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GOP CLIMATE HAWKS ROONEY AND GRAVES FACE OFF ON OFFSHORE DRILLING: The House’s approval Wednesday of two Democratic anti-drilling bills also pitted Republicans against Republicans.
Representatives Francis Rooney of Florida and Garret Graves of Louisiana, two of the most prominent Republicans on fighting climate change, voted differently on the bills — and then argued why the other was wrong.
“The facts prove these are flawed policies and they [proponents of the bills] are out there legislating on emotions and not facts,” Graves told Josh in an interview. “It’s really unfortunate they are gaming people like this.”
He was speaking generally about supporters of the bills banning offshore drilling along the coasts.
Rooney, when I asked him specifically about Graves’ comments, attacked his counterpart.
“He is no environmentalist at all,” Rooney told me in an interview, speaking of Graves. “I am frustrated by the Republican mantra that we can’t embrace anything to do with climate change, sea level rise, or offshore drilling. It’s like all or nothing for them. They need to get into this space. They need to be reasonable.”
Yes, Republicans are divided on what to do about climate change: The comments demonstrate that even as some Republicans have embraced mainstream climate science, they are divided about what to do it about.
Rooney, co-chair of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, voted for the bills that would permanently ban oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and extend a moratorium on drilling in the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico near Florida.
Nearly two dozen Republicans voted on the bill to ban offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf — mostly lawmakers from Florida fearful of spills and harming tourism — which passed by a 248-180 vote. A dozen Republicans voted for a second bill, approved with a 238-189 vote, barring drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
How Rooney and Graves stack up on climate change: Rooney, the most vocal Republican proponent in Congress of a carbon tax, co-sponsored both anti-offshore drilling bills.
Graves is more conservative than Rooney. House GOP leadership selected Graves over Rooney to be the top Republican on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Select Committee on the Climate Crisis because the former represents more of the consensus view of the party.
Graves represents an oil and gas district near areas of the Gulf of Mexico where production is already occurring. His constituents view offshore drilling bans as “silly and ridiculous,” he told me, although Graves did join Rooney in opposing the Trump administration’s move to weaken regulations of methane leaks from oil and gas production.
However, he is dismissive of federal policies to address climate change such as carbon pricing and increasing spending on R&D, arguing the mostly market-driven move from coal to natural gas and renewables is sufficient and will continue.
Comparing their calculus on offshore drilling: Graves argues that locking up areas from offshore drilling will backfire, leading to more imports of oil and gas from countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia.
“These bills do not improve our environment,” he told me. “They do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, to the contrary.”
Rooney finds that contention to be “ridiculous,” noting that big oil and gas companies operate around the world, so he says it’s wrong to assert that “production outside the United States isn’t as clean and safe as ours.”
Rooney does represent terrain more accommodating of his opposition to offshore drilling. Florida politicians, including Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, universally oppose lifting a moratorium on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf, just west of Florida, that expires in June 2022.
But he says his views are not politically motivated, noting constituents in his conservative district mostly oppose his advocacy for carbon pricing.
“Let me tell you something, I am certainly not going to be pressured by anybody in my state, except maybe my wife and daughter,” Rooney said.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writer Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe) and Abby Smith (@AbbySmithDC). Email [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
EPA’S WOTUS REPEAL IS HERE: The Trump administration will formally repeal the Obama administration’s clean water rule — known as the Waters of the U.S., or WOTUS — Thursday afternoon.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works R.D. James will announce the final rule during an event at the National Association of Manufacturers headquarters in Washington.
The manufacturers group has been a strong industry voice urging the rollback of the Obama-era WOTUS rule, which defined what bodies of water are covered under Clean Water Act protections. That 2015 rule became one of Republicans, industry, and farming group’s favorite examples in claiming regulatory overreach by the Obama EPA.
The EPA will, in a second regulatory step, replace the WOTUS rule with its own definition. The agency’s December proposal would limit the amount of protected water bodies, including by excluding ephemeral streams, most ditches, and many wetlands.
But environmentalists say the repeal and replacement of WOTUS will undercut water quality safeguards that keep Americans’ tap water clean and protect habitats.
US SURPASSED SAUDIA ARABIA AS TOP GROSS OIL EXPORTER IN JUNE, IEA SAYS: The U.S. momentarily overtook Saudi Arabia and Russia to be the world’s number one gross oil exporter during the month of June.
Surging U.S. shale production helped the U.S. export almost 9 million barrels a day of petroleum, including crude oil and refined products, in June, according to the International Energy Agency’s monthly oil market report released Thursday.
Saudi Arabia reclaimed the top gross exporter spot in July and August.
The U.S. has already been a net exporter of oil and petroleum products on a weekly basis, reaching that marker in November for the first time since 1991. The U.S. could be a net energy exporter on an annual basis as soon as next year, the Energy Department has said.
