Energy Update: Week of July 6

Friends,

Hope you had a great July 4^th weekend.  It was nice to relax for a few days – of course until Sunday when I was trying to enjoying a crab feast at Cantler’s that was disrupted by Dominion/Duke.

Right…after winning at the US Supreme Court just a couple weeks, Duke and Dominion decided to stop pursuing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline after six years and $3.4 billion.  While a number of environmentalists celebrated the move, unions lamented the significant job losses, the VA Chamber said it “detrimentally impacts the Commonwealth’s access to affordable, reliable energy,” and Senate Energy ranking Democrat Joe Manchin said “the pipeline would have created good paying construction and manufacturing jobs for hard working West Virginians, reinvested in our energy markets increasing our domestic energy supply, and strengthened national security with reliable energy to key military installations.” The decision came the same day Dominion also sold all its other natural gas infrastructure and storage assets to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary.

And if that wasn’t enough, this morning a federal judge ordered the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota to stop delivering oil by August 5^th, vacating a federal permit that had allowed it to operate. Sen Kevin Cramer was not happy and API’s Mike Sommers also commented:

"Between the Atlantic Coast Pipeline cancellation and now the ruling to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline – we are deeply troubled by these setbacks for U.S. energy leadership. Our nation’s outdated and convoluted permitting rules are opening the door for a barrage of baseless, activist-led litigation, undermining American energy progress and denying local communities the environmental, employment and economic benefits modern pipelines provide. The need to reform our broken permitting system has never been more urgent."

This week, the House Appropriations Committee holds a marathon of subcommittee markups on fiscal 2021 spending bills beginning today, followed by full committee markups and consideration of subcommittee allocations on Thursday.  Look for action on Interior-Environment and Energy-Water subpanels will hold their markups tomorrow with the full committee reporting both bills by Friday.

Other important events include a Wednesday/Thursday FERC Technical Conference on COVID-19 impacts on the energy industry, API weekly inventory data tomorrow and DOE’s weekly figures are due Wednesday.  Our old friend Stephen Power and his colleague Mara Riemer of Brunswick will share the results of a recent survey examining attitudes towards aid for oil/gas at a WCEE lunch Wednesday and the New York Times hosts a Climate Hub web event on Thursday with Christiana Figueres.  Finally, the International Energy Agency is set to release its monthly market report early Friday.

We are still standing at the ready for potential roll out of the Administration’s NEPA rule (our colleague Ann Navaro is a great expert), as well as EPA’s expected roll out of its 2020 RFS Renewable Volume Obligations, perhaps as soon as this week or next.

That’s all for today, call with questions, stay safe & healthy. 

Best,

Frank Maisano

(202) 828-5864

C. (202) 997-5932

 

FRANKLY SPOKEN

“Not only do disadvantaged communities use less electricity or natural gas and live in smaller houses, but they are also then exposed to inequities in high heat because they can't cool their places, colder weather because they can't heat their places, and because their buildings are more leaky, they also experience more ambient air pollution. All of that is part of the structural inequality.”   

Stephanie Pincetl, researcher at UCLA's California Center for Sustainable Communities who lead a study that says California's renewable energy, energy efficiency and electric vehicle programs are disproportionately rewarding wealthy ratepayers, whose high energy use is being "subsidized" by other ratepayers in the area.

ON THE PODCAST

Discussion of Net Zero Progress – There’s been a lot of political action around achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, especially following the release of House Democrats’ new Congressional Action Plan last week.  On this episode of Political Climate, the last of its monthly “Path to Zero” series, host Julia Pyper talks about climate targets and what it’s going to take to meet them. To bookend the series, she speaks with Josh Freed, the founder and leader of Third Way’s climate and energy program, to get a read on progress toward carbon-neutrality in America amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and renewed calls to combat racial injustices. Then, in the second half of the show, Pyper speaks to Nathaniel Smith, founder of the Partnership for Southern Equity, an organization working to advance racial equality and shared prosperity in Atlanta and across the South, about making the low-carbon economy inclusive of Black communities.

