Daily on Energy: Digging into the energy policies of the House speaker candidates

Here are the potential candidates, and what they have to offer on the issue of energy: 

Steve Scalise: Representing the 1st district in Louisiana, the majority leader hails from a state that is ranked third in natural gas production and fifth in natural gas reserves in the U.S. Within his district alone, the Port Fourchon service base houses over 95% of the Gulf of Mexico’s deepwater energy production, and is the main facility transporting supplies and people to offshore locations within the state. The port is critical to the local and national economy, having connection to 50% of the U.S.’s refining capacity.

Scalise’s ties to the oil and gas industry are clear through his campaign contributions. Dating back to 1999 during his time in the Louisiana House of Representatives, he’s received more than $2.2 million from the industry, according to OpenSecrets. 

The majority leader was also the lead on House Republicans’ sprawling energy package that passed the lower chamber earlier this year in March. Dubbed H.R. 1, the legislation would boost the production of fossil fuels and undo virtually all of President Joe Biden’s agenda to address climate change. The legislation, however, was stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Furthermore, the majority leader launched the House Energy Action Team in 2019 – a messaging board for GOP leadership on conservative environmental policy.

Jim Jordan: The Ohio Republican who’s competing against Scalise for the job isn’t a major player in the energy space – but has used his position as chair of the House Judiciary Committee to probe financial firms on their environmental, social, and governance goals and policies. Back in December 2022, the committee launched an investigation into Climate Action 100+ – an investor-led initiative that aims to hold the largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters accountable on climate change – calling it a “climate-obsessed corporate ‘cartel.’”

A founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, Jordan stands as a powerful member of the right flank that has often opted to elevate the cultural-war issues of energy and climate politics. During a 2019 Oversight Committee hearing on climate change, Jordan railed against the Democrats’ Green New Deal agenda, calling it “devastating for middle class families in all our districts.” When former President Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris climate accords, the Ohio Republican hailed the move, calling it “another government regulation restricting our economy’s ability to grow.”

The difference between the two approaches? Frank Maisano, a senior principal at the strategic communications firm Bracewell LLP, underlined Scalise’s industry knowledge and how that informs his approach towards the sector, versus Jordan’s method of elevating the fossil fuel industry through “consumer-driven culture issues that the administration is trying to impose on consumers.”

“I happen to think that a substantive voice is better because it understands the issues and the nuances of the issues better,” Maisano told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “And that doesn’t mean that the culture issues aren’t important.”

Kevin McCarthy (?): The former speaker is not formally putting his hat back into the ring to reclaim his position as leader of the conference – but isn’t ruling out the option if his colleagues nominate him to the position.

Taking a look at McCarthy’s record on climate, the former GOP leader has led his conference in blocking various Democratic efforts to address the issue of climate change. He worked to delay passage of Democrats’ sweeping climate bill, filibustering the legislation for more than 8 hours in November 2021. He has also joined Republicans in railing against the oppositional party’s “radical climate agenda,” arguing it gives a pass to China to pollute and punishes the American economy.

But the California Republican also has a conservationist side that leans to the left of some of his colleagues, creating a conservative policy platform that acknowledges the realities of climate change without forcing his members to distance themselves from fossil fuels. In 2021, McCarthy created a climate change task force that was tasked with devising a policy agenda to address global warming – but would also tie rising gas prices to Democratic efforts and set the basis of H.R. 1.

Furthermore, McCarthy is big on planting trees to sequester carbon, introducing the “Trillion Trees Act” with Republican Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman of Arkansas. He has also introduced his own bill, the “Save Our Sequoias Act” that would allow agencies to take further emergency actions and protect the large Californian trees from burning up in massive wildfires. The bills never made it to the floor, however.

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.

NEWSOM SIGNS EMISSIONS DISCLOSURE BILL: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a pair of new bills into law over the weekend requiring all large companies operating in California to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate risk.

The first law, SB-253, states that by 2025, California regulators must draft rules requiring all public and private companies whose annual profits exceed $1 billion to disclose both direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. The law is expected to affect more than 5,300 companies and requires them to disclose any emissions from their buildings or stores, as well as any work-related employee travel or transportation emissions incurred from shipping their products.

By 2027, the law goes further, requiring them to disclose all “scope 3” emissions generated by their supply chains or by consumers who use their products – a critical consideration for energy companies.

Meanwhile, a companion bill, SB-261, requires all companies with more than $500 million in annual profits to disclose any climate-related financial risks every other year, beginning in 2026.

In the signing statements, Newsom acknowledged the financial risk associated with their ambitious time frame, and urged the California Air Resources Board to monitor and work with the state legislature to address any harmful costs posed to companies. Read more from Breanne here.

