Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!
EU MOVE ON COAL BENEFITS US INDUSTRY: The European Union’s decision to put an embargo on Russian coal imports affords the U.S. mining industry a big opportunity to expand its footprint in Europe.
The EU ban on Russian coal, which will begin in earnest this August, was undertaken over and against pronouncements by several of Europe’s greenest member nations that they plan to burn more of the fuel because of volatility in the gas market.
Now, they have to look for alternatives, just as they are with oil and gas, and the U.S. is again a prime candidate.
Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, said overall aversion to Russian energy among EU members and the embargo decision “has certainly given rise to the value of U.S. coal” and that the Europeans are showing interest.
“Our members’ phones have been ringing off the hook for shipments, both thermal and [metallurgical] coal,” Nolan told Jeremy.
Playing with numbers: As with oil and natural gas, Russia has been the EU’s top supplier of coal in recent years. In 2019, it provided nearly half of Europe’s coal imports, according to EU data. The United States was the no. 2 import provider that year.
Nolan said U.S. miners can step up, and could be doing more, had coal’s advantages been appreciated.
“The challenge to U.S. policymakers is, you know, there’s been tremendous underinvestment in domestic fossil fuel resources, including coal,” Nolan said. “That has now put our allies and our domestic security at risk. We need the optionality of these materials.”
A look at the markets: High gas prices generally bode well for coal. Europe and the U.S. burned more of it last year because gas was more expensive, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Coal’s average generation share in the U.S. rose to 23% in 2021, although EIA in January forecasted declines this year and next.
But keep an eye on the gas market which, along with the ever developing Russian energy dynamic, will be the determining factors. Prices on the Henry Hub hit their highest point in 13 years this week, and prices in Europe are still several times those in the U.S.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Jeremy Beaman (@jeremywbeaman) and Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep). 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.
EPA PUBLISHES NEW PLAN TO PROTECT ENDANGERED SPECIES FROM PESTICIDES: The EPA has announced a first-of-its-kind workplan aimed at protecting endangered species from harmful pesticides registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, or FIFRA.
As part of that plan, the EPA said it is hoping to reset the way it enforces endangered species protections under FIFRA—shifting from what has been described as a “reactive” approach historically determined through the courts, to a more proactive approach, which includes collaborating with other federal agencies and enforcing new registrations of conventional pesticides.
“The workplan reflects EPA’s collaboration with other federal agencies and commitment to listening to stakeholders about how they can work with the Agency to solve this longstanding challenge,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said yesterday in a statement.
In announcing the plan, the EPA acknowledged it has met its endangered species duties outlined under FIFRA “less than five percent” of the time. “This has resulted in over 20 [Endangered Species Act] lawsuits against the Agency, which have increased in frequency in recent years, creating uncertainty for farmers and other pesticide users, unnecessary expenses and inefficiencies for EPA, and delays in how EPA protects endangered species,” the agency said. Read more on the plan here.
UKRAINE THWARTS ATTEMPTED RUSSIAN HACK OF ITS POWER GRID: Ukraine said it thwarted a sophisticated cyberattack Russian military hackers waged on its power grid that would have caused millions of people in the country to lose power. Officials said the attack was slated to begin on April 8 as Ukrainian civilians returned home from work and took aim at several power substations in the country.
Cybersecurity firm ESET and Microsoft helped neutralize the attack, the Washington Examiner’s Ryan King reports.
“The threat was serious, but it was prevented in a timely manner,” Ukrainian cybersecurity official Victor Zhor told reporters yesterday. “It looks that we were very lucky.”
The bigger picture: As Russian troops struggle to advance in many parts of Ukraine, some analysts believe the attack is a sign that the Kremlin may be beginning to shift its tactics—including the adoption of more sophisticated cyberattacks.
“If the Russian advance has dissipated,” John Hultquist, the vice president of threat analysis at cybersecurity firm Mandiant, told the New York Times, “this may be another way for them to put pressure on Ukraine.”
GENSLER ADVERTISES CLIMATE DISCLOSURE RULE: SEC Chairman Gary Gensler defended the commission’s proposal to require companies to disclose climate-related risks, saying it fits into SEC’s “long tradition of disclosures” and is warranted to inform investors.
“Investors get to decide which risks to take [as long as] public companies provide full and fair disclosure and are truthful in those disclosures,” Gensler said yesterday during a webinar hosted by green finance group Ceres.
The commission has historically “stepped in when there is significant need for the disclosure of information relevant to investors’ decisions,” he said. “That’s where we are right now, by the way.”