FUN OPINIONS

Shocker: UCLA Study Says CA Energy Policies Help Rich Over Poor – In an opinion piece in the Riverside Press-Enterprise and other SoCal News Group Papers, R Street Institute Western region director and a member of the Southern California News Group editorial board writes a prominent new study from UCLA researchers about California’s energy policies raises an interesting — albeit stunningly obvious — point, as California continues its headlong rush toward a green-energy future based on command-and-control edicts, subsidies and quasi-market mechanisms such as cap and trade. It found that incentive programs for electric cars and solar panels and some other costly energy policies “have been found to disproportionately benefit wealthier individuals.” our energy prices are among the highest in the nation. Greenhut: “Thanks to California-specific formulations, our gasoline costs more than other states, except for remote Hawaii. Our water and electricity policies boost the costs of those necessary products — and the state adds to our sky-high tax burdens by doling out subsidies. California imposes alternative-energy requirements that force it to import 29 percent of our electricity, raising prices on those who can least afford it.”

FROG BLOG

COVID Making Predictions Harder: An Axios Update – Despite the massive, unexpected changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, kudos to our friend Amy Harder of Axios for reviewing her 2020 predictions as we hit July.  Her big picture: the coronavirus has left no part of our world untouched, energy and climate change included.  While the dynamics have changed in many cases, there is no doubt she has been close on capturing the direction of a number of key issues as we head into the second half of 2020, especial.

IN THE NEWS

Dominion, Duke Stop Pursuit of ACP – Dominion Energy and Duke Energy  said yesterday they were cancelling the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) due to ongoing delays and increasing cost uncertainty which threaten the economic viability of the project.  Despite last month's overwhelming 7-2 victory at the US Supreme Court, which vindicated the project and decisions made by permitting agencies, recent developments have created an unacceptable layer of uncertainty and anticipated delays for ACP.  The companies spent more than $3.4 billion on the project to date. 

Background – ACP was initially announced in 2014 in response to a lack of energy supply and delivery diversification for millions of families, businesses, schools, and national defense installations across North Carolina and Virginia. Robust demand for the project is driven by the regional retirement of coal-fired electric generation in favor of environmentally superior, lower cost natural gas-fired generation combined with widespread growing demand for residential, commercial, defense, and industrial applications of low-cost and low-emitting natural gas. Those needs are as real today as they were at project inception as evidenced by the recently renewed customer subscription of approximately 90 percent of the project's capacity. The project was also expected to create thousands of construction jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for local communities across West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.

VA Chamber, Chamber GEI Express Disappointment – Virginia Chamber of Commerce highlighted the economic losses of the pipeline, saying it would support 8,800 jobs and $1.4 billion in economic activity in the state.  “Unfortunately, today’s announcement detrimentally impacts the Commonwealth’s access to affordable, reliable energy. It also demonstrates the significant regulatory burdens businesses must deal with in order to operate,” Virginia Chamber President Barry DuVal said in a statement.  The Chamber’s Global Energy Institute head Marty Durbin added the decision underscores the urgent need for action to reform our broken infrastructure permitting process, citing important projects ranging from highways to renewable power to telecommunications that are falling victim to the same level of uncertainty and facing the same outcome: 

“Although the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will not be built, the need remains for ways to move natural gas from West Virginia producers to North Carolina and Virginia consumers who need it, and similar needs exist in other areas around the nation. Our leaders must take action to get projects like ACP built, or risk the negative consequences to our economy and the reliability of our energy system."

WV Officials Raise Job Concerns – Both WV Sen. Joe Manchin (D) and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) said in separate statements they were disappointed the companies choose to walk away from a critical infrastructure investment. Manchin: “The pipeline would have created good paying construction and manufacturing jobs for hard working West Virginians, reinvested in our energy markets increasing our domestic energy supply, and strengthened national security with reliable energy to key military installations.”  Morrisey added: “the concept of one district court judge paralyzing the construction of pipelines across our country is very disconcerting.”