HOTTER SUMMERS MAY ADD INFLATION PRESSURE IN EUROPE, ECB STUDY FINDS: The extreme summer heat in Europe that has shattered records will likely continue to worsen— and add more price pressure for consumers, according to new research from the European Central Bank.

That study found that above-average temperatures across the euro zone tend to have the most severe impact on costs of unprocessed food—due largely to lower agricultural and labor productivity, and drops in fresh-food supplies.

“As climate change brings more frequent and more severe weather shocks, the volatility and heterogeneity of inflation may increase and hotter summers may result in more frequent and persistent upward pressures on inflation,” authors Matteo Ciccarelli, Friderike Kuik and Catalina Martinez Hernandez told Bloomberg.

“With very hot summers set to become more frequent and more severe, stronger inflationary impacts may be expected,” they added.

The report echoes similar assessments from the IMF, which estimates that climate change-related costs will likely yield faster inflation in weaker economic growth.

FINLAND SAYS ‘OUTSIDE ACTIVITY’ SUSPECTED IN DAMAGED GAS PIPELINE: Finnish officials said today that they are investigating new damage to an undersea gas pipeline on the assumption that it was a “deliberate” act of destruction or sabotage, raising new concerns about the role of Russia, which whom the country shares an 808-mile border.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters today that they believe the damage inflicted to both the Balticconnector gas pipeline and its undersea communication cable over the weekend were caused by an “external source,” though he declined to comment further. The lines link Finland to Estonia.

“It makes sense to increase our security of supply, secure critical infrastructure,” Orpo told reporters at a press conference today. “The wise prepares. If something like this, so far inexplicable, happens, then it can also happen again.”

Notably, Russia had halted its gas exports to Finland in May 2022, one week after the country had announced plans to apply for NATO membership in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. To offset the lost supplies, Finland has increasingly relied on the U.S. and others for LNG imports.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg offered his support to Finland and Estonia, saying today that NATO is “sharing information and stands ready to support allies concerned”.

While the incident is still in the early stages of investigation, it bears certain similarities to the attack on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, which were hit by a series of four explosions last September.

Henri Vanhanen, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told the Financial Times that the Finnish government’s willingness to suspect sabotage suggests a “strong reason to assume hostile intent”.

“This is a test to the alliance: how will it react if indeed evidence of, for example, Russian interference is detected?” he added.

A ship was seen passing over the Balticconecter pipeline around the time of the attack, though officials have not yet confirmed whether it played a role in the damage.

News of the damage sent European gas prices climbing as much as 12.5%.

RICH COUNTRIES FAILED TO PONY UP FOR CLIMATE COSTS IN POOR COUNTRIES: The world’s largest economies have largely failed to follow through on their commitments to help poor and vulnerable nations cope with the effects of climate change, threatening the success of the upcoming COP28 summit in Dubai and ramping up pressure in Morocco, where leaders have gathered this week for annual World Bank and IMF meetings.

At a meeting in Germany last week, nations pledged just $9.3 billion in new commitments to the so-called Green Climate Fund, or the fund established in 2010 as a vehicle to help finance developing countries.

That number fell short of the previous round of commitments from wealthy nations and is not considered to be nearly enough to deal with the estimated costs of climate-fueled disasters, the Washington Post reports. (Last year, the catastrophes in Pakistan alone resulted in more than $30 billion in physical and economic harm, the Post notes.) The U.S., for its part, made no new financial commitments.

Maldives’s minister of state for environment, climate change, and technology described the 2023 efforts as “a let down,” as wealthy countries prioritize their own clean energy efforts ahead of the needs of the world’s poorest nations.

All these things will come to a head on Thursday, when leaders are slated to discuss how the World Bank can work to alleviate poverty while also putting more emphasis on funding to sustain a “livable planet,” one World Bank official told the Post. Read more on that effort here. 

U.S. AND VENEZUELA PROGRESS IN TALKS FOR OIL SANCTIONS EXEMPTIONS: The U.S. and Venezuela are making progress in their oil sanctions talks, Reuters reported yesterday, weighing a plan that would allow at least one extra foreign oil firm to take Venezuelan crude as a form of debt repayment so long as President Nicolas Maduro agrees to resume talks with the country’s opposition leaders in Mexico.

Envoys from Washington and Caracas have met several times in Doha since last year in a bid to help Venezuela solve the longtime economic and political crises that have mired the country, especially following his reelection in 2018.

The French company Maurel & Prom is among the companies that could get authorization from the U.S. to take Venezuelan oil, according to the outlet.

If successful, separate talks between Maduro’s regime and his opposition are slated to follow in the coming weeks. Read more on the long-stalled effort here.

The Rundown

Bloomberg Climate expert Claudia Sheinbaum aims to lead oil-rich Mexico

New York Times How one tiny island nation is replacing fossil fuels with renewable power