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WHY FRACKING IS A TOP ISSUE: Joe Biden choosing to dedicate a portion of a major post-convention address in Western Pennsylvania to clarify his position on fracking shows the issue still has currency among important constituencies in a race being defined by the pandemic and social unrest.
“I’m not for banning fracking. Let’s say that again. I’m not for banning fracking — no matter how many times Donald Trump lies about me,” Biden said.
Soon after, the Trump campaign sent out blasts reminding the media and its supporters that Biden had previously spoken differently about fracking during the primary. Most memorably, Biden stumbled during a gaffe in an exchange with Bernie Sanders in a March debate, in which Biden declared, “no new fracking.”
Biden has since taken pains to remind voters of the actual text of his climate plan, which even in its revamped, more liberal form only seeks to end new oil and gas leases on federal lands, where minimal fracking occurs.
Polls are muddled: Polls have generally shown that fracking, like most issues, falls along party lines, including a recent survey from CBS News finding Pennsylvania voters almost evenly split.
Other polls look differently depending on how they are structured. The Global Strategy Group released a poll Monday on behalf of Climate Power 2020, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Sierra Club finding that 62% of registered Pennsylvania voters support “phasing out” fracking by 2050 (importantly, not immediately), with 66% also favoring “stronger regulations” on fracking.
What polls miss: But polls do not capture everything, and at least some people, especially Pennsylvania workers in fossil fuel-dependent building trade unions, are likely to be single-issue voters, as Josh learned in a story he reported this summer.
Tellingly, the union leaders, all of whom are Democrats and naturally inclined to support Biden, said perceptions of Biden among building trade workers who don’t have time to catch every speech are baked in.
Many associate him with wanting to ban fracking, the union officials told Josh. Biden’s attempt to clarify his views have been complicated by the Trump campaign running misleading local television ads in Pennsylvania saying that Biden will ban fracking.
“I don’t know if that’s a perception that will be easy to change. It’s about perception. The world doesn’t work on reality,” said Jim Kunz, business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers in Local 66, covering Pittsburgh.
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MEANWHILE, LIBERALS URGE BIDEN TO BLOCK FOSSIL FUEL-ALIGNED PERSONNEL: The party’s left flank is pressuring Biden, as 145 progressive and environmental groups urged him in a letter Tuesday to ban fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, and representatives from working for him.
Josh first reported on the letter in his story last week on how liberal climate change activists are going after Obama-era centrists with ties to the oil and gas industry, seeking to block personnel like this from Biden’s campaign, transition team, cabinet, and administration.
“A Biden administration free of fossil fuel interests would signal your commitment to restoring a government by and for the American people,” the groups write.
Liberal groups argue it’s also good politics for Biden to impose employment restrictions, citing a new poll from Data for Progress finding voters oppose fossil fuel industry lobbyists or representatives working in the executive branch by a 22-point margin.
Centrist Obama administration alumni counter that it’s counterproductive to impose a “litmus test” on the pool of talent who can provide counsel to Biden on a complex and technical issue such as climate change.
NOVEMBER’S OUTCOME WILL SET DECARBONIZATION PACE FOR DECADES: If Biden doesn’t win the White House, it could all but shut the door on the U.S.’ ability to fully decarbonize the power grid by mid-century, Wood Mackenzie said in new analysis Tuesday.
But if Biden does win, meeting the climate targets he’s set out — especially zeroing out the power sector’s carbon emissions by 2035 — could be difficult to achieve, the research firm added. Reaching that target would require an enormous expansion of renewable energy and energy storage, and coal power would need to be phased out entirely, Wood Mackenzie said.
We’re talking huge numbers for renewables: Investments in renewable energy and energy storage would exceed $2.2 trillion through 2035 to reach Biden’s target, the report said. Battery storage capacity alone would surpass 400 gigawatts, which is nearly 40% of the U.S. total installed power capacity in 2020, the firm estimated. Demand for solar modules would rise to more than 100 GW per year (compared with total U.S. supply of 4.7 GW today).
“The deployment of 1.5 TW of renewable generation in less than 15 years is a daunting task. Doing so at that scale and speed would shake up the hierarchy of the energy industry and turn the power market on its head,” said Dan Shreve, Wood Mackenzie research director.
“Biden’s plan teeters between achievable and aspirational but the backing of energy sector giants could tip the balance and once again establish the U.S. as a leader in the fight against climate change,” he added.
