ENERGY COMPANIES, CRYPTO MINERS TEAM UP: A former Energy Department official is pulling together a new coalition of companies from the energy, technology and digital asset sectors to launch a trade group focused on shaping digital asset policy through an energy lens. — The Digital Energy Council is being led by Tom Mapes, a former Hill aide who eventually became chief of staff in DOE’s Office of International Affairs. He was most recently with the Chamber of Digital Commerce, where he served as the crypto trade group’s director of energy policy. — “Policymaking efforts regarding digital assets have centered around financial services,” Mapes said in a statement, arguing that “the focus on how both the digital asset mining and energy industries can collaborate and work together to bolster energy infrastructure, increase resilience, and support energy sustainability and efficiency has been lost in policy conversations, yet is critical during this pivotal moment of energy modernization.” — Part of DEC’s mission will be to facilitate introductions on the Hill, educating lawmakers and dispelling what it says is misinformation about crypto mining’s environmental impacts and demands, especially with a greater federal policy focus on energy infrastructure and building out grid resilience. — The association isn’t sharing the names of its members just yet, but it is launching with support from a pair of key voices on energy and crypto policy on the Hill: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) noted in a statement provided by the group that she'd held one of the first hearings "to explore digital asset mining and the applications and potential impacts on our nation’s energy supply” back in 2018 and looked forward to working with DEC. — “It’s important that energy and digital asset mining communities, both key stakeholders in our nation’s grid, have a real voice at the federal level, to support thoughtful and informed public policy,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), one of the chamber’s most ardent crypto backers, said in a statement, pointing to the passage over the past two years of the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Democratic Inflation Reduction Act. SHOWTIME FOR LAB-GROWN MEAT LOBBY: “A sesame seed bun packed with lettuce, tomato, onion and a patty grown in a lab with Washington’s help. This is the future of American food, according to a nascent industry that’s firing up a network of lobbyists, trade groups and new campaign spending with an eye towards the 2023 farm bill,” POLITICO’s Marcia Brown writes. — “The companies, whose cultivated chicken is now on the menu at restaurants in D.C. and San Francisco, say venture capital money won’t be enough. Now, well before it’s clear whether Americans want to give up traditional hamburgers, they’re jumping into Washington’s influence ecosystem and pressing Congress to expand their access to public financing from the Agriculture Department.” — “The farm bill only comes around every five years, so the last time Congress negotiated one, lab-grown meat — and the messaging game around it — was still in its infancy. Lobbying records show only two organizations in the space hired K Street firms in 2018.” — “That’s turned around in the past three years: A handful of the most prominent companies formalized a trade group at the end of last year, the Association for Meat, Poultry and Seafood Innovation. A nonprofit, Food Solutions Action, has sprung up to woo lawmakers with campaign donations and experienced lobbyists meant to help usher lab-grown and plant-based products through regulatory hoops and secure taxpayer support.” — “That coalition, as well as five other companies and advocacy groups involved with cultivated meat, have registered to lobby since 2018, disclosures show, spending at least a collective $3.7 million since 2021. It’s still a fraction of what food giants like Tyson Foods — which spent more than $1 million in the first half of 2023 — or Cargill spend on lobbying in a given year. Still, it reflects an emerging industry’s first real bid to influence federal ag policy.” CONSERVATIVE GROUP MOVES TO SQUEEZE RIGHT ON UKRAINE AID: “In response to the growing fissure within the GOP over support for the war effort in Ukraine, a conservative group is launching a $2 million campaign urging Republicans in Congress to continue backing the U.S. ally,” per The Washington Post’s Mariana Alfaro. — “Defending Democracy Together, an organization led by Republican strategist Sarah Longwell and conservative political commentator Bill Kristol, is launching ‘Republicans for Ukraine’ to get congressional Republicans to commit to continue funding aid for Ukraine ahead of what is likely to be a lengthy appropriations fight.” — “The organization gathered testimony from more than 50 pro-Ukraine Republican voters, which will be shared in an ad campaign that will air starting Tuesday until the end of the year. The advertisements will appear online, on billboards and on nationwide television, including during the first GOP presidential debate on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, which Fox News will broadcast.” PI REAL ESTATE CORNER: Public affairs firm LSG, formerly known as Locust Street Group, has inked a long-term 21,500-square-foot lease for a new office space in downtown D.C.’s historic Herald building, a move that comes as the firm has doubled its ranks over the past two years. — Since 2021, LSG has expanded from 25 staffers to more than 50 and signed a long-term lease to open an office in Houston in addition to its footprint in Denver and New York. LSG is set to move from its current 4,500-square-foot office in Dupont Circle into the new space sometime next year. Its neighbors in the new building will include the lobbying and public affairs firm FS Vector as well as the GOP law and lobbying firm CGCN and Scott Circle Communications. | 
