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Presented by Chevron: Delivered daily by 10 a.m., Morning Energy examines the latest news in energy and environmental politics and policy. | | | | | |  | | By Matthew Choi | | | With help from Kelsey Tamborrino Editor’s Note: Morning Energy is a free version of POLITICO Pro Energy’s morning newsletter, which is delivered to our s each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day’s biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro. | | | — The U.S. joined several other major economies in swearing off public financing of most oil and gas projects overseas. But it comes with a lot of caveats. — The House is likely voting on Democrats reconciliation package today after a frenetic whip operation. But the final bill is far from done as it faces disparate Senate priorities. — Senate Republicans want more insight into how the White House is calculating the social cost of greenhouse gases, a key metric that will be used in the administration's number-crunching on the costs and benefits of numerous rules. HAPPY FRIDAY! I’m your host, Matthew Choi. Congrats to Stephen Myrow of Beacon Policy Advisors for knowing “Double, double, toil and trouble” is from MacBeth. For a more advanced theater trivia question: “Couvrez ce sein que je ne saurais voir” is a line from which Molière play? Send your tips and trivia answers to mchoi@politico.com. Find me on Twitter @matthewchoi2018. Check out the POLITICO Energy podcast — all the energy and environmental politics and policy news you need to start your day, in just five minutes. Listen and subscribe for free at politico.com/energy-podcast. On today's episode: Sen. Markey talks BBB and the politics of climate change. | | | | | | A message from Chevron: Renewables are an important piece of the energy puzzle. Let’s cover how we’re exploring renewable energy sources. Learn more below. | | | | | | OIL AND GAS BEGONE: The U.S. signed onto a U.K.-led pact not to use public money to finance overseas oil and gas operations. But the Biden administration wasn’t exactly leaping at its first chance to sign on, and there are a lot of asterisks and room for exceptions. The pact is only focused on “unabated” oil and gas operations, meaning those with carbon capture technology can still get public funds. And some of the biggest financiers of overseas fossil fuel projects opted against signing on. China, which funds tens of billions of dollars worth of oil and gas investments via its Belt and Road Initiative, sat this one out. The Biden administration hasn’t settled the details on how its finance aid organizations would implement the pact and it said some exemptions will be necessary for national security reasons or in the case of a serious energy crisis. Those concerns led the U.S. to drag its feet to signing on, with U.S. climate envoy John Kerry saying he was unsure about the pact earlier this week. Still, the agreement includes some of the world’s heaviest hitters, including Canada and the European Investment Bank, and would redirect $8 billion annually for clean energy spending through public and private finance. "While this is welcome progress, countries, especially the U.S., must hold firm to these commitments, shutting off the spigot to fossil fuel companies like [Mexico's] Pemex and Exxon," said Kate DeAngelis, manager of Friends of the Earth's international finance program. Pro’s Zack Colman has the details from Glasgow. And what about coal? The U.S. did not sign onto another U.K.-led pledge to consign “coal to history.” Without a strong, global commitment to phase out the dirtiest fossil fuel, IEA’s Fatih Birol told The Financial Times that “the chances to reach our 1.5C target is close to zero.” | | | | BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now. | | | | | | | | PELOSI’S PUSH: The House appears to be closing in on a vote on the reconciliation package Friday after a day of arm twisting to get the Democratic caucus on the same page. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went late into Thursday evening managing a hard core whipping operation to get the necessary votes for the package. Democrats flirted with a potential vote Thursday night, but several holdouts were pressing for Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeepers to offer their assessments of the package before committing to it. It was one of the biggest sticking points, with moderates wanting proof that the package would be fully paid for. Other areas of contention were immigration reform, with three members withholding their votes without its inclusion in the package, as well as its feasibility in passing in the Senate, with moderates fearful of passing legislation only for it to be rewritten in the upper chamber. The House Rules Committee met late Thursday to work out kinks in the legislation, slating votes for the following day. POLITICO's Nicholas Wu, Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle have more from the House battle. But no matter what happens in the House, the game is far from over, with the Senate bound to introduce its own tweaks and changes, POLITICO’s Marianne LeVine and Burgess Everett report. And it’s not just moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) saying so. “It will not be enacted as is. Everybody needs to sit with that and get comfortable with it,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said. “If they send over a bill that has some challenges in it for rural America, then they’re going to have to take it back and work it over,” Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) a climate hawk, also said he wasn't set on the details for the climate provisions he wants included in the bill. And Manchin told reporters that he wasn’t too concerned with the political rollercoaster across the Rotunda, saying Wednesday he has “no idea” what they’re doing. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing for the Senate to take up the bill as soon as Nov. 15 and wants to have it out the door by month’s end. More from Marianne and Burgess. Related: “Tax hikes total $1.5T in House reconciliation plan, analysts say,” via Pro’s Brian Faler. WHATCHA UP TO IN THERE? Several Senate Republicans are pushing for more transparency on how the Biden White House is calculating the social cost of greenhouse gases. The lawmakers, who all serve as ranking members of committees that oversee agencies involved in crafting the new figures, wrote to the White House SC-GHG working group Thursday requesting recommendations the group is required to deliver Biden under a Jan. 20 executive order. The recommendations go into the “areas of decision-making, budgeting, and procurement by the Federal Government” where the social cost of greenhouse gases may be used. They were due to Biden at the beginning of September and the GOP legislators say that deadline has lapsed with no word to Congress or the American public about the status of the recommendations. “Given the potential wide-reaching application of the SC-GHG in decision-making, budgeting, and procurement, it is critically important for the Working Group to be transparent and accountable in its actions,” the lawmakers write. The White House didn’t respond to ME’s email for comment. The Biden administration restored an Obama-era social cost of carbon at $51 per ton back in February and is slated to unveil updated figures at the start of next year. WHAT ABOUT HYDRO? The hydropower sector is feeling a bit left out of Democrats’ clean energy tax credits under the reconciliation bill. Though Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden told ME last month he was looking at ways to get hydro included in the upper chamber’s legislation, the latest reconciliation text out of the House Rules Committee still doesn’t namecheck the nation’s third largest source of zero-carbon energy. A group of New England hydropower operators wrote to House Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal urging the inclusion of a 30 percent investment tax credit with a direct pay option. The provision was laid out in the bipartisan Twenty-First Century Dams Act in the House, which has the backing of both hydro operators and environmental groups — two sectors that often butt heads over river management (Sens. Maria Cantwell and Lisa Murkowski introduced a companion bill in the Senate). INTERIOR ALUM AT THE ARMY CORPS: Michael Connor, a former Obama-era Interior official with deep expertise in water issues, got his Senate confirmation Thursday to oversee the Army Corps of Engineers’ regulatory and infrastructure programs, Pro’s Annie Snider reports. The Senate confirmed him on a 92-5 vote. He takes the post at a critical time as the administration prioritizes adapting the country to rising seas and other impacts of climate change. | | | |   | | | | | | ENDLESS SUMMER: Seven governors from the Midwest pressed EPA for guidance on potentially allowing the year-round sale of 15 percent ethanol blends in gasoline in their states. In a letter to Administrator Michael Regan, the bipartisan governors wrote that in the wake of a court decision that vacated a portion of the Trump-era rule that extended the sale of E15 , they "are exploring all of our options to ensure retailers are able to sell E15 to consumers all year long without interruption" and asked for a dialogue with the agency. They add that it's their understanding that the EPA chief has the authority under the Clean Air Act "to promulgate regulations that would put E10 and E15 on equal footing with regard to volatility limitations, thus re-opening the door to unencumbered, year-round sales of both fuels." Specifically, they say the law allows them to request a waiver that would effectively grant retailers in their states the ability to use E15 year-round. The letter was signed by Govs. Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Doug Burgum of North Dakota, Tim Walz of Minnesota, Michael Parson of Missouri, Kristi Noem of North Dakota and Tony Evers of Wisconsin. PARIS TO PITTSBURGH: The city of bridges will host the 2022 Clean Energy Ministerial and the ministerial for Mission Innovation, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced in Glasgow. The two ministerials are meant to prod both the public and private sector in accelerating clean energy innovation and deployment. CEM was first started in 2010 among the energy ministers of the world’s major economies, and MI launched with the Paris climate agreement to organize “research missions” to create new paths to clean energy. ME can’t help pointing out the undertones of picking Pittsburgh of all places, considering how former President Donald Trump used it as a foil when bouncing out of the Paris climate agreement. “I was elected to represent Pittsburgh, not Paris,” he said infamously, leading to a stern rebuke from the mayors of both cities. “We recognize that our economies in Upper Appalachia cannot depend on fossil fuels, that is why Pittsburgh already has the infrastructure in the companies, workforce, and research and development to lead the future of sustainable energy rather than getting left behind,” said Mayor of Pittsburgh William Peduto in a Thursday statement. RIDE LIKE THE WIND: Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued a global call to action for countries to issue domestic offshore wind goals akin to the Biden administration’s target of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. Haaland was joined by her Danish peers and representatives from the International Renewable Energy Agency. Offshore wind is still a nascent industry in the U.S., and the administration’s 2030 target would bring it roughly in line with Europe today, Reuters reports. | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | NOPEC: OPEC+ is sticking to its output plans from this summer to increase production by 400,000 barrels per day each month, shrugging off Biden’s request for the cartel to increase output to alleviate growing fuel prices. Biden made the plea as Republicans hammer the administration over increasing gasoline prices and tie it to the president’s energy and climate policies. OPEC+ ministers told reporters Thursday that the cartel was sticking to its plan in order to maintain market stability as the pandemic continues, CNBC reports . Emirati Energy Minister Suhail Al Marouei pointed to the fluctuating costs in the coal and natural gas markets and said: “We haven't seen that happening to oil in the same magnitude because of this group." The White House didn’t take the news terribly well, with a spokesperson for the National Security Council telling FT that “the global recovery should not be imperiled by a mismatch between supply and demand.” | | | — Susan Ryan is joining Holland & Hart at its environmental and natural resources practice. Ryan previously served as Colorado Water Referee for Division 5 and as a district court magistrate for the 9th Judicial District in Colorado. | | | — “Carbon Market Talks Stumble at COP26 on How to Use the Cash,” via Bloomberg. — “Va. election underscores Biden’s energy challenge,” via E&E News. — “ Octopus Energy ready to expand reach with $600M boost from Al Gore,” via The Houston Chronicle. THAT'S ALL FOR ME!
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