SOLAR AND WIND DOMINATE NEW BUILDS IN 2019: Solar and wind power accounted for roughly two-thirds of new capacity constructed worldwide last year, the first time the renewable energy technologies have made up the majority of new electricity capacity brought online in a single year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg NEF.
The research firm expects renewables to continue to grow, especially cheap solar PV. In 2022, for example, BNEF expects 140 to 178 gigawatts to be constructed (2019 saw a record 118 GW of solar PV built).
Global power sector emissions dropped 1.5% between 2018 and 2019, according to BNEF, as reductions in the U.S. and European Union offset an increase in China’s emissions. China accounted for more than a third (37%) of power sector emissions in 2019, BNEF says.
Despite strong growth in renewables, global coal capacity is also still continuing to grow, with 39 GW of new coal capacity brought online in 2019 (up from 19 GW in 2018). That’s because even as developed countries like the U.S. and European nations retire coal plants, developing nations are continuing to build them in large numbers, often with financial support from China and Japan, BNEF notes.
HOUSE FINDS TIME TO VOTE FOR CLEAN ENERGY LEGISLATION: In the frantic weeks before the election, the Democratically-controlled House will vote next month on a package of clean energy development and innovation bills, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Monday.
At least some of the bills are bipartisan, passed out of the Energy and Commerce and Science Committees.
“These bills have broad support from across the aisle and from business and environmental groups, who together recognize that Congress must lead in promoting a cleaner, more sustainable energy future that drives innovation and helps us create good jobs for American workers,” Hoyer said in a “Dear Colleague” letter.
NRC TO PROBE SHUTDOWN OF TURKEY POINT NUCLEAR PLANT: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission launched an investigation Monday into unplanned shutdowns that occurred at the Turkey Point nuclear plant in Homestead, Florida last month.
The inspectors will review the circumstances of each “trip,” or emergency shutdown, which occurred between Aug. 17 and 20. The commission will also assess the response of the utility that operates the plant, Florida Power and Light, and corrective actions it took.
Last year, the NRC granted the Turkey Point plant approval to operate for up to 80 years, the first nuclear facility to receive an extension of that length. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette visited Turkey Point this summer, touting the plant’s “integral role in providing emissions-free energy transmitted over a strong, robust power grid.”
EPA LOOSENS CONTROLS ON COAL PLANTS’ TOXIC WASTE: The EPA relaxed requirements controlling how power plants treat and dispose of toxic waste, fulfilling a top request of coal producers, who had said the Obama-era regulation would force plants to shut down prematurely.
The Trump EPA’s new rule loosens those requirements by extending deadlines, requiring less costly treatment technologies, and allowing facilities to discharge more wastewater. It also exempts certain facilities altogether, including coal plants slated to shut down or switch to burning natural gas by 2028.
Environmentalists say the EPA’s action will allow coal plants to dump more toxic waste, such as mercury and cancer-causing selenium, into waterways.
“A rollback like this one won’t bring the coal industry back from the brink, but will leave Americans more at risk of putting a glass of water laced with lead, mercury and arsenic on the dinner table,” said Sen. Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment Committee. He noted some of the country’s “worst environmental disasters in the past decade” have involved spills of toxic coal ash that could have been prevented if power plants had properly treated and disposed of their pollution.
TRUMP PLANS WOULD EASE OIL AND GAS DRILLING IN NATIONAL FORESTS: The Forest Service proposed Tuesday changes to how it reviews and gives consent for federal oil and gas leasing in national forests that it says would eliminate “duplicative” aspects that have previously caused confusion.
Environmentalists, however, say the changes would restrict the agency’s oversight, short-circuit environmental reviews, and undermine public input on new drilling operations. The result, environmentalists say, could expand oil and gas leasing in national forests, where currently only 2.7% has been leased for oil, gas, coal, and geothermal production.
“Trump and his allies have spent three and a half years giving Big Oil whatever it wants and calling it an energy strategy, and this proposal is part of that larger failed agenda,” Rep. Raul Grijalva, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement. He added the proposal would “lead to more pollution and violate Forest Service mandates that date back to its founding.”
The Rundown
E&E News Pruitt’s phone booth revealed
New York Times in Massachusetts, Markey outflanks Kennedy by running as bold insurgent
Reuters Big Oil’s patchy deals record casts shadow over green makeover
Wall Street Journal Summer fuel demand disappoints, challenging economy
Bloomberg Companies start paying off ‘carbon debt’ to erase past sins
Calendar
TUESDAY | SEP. 1
The House and Senate are out.
