Energy Update: Week of June 29

Friends,

Welcome to the shorter July 4^th week…  I hope everybody takes a few days to enjoy what we have despite the craziness of 2020. And please be careful with any firework-related, self-celebrations as many of the regular public fireworks events have been cancelled.  I always get nervous about that for long-standing reasons.

Before we go though, it seems we have a busy few days. The House is expected to vote this week on its $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill, H.R. 2.  There is still a lot of work to do on amendments, but the Rules Committee meets today to launch the process and determine which amendments will be allowed/packaged.

Tomorrow, the House Climate Committee is slated to offer its report of recommendations for committees of jurisdiction to consider to address climate change.  This was originally expected in March but like most things in the COVID time, it slipped to now.  The recommendations are expected to focus on expanding clean energy incentives, tightening climate regulations for federal agencies and adding more emphasis on next-generation energy technologies. 

Then on Wednesday, Senate Environment and Public Works holds an infrastructure hearing on resilience.  Prior to the hearing, the Committee is holding a business meeting to move though a bunch of nominations.  One that was originally on the list but is now is not is EPA #2 Doug Benevento, who is collateral in the middle of an Iowa Senate fight between Joni Ernst and her opponent.

Some of this issue may be addressed on Thursday when we expect that EPA may release its RFS Renewable Volume Obligations, always controversial and this year, it is no different with elections just months away and the regular battle between ethanol/farmers and unions on full display.

Other events include a CRES event today at Noon with Senate Energy’s Lucy Murfitt and Fed Permitting Council guru Alex Herrgott speaking and the Chamber’s Dan Byers and BCSE’s Ruth McCormick on the panel (If this comes out too late, please check out the replay).  BCSE and the Alliance to Save Energy also hold an EEGlobal Forum tomorrow morning on energy efficiency and economic recovery while at Noon WCEE holds an event on post-COVID oil/natgas climate agenda with API’s Lauren Coughlin and BP’s Heidi Keller.  Also tomorrow, the Open Air Collective hosts a webinar at 10:00 a.m. on encouraging the use of low-carbon concrete for public construction projects and in the afternoon, DOE’s Dan Simmons is back on Facebook Live to discuss water and hydro issues.

Finally, special congrats to our friend, Vijay Shanker, a Justice Department Sr Litigation Counsel in the Criminal Division and Deputy Chief of the Appellate (as well as husband of our Bracewell PRG colleague Dee Martin), who was nominated late last week to serve as Associate Judge on the (local) DC Court of Appeals.

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

Best,

Frank Maisano

(202) 828-5864

C. (202) 997-5932

 

FRANKLY SPOKEN

“We encourage you to use diplomatic channels to engage with the president of Mexico and your Cabinet-level counterparts in Mexico’s agencies to urge the government of Mexico to uphold its USMCA commitments to treat U.S. investors and U.S. exporters fairly on the eve of USMCA entering into force.”   

Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API), wrote in another letter to President Trump earlier in June.

“American companies have invested billions of dollars in Mexico since 2013, primarily in storage, pipelines, and marketing infrastructure.”

Chet Thompson, president of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), wrote in a letter to President Trump this week

ON THE PODCAST

Argus Podcast Looks at Gasoline, Diesel Market – Two for the price of one today on the Argus Driving Discussions series which provides an update on the US gasoline and diesel markets. On the latest podcast, Nick Watt, Argus Americas Freight Editor and Chunzi Xu, Deputy Editor, US Products, discuss the current US road fuels markets landscape, US gasoline exports and its effects on floating storage and freight markets.  Last week’s discussion took a closer look at how OPEC's policies have shaped the road fuels supply/demand landscape. Argus’ John Demopoulos and Chief Economist David Fyfe discussed how road fuel supply/demand has been impacted by OPEC's production cut policies since the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in February/March.

FUN OPINIONS

DOE Sect Highlight Plan on Critical Minerals – In an opinion piece in Real Clear Energy, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette outlines the key path for America to win the critical minerals battle against China.  He writes despite repeated nefarious actions that violate both American and international norms of behavior, American supply chains are reliant upon China for critical goods and materials important to U.S. national security. This is true of everything from automotive parts and electronics to pharmaceuticals and medical products.  Brouillette outlines DOE’s plan to combine innovation and a revived private sector to win the critical minerals battle against China. He says we will do it diversifying supply, developing substitutes and driving recycling of critical minerals and rare earth elements. As we celebrate America’s 244^th birthday this week, he adds “We must reclaim our independence over critical mineral and rare earth element supplies to secure a prosperous future.”

