Daily on Energy: A déjà vu moment for Biden?

The dynamic risks pushing up inflation and, in particular, prices for retail gasoline, which “rise like a rocket and fall like a feather” in response to higher oil prices, AAA spokesman Andy Gross told the Washington Examiner earlier this year. Rystad Energy senior vice president Jorge Leon said in a note yesterday that “higher oil prices will only increase the likelihood of more fiscal tightening, especially in the US, to curtail inflation.”

Déjà vu for Biden? The administration bore the brunt of blame from last year’s high oil prices –as high as $139 per barrel – caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a post-COVID surge in demand. Brent prices rose — leaving the Biden administration vulnerable to attacks and providing a cudgel for Republicans to regain their House majority.

GOP presidential hopefuls are using the same playbook in the run-up to 2024: In one recent campaign ad, former Vice President Mike Pence fills a red pickup truck with gasoline as he lambastes President Joe Biden‘s “war on energy” and the 60% increase in gasoline prices since he took office. And former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has accused Biden of “demonizing” U.S. energy producers, saying that, during her time as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., adversaries “didn’t want us to be energy independent.”

Biden’s approval ratings have been closely tied to gas prices: Last June, when average national gas prices spiked to more than $5 per gallon, Biden’s approval rate subsequently plummeted to their lowest-ever levels, bottoming out at just 31%. When pain at the pump alleviated, his approval ratings began trending up once again, climbing by 9 percentage points, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

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.

MAUI WILDFIRE LAWSUIT AGAINST STATE AND COUNTY: The father of a victim of last month’s Maui wildfires is suing the state and the county, accusing the government of gross negligence that led to the disaster that blazed through the area, Reuters reports. 

The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, is the first stemming from the wildfires to be lodged against the state of Hawaii. It also names the state’s electric utility Hawaiian Electric – which is already facing several lawsuits – and Bishop Estate, a major landowner on the island, over the fires.

Harold Wells, the plaintiff of the lawsuit, alleges the risk of the wildfires were well known to the defendants and that the fires were preventable. Measures that would have reduced the risk, including proper vegetation and electrical grid management, were not taken by the defendants, Wells argued. More on that here.

ON THE SUBJECT OF THE MAUI WILDFIRES… One Democrat who’s not opposed to the House Republican probes into the Maui wildfires? Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, who’s working to get disaster aid included in a possible stopgap spending deal.

“A town burned down. It’s absolutely appropriate to try to figure out what happened and how to prevent it from happening in the future,” Schatz told reporters on Tuesday. “There’s plenty for us to argue about in Congress, but whether or not we should help the people of Maui and the people of Florida and the people of Vermont should be held harmless.”

He’s not alone either – Biden last week welcomed the potential probes into the federal government’s response to the Maui wildfires that killed at least 114 people, suggesting that House Republicans “go out and talk to every elected official, from the mayors to the governors, to United States senators” about the disaster.

The breakdown: There are now two probes led by House Republicans looking into the Maui wildfires – one being organized by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, another by House Oversight. E&C’s probe, led by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, is looking into Hawaiian Electric, along with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission and the Hawaii State Energy office, and the role that electricity infrastructure had in the breakout of the wildfires.

House Oversight, led by Rep. James Comer, will look into the federal government’s response in Maui “to minimize the risk of waste, fraud, and abuse of tax dollars.” There haven’t been further details on who specifically the committee will look into.

More disaster aid after CR? Schatz, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said it’s likely that if Congress passes a stopgap funding bill, another disaster supplemental will have to follow for whatever natural disasters that have yet to occur.

The senator is also looking into authorizing the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program (otherwise known as CDBG-DR) that would allow Congress to appropriate funding for immediate disaster relief, long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and housing, and economic revitalization to the areas affected by disasters this season.

However, when asked about a legislative path forward, Schatz acknowledged that while it might be possible for the fall, “I don’t think we’re going to be able to do it in the next three weeks.”

ICYMI: Rick Scott introduces bicameral bill separating disaster relief from Ukraine aid, demands Senate vote.

ZILLOW – BUYERS WEIGH CLIMATE RISKS IN SEARCH FOR NEW HOMES: More than 80% of prospective home buyers now take into account climate risks when shopping for a home, according to a new report from Zillow, underscoring the threat of climate disasters, as well as a home insurance crisis that has prompted an exodus of providers in parts of the country—driving up premiums and leaving homeowners exposed to what APCIA described as the “hardest market in a generation” for property insurance.

According to the Zillow, 83% of prospective buyers said they considered at least one climate risk when searching for a home.

Prospective homeowners in the West are the most likely to rank climate risk as a “very or extremely impactful” factor in their search, the report found, followed by potential buyers in the Northeast. Floods were seen as the number-one concern by those searching for a new home, followed by wildfires, extreme temperatures, hurricanes, and drought.

The report comes as more insurers flee high-risk states, including California and Florida, forcing residents to adopt so-called “insurance of last resort,” or high-risk, low-coverage plans designed to protect residents who are deemed too high-risk for other policies.

“While all generations juggle trade-offs like budget, floor plans and commute times, younger home shoppers are more likely to face another consideration: They want to know if their home will be safe from rising waters, extreme temperatures and wildfires,” Manny Garcia, Zillow’s senior population scientist, said yesterday.

HURRICANE LEE FORMING: A new tropical storm making its way to the Bahamas and the Caribbean is looking to become the season’s next major hurricane, with its path being highly uncertain as it nears North America.

As the Washington Post lays out, forecasters are unusually confident that the storm will become extremely intense – and the National Hurricane Center predicts the storm, whic has been named Lee, will explosively strengthen into an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane by Saturday.

Current projections suggest the storm could come perilously close to the northern Leeward Islands, the island chain between the Atlantic and Caribbean sea, before it turns northward. However, these projections could change, and Lee is still five to six days away from approaching the islands. More on that here. 

THE GREEN LIGHT ON CARBON CAPTURE: The EU’s new climate chief has been given a mandate to explore carbon capture in an effort to limit global warming, as the union debates whether to support the controversial technology in upcoming UN negotiations to end the use of fossil fuels, according to the Financial Times. 

In a letter to Wopke Hoekstra, the Dutch nominee to be EU’s climate commissioner, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said he should “intensify efforts” to work on an “ambitious, forward looking strategy” for the technology when he takes up his role.

Hoekstra is due to take over in October from the EU’s previous climate tsar, Frans Timmermans, who left the commission to run in the Dutch elections. He will oversee discussions for the EU’s 2040 emissions reduction target. According to one diplomat, EU countries are “deeply divided” over whether to update the bloc commitment to cut emissions from 55 percent to 57 percent by 2030.

NEW RECORD HOT SUMMER: The planet recorded its hottest Northern Hemisphere summer ever, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

As reported by the Associated Press, last month was the hottest August scientists ever recorded by far with modern equipment – and the second hottest month measured behind July of this year.

August was approximately 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial averages. That’s the ceiling identified in the Paris Agreement.

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