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GRAVES POURS COLD WATER ON PERMITTING REFORM: Many on Capitol Hill are projecting optimism that permitting reform can move. But not Rep. Garret Graves.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, the Louisiana Republican blasted the White House for its interpretation of the permitting reforms that were included in the debt limit deal. And until the White House claws back its proposed rules, permitting reform is essentially dead this Congress, according to Graves.
“If they’re inventing or taking extreme liberties with the interpretation of what was done in the [Fiscal Responsibility Act], why in the world would we give them additional words to come up with imaginary interpretations on?” Graves said. “I think discussions are healthy and all that, but I’ll just say that I don’t think it makes any sense to give them additional words if all they’re going to do is invent whatever interpretation they want.”
Some background: If you’ll recall, Graves was Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s right-hand man during negotiations to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, and was the one that was able to get modest permitting reform into the final bill. The changes would update the National Environmental Policy Act to enable faster build-out of energy projects, setting up one- or two-year limits for environmental reviews of new projects, limiting how long environmental analyses can be, and allowing developers to go to court if agencies miss deadlines.
But following President Joe Biden’s signing of the bill, the White House Council on Environmental Quality released a proposed rule that would require agencies to consider climate and equity factors when executing reviews under NEPA. These provisions were not included in the deal negotiated between White House officials and House Republicans.
“Let’s be very clear, I think that the White House has completely bastardized the language that we gave them,” Graves said. “It is clearly outside of the four corners of the agreement. They know that, and I consider this an incredible violation of trust and just an act of bad faith on their part.”
A different tone: Other energy leaders within Congress are still igniting hope that permitting reform can still succeed, emphasizing the need for reform.
“There’s incentive to get it done,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Ranking Member John Barrasso said earlier this month. “We’re trying to find ways to make sure that all sorts of American energy are producing.”
Energy Committee chairman Joe Manchin met separately last week with Barrasso and House Natural Resources Committee chairman Bruce Westerman.
Manchin and Barasso said in a joint statement last week that they agree that “we must act to accelerate our permitting system.”
Where do we go from here? Funding the government is likely to take up the majority of the Hill’s oxygen for the next couple of months, so the chances of something passing are slim – and will be even slimmer during an election year. Furthermore, both parties are still in disagreement over how to change permitting law, with divisions arising over transmission and judicial reform.
Westerman told us that he met with Rep. Scott Peters last week, a California Democrat who has introduced legislation with Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado that would direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to oversee the construction of an interregional transmission system. A version of the bill almost made it into the debt limit deal, but was ultimately cut.
But one area of bipartisanship could be judicial reform: Graves said that negotiators “came really close in negotiations to getting an agreement” on the matter – but ultimately ran out of time before closing on a deal. The two sides were discussing the relationship between community engagement and judicial review, but ultimately disagreed on the matter. Graves said that the White House crossed the line past community engagement into advocacy – a point that he said was a no-go for him.
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.
SEC ADOPTS ‘GREENWASHING’ RULE: The SEC has adopted a rule cracking down on so-called “greenwashing” marketing practices by investment funds—seeking to identify and penalize firms who use ESG names and criteria to obfuscate the truth about what is in their investment portfolios.
The new rule was described by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler earlier this year as a “truth in advertising” rule. As the Examiner’s Zachary Halaschak reports, the change is an update to the SEC’s “Fund Names” rule, and requires a fund that implies ESG focus or investment, or focus on a class of companies with certain characteristics, to invest 80% of their assets to align with their names and investment policies.
“A fund’s investment portfolio should match a fund’s advertised investment focus,” Gensler said yesterday. “Such truth in advertising fund integrity on behalf of fund investors.”
Pushback: American Securities Association head Chris Iacovella said that the rule is “another example of the commission adopting sweeping, disruptive, and duplicative proposals that will confuse investors and create numerous problems for firms and the SEC alike.”
BLOOMBERG TO SPEND $500M TO CLOSE COAL PLANTS AND BLOCK NATURAL GAS: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday he will commit an additional $500 million to expand the Beyond Carbon campaign, in an effort to accelerate renewable energy capacity and reduce fossil fuels—primarily, coal generation—by the end of the decade.
The $500 million in funding is one of the largest U.S. philanthropic efforts to date aimed at fighting climate change.
The funds will help Bloomberg’s initiative meet its goal of shutting down “every last” coal plant in the U.S. by 2030, and will fund work with state and local organizations to close the doors of the 150 remaining coal-fired plants in the U.S.
Bloomberg Philanthropies has helped retire more than 70% of all U.S. coal plants to date and stopped more than 30% of planned gas capacity from coming online, the group said in a press release. It will now seek closure of the remaining coal plants and the retirement of gas plants, which they seek to halve by 2030.
“By working with our partners across the country, we hope to transform the way we power America by moving beyond fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy,” Bloomberg, who currently serves as the UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, said yesterday in New York.
The funds will also finance the work of major environmental groups in the U.S., including Earthjustice, Hip Hop Caucus, Sierra Club, RMI, League of Conservation Voters, Advanced Energy United, and Coalfield Development to accelerate the transition to clean and renewable energy sources.
BIDEN TO APPOINT COORDINATOR FOR LONG-TERM RECOVERY IN EAST PALESTINE: Biden issued an executive order yesterday to appoint a long-term coordinator tasked with overseeing long-term recovery efforts in East Palestine, seeking a whole-of-government response seeking to respond to the February train derailment that spilled at least five hazardous chemicals into local air and waterways.
The order directs FEMA to appoint a coordinator for recovery within five days, who will be tasked with conducting a comprehensive assessment of “any unmet needs that are not addressed by Norfolk Southern and would qualify for Federal assistance,” and to coordinate with local, state, and federal agencies and the private sector as the area continues to recover.
It also requires the EPA to provide a report within 30 days detailing the status of air, water, and soil quality in East Palestine, while DHS and HHS will each have 60 days to prepare a summary of conclusions from public health testing, the White House said in a fact sheet. If they find that any acute medical conditions have developed, HHS and EPA will each evaluate whether to declare a public health emergency.
BARRASSO CALLS FOR PARKS TO STAY OPEN DURING SHUTDOWN WITH METHOD DEEMED ILLEGAL: Barrasso asked Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to keep national park service lands open in the event of a government shutdown, under a method that was deemed illegal by the GAO during the Trump administration.
The ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee asked Interior to use funds from visitor fees collected under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) to keep the parks open and pay visitor services staff and law enforcement officers, as it did during the week-long 2018 shutdown.
As Nancy reports, the GAO said in its 17-page opinion that the method violated FLREA as well as the Antideficiency Act, which restricts how agencies can redirect money without congressional approval. Read more on that here.
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