FROG BLOG

Reuters Analyst: Production Still laying Low – Despite signs of demand pickup, Reuters analyst John Kemp writes in a column that US petroleum refiners are not rushing to boost crude processing, allowing the market to rebalance and drain the glut of fuel supplies that has emerged during the coronavirus outbreak. US refineries processed 19% less crude than the five-year average last week, up slightly from 25% below average at the bottom of the lockdown, Kemp said.  The restraint is beginning to pay off, with gasoline and even distillate stocks starting to flatten or fall after rising sharply during lockdown.  Provided refineries hold back, fuel stocks should drop significantly over the next couple months towards more normal levels.

IN THE NEWS

Refiners Raise Concerns about Mexico Trade Barriers – The re calling on President Donald Trump to help persuade Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador not to ditch the energy reforms that his predecessor launched, opening Mexico’s oil industry to private investment, including to U.S. energy companies. “American companies have invested billions of dollars in Mexico since 2013, primarily in storage, pipelines, and marketing infrastructure,” Chet Thompson, president of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), wrote in a letter to President Trump this week, as written by our friend James Osborne in the Houston Chronicle. U.S. firms have invested in Mexico’s oil industry, and U.S. exports of crude oil and petroleum products have more than doubled over the past half-decade, EIA data shows.  American oil firms are now turning to President Trump to help them keep doing business in Mexico and be treated fairly.  I can send both letters if you haven’t seen them.

House Adds GREEN Tax Bill to Infrastructure – With votes on infrastructure this week, House Democrats have added the Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act, HR 7330, to the House of Representatives infrastructure package. BCSE’s Lisa Jacobson said “with policy support, clean energy industries can recover the jobs they have lost and return to the previous decade-long trend of economic and job growth. As nearly 70% of pre-pandemic clean energy jobs were in small businesses, federal policy supporting the recovery of clean energy sectors would benefit communities across the country.”

Sens Push Nuke Legislation to be in NDAA – On Thursday, a bipartisan group of 20 senators led by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) sent a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Leadership, urging the inclusion of the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA) (S. 903) in the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). ClearPath Action – along with 43 other organizations – sent a similar letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee requesting that NELA be in the NDAA. Rich Powell said “This amendment on nuclear energy would add several important national security-related provisions from NELA to the NDAA, including strengthening our foreign policy relationships and preventing an increase in nuclear weapons around the world. This is also another great example of the bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for forging ahead with the next generation of clean and reliable nuclear technologies that China and Russia are trying to corner the global market on.”

Chesapeake Declares Bankruptcy – The long expected bankruptcy of Chesapeake Energy was announced last night. The company said that it was a necessary decision given its debt. It said it will continue to operate as usual during the bankruptcy process.

Fed Picks Up Loans – The US Federal Reserve bought $428 million in bonds of individual companies through mid-June, making investments in household names like Walmart and AT&T as well as in major oil firms, tobacco giant Philip Morris and the utility owned by billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway holding company. The Fed published data Sunday and showed utilities and energy companies comprised one-fifth of the central bank's individual bond purchases. Issuers in the energy industry accounted for about 8.45% of the bonds purchased, about a percentage point less than their representation in a broad market index that the Fed says its purchases are intended to track over time. It was the Fed’s first foray into corporate bond purchases that spread broadly across the economy, touching firms like Gilead Sciences that are involved in developing treatments for the COVID-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus, as well as major automakers.

ON THE SCHEDULE THIS WEEK

MOST EVENTS SCHEDULED ARE NOW ONLINE WEBINARS

Forum to Look at Clean Energy Economy – Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES) hold a virtual forum today at Noon on policy options and opportunities for reigniting the clean energy economy.  The event will feature a discussion of principled approaches to making fiscally responsible investments in clean energy infrastructure and reducing barriers to executing and completing clean energy projects.  Lucy Murfitt, Chief Counsel for Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Federal Permitting Council head Alex Herrgott will make opening remarks followed by a panel with our friends Dan Byers of the Chamber’s Global Energy Institute, BSCE’s Ruth McCormick and Lee Beck, CCUS Policy Innovation Director at the Clean Air Task Force.

House Rules – The House Rules Committee meets starting at 1:00 p.m. today to set the rules for consideration of the $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill, H.R. 2. 

Forum to Look at Low Carbon Concrete – The Open Air Collective (https://openaircollective.cc), a distributed network of volunteers developing an open-source approach to direct air carbon capture (DACC) is hosting a webinar tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. on encouraging the use of low-carbon concrete for public construction projects. The event will focus on Hastings NY and how local governments can lead on reducing the climate impact of concrete, the world's most common building material.

Forum to Look at Energy Efficiency in Past Stimulus – Tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., EE Global Forum hosts an on-line event looking previous stimulus packages passed in 2009 to counter the effects of the economic slowdown. In this webinar, experts from both continents will reflect on the role of energy efficiency in these packages, the legacy of the stimuli on efficiency and our energy systems today, and lessons learned for governments and the private sector around the world as we plan for stimulus and recovery investments. Speakers include our friend Lisa Jacobson of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy as well as Stacey Paradis of the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and National Association of Energy Service Companies head Tim Unruh. 

