Energy Update: Week of February 3

Friends,

A lot going on with Groundhog Day (Phil saw his shadow and says 6 more weeks of impeachment, I mean, winter), 02/02/2020 Palindrome Day (the only one of the century) and last night’s exciting Super Bowl LIV.  I really thought the 49ers were in the driver’s seat when they got to ball with five minutes to play and a 20-17 lead.  After a 5-yd run, I said “they’ll just grind it out and run the clock out” like in the previous two playoff games. Boy, that WAS NOT what they did.  They tried to throw on second and third down, went three and out and the rest is history, wiping out a 50-year drought in KC and giving Andy Reid his first Lombardi Trophy. 

As for the ads, Bill Murray’s Ground Hog Day Jeep ad and the Hyundai Smaht Cah Pahk Ad were the two winners for me.  And that Halftime Show? Interesting…

The Iowa Caucuses are TODAY!!!!  This is the first crack Democrats have at positioning their candidates and last minute polls are showing Bernie Sanders and Mayor Pete with slim leads, but it is all up for grabs.  We, of course, are watching the western Ag counties to get a read on any ethanol impacts.  Also check out our PRG Pulse 2020 Podcast which we launch today with analysis for Iowa. 

The week also includes tomorrow’s State of the Union address (look for discussion of energy revolution, but no mention of climate) and the expected final Senate impeachment vote Wednesday.

Interesting things also going on in the energy space starting Wednesday with several hearings. House Energy looks at the NatGas Act, while House Science investigates DOE’s EERE.  Senate Environment holds a US FWS oversight hearing and House Climate Committee reviews the health impacts of climate with Gina McCarthy testifying.  On Wednesday afternoon, the House Interior/Enviro Funding panel looks at recycling programs.  Finally, on Thursday, House Energy looks at the USE IT Act and Reps. McKinley and Schrader hold a presser right after to discuss their new bipartisan approach to climate legislation that ran in a USA Today opinion Piece last Thursday.  Also Thursday, a House Ways & Means’ Trade Panel addresses trade infrastructure and global competitiveness, while House Oversight mercury looks at regulations.   

Other events include tomorrow afternoon’s Atlantic Council forum on CCS with Sen. Whitehouse, a Wednesday Alliance to Save Energy Policy Summit, Thursday’s WCEE Book event featuring our WSJ friend Russell Gold’s SuperPower book and Friday’s Atlantic Council Energy Forum featuring Dan Brouillette.  And state energy officials are in town throughout the week at their 2020 Energy Policy Outlook Conference, Innovation Summit.  And finally Friday, POLITICO holds its 10^th annual State Solutions Conference with Governors Polis and Herbert (and likely a few others).  

Finally, we knew they were starting a tour out west headed for Coachella, but it has now been reported that Rage Against The Machine will headline the FireFly Festival in Delaware.  As you may know, my wife Stacey is a regular FF attendee, so she was very excited to tell me that Rage was headlining.  Kids and I are already getting the Super VIP tix. As I mentioned many times, the last time I saw Rage was at the 2000 DNC in LA when their concert actually started a riot.  WAKE UP!!!!!!!

Remember to mark your calendars NEXT WEEK for the release of BloombergNEF and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy’s 2020 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook on Thursday February 13^th. 

That’s all for today, call with questions.

Best,

Frank Maisano

(202) 828-5864

C. (202) 997-5932

FRANKLY SPOKEN

“Fracking is a danger to our water supply. It’s a danger to the air we breathe, it has resulted in more earthquakes, and it’s highly explosive. To top it all off, it’s contributing to climate change. If we are serious about clean air and drinking water, if we are serious about combating climate change, the only safe and sane way to move forward is to ban fracking nationwide.”

Sen. and Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders introducing his ban on hydraulic fracturing with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  Good luck in Pennsylvania…

“In Pennsylvania, you’re talking hundreds of thousands of related jobs that would be — they would be unemployed overnight.  Pennsylvania is a margin play and an outright ban on fracking isn’t a margin play.”

PA Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who endorsed Sanders in 2016 before President Trump won his state by just over 44,000 votes.

“The Warren-Sanders, ban-all-fracking-right-now position would absolutely devastate communities throughout the Rust Belt.  If a candidate comes into this state and tries to sell that policy, they’re going to have a hard time winning.”

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto recently to the New York Times

ON THE PODCAST

House Climate Staff Dave Banks Visits with Segal to Talk Climate Policy – On this week’s Bracewell Lobby Shop podcast, Scott Segal sits down with Dave Banks, who serves as chief strategist for the minority on the Climate Select Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Scott and Dave dive into the Committee's anticipated report and white papers on climate legislative topics slated to be released in March.  The episode is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play Music. 

