Five nations — China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom — will also join the U.S. in opening their national stockpiles in response to President Joe Biden’s request.

“This is the biggest SPR release ever and the second one intended to influence market prices instead of responding to an emergency,” Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group and a former oil official in the George W. Bush administration, told Jeremy.

President Bill Clinton opened the SPR back in September 2000 to the tune of 30 million barrels to bring down high prices, McNally noted.

“But this one is more important because it included five other countries,” he added.

Democratic officials in Congress, a number of whom began called on Biden to make this move weeks ago, praised the move as desperately needed relief for families.

“This is what reserves are for — defending our economy against disruption,” said Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

But others were more negative. Republicans blamed the Biden administration for driving up prices first place through opposition to fossil fuels. Some members of Biden’s party also took the change to criticize his handling of energy policy.

That list includes Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who called the SPR release “an important policy Band-Aid for rising gas prices” but one that “does not solve for the self-inflicted wound that shortsighted energy policy is having on our nation.”

“With an energy transition underway across the country, it is critical that Washington does not jeopardize America’s energy security in the near term and leave consumers vulnerable to rising prices,” Manchin said.

Bracewell PRG’s Frank Maisano, who represents energy groups, including some in the oil and gas sector, said the announcement amounts to a “political virtue signal that will give them the chance to take credit for moves the market is already making.”

“Crude prices have been falling for days already. Bad poll numbers are not a reason to tap the SPR,” he said.

“At the same time…”: The White House was sure to get in a word that it isn’t wavering on its ambitions to move the nation’s economy off of fossil fuels, saying in its announcement this morning that “at the same time, the administration remains committed to the President’s ambitious clean energy goals.”

It’s the line the administration has been forced to delicately straddle in recent months to try to help keep costs low in the short-term, all while avoiding backtracking on Biden’s emissions reduction targets.

By the way… Oil prices rose slightly following the SPR news, with both Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate gaining a few percent. WTI remains below $80 per barrel, while Brent surpassed it.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writer Jeremy Beaman (@jeremywbeaman). 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.

HOUSE DEMOCRAT SAYS WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERING EXPORT BAN: The White House is “considering” a ban on crude oil exports to supplement its other actions on high gasoline prices, according to Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat of California.

“They’ve told me and they told some of my colleagues they are considering it,” Khanna said, per Bloomberg.

Khanna and eight other House Democrats asked Biden yesterday to put a ban on exports in addition to opening the SPR, saying a ban “will boost domestic supply and put downward pressure on prices for American families.”

A group of Senate Democrats first put the idea to Biden more than two weeks ago, and some members of the caucus indicated favor for curbs on various fossil exports in a recent Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. At least two of the witnesses, though, noted the interconnectedness of the global energy market and prospect of negative consequences.

“We’d certainly have surplus, extra supply in the U.S. market,” Stephen Nalley, acting administrator of the Energy Information Administration, said of an export ban. “Prices would certainly drop in the U.S. market. Internationally, they would skyrocket [and] lower prices in the U.S. would probably discourage more production.”

EUROPE CARBON PRICE UP WITH COAL RELIANCE: The carbon price in Europe exceeded a record 70 euros per ton yesterday as utilities turn to coal to keep the continent warm through winter. Shortages of natural gas are keeping its prices high, requiring generators to turn to the dirtier alternative.

BOSTON TO DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS: Michelle Wu, the city of Boston’s newly-minted mayor, signed an ordinance yesterday to require divestment of some $65 million of the city’s assets from fossil fuel interests by the end of 2025.

Pitched as supporting a “Boston Green New Deal,” the ordinance restricts investment in any company or stock deriving more than 15% of its revenue from extracting, burning, or distributing fossil fuels. It also requires divestment from tobacco interests and private prisons.

“This is what a Green New Deal city looks like in the United States of America,” Markey, a chief sponsor of the congressional version of the Green New Deal, said at a signing ceremony yesterday.

Wu, a former city councilor, was among a group of activists and local government officials who signed onto a complaint against Harvard earlier this year alleging that its investments in fossil fuels violated state law governing endowment expenditures. President Lawrence Bacow announced plans in September to liquidate the institution’s remaining fossil fuel-related assets.

FIRST KERRY, NOW SHARMA: Following U.S. climate envoy John Kerry’s own, which we made note of yesterday, COP26 President Alok Sharma is out with an op-ed today praising the climate conference and rallying the troops to keep building momentum on fighting climate change.

Action on “coal, cars, cash and trees” were among the wins delegates marked during the conference, Sharma writes for the Guardian. But, as he said following the conference, while the 1.5 degree warming target “lives,” its “pulse remains weak.”

Sharma says the U.K. will wield its authority as the conference president to continue pressuring countries “to take action and honour their promises.”

“There is no formal policing process in the UN framework convention on climate change system, and so we must keep up the constructive pressure, and build on the trust and goodwill generated through Cop26,” he writes.

COST OF ELECTRICITY DELIVERY UP: Major utility companies have seen the cost of delivering electricity to customers increase by 65% percent over the last decade, even as spending on power production has decreased over the same period, per a new blog post from Energy Information Administration.

Utilities spent nearly two cents more per kilowatt hour for delivery, which includes spending on building and maintaining wire, power pole, and tower infrastructure, in 2020 than in 2021.

The Rundown

Bloomberg China’s coal crunch isn’t over yet as cold weather drives demand

Associated Press Coal-fired power plants to close after new wastewater rule

Reuters For Brazil co-op, price of first carbon-neutral coffee is sweet

Calendar

TUESDAY | NOV. 23

The House and Senate are on recess for Thanksgiving.