Forum to Look at Africa, Resources – The Woodrow Wilson Center's Africa Program holds a webcast tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. on natural resources, sustainable development and peace in Africa. This event will examine the intersection of civil society and peacebuilding in natural resource-rich African countries. It will interrogate their roles in community engagement, the promotion of accountability, and development based on inclusive, transparent, and sustainable resource management.

Forum to Look at IEA Report – Tomorrow at 11:30 a.m., the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy will host a forum with Dr. Fatih Birol, IEA’s Executive Director, and Laura Cozzi, IEA’s Chief Energy modeler, for a presentation of key findings from the World Energy Outlook Special Report on Sustainable Recovery. Following the presentation, they will take part in a discussion with Harvard’s Joe Aldy, and Columbia’s Noah Kaufman.  The event will be moderated by Jason Bordoff.

WCEE to Look at Corporate Climate Risks – The Women’s Council for Energy and the Environment (WCEE) holds a discussion tomorrow at Noon with experts on industry climate objectives to discuss how corporate climate commitments and plans for climate-related risk management will evolve (or not) as a result of the pandemic and its market and operational impacts. Speakers will include API’s Lauren Coughlin and BP’s Heidi Keller.  

GTM Hosts Solar Discussion – Greentech Media hosts a webinar tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. where Wood Mackenzie research analysts will focus on global solar PV markets and supply chains in the time of coronavirus. Solar analysts forecast a tough couple of years ahead as we navigate the economic downturn, but the fundamentals still look very strong.

Senate Energy Looks at COVID, Territories – The Senate Energy Committee holds a hearing tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. on the impact of COVID-19 on US Territories.  Congressional reps from Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam will all testify.

Forum to Look at Net Metering, Grid – The R Street Institute will hold a web forum tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. on “net metering” programs that allow consumers who self-generate electricity to receive credit for any excess power they generate that goes back onto the grid. State jurisdiction over such matters has long been recognized. Recently, however, FERC have been asked to assert exclusive jurisdiction over consumer self-generated electricity sales, preempting state net metering programs and leaving millions of current customers in a maze of regulatory uncertainty. R Street has gathered a distinguished panel of experts to discuss this important topic and the implications of the issue for the broader electric market.  Speakers include Arkansas PSC Chair Ted Thomas, Landon Stevens of the Conservative Energy Network and R Street’s Chris Villarreal. 

Forum to Look at COVID, Climate, Sustainability – Tomorrow at 3:00 p.m., Foreign Policy magazine and the Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University hold a Zoom forum to explore the surprising links between the coronavirus, climate change, and inclusive governance.

DOE’s Simmons Back on Facebook Live – The Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) at DOE Dan Simmons will hold another Facebook Live broadcast tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.  Simmons will talk about how EERE is addressing water security, hydropower energy, ocean health, water resource recovery, and affordable access to clean water.

NRC to Continue Look at Facilities – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission holds another virtual meeting tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the 2019 safety performance of 12 nuclear power plants in Region IV, the western United States.

WRI to Look at Climate, COVID Recovery – The World Resources Institute holds a forum on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. focused on the COVID-19 and climate crises. During this event, speakers will showcase concrete opportunities for policymakers to use nationally determined contributions and long-term strategies to accelerate recovery from COVID-19 and protect people from the alarming consequences of climate change.

Senate EPW to Look at Infrastructure – The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee holds a hearing on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. on improving infrastructure development opportunities to drive economic recovery and resiliency.  Prior to the hearing at 9:45 a.m., it will hold a business meeting to move several nominations, but not EPA’s Doug Benevento.

Energy Economists Hosts Venezuela Expert – On Wednesday at 1:00 p.m., the US Energy Economists hold a forum with Risa Grais-Targow, director of Eurasia Group, is going to explain recent developments for Venezuela’s energy sector. Risa is responsible for the firm's coverage of Venezuela, Ecuador, Central America, and the Caribbean. She has also worked for U.S. Department of Treasury, Alcoa Inc., the Albright Stonebridge Group, the Institute of International Finance and Dow Jones Newswires. She holds a master's degree in international economics and Latin American studies from Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies.

Forum to Look at Mexico Renewables – The Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute holds a webinar on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. focused on the outlook for renewable energy in Mexico at a time of crisis. The event will feature a discussion of mid-term goals for the Mexican power market with perspectives from the two major renewable energy associations in Mexico – AMDEE (wind) and ASOLMEX (solar).  Julio Valle, Joint Director of AMDEE and Spokesman for AMDEE and ASOLMEX, will outline the key elements that comprise the medium-term outlook for the electric sector in Mexico and clean energy.  His presentation will focus on issues such as storage solutions, grid stability and resiliency, infrastructure, ancillary services, and an outlook on market efficiencies for solar and wind energy and the evolution over the coming years of the Mexican wholesale power market.