Trade Union: Move Denies Access to Affordable, Realizable Energy – The North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) President Sean McGarvey joined with API head Mike Sommers saying the cancellation “sets America back by denying working families and businesses access to affordable and cleaner U.S. natural gas and halting thousands of middle-class sustaining jobs.  Like too many shovel-ready projects before it, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline faced legal and permitting challenges waged without merit by activists, and these challenges ultimately cost Americans along its route the environmental, employment, and economic benefits that modern pipeline projects bring.”

Dominion Also to Sell Gas infrastructure, Storage – Dominion also said it sold its gas transmission and storage assets to Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary in a transaction valued at $9.7 billion.  It includes more than 7,700 miles of natural gas storage and transmission pipelines and about 900 billion cubic feet of gas storage that the company currently operates.

UCLA Study Finds Affluent Use More Energy, Reap Greater Benefits From Government Incentive Programs – A new study funded by the California Energy Commission and undertaken by the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA says historically disadvantaged communities in Los Angeles County are at risk of getting left behind in the transition to lower-carbon energy sources and energy-efficient technologies.  The research, published in the journal Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, looks particularly at how public incentive programs aimed at reducing emissions and promoting energy efficiencies disproportionately benefit wealthier individuals — people who use more energy than their less-affluent peers. In essence, the researchers say, such policies help to subsidize and encourage this excess consumption.

What the UCLA Study Did – The team analyzed historical county data that measured building energy use and the adoption of renewable energy technology. In addition to finding that per capita use of electricity and natural gas is higher — in some cases as much as 100 times higher — among the wealthiest residents, they found that rates of adoption of rooftop solar systems and electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles were dramatically lower among disadvantaged communities. Furthermore, these disparities are expected to persist based on recent trends in the historical data, the researchers say.  The study also shows that public programs intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewable energy — including rebates for energy-efficient appliances and vehicles, solar installations, and building retrofit programs — are primarily being taken advantage of by affluent residents. This is due in part to the fact that many programs require participants to make up-front payments for energy-efficiency upgrades, as well as to own the property on which they live.

LA Times Reporting on Results – Check out LA Times Energy/Enviro Reporter Sammy Roth’s coverage here which includes a number of the graphs from the study that show the utility usage disparities. 

NREL Study Looks at Offshore Wind Project Process – DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in collaboration with the Business Network for Offshore Wind, published an Electrical Safety Standards Harmonization report late last week highlighting offshore wind industry’s best practices for electric safety for turbine systems, subsea cables, and substations. The Electrical Safety Standards Harmonization report provides recommended solutions to harmonize European and U.S. standards, which will allow for safer electric systems for U.S. offshore wind facilities and provides information for U.S. regulators. The project was sponsored by Interior’s BOEM) in February 2020 hosted by NREL that laid the groundwork for this report. The workshop hosted US and European-based subject matter experts representing offshore wind developers, turbine manufacturers, regulators, certified verification agents, and consultants with a broad range of skills necessary to address the entire wind plant electric system. The workshop hosts and other collaborators, including the Business Network, summarized the discussions and proceedings, while gathering additional comments and feedback from the participants to synthesize a robust, consensus-based report. The Business Network fully supports the effort by NREL, BOEM, and BSEE to publish guidance on electrical safety standards for offshore wind. 

 

ON THE SCHEDULE THIS WEEK

MOST EVENTS SCHEDULED ARE NOW ONLINE WEBINARS

House Approps Launches Funding Push – The House Appropriations Committee is planning to hold a marathon of subcommittee markups on fiscal 2021 spending bills beginning today, followed by full committee markups and consideration of subcommittee allocations on Thursday.  Look for action on Interior-Environment and Energy-Water subpanels will hold their markups tomorrow with the full committee reporting both bills by Friday.

