Daily on Energy: The battle over coal’s death bed

The environmentalists say the industry is on its last legs, and are tracking its demise, while the industry argues that coal isn’t dying — it’s just not being correctly valued.

The Sierra Club, together with other international environmental advocates, issued a comprehensive update on the global demise of coal-fired power plants on Wednesday.

The main thrust of the global survey was to say that coal plants continue to close at a staggering rate, although it acknowledged that China is building new coal power plants.

The U.S. accounted for over half of all global retirements, marking the second highest U.S. retirement level on record.

The record closures occurred despite efforts by the Trump administration to prevent it, the report points out.

“As the cost of clean, renewable energy solutions like wind and solar continue to outpace outdated fossil fuels, it’s only a matter of time before coal is a thing of the past worldwide,” Sierra Club’s Neha Mathew-Shah said in a statement.

Mathew-Shaw said the U.S. is on track to completely phase out coal and transition to 100 percent clean energy by 2030, which is a goal also supported by the Democrats’ “Green New Deal.”

What industry has to say: Industry’s view is that coal’s losses are to be mourned, because without coal, the country will be challenged in keeping energy prices low and electricity supplies stable.

A number of coal groups released reports, countering the narrative that coal closures should continue as a natural evolution to a cleaner energy system.

One report by the coal industry group America’s Power shows that the markets need to value the reliability and resiliency that coal plants provide, arguing that both the National Academies of Sciences and federal grid regulators agree with them based on the need for baseload energy resources — those that provide 24-hour a day energy without interruption.

This is something that the coal group and environmentalists are expected to clash over as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission continues its review of whether or not coal and nuclear plants need to be given special treatment in the energy markets the commission oversees.

Another pro-coal analysis released on Wednesday by the pro-coal campaign Count on Coal spent its time pushing back against the idea that renewables can fill the gap left by coal.

In particular, the group seeks to counter a recent study that shows more renewable energy will lead to lower energy prices.

Count on Coal’s main argument is that the electricity markets are “dysfunctional” and treat coal unfairly, giving renewable energy advantages that are pushing more reliable energy resources out of the market.

The study that the coal campaign refutes, called “The Coal Cost Crossover,” shows that local wind farms and solar panel array could replace approximately 74 percent of the U.S. coal fleet at an immediate cost savings to consumers.

“The findings have grabbed headlines,” the group says. “They’re also a fairytale.”

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INTERIOR’S BERNHARDT FIGHTS ETHICS ACCUSATIONS DURING CONFIRMATION HEARING: Interior Department Acting Secretary David Bernhardt faced aggressive questioning Thursday morning from Senate Democrats about whether he’s too ethically compromised to lead the agency.

“I am not claiming you are Big Oil’s guy,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore, at Bernhardt’s confirmation hearing before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “Big Oil’s lobbyists are making that claim.”

Wyden accused Bernhardt of lying to him about his ethics, citing a report this week gleaned from internal agency documents that then-Deputy Secretary Bernhardt helped block the release of a report assessing the threat of pesticides on endangered species.

“You asked to come to my office to tell me your ethics are unimpeachable, but these documents I just saw make you sound like just another corrupt official,” Wyden said. “Why would you come to my office to lie to me about your ethics?”

Bernhardt recently invited himself to Wyden’s office, seeking to assure his independence despite Bernhardt’s prior work at the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where he represented oil and gas companies and water districts.

Bernhardt’s former client list ranges from offshore oil and gas drillers like Eni Petroleum, onshore drillers like Noble Energy and Halliburton, and industry trade associations, including the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the National Ocean Industries Association.

The Interior nominee fiercely defended his ethics. He cast himself as a career public servant who is devoted to the agency’s conservation mission.

Bernhardt, 49, is a former high school drop-out from rural Colorado who earned his law degree from George Washington University before working at Interior from 2001 to 2009, and eventually rising to the No. 3 position at the department as its solicitor general.

“I know how important and devastating it is when folks at the top act in an unethical manner,” Bernhardt said. “It affects the department across the board. We have implemented a number of things to change that pathway.”

Bernhardt added he has implemented “incredibly robust” screening processes to ensure he doesn’t meet with former firms or clients on “particular matters.” He boasted that only Oscar Chapman, a fellow Coloradan who was promoted from undersecretary to Interior secretary in 1949, had more experience working at the department as him.

But critics say Bernhardt has interpreted recusal decisions narrowly: Democrats say he has acted in ways that benefit broad industries he represented, by overseeing policies to ease permitting processes and environmental reviews to open more federal land and waters to oil and gas drilling, and reform endangered species protections to make the law less cumbersome and restrictive to developers.

Republicans jumped to Bernhardt’s defense: Sen. Cory Gardner, who represents Bernhardt’s home state of Colorado, accused Democrats of applying a “double standard” to Trump administration nominees. He noted that Sally Jewell, a former Interior secretary in the Obama administration, worked for REI, an outdoor recreation company, and was easily confirmed to her government position.

“To attack the witness like this is why good people don’t want to serve this country,” Gardner said, in response to Wyden’s questioning of Bernhardt.

TRUMP YELLING AT OPEC, AGAIN: President Trump had taken a break from badgering OPEC over oil prices, until Thursday morning that is, when he urged the cartel to break with its production cuts to lower oil prices.

