakes state. Specifically, Singh wants Michigan to create a septic code, which sets standards for the construction, operation and maintenance for tanks that treat wastewater. Michigan is the only state without a code, leaving the responsibility up to townships and counties. Singh also hopes that lawmakers can tackle lead removal within water pipelines.
Reality check: Once lawmakers come back in January, it will be an election year – which could complicate the passage of anything significant, especially considering that Democrats hold slim majorities in both chambers.
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.
WYOMING OIL AND GAS LEASE AUCTIONS: The Biden administration is auctioning off roughly 35,000 acres of land in Wyoming for oil and gas drilling today.
Over the next two weeks, the Bureau of Land Management is slated to auction off 63 drilling parcels across six Western states—Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Utah.
The auctions will amount to a total of 44,000 acres, and will be carried out on the online auction platform EnergyNet.
Environmental groups were critical of the lease sales, noting that they contradict President Joe Biden’s campaign-trail pledge to end all drilling on federal land and waters.
“Instead of doing the necessary work to fight climate change, Biden continues to support the expansion of fossil fuels here in the U.S., including leasing public lands and waters for drilling and pushing forward with mega projects like Willow in Alaska,” Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager at Friends of the Earth, told the Washington Examiner.
The first auction comes less than a month after an appeals court ordered the federal government to carry out oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, as required by a measure included in the Inflation Reduction Act at the behest of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).
Under that provision, Interior must approve a minimum amount of drilling rights in order to comply with offshore wind targets.
Interior issued just 527 leases in FY2021-FY2022, BLM data shows, compared to the 2,740 held under Trump during the previous two-year period. Read more from Breanne here.
NEW YORK GRID GETS $24M IN FEDERAL FUNDING: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the state was awarded nearly $24 million in federal funds yesterday, as part of an effort to bolster vulnerable electric grids and protect against failures and extreme weather.
The funding award comes just weeks after the North American Reliability Corporation, or NERC, warned that more than half of U.S. residents are at risk of power outages in the event of an extreme cold snap this winter.
The funding is allocated through DOE’s Grid Resilience and Tribal Energy Formula Grant under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Read more on the grant here.
CAR DEALERS LOBBY AGAINST ‘UNREALISTIC’ ELECTRIC VEHICLE TARGETS: A group of U.S. auto dealers urged the Biden administration to ease up on its ambitious electric vehicle targets, citing a lag in consumer demand.
In a joint letter, the group of dealers—which collectively dubbed themselves the EV Voice of the Customer—noted that production has outpaced demand, leaving them with a surplus of unsold electric vehicles on their lots.
“The reality,” the group of car dealers said, “is that electric vehicle demand today is not keeping up with the large influx of BEVs arriving at our dealerships prompted by the current regulations. BEVs are stacking up on our lots.”
“Mr. President, it is time to tap the brakes on the unrealistic government electric vehicle mandate,” the group said, calling for additional time to allow EV battery technology to advance, secure a reliable battery supply chain, and allow customers to “get comfortable” with the EV technology.
The letter comes as would-be consumers have cited concerns over cost, range, and availability of public charging infrastructure for EVs as some of the primary hurdles preventing them from making the switch from their gas-powered vehicles.
This gap in EV adoption has put dealers—and manufacturers of electric vehicles—in a tough position. Ford announced last week it will scale back its planned $3.5 billion investment in an EV battery plant in Michigan, part of its broader effort to cut costs in the EV space by around $12 billion.
BRENT SEES MORE THAN 2% GAIN AS OPEC UNCERTAINTY LOOMS: Oil prices jumped by more than 2% this morning on the possibility of OPEC+ deepening its current oil production cuts, pushing prices for international benchmark Brent crude up by $1.88, reaching $81.86 per barrel by mid-morning.
Prices for the U.S.-based West Texas Intermediate, meanwhile, saw a $1.84 gain, rising to $76.70 per barrel.
The volatility comes as OPEC members prepare to meet Thursday for their policy meeting, following a decision to postpone the meeting last week.
GERMANY VOWS TO PRIORITIZE CLIMATE FUNDING IN WAKE OF COURT RULING: German Economic Minister Robert Habeck pledged funding for key climate initiatives yesterday, vowing to secure investments for clean energy projects and other initiatives despite the country’s constitutional court ruling earlier this month that forced Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition to freeze most new spending commitments.
That decision is likely to imperil Germany as it looks to reach its two-thirds emissions reduction target by 2030, Bloomberg reports.
Habeck told reporters yesterday that the government remains committed to funding subsidies for expanding battery and semiconductor production in the country, building out solar energy capacity, and “greening” buildings and houses.
“The key sentence is: All the projects we have conceived must be made possible,” Habeck said, noting that abandoning the projects would threaten Berlin’s broader goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2045. Read more from Bloomberg here.
The Rundown
Financial Times ‘Sacrifice zone’: booming US LNG sector leaves its mark on the Gulf
Washington Post In a ‘sacred’ desert, the U.S. turns away from drilling and mining
The Guardian Revealed: Saudi Arabia’s grand plan to ‘hook’ poor countries on oil