ELI Forum to Look at Pandemic, Industry, Markets –Today at 1:00 p.m., the Environmental Law Institute holds a web seminar on the post pandemic energy sector.  The panel will address how the pandemic has affected customers short term and long term and how it affect industry structure.  They will also discuss the types of companies that have thrived and which have not.  Speakers include APPA head Joy Ditto, PJM’s Asim Haque and Ted Kury, of UFlorida’s Public Utility Research Center (PURC). 

WRI to Look at COVID, Resilience Recovery – The World Resources Institute is co-hosting on online web event tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. with the United Kingdom Mission to the UN and World Resources Institute to showcase concrete opportunities for policymakers, the public sector and civil society to use climate action to support rapid and inclusive recovery from COVID-19. Featured speakers will include Zac Goldsmith, Minister for the Environment for the United Kingdom. Additional speaker information will be added shortly.

MIT to Look at Low Carbon Scale Up – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Energy Initiative is hosting a webinar tomorrow as part of its energy innovation series at 10:00 a.m. focused on scaling up low-carbon energy.  The event will featured experts looking at the economics, geopolitical, and environmental impacts.

Forum to Look at Resilience, Recovery – The World Resources Institute is convening experts across sectors and geographies tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. to provide insights about how to shift to a more sustainable and equitable model after COVID-19. In 2019, Leonardo Martinez-Diaz and Alice Hill co-authored Building a Resilient Tomorrow: How to Prepare for the Coming Climate Disruption. In 2020, the biggest economic and social disruption in generations struck, with COVID laying low the global economy and taking lives worldwide.  In this webinar, Martinez-Diaz and Hill revisit their work in the context of this massive shock, discussing how COVID and climate change are alike and how they are different, outlining lessons for climate resilience from COVID, and laying the groundwork for how political and financial institutions can be better prepared the next time around.

Resources Looks at COVID Recovery – The House Natural Resources Committee holds a policy roundtable tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. via webcast examining environmental and economic opportunities to recover from the pandemic.  The meeting will focus on policies to create new conservation-oriented jobs around the country.

DOE to host Hydrogen, Fuel Cell Meeting – The Energy Department holds a meeting by teleconference tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. with the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee to discuss and finalize the 2019 Annual Report of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee and the HTAC Roadmap Subcommittee Report.

FERC to Hold Tech Conference on COVID, Energy – FERC holds a two-day technical conference on Wednesday and Thursday to consider the ongoing, serious impacts that the emergency conditions caused by COVID-19 are having on various segments of the United States’ energy industry. The conference will explore the potential longer-term impacts on the entities that it regulates in order to ensure the continued efficient functioning of energy markets, transmission of electricity, transportation of natural gas and oil, and reliable operation of energy infrastructure today and in the future, while also protecting consumers.  The conference line up is an all-star roster of energy experts. 

USEA to Look at NatGas Fuel Opportunities – On Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., the US Energy Assn will host a webinar on natural gas as a flexible fuel and complement to renewable energy. The purpose of this webinar is to explore how different market conditions can affect this partnership and highlights advantages of natural gas as a partner for renewables, covering: cost, flexibility, emissions, optionality, reliability, security of supply, supporting non-power sectors and decentralized energy systems.

Forum to Look at Oil, Gas Assistance Polling – The Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment (WCEE) will hold a lunch and learn on Wednesday at noon featuring the Brunswick Group who will describe US reactions to specific policy proposals being discussed in Washington; how those opinions split by party lines; and what actions Americans think companies should take to qualify for federal assistance.  Our old friend Stephen Power and his colleague Mara Riemer will share the results of a recent survey examining Americans’ attitudes towards federal aid for the oil and gas industry. Their survey polling indicates many Americans think the oil and gas sector has a positive economic impact, but also support requiring the industry to do more environmentally.

CSIS Forum to Look at Climate Report – The CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program will present its forthcoming report, Race to the Top: A New International U.S. Energy Policy on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. The report contains the findings and conclusions from the Energy Spheres of Influence project.  The report makes recommendations for a new U.S. international energy strategy based on two pillars: reinvesting in domestic energy competitiveness and encouraging an international “race to the top.”  For the launch, a panel will discuss the outcomes.  Panelists include with Harvard’s Meghan O'Sullivan and Amos Hochstein, former U.S. Special Envoy for International Energy.

