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DEMOCRATS MOVING FAST: House Democrats are scrambling to write a massive reconciliation package after centrists and party leadership overcame a dispute to unlock the legislative process.
Some House committees are planning to hold markups of their portions of the $3.5 trillion package as soon as next week. That includes the House Natural Resources Committee, the panel overseeing energy production on federal lands that has tentatively targeted Thursday, Sept. 2 for its markup.
A memo shared with me shows the Natural Resources Committee will be allocated $31.6 billion as its part of the package, which includes a measure creating a Civilian Climate Corps.
Democrats have set a non-binding Sept. 15 deadline to complete their work ahead of a vote on a smaller bipartisan infrastructure bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised centrists would happen by Sept. 27.
Why the rush? Rep. Jared Huffman of California, a liberal Democrat and member of the Natural Resources Committee, told me speed is warranted given the urgency of climate change demonstrated by a crush of extreme weather events afflicting the U.S. this summer.
“Anyone who doesn’t feel some sense of urgency must have been in a coma for the last few years as all these frightening previews of climate catastrophe have visited us,” Huffman said.
Don’t expect surprises: Huffman said conversations between the House and Senate have been occurring for a while now on shared priorities for reconciliation. He downplayed the tensions between the more liberal House and moderate Senate.
Pelosi, as part of her concession to a small group of centrists in the House, has vowed to work to align their reconciliation package with Democrats in the Senate, where powerful centrists such as Joe Manchin of West Virginia are seeking to rein in spending.
“To say we are fully vetting every single thing with every senator would be an exaggeration, but I don’t think anyone is going to be blindsided by any of this,” Huffman said.
The Senate took the lead on writing the budget resolution approved by the House that dictates the policies to be included in reconciliation. Senate Democrats’ budget blueprint includes a “clean electricity payment program” paying utilities to use more carbon-free power, combined with a package of new and expanded tax subsidies for clean energy technologies, electric vehicle rebates and subsidies, and more.
But there could be some freelancing: House Democrats on the Natural Resources Committee, however, are expected to push their own priorities, such as imposing reforms to the federal oil and gas leasing program, including increasing century-old royalty rates for onshore leases.
Huffman is also pushing to stop drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by including a provision in reconciliation overturning lease sales approved as part of Republicans’ 2017 tax cut bill.
Measures targeting oil and gas, though, could be a tough sell for senators from fossil fuel states such as Manchin.
Huffman and other House liberals are still calling for Democratic leadership to bring up the reconciliation package for a vote before the bipartisan bill, potentially giving committees even less time to work with.
“The bipartisan bill is a lousy bill written by oil lobbyists,” Huffman said. “I don’t like a scenario where I am asked to put up a vote on that without knowing the environment and climate pieces I care about may not advance.”
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writer Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe). Email [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.
DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEYS GENERAL BACK MINNESOTA IN BIG OIL LAWSUIT: A coalition of 17 Democrat attorneys general filed an amicus brief yesterday supporting the state of Minnesota’s lawsuit against major fossil fuel companies, seeking to bust them for misleading the public about climate change science and the role their products play in increasing carbon emissions.
Minnesota’s case, filed last year by Attorney General Keith Ellison, names Exxon, and it’s the first lawsuit targeting oil companies to name Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s main lobbying group.
Ellison is seeking to prove that these entities engaged in consumer fraud by misleading people about the harms of fossil fuel use.
“For decades, Big Oil knowingly wreaked havoc on our environment and deceived consumers. We stand behind Minnesota’s effort to hold these companies accountable,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
What the AGs want: Minnesota originally filed its lawsuit in a state district court, but the defendants are aiming to move the case to federal court, which the industry views as a more favorable venue. A federal district court agreed with Minnesota that the case belongs in state court. In the amicus brief to the Eighth Circuit appeals court, the Democratic attorneys general supporting Minnesota argue the District Court’s order should be affirmed, keeping the case in state court.
BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE BILL ALL ABOUT JOBS: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, President Joe Biden‘s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure proposal, will create nearly 1 million new jobs over the next decade, the Washington Examiner’s Christian Datoc reports.
A report by S&P Global was circulated by the White House yesterday afternoon and estimates that a $1 trillion infrastructure investment, such as the bipartisan package, “will alone create 883,600 more jobs by 2030, while increasing per-capita income and consumer spending.”
S&P also estimated that the package would add $1.7 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product and increase per capita income, which in 2019 averaged just over $33,000, by $100 across that same time frame.
NEW JERSEY LOWERING GAS TAX: New Jersey motorists will soon see some relief at the pumps as the state will lower its gas tax rate by 8.3 cents per gallon starting Oct. 1.
With the reduced tax, motorists will pay a total of 42.4 cents in state taxes for gasoline and 49.4 cents for diesel fuel, down from 50.7 cents per gallon for gasoline and 57.7 cents per gallon for diesel fuel.
Read more in the Washington Examiner.
TRACKING DIVERSITY IN GREEN GROUPS: Green 2.0, an advocacy group aiming to increase racial and ethnic diversity among environmental groups, released a new guide yesterday designed to support and fill in the gap of demographic data collection efforts kept by foundations and nonprofits.
The Rundown
Wall Street Journal Taliban takeover is a boon for cash-strapped Iran
New York Times ‘The worst thing I can ever remember’: How drought is crushing ranchers
Associated Press Scientists launch effort to collect water data in US West
Calendar
MONDAY | AUG. 30
12 p.m. The US-Qatar Business Council will host a webinar event featuring energy experts titled, “How Will LNG Drive a Sustainable Energy World?”
WEDNESDAY | SEP. 1
12:30 p.m. The Nuclear Innovation Alliance will hold a webinar event for the release of the new NIA resource, “Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technology: A Primer.”