PRG Pulse 2020 is LIVE – Bracewell’s PRG is hosting the first episode of our special 2020 series, PRG Pulse, a multi-platform election analysis project from your team here at the Policy Resolution Group. Throughout the year, you'll find supplemental episodes exclusively focused on the 2020 election among the standard Lobby Shop content. For additional 2020 insights from the team, visit policyresolutiongroup.com/pulse for blog posts, infographics, audio content, and more as we progress through 2020.  For our inaugural PRG Pulse episode, we're joined by David Drucker, Senior Political Correspondent at the Washington Examiner. David chats with Josh and Liam about the final days of the impeachment trial before launching into Iowa caucus thoughts and other 2020 discussions.

FUN OPINIONS

USAT: Reps. McKinley, Schrader Talk Bipartisan Climate Solutions – A new opinion piece in USA Today’s Hidden Common Voices Section from Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR) aims to “end the partisan battle over climate change by building a new framework that is fair to the workers, to communities, and to all American families while protecting our environment.” Doing this, they write, “will show the nation that Congress can still come together to meet the great challenges of our time.”  McKinley (R-WV) and Schrader (D-OR) write Instead of energy policy that lurches in a different direction after every election cycle, we need a new approach to develop realistic solutions that will enjoy support from both parties in Congress. Setting a steady course would be far better for both industry and the environment.

FROG BLOG

NRDC Weigh in on Bipartisan Clean Energy Approach – A  new blog from NRDC’s Ben Longstreth  highlights “a new and noteworthy bipartisan partnership” on Capitol Hill pushing for action on climate, citing an op ed published in USA Today by Reps. McKinley and Schrader. NRDC suggested the bipartisan collaboration is an important step. “The concept they are proposing would advance clean energy in the power sector by combining a major federal investment in low carbon technologies with national standards that ensure we reduce the carbon pollution that is driving dangerous changes in our climate.  Longstreth adds that a West Virginia Republican and Oregon Democrat are teaming up reflects a potentially significant shift in Washington.

IN THE NEWS

Additional Details about McKinley-Schrader Effort – On Thursday in a new opinion piece in the USA Today’s Hidden Common Ground Section, Reps. David McKinley (R-WV) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR) suggest a new, more politically-reasonable legislative approach to addressing climate change.  While aggressive advocates for a Green New Deal or Carbon taxes have taken up most of the oxygen, neither of those solutions are in any way politically viable. 

Innovate and Regulate: A Bipartisan Solution

OVERVIEW: Representatives David B. McKinley (R-WV) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR) are joining together to develop bipartisan legislation to reduce emissions in the power sector. This fresh approach to address climate change will break through the current partisan stalemate and lead to pragmatic, durable policy that will benefit the environment and the economy. The framework is as follows:   

1.            Innovation & Investment

• To reduce the cost of mitigation and promote fuel diversity within the electric power sector, the federal government shall undertake a sustained and substantial initiative to accelerate innovation in a broad portfolio of clean energy technologies and to promote public and private investment in their development, demonstration, and infrastructure development.
• The scale of federal investment would be in the tens of billions of dollars annually (via measures such as grants, loans, tax credits, etc.) for a decade or more, with many billions of dollars in complementary private investments.
• Initiatives would accelerate research, development, demonstration, and commercialization of advanced technologies for the entire spectrum of clean energy: carbon capture for fossil fuels; direct air capture; nuclear power; renewables including wind, solar, hydropower, and geothermal; storage; efficiency; transmission and grid resilience.

2.            Clean Energy Standard

• Legislation would establish a federal Clean Energy Standard (CES) for the power sector that will achieve an 80-percent reduction in emissions by 2050. Modeling indicates that standard means the power sector will be 95-percent clean by 2050 (allowing for growth in demand).
• The first compliance period for the CES will start no later than 10 years after legislative enactment, and may be sooner if triggered by sufficient commercialization of competitive, firm clean energy technologies (as determined by measures of cost or scale of deployment).
• The CES’s compliance obligations would fall upon load-serving entities, which would receive Clean Energy Credits (CECs) for clean generation.
  • Credits would be tradeable, and an alternative compliance price (“safety valve”) would be established.
  • The CES will be technology neutral, and regional diversity would be recognized.