NREL, USEA Look at Cyber, Distributed Energy – The US Energy Assn holds a together with the National Renewable Energy Lab on Thursday at 9:00 a.m. on cybersecurity for distributed energy resources (DERs) and identify best practices in cybersecurity governance, technical management of cyber-physical systems, and physical security. The webinar, presented by NREL, will also highlight new work planned through USAID to support developing countries in designing and implementing cyber security measures.  NREL’s Maurice Martin will speak.  

RFF to Host China/Italy, COVID Air Pollution Discussion – Resources for the Future (RFF) hosts a webinar Thursday at Noon in its Resources Radio Live series, featuring Dr. Valentina Bosetti. She will discuss her team’s research on how various lockdown measures affected air quality in China and Italy early in the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as how pollution levels have rebounded over time. Dr. Bosetti is a professor in the department of economics at Bocconi University and senior scientist at the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment.

ITIF to Look at Digitalization – The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation holds a forum on Thursday at Noon on using digitalization to drive energy efficiency for a connected future. 

Digital technologies have the potential to optimize the energy used for many energy-intensive activities—from manufacturing cement to cooling a building—while also enabling increased electrification of transportation and industrial processes. The discussion will feature industry leaders on the role in driving energy efficiency gains across the economy, and the release of a new ITIF report assessing the concerns - some legitimate and most not - regarding the energy and environmental impacts of the tech sector.   ACEEE’s Ed Rightor and Johnson Controls’ Clay Nesler are panelists.

Web Event Look at EE programs during COVID – On Thursday at 1:00 p.m., the Assn of Energy Services Professionals host a lively panel discussion on serving the nation’s neediest customers right now and in the future.  Reps from PECO, TVA and ComEd will all speak.

NYT Climate Hub Hosts Forum on Climate, COVID – On Thursday at 1:30 p.m., the New York Times Climate Hub hosts an event applying COVID-19’s hard-earned lessons to climate change.  The discussion with feature Christiana Figueres and be moderated by The New York Times’s Climate Editor Hannah Fairfield.

Aspen to Look at Sustainable Innovators – The Aspen Institute’s Energy Environment Program hosts a forum on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. to look at innovators in sustainable business. Nancy McGaw, Deputy Director of the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program, will moderate the discussion between AEE CEO Nat Kreamer and Susan Gray, Global Head of Corporate and Infrastructure Ratings of S&P Global,

Ex-Im Bank holds Space Tech Conference – The US Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), I invite you to join a teleconference roundtable on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. with EXIM’s senior leadership and leading exporters in the space technology sector.  Delivering remarks on the call will be EXIM President Kimberly Reed and David Trulio, Counselor to the Chairman & Senior Vice President for the Program on China and Transformational Exports. Other participants will include executives from Planet, Hawkeye 360, Maxar, SpaceX, Echostar, Hughes Communications and Euroconsult.

Forum to Look at State Climate Plans – On Friday at Noon, the Environmental Law Institute, American University Washington College of Law Program on Environmental and Energy Law, and leading panelists host a webinar to explore state-level strategies. Panelists will explore lessons learned from legislation including the New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the Illinois Future Energy Jobs Act, and the District of Columbia’s ambitious Clean Energy Omnibus Amendment, particularly in the context of a global health crisis. Participants will gain a robust understanding of some of the nation’s leading policy strategies to address climate change.

 

IN THE FUTURE

VA Renewable Conference Set – The Virginia Renewable Energy Alliance will host the first LEAD Series Conference of 2020 in July 13^th at Noon. This LEAD Series Conference will serve to provide policy updates and a 2020 General Assembly Debrief on noteworthy policy updates directly impacting development of Renewable Energy in Virginia.  A second event will be held on August 13^th.