“Very important that OPEC increase the flow of Oil,” Trump tweeted. “World Markets are fragile, price of Oil getting too high.”

Venezuela sanctions too: Oil prices have risen for a number of reasons, including Trump’s imposition of sanctions on OPEC member Venezuela’s oil exports. But overall, OPEC has not agreed with Trump’s previous calls to end its production cuts, which the cartel and Saudi Arabia argue is seeking to rebalance the market between supply and demand.

Oil prices are going up, but they are still much lower than they were around the same time last year. OPEC, in cooperation with Russia, is looking to rebalance an oversupplied market, which had been facing a glut and stagnant low prices.

If prices go too low, it is also bad for U.S. shale producers, who are forced to close rigs and layoff workers. Shale producers generally want the price of oil is above $40 per barrel.

Trump’s real concern: What Trump might actually be responding to is the steady rise in U.S. gasoline prices.

The average price of gasoline has risen 15 cents in the last two weeks, 8 cents in just the last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. The price rise is a combination of factors, including higher oil prices. But it’s not only OPEC, it’s U.S. refineries that are part of the blame as they switch out their systems to make more expensive summer-fuel blends.

TRUMP’S VENEZUELA STRATEGY: NO OIL, NO ELECTRICITY, ‘NO NOTHING’: Trump says he’s placed a lot of pressure on Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro by crippling the OPEC nation’s oil economy.

“They have no money. They have no oil. They have no nothing,” Trump said Wednesday ahead of a meeting with Venezuelan First Lady Fabiana Rosales.

“They have plenty of pressure right now. So we’ll see,” he said, when asked about adding more sanctions. “They have no electricity.”

Trump didn’t rule out using military force as a last resort to get Maduro to step down.

“All options are open,” he said.

SENATE DEMOCRATS BACK LAMAR ALEXANDER’S GREEN NEW DEAL ALTERNATIVE: Senate Democrats expressed support Wednesday for a Republican alternative to the progressive “Green New Deal,” one that calls for doubling federal energy research funding to spur clean and affordable energy.

Democrats said Sen. Lamar Alexander’s, R-Tenn., “New Manhattan Project for Clean Energy” could produce bipartisan agreement on areas such as spending on advanced nuclear energy research, natural gas, carbon capture technologies for fossil fuel plants, advanced batteries for energy storage, energy efficient buildings, cheaper solar energy technologies, and electric cars.

SENATE DEMOCRATS FORM CLIMATE CHANGE PANEL: Senate Democrats will assemble their own committee to come up with “a consensus that is broad and strong” on legislation to confront climate change, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Wednesday, and carbon pricing is likely at the top of the list.

The panel will be populated with some of the party’s staunchest clean energy advocates, including Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

Repulican approach not sufficient: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who will also serve on the panel, rejected the GOP approach to clean energy relying on the market to develop greener technologies, which he called “the innovation fairy.” Whitehouse said the government needed to play a role in forcing the economy to shift toward carbon-neutral sources of energy.

“You put a price on carbon and you will see innovation happen in a minute,” Whitehouse said.

Schumer said Democrats will push for climate change provision in any infrastructure legislation, the budget, or measures to extend tax breaks.

The one-party committee will act alone, Schumer said, and will be chaired by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blocked Democrats from creating a bipartisan panel.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS AIM TO FORCE GREEN NEW DEAL VOTE: House Republicans are ready to seize on the failed Green New Deal vote in the Senate by laying the groundwork for a vote in the lower chamber.

Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., plans to circulate a discharge petition “after Easter,” he told reporters Wednesday during a Capitol Hill press conference. The effort could circumvent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., but would require backing from a “handful” of House Democrats.

The move will be the opening salvo by the newly formed House Energy Action Team, nicknamed HEAT.

The Republican coalition endorses “the development, deployment, and efficient use of all-of-the-above energy resources,” namely fossil fuels, to contrast with Democratic ideas on the subject.

The Rundown

Houston Chronicle BP America chief: It’s time for the Trump Administration to get tougher on companies like mine

New York Times They grew up around fossil fuels. Now, their jobs are in renewables

Washington Post Acting interior chief’s method of documenting meetings attracts Democrats’ scrutiny

Wall Street Journal Aramco plans $10 billion bond, casting light on its financials for first time

NPR Companies organize to make it easier to buy renewable energy

Calendar

THURSDAY | March 28

8 a.m.-5:30 p.m., The National Governors Association and the embassies of Australia, Canada and Denmark host the Global Energy Solutions Summit to help governors and states gather ideas and share developments in three emerging energy technologies, March 28-29.

All week. 700 F St NW. Nuclear Innovation Week continues at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco, providing a view from industry on the prospects for nuclear energy through March 29.

10 a.m., 366 Dirksen. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing to consider the nomination of David Bernhardt to be Secretary of the Interior.

10 a.m., 1324 Longworth. The House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife holds an oversight hearing on “The Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan.”

MONDAY | April 1

All day, The hydro-electric industry holds its annual policy conference Waterpower Week, April 1-3.

TUESDAY | April 2

366 Dirksen. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds hearing to examine the President’s budget request for the Department of Energy for Fiscal Year 2020.