The commission introduced its proposed rule last month to the (qualified) cheers of green groups, who said it was long overdue. It would require disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions across a business’s operations, as well as information about how companies are responding to climate change and any “climate-related targets or goals” they set for themselves.
Republicans insist the SEC is going well beyond its mandate with the rule to implement Biden’s green energy agenda by regulatory fiat.
The SEC is taking comments on the proposal through May 20.
ETHANOL INDUSTRY HOPING FOR PERMANENT E15 CHANGES: Ethanol backers lauded Biden’s announcement on E15 gasoline yesterday and hope it will portend permanent changes to the law restricting its use during the summer months.
Speaking at an ethanol plant in Menlo, Iowa, in his first trip to the state as president, Biden touted the effort as a cost-saving measure “stretches the supply” of gasoline and reduces emissions.
Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, said the group plans to capitalize on the EPA’s emergency waiver, which the White House said will come somewhere around June 1, to keep pushing for permanent changes to enable year-round sale.
“In the most immediate past few weeks, the attention really across the board was focused on getting the emergency waiver for the summer,” Skor said on a press call yesterday following Biden’s speech in Iowa.
“I think now that we’ve got the summer and we know that we’ve got a little bit of time to do some work with Congress, I think we just — we’ve got to go back and revisit with our bipartisan champions and see what the path forward looks like,” Skor said.
A bipartisan cohort in Congress has been pushing hard for Biden to enable more ethanol production and use in response to high fuel prices, including through year-round E15 and higher Renewable Fuel Standard volumes.
Speaking of which: Industry groups representing refiners and small retailers were incensed by the administration’s E15 move.
The Fueling American Jobs Coalition demanded Biden order changes to the RFS, and especially its Renewable Identification Number credit regime, to bring down their costs and costs to consumers.
The group said the RFS adds between 15 and 30 cents per gallon of fuel.
“The most effective way to lower the price of gasoline at the pump would be to lower the ethanol volume mandate for 2022, which is currently proposed at an unachievable level that keeps RIN prices — and consumer fuel costs — at historic levels,” the group said in a statement yesterday.
Remember, though, that ethanol interests and its supporters in Congress are seeking just the opposite on blending obligations. Some Republican corn-state lawmakers have accused Biden of favoring “big oil” by retroactively lowering renewable volume obligations for refiners.
JUST DON’T CALL IT ‘KEYSTONE XL’: Sen. Joe Manchin, speaking at a conference in Alberta yesterday with Premier Jason Kenney, regretted the Biden administration’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline and suggested it could be brought back – but only with a new name.
“The brand for the XL pipeline is probably gone,” Manchin said, according to Bloomberg. “Can it be re-branded? Can it be rerouted? We need this product. You all have a product that we have to have.”
What’s on Manchin’s mind: Separately, Manchin focused on energy production in an angry statement on yesterday’s report that inflation is at the highest rate since 1981.
Controlling inflation not only demands tighter monetary policy and decreased federal spending, Manchin said, it also “demands the Administration and Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, support an all-the-above energy policy because that is the only way to bring down the high price of gas and energy while attacking climate change.”
NUCLEAR GROUP PROMOTING ‘FISSION VISION’ TO DOUBLE CAPACITY: The Nuclear Innovation Alliance put out its “fission vision” today, a new report promoting a doubling of U.S. nuclear energy production through 2050.
To double means the nation needs at least 100 gigawatts of new nuclear energy production over the next 30 years, which the report says will require strong financial incentives and a “whole-of-society” effort to appreciate nuclear energy’s low-carbon advantages and ensure its “social license.”
“Citizens and communities must have confidence that new clean energy technology is safe, and that risks and benefits are well understood and fairly distributed,” NIA says.
Nuclear energy has bipartisan support in Congress, which recently authorized billions of dollars in the new infrastructure law to keep financially troubled existing reactors up and running and to help fund advanced nuclear technology.
The Rundown
E&ENews Covid-19 boost in green spending still not enough, IEA says
Bloomberg The clean-power megaproject held hostage by a ranch and a bird
NPR A record number of Yellowstone wolves have been killed. Conservationists are worried
Calendar
THURSDAY | APRIL 21
11:00 a.m. Woodridge, Ill. The House House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight will hold a field hearing in Illinois on electric vehicle batteries and U.S. critical minerals supply.
THURSDAY | APRIL 28
The House Science, Space and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on the findings of an intergovernmental panel report, titled, “Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change.” Location and time TBA.