3.            A transition from Clean Air Act-driven regulations to a Clean Energy Policy

• The CES is designed to be a superior alternative to regulation under the Clean Air Act, producing significantly deeper emission reductions at a much lower cost along a more predictable and efficient timeline, and eliminating the need for multiple successive rulemakings and prolonged litigation.
• To encourage faithful implementation of the law, there will be annual reviews of implementation, compliance, and emissions trends, leading up to a Mid-Point Review five years after enactment.
  • If CES regulations aren’t being promulgated, funds for innovation aren’t being appropriated, or emissions in the power sector are rising significantly, actions will be taken to reduce emissions using the Clean Air Act or other authorities.
• During the ten-year innovation phase, as long as the law is being faithfully and successfully implemented, the federal government will not exercise its authorities under the Clean Air Act or take other new regulatory actions to compel emissions reductions from the electric power sector.

BNEF: Corporate Renewable Buys Reshaping Global Power Markets – Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) reported in its 2020 Corporate Energy Market Outlook that corporations – including oil & gas supermajors – bought a record of almost 20GW of wind and solar production through power purchase agreements (PPAs) last year, a leap of 44% on 2018, as one of the key market-driving trends in the global energy transition shifted up several gears.  The analyst’s 1H report calculates 19.5GW of renewable energy contracts were signed by more than 100 corporations in 23 different countries in 2019, up from 13.6GW in 2018, and more than triple the activity seen in 2017.  The 2019 total was equal to more than 10% of all the renewable energy capacity added globally last year, said BNEF, with the projects covered expected to cost between $20-$30B to build.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Begins NRC Licensing Process for SMR – GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) said it is beginning of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing process to commercialize the BWRX-300 small modular reactor. GE Hitachi Nuclear has committed to helping supply the demand for carbon-free nuclear energy. The BWRX-300 is a 300 MW water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety systems that leverages the design and licensing basis of GEH’s U.S. NRC-certified ESBWR. Through dramatic design simplification, GEH projects the BWRX-300 will require significantly less capital cost per MW when compared to other water-cooled SMR designs or existing large nuclear reactor designs.

AWEA 4Q: Wind to Boom in 2020 – American Wind Energy Association’s U.S. Wind Industry Fourth Quarter 2019 Market Report said developers added 9,143 megawatts (MW) of wind power capacity to the grid in 2019, the third-highest annual total ever.  The report also said another 44,000 MW of wind projects – representing over $62 billion in investment – are under construction. In addition, 16 GW of offshore wind energy was pledged in 2019 — more than doubling the amount in the previous year.  Utilities and businesses set a new record in 2019 by acquiring 8,726 MW in new Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Utilities represented 60 percent of power purchase activity for the year, or 5,266 MW, the most on record. Corporate buyers accounted for 40 percent of annual wind energy contracts, or 3,640 MW, last year. The top three purchasers were Northern Indiana Public Service Company, Walmart, and AT&T.

ON THE SCHEDULE THIS WEEK

Iowa caucuses – Monday February 3^rd

State of the Union – Tuesday February 4^th

International HVACR Conference Set – The International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Expo is set today through Wednesday in Orlando.  The AHR Expo is the world’s largest HVACR event, attracting the most comprehensive gathering of industry professionals from around the globe each year. The Show provides a unique forum where manufacturers of all sizes and specialties, whether a major industry brand or innovative start-up, can come together to share ideas and showcase the future of HVACR technology under one roof.

Forum to Look at CCS – The Atlantic Council holds a forum tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. to look at the global status of CCS technologies.  This event explores the current status of carbon capture and storage, the next generation of CCS projects, policies, and technologies taking shape around the world, and the important role they play in global decarbonization.  Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is Keynote Speaker. 

DOE to Look at Distributed Energy – DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy holds a webinar tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. on building resilience with distributed energy technologies.  This webinar introduces two tools from the national labs for assessing potential facility-level energy technology investments:  1) The Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM) and 2) REopt Lite.  Presenters NREL’s Emma Elgqvist and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s  Nicholas DeForest will assess strategies for using these tools to incorporate distributed energy technologies to optimize the unique energy needs of their facilities.

ASE Holds Policy Summit – The Alliance to Save Energy Policy holds its Policy Summit on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. in 562 Dirksen. This year the event explores energy efficiency policy priorities in the 116^th Congress.  Among the Speakers includes our friends Brad Stertz of Audi and Ben Evans of ASE. 