WILLIAM HAPPER IS LEAVING NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL AFTER PUSHING FOR CLIMATE SKEPTIC PANEL: William Happer, a National Security Council senior director and climate change science skeptic, is leaving the White House.
Happer is departing his position along with his ally National Security Adviser John Bolton, Josh has learned, and will return to work in academia.
“We wish him well and thank him for his tireless efforts to ensure that the Trump Administration’s policies and decision-making were based on transparent and defensible science,” a National Security Council spokesman told Josh.
Happer was pushing to create creating a panel of scientists through the White House National Security Council to scrutinize the consensus view that man-made climate change is harming national security.
The idea faced significant opposition within the government, causing it to be indefinitely postponed until after the 2020 election.
Happer is Princeton physics professor, rather than a climate scientist, who gained notoriety by once declaring that the “demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler.”
TRUMP TOLD STAFF TO CRACK DOWN ON NWS FORECASTERS: The order to disavow a National Weather Service tweet contradicting President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian could hit Alabama came from the White House.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney instructed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to take action because he believed NWS forecasters in Birmingham went too far by saying the storm had no chance of impacting Alabama, according to the New York Times.
Mulvaney made a call to Ross after Trump complained about the issue and told staff to correct the NWS Birmingham tweet.
Multiple investigations, including by the Commerce Department inspector general and Congress, are now underway examining possible violations of policy and ethics.
OIL MAGNATE AND ENTREPRENEUR T. BOONE PICKENS DIES AT 91: Texas oilman, investor, and conservative philanthropist T. Boone Pickens, 91, has died at his home in Dallas, the Washington Examiner’s Zachary Halaschak reports.
A swashbuckling character who was known as a hostile takeover specialist but also an advocate for shareholders, he was always ready with a colorful quip. “My I.Q. is the gas price,” he said in 1982. “At $3 I’m a genius. At $1.50 I’m a moron. Don’t talk to me too fast; it’s at $1.53 today.”
Born in Holdenville, Oklahoma, Pickens made his fortune in the oil industry, his work culminating in his founding the energy hedge fund BP Capital. A former billionaire, his net worth was estimated at $500 million when he died.
Pickens, known as “the Oracle of Oil,” was known for his “Pickens Plan,” a self-funded campaign to end America’s dependence on OPEC oil. He hoped to encourage the U.S. to adopt energy alternatives, such as wind, solar, and natural gas.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CAUCUS DEMOCRATS UNVEIL NEW SOLAR BILL: Democratic environmental justice caucus leaders in the Senate and House want to expand low-income access to solar energy. New legislation — introduced by Senators Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Cory Booker of New Jersey — would work to break down financial barriers low-income households face installing solar energy on their homes.
That would include expanding the federal government’s Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program, by increasing the percentage of solar covered under the program and boosting investments in the program more broadly. The measure also would direct the Energy Department to create new financing programs to help low-income families absorb the cost of solar installation.
Duckworth and Booker, who is running for president, lead the Senate Environmental Justice Caucus, which they created with Democratic Senator Tom Carper of Delaware in April.
The senators introduced the solar bill alongside their environmental justice colleagues in the House: Democratic Congressmen Donald McEachin of Virginia, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Nanette Diaz Barragan of California, and Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico. McEachin, Jayapal, and Barragan lead the House United for Climate and Environmental Justice Task Force.
ENERGY AND CLIMATE BILLS ON THE MOVE: The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology energy subcommittee cleared two bipartisan bills Wednesday. One would boost funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, the Energy Department’s advanced energy technology research hub.
The second bill — the Clean Industrial Technology Act — focuses on cutting greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial manufacturing sector, a notoriously hard-to-crack sector for climate policy because many industrial processes both emit and require carbon. That bill would create a cross-agency program at the Energy Department focused on technologies to cut emissions in that sector.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources also heard testimony on the industrial greenhouse gas emissions bill Wednesday, along with eight other energy-related measures including bills on nuclear energy and grid security. Energy Department Under Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes, who testified at that hearing, said the administration was still reviewing all nine bills before the panel.
The Rundown
Associated Press: AP-NORC poll: Trump gets some of his worst grades on climate
Washington Post Dangerous new hot zones are spreading around the world
Bloomberg BP CEO plans sale of some oil projects to hit climate target
Reuters Concrete steps? For China cement giants, monster carbon footprint smothers climate goals
Wall Street Journal Big US banks crowd into Aramco IPO
Calendar
THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 12
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 400 New Jersey Ave, NW. The American Petroleum Institute, the Center for LNG and “LNG Allies” host an event on “The Role of U.S. LNG in Addressing Global Challenges.” Energy Secretary Rick Perry, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, and Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La., will give keynote addresses.