Forum to Look at Post COVID Energy – The Environmental Law Institute hosts a forum next Monday, July 13^th at 1:00 p.m. to discuss the lesson and challenges of the post-pandemic energy sector. Panelists will include Florida Public Service Commissioner Julie Brown and former FERC Commissioner Tony Clark.

Economists Host CO Energy Leader – Next Tuesday at 11:00 a.m., the US Energy Economists host a web forum to look at Colorado’s energy legislation featuring Colorado State Senator Chris Hansen.  Hansen will discuss the state’s energy goals and transition that include securitization of rate-payer backed bonds for early retirement of coal power plants and a ‘just’ transition for associated workforce and communities. Senator Hansen will also discuss the advantages of moving forward with an integrated Regional Transmission Organization within the Western Electricity Coordinating Council to help states reach emissions and clean energy goals as well as hurdles to implementation.

Castor to Headline Forum on House Climate Report – The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) will hold a briefing on Tuesday July 14^th at Noon on the climate action report released by the majority staff of the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.  The briefing will focus on four core areas of climate policy: climate mitigation, climate adaptation, environmental justice and public health. Through presentations and a Q&A session, panelists will unpack the key elements of the 538-page report and highlight next steps for congressional action to address the climate crisis.

Chamber to Discuss Preparing for Hurricane Season During Pandemic – The 9^th Annual Building Resilience Through Private-Public Partnerships (PPP) Conference will be a webinar forum on July 14-16^th. This year’s virtual conference, hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation with support from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. NORTHERN COMMAND, will focus on building resilience in the midst of a global pandemic while looking ahead to future emergencies and how we can be better prepared through greater collaboration across sectors. Extreme weather threatens communities and businesses across the U.S., adding further complexity to response and recovery efforts as emergency management agencies, first responders, and community leaders continue to deal with the impacts of COVID-19.  The main focus will be how businesses can prepare for the hurricane season in the midst of a global pandemic.

Hydro Conference Moved to Online – HYDROVISION International was originally scheduled to take place July 14-16^th in Minneapolis. To honor these original dates, NHA is hosting an online information exchange for the global hydropower industry over the same three days. See the full schedule here.  The HYDRO+ Series will bring together the hydro community for perspective and discussion on issues affecting hydro resources, meeting challenges and ensuring a future sustainability of hydro.

Forum to Look at Carbon Pricing – On Wednesday at 1:15 p.m., the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) hosts a discussion of carbon pricing.  The webinar will highlight the latest trends in carbon pricing globally and take a closer look at leading examples at the international, national, and state levels: the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), the United Kingdom’s Emissions Trading System, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in the Northeast United States.

Forum to Look at Nuke Waste Issues – On Wednesday, July 15^th at 8:00 p.m., the Nuclear Information & Resource Service hosts a telebriefing about NRC’s nuclear waste landfill issue.  Don’t expect this one to be that fair. 

USEA to Look at Cyber Security – On Thursday, July 16^th at 11:00 a.m., the US Energy Assn hosts an on-line event Zoom webinar on cyber hygiene. This webinar will discuss how cybersecurity culture in the utility workforce place a big role in reducing cyber vulnerabilities and it is a part of corporate change management culture. Speakers include Idaho National Laboratory’s grid expert Andy Bochman and Eversource Energy Chief Information Security Officer Christopher James Leigh.

NEI to Host Fuel Supply Forum – The Nuclear Energy Institute holds the NEI Nuclear Fuel Supply Forum on Tuesday July 21^st.  The forum explores policy issues related to the nuclear fuel industry. Speakers from key government agencies and organizations that shape nuclear fuel supply policy present the latest insights on the future of the industry.

Bloomberg Green Summit Set – The Bloomberg Green Summit will be held on July 29^th.  The Green Summit will feature the voices of those people working at the edge of change to deliver real solutions. Built to foster solutions-oriented conversations with a festival atmosphere, the Bloomberg Green Summit will feature a cross section of visionaries from business, design, culture, food, technology, science and entertainment.