House Climate Committee to Look at Health Impacts, Climate – The House Select Climate Crisis Committee holds a hearing on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. on overcoming former EPA Admin and current NRDC head Gina McCarthy, Dr. Aparna Bole of American Academy of Pediatrics, United Farm Workers Arturo Rodriguez and Derrick Hollie of Reaching America.

House Energy to Review NatGas Act – The House Energy and Commerce Energy Subcommittee holds a hearing on Wednesday on modernizing the Natural Gas Act to ensure it works for everyone.

House Science Looks at EERE Budget – The House Science Committee’s Energy and Investigations/Oversight Subcommittees hold a joint hearing on management and spending challenges within DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.  Witnesses include former Director of DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office Charles Gay, Anthony Reardon of the National Treasury Employees Union and NRDC’s Arjun Krishnaswami.

Senate Enviro Looks at Fish/Wildlife Issues – The Senate Environment Committee holds a hearing on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. on oversight of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Rob Wallace, assistant Interior secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, testifies.

Forum to Look at CO2 Utilization – The Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute holds a forum on Wednesday at Noon to look at CO2 utilization as part of a larger umbrella of CCS technologies to mitigate emissions contributing to global climate change. This session will look at how the technology can complement other types of permanent sequestration of CO2 (via both Enhanced Oil Recovery and Geological Sequestration) and, particularly, applications in industrial, mining, and oil& gas sectors.  The workshop will start with a presentation from Moji Karimi, CEO of Cemvita Factory. Cemvita has partnered with Occidental Petroleum and BHP on commercial applications.  The presentation will be followed by a panel of experts looking at how utilization fits within the significant growth of CCS projects and policy & regulatory support for utilization, particularly in a US context.

IAEA Head to Address Forum – The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace holds a discussion on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. with International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi. Ambassador Grossi assumed the office of director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on December 3, 2019 and is making his first appearance in DC.

House Approps to Look at Recycling – The House Appropriations Interior/Environment Subcommittee holds a hearing on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. on strengthening community recycling programs and their challenges and opportunities.

State Energy Officials Look at Policy Issues – The National Association of State Energy Officials 2020 Energy Policy Outlook Conference and Innovation Summit will be held Wednesday to Friday at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, DC.  The conference will examine the key policies and initiatives needed to drive modernization and resilience across our energy infrastructure – grid, pipelines, buildings and transportation.

House Energy to Look at USE IT Act – The House Energy Committee’s Environment panel will hold a hearing on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. on the USE IT Act. 

House Tax Panel Looks at Trade – The House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade holds a hearing on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. on trade infrastructure for global competitiveness.

McKinley-Schrader to Discuss New Legislative Climate Concept – Reps. David McKinley and Kurt Schrader will hold a presser on Thursday following the House Energy Committee hearing (probably around 11:45/Noon) to discuss the new climate legislative concept they rolled out last week in a USA Today opinion piece.

Web Event to Discuss Future of Oil – The Peterson Institute for International Economics will host a webcast on Thursday at 12:25 looking at a new International Monetary Fund report on "The Future of Oil and Fiscal Sustainability in the Gulf Cooperation Council Region. 

Oversight to Look at Mercury Regs – The House Committee on Oversight and Reform will hold a hearing on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. looking at the impacts of changes to the mercury regulations proposed by the Trump Administration.  While most utilities are already reducing mercury and aren’t interested in changes, the SCOTUS rejected the previous rule and the Trump EPA is rewriting it.  Witnesses include Georgetown’s Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment Director Laura Anderko, enviro activist Rev. Mitchell Hescox and Heather McTeer Toney of the Mom’s Clean Air Force. 

WCEE Relaunches Book Club – The Women's Council on Energy and Environment (WCEE) is relaunching its book club meeting on Thursday at Café du Parc at 5:30 p.m. This month’s book is WSJ reporter Russell Gold’s "Superpower - One Man's Quest to Transform American Energy."

EPA Speaker to Address Enviro Law – ELI hosts the Environmental Law 2020 conference on Thursday and Friday at the Washington Plaza Hotel in D.C.  Peter Wright, Assistant Administrator for the EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management, will deliver the keynote address on the second day of the program.  Prior to serving at the EPA, Mr. Wright was managing counsel for environmental, health, and safety matters for Dow Chemical Company. In addition to federal and state-led remediation matters, he also oversaw Dow’s Superfund site responsibility. You can see a complete agenda and other program details here.

State Solutions Conference Features Governors – POLITICO holds its 10^th annual State Solutions Conference on Friday with governors from across the country addressing innovative approaches to address complex problems.  Colorado’s Jared Polis and Utah’s Gary Herbert Headline. 