Forum to Look at AVs – The Atlantic Council Global Energy Center holds its next installment of EnergySource: Innovation Stream on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. when they host Oliver Cameron, Co-founder and CEO of Voyage, who will discuss Voyage’s development and deployment of autonomous vehicle technology. Cameron will discuss how Voyage is delivering self-driving technology to the market. So far, Voyage raised $52M from Khosla Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Jaguar Land-Rover, and Chevron.  Cameron will speak to how the company is bringing autonomous transportation to those who need it most - beginning with retirement communities. He will discuss the safety, efficiency, and affordability of the technology and explain how the company partners with automakers to integrate self-driving technology into new, purpose-built vehicles.

WRI to Look at COVID, Climate – The World Resources Institute holds a webinar on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. to looking at building better and how climate action accelerates COVID-19 recovery.  This London Climate Action Week virtual event is co-hosted with the Embassy of the Netherlands in U.K., for a dialogue on how governments and international development institutions can tackle the dual challenges of climate change and COVID-19 recovery. Speakers include UK Department for International Development Vel Gnanendran, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General Kitty van der Heijden, WRI Africa’s Wanjira Mathai and UNEP’s Joyce Msuya.  Panelists will offer concrete examples of how countries can guide short-term stimulus spending with enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions and Long-term Strategies.  They will highlight the ongoing relevance of climate action--especially for vulnerable countries in the current context of the pandemic and economic crisis.

Forum to Look at International Oil, Gas, Mining Corruption – On Wednesday at 4:00 p.m., Governance Studies at Brookings will host a webinar exploring solutions to the challenges of corruption along the natural resource value chain globally. Panelists will discuss key takeaways from a new Leveraging Transparency to Reduce Corruption (LTRC) project.  “The TAP-Plus approach to anti-corruption in the natural resource value chain” which includes an analysis of the history, successes, and limitations of anti-corruption initiatives to date, and the introduction of a framework to guide future work. They will also discuss corruption risks in natural resource governance in the era of COVID-19 and the implications of the pandemic on global anti-corruption research initiatives such as LTRC.

USEA Cyber Forum Look at Cost Benefits of Digitization – The US Energy Assn will hold a webinar Thursday at 9:00 a.m. on utility digitization strategies and roadmaps for the power sector.  The event is the second in the Digitalization and Cybersecurity in the Energy Sector series. The webinar will help utilities learn about global trends in digitalization including identification of digitalization priorities for power utilities, get an understanding of key technologies and the major cost benefits, and learn what digital utility leaders are doing and how you can apply their strategies to your business.  BloombergNEF’s Claire Curry is the speaker.

WRI Event to Look at Ocean Issues to Address Climate, COVID – On Thursday at 9:00 a.m., WRI holds an ocean forum on the case for the ocean as a dual solution to climate change and COVID recovery.  A report commissioned by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) shows that ocean-based climate action can play a much bigger role in shrinking the world’s carbon footprint than was previously thought. Participants in this event will include the report’s authors and experts, government members of the Ocean Panel and new private sector partnerships aimed at delivering on the potential of ocean-based climate action.

Forum to Look at Clean Trucking – The GreenBiz Group is hosting an on-line forum looking at clean trucks on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. This webcast will dive into trucking’s role in our supply chain, how it has evolved since March, and how the industry will evolve into its green future. Our friend Katie Fehrenbacher moderates a panel with speakers Mike Roeth at the Rocky Mountain Institute, UPS’s Patrick Browne, Shell’s Greenlots CEO Andreas Lips and truck driver John Vesey.

July 4^th – Saturday, with Federal holiday on Friday July 3^rd. 

IN THE FUTURE

House Approps Launches Funding Push – The House Appropriations Committee is planning to hold a marathon of subcommittee markups on fiscal 2021 spending bills beginning on July 6^th, followed by full committee markups and consideration of subcommittee allocations on July 9^th.  Look for action on Interior-Environment and Energy-Water subpanels will hold their markups on July 7^th with the full committee reporting both bills on July 10^th.

ELI Forum to Look at Pandemic, Industry, Markets – Next Monday, July 6^th 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 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 – On Tuesday July 7^th, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Energy Initiative is hosting a webinar 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 – Next Tuesday, July 7^th at 10:00 a.m., the World Resources Institute is convening experts across sectors and geographies 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.

USEA to Look at NatGas Fuel Opportunities – On Wednesday July 8^th 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.

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 July 8^th 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.

NREL, USEA Look at Cyber, Distributed Energy – The US Energy Assn holds a forum together with the National Renewable Energy Lab on Thursday, July 9^th 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.  

ITIF to Look at Digitalization – The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation holds a forum on Thursday, July 9^th 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 of digitalization 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. 

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.

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.