Atlantic Council Forum Tackles Energy Priorities Abroad – The Atlantic Council holds a discussion on Friday at 9:30 a.m. looking at U.S. energy priorities abroad.  The event includes a fireside chat on international energy cooperation with the Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette.  Secretary Brouillette discusses his priorities as secretary of energy for international cooperation to provide safe, secure, and affordable energy sources in Latin America and Europe.

IN THE FUTURE

National Ethanol Conference ready for Houston – The National Ethanol Conference is set for February 10^th to 12^th in Houston at the Marriott Marquis.  The forum focuses on marketing, legislative and regulatory issues facing the ethanol industry.

Forum to Discuss Hawaii Energy Issues – Next Monday, February 10^th at 7:45 a.m. at the Renaissance Washington D.C. Downtown Hotel, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and key Hawaii stakeholders host a discussion of Hawaii’s energy regulatory journey over the last decade including the challenges faced, innovative solutions developed, and ongoing areas of focus.

RFF Event to Look at Forests – Resources for the Future (RFF) holds an in-depth conversation on Tuesday, February 11^th at 9:00 a.m. looking at the important role forests can play in climate change mitigation. This RFF Live event will begin with a short background presentation on forest management and the wide range of forest products, followed by a moderated panel discussion with representatives from the forest industry, the energy sector, and experts in forest science and policy.

Forum to Look at CCS, San Juan Gen Station – The United States Energy Association holds a discussion on Tuesday, February 11^th at 11:00 a.m. to look at the social and economic impacts of the San Juan CCUS Project.  Many small towns in the western United States depend on coal mining and the production of coal fueled electricity for employment and tax revenue to sustain the provision of municipal services, including education. Mayor Nathan Duckett will discuss the importance of the coal economy to Farmington, New Mexico and how Enchant Energy’s proposed Carbon Capture Project at the San Juan Generation Station is a model for how to maintain the local coal economy in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Sustainable Energy Factbook Forum Set – BloombergNEF and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) will be releasing the 2020 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook in Washington, DC, on February 13^th.  In its eighth year, the Factbook provides new industry information and trends for the U.S. energy economy, with an in-depth look at the energy efficiency, natural gas and renewable energy sectors as well as emerging areas such as digitalization, micro-grids, offshore wind, hydrogen and renewable natural gas.

Forum to Look at Coastal Resilience – EESI holds a briefing on Thursday February 13^th at 2:30 p.m. looking at the actions being taken to manage increasing temperatures, flooding, and other coastal hazards impacting communities and ecosystems in the Great Lakes region. This briefing will showcase nature-based solutions for climate adaptation in rural and urban settings, and show how cutting-edge technology and traditional practices can be used to create resilient communities.  The panelists will describe the collaborative process between federal, state, and local stakeholders in collecting, sharing, and acting on scientific data to inform policy decisions around adaptation and help communities define and achieve their resilience goals. These projects can serve as a model for other regions experiencing similar issues.

Oil/Gas Forum Set for Houston – The 2^nd Houston Oil Forum 2020, organized by U.S. Energy Stream will be held on February 20 & 21, 2020 at the Petroleum Club of Houston, Texas. George Yates, President/CEO of HEYCO Energy Group in Dallas will be the keynote speaker.

Powell, former DOE Official headline CCS Forum – The Global CCS Institute holds its 9^th annual DC Forum on March 3^rd The Forum features stakeholders from across the private sector, the government, and the NGO community to discuss how we supersize the next wave of carbon capture projects. Policy incentives in the United States, such as 45Q and California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard, are driving dozens of new projects across various sectors including power, industrials, and transportation fuels. Speakers will include former DOE official Julio Freedman (now at Columbia), ClearPath’s Rich Powell, DTE’s Mark Rigby and Louisiana State Energy Officer Jason Lanclos.

ACORE Policy Forum Set – The 2020 ACORE Policy Forum is set for March 4^th at Convene.  This year, the event will address the most important issues facing the renewable energy industry, such as the implications of the 2019 tax extenders agreement, the prominence of climate in the 2020 election and more. Panelists and keynote speakers will explore a variety of topics within four key themes, including the latest from Congress, Clean Energy Standards, Climate and Power Markets/Transmission.

Solar Conference Set for SD – Infocast is holding its Solar + Storage Finance & Investment Summit on March 17^th at the Omni LaCosta Resort in San Diego.  The forum focuses on innovative deals, discuss structures and investment challenges, and assess the opportunities that come with implementation and integration.