Daily on Energy: New free-market energy coalition launches on Earth Day

It’s false that “Republicans are anti-clean energy,” Dillon tells John. Instead, he says, the disagreement with Democrats has always been centered on letting the market sort out what energy resources deliver the most benefits to consumers, including lower emissions and other environmental benefits.

Dillon’s group, the Energy Choice Coalition opened with a soft launch last week but is beginning its work in earnest this week by going on the road. Dillon will be journeying to Texas later this week for the big EarthX environment conference — one of the largest environmental expos in the world — to discuss the launch.

The establishment of the group coincides with the 49th celebration of Earth Day on Monday. Environmental groups are using the occasion to pump up the discussion on climate change and up the pressure on Republicans to support climate action.

Dillon’s coalition, however, is aimed primarily at educating policymakers at the state and federal level on the benefits of competitive electricity markets. The group will argue that those markets, overseen by state and federal regulators, should be allowed to work effectively without government subsidies that interfere with free-market competition and raise prices.

Jon Wellinghoff, a former Democratic chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has joined the coalition’s advisory board. Dillon is also looking to recruit Pat Wood, a former Republican chairman at FERC, to advise the coalition.

Wellinghoff ushered in an era of landmark market changes to the electricity markets as chairman of the federal commission during the first half of the Obama administration. Wood would offer similar weight to the group if he decides to join, having led broad reforms of the Texas electricity market before becoming FERC chairman under President George W. Bush.

Dillon says the group will be supportive of Texas’ market rules that have allowed wind energy to grow, but not at the expense of consumers by raising energy prices. Texas has one of the largest markets for wind in the country and has even outpaced the renewable energy development of some countries.

Dillon says the group is nonpartisan but approaches energy policy from a fiscally conservative point of view. He is also looking to recruit more centrist-leaning environmental groups to join the coalition.

Jim Presswood, former federal energy policy director for the large environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, is on the coalition’s advisory board. Other board members include Benjamin Back, president of the American Conservation Coalition, and John Berger, president and CEO of the solar energy firm Sunnova Energy Corp. Read the entire list of advisers here.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers John Siciliano (@JohnDSiciliano) and Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe). 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.

TRUMP TO CUT OFF ALL OIL SALES FROM IRAN: The Trump administration is requiring all countries to stop buying oil from Iran or face U.S. sanctions, an escalation of a policy that could roil world energy markets.

“Our goal has been to get countries to cease importing Iranian oil entirely,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a press conference Monday. “We will no longer grant any exemptions. We are going to zero across the board.”

The U.S. had granted exemptions last November to eight countries still importing oil from Iran as a way to ease transition to other sources, including its biggest buyers: China and India.

Those temporary exemptions were set to expire May 2.

Help is coming?: Pompeo said the U.S. had received commitments from Gulf allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to increase oil supply to make up for lost Iranian barrels. He also touted record oil production in the U.S.

Prices already rising: His attempt to calm oil markets came as Brent crude futures, the global oil price benchmark, increased to more than $74 a barrel on Monday morning in anticipation of Trump’s decision to cut off Iranian oil, the highest level since October.

Oil prices, and as a result U.S. gas prices, have already risen since mid-February as Saudi Arabia and Russia cut production as part of a pact to raise prices, which had fallen after Trump offered waivers to the Iranian sanctions.

Trump takes a risk: Analysts said Trump was taking a major risk by ending the waivers as high-demand summer driving season approaches, with other oil supply disruptions occurring in Venezuela, a major producer which the U.S. is also sanctioning.

More disruptions are possible in Libya — which has been pumping more than 1.2 million barrels of oil a day — and also in Algeria and Nigeria, analysts say.

“A zero-waivers Iran decision will present a challenge to keeping global oil prices in check,” said Joseph McMonigle, a former chief of staff at the Energy Department in the George W. Bush administration, in a note provided to Josh. “The decision will not only mean maximum pressure on Iran, but also maximum pressure on oil markets.”

WARREN SETS LITMUS TEST WITH CALL TO BAN DRILLING ON PUBLIC LANDS: Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s, D-Mass., promise to ban all new oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters on her first day in the Oval Office sets a new litmus test for Democrats running for president in 2020.

“Sen. Warren is setting an example of the kind of climate action we expect from candidates running for office,” Thanu Yakupitiyage, spokeswoman for 350 Action, the advocacy affiliate of 350.org, told Josh. “We need bold solutions to tackle the climate crisis head-on, and a moratorium on new leases for fossil fuel drilling is precisely the kind of action to get us there.”

While the Democratic field has embraced the ambition of the left-wing “Green New Deal” platform, candidates had provided few specifics on policies they’d support to combat climate change until Warren released her public land agenda.

A policy with major impact: Addressing greenhouse gas emissions on public lands, environmentalists say, represents a significant piece of the puzzle to combating climate change. Nearly a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from energy production on public lands, the United States Geological Survey found last year.

“Each new fossil fuel lease locks in carbon pollution that our climate can’t afford,” Taylor McKinnon, senior public lands manager at the Center for Biological Diversity, told Josh.

McKinnon noted a study published last year that determined ending fossil fuel extraction on federal lands and waters would reduce carbon emissions by 280 million tons per year, a comparable reduction to other climate policies proposed by the Obama administration.

Read Josh’s full report here.

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES TRUMP ILLEGALLY LIFTED OBAMA’S COAL MORATORIUM: Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court of the District of Montana ruled Friday the Trump administration failed to review the environmental impact of lifting an Obama-era moratorium on coal leasing on federal lands.

The decision does not reinstate the Obama administration’s 2016 stoppage of new coal mining leases on public lands — Morris added he will issue a second decision in the coming months on whether it should resume.

This sounds familiar: But Morris said the Trump Interior Department failed to adequately analyze the environmental impacts of resuming coal mining, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.

The Trump administration has suffered numerous court loses on its environmental rollbacks because of its failure to analyze the impacts of its actions and justify why a change would be beneficial.

“Bottom line: You can’t ignore NEPA,” said Jason Bordoff, former energy adviser in the Obama administration and the director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, in a Twitter post. “There’s a reason federal action (to regulate or deregulate) takes time & depends on a strong record of analysis. That’s what the law requires and courts demand. Yet again, Trump Admin cuts corners & loses in court.”

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG GIVES $5.5 MILLION TO U.N. CLIMATE FUND: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday he will provide $5.5 million to the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat, a donation meant to help compensate for the U.S. rejecting the Paris climate agreement under the Trump administration.

“The United States made a promise to meet the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement – and if the federal government won’t hold up our end of the deal, then the American people must,” said Bloomberg.

Bloomberg previously donated $4.5 million last year for the same purpose.

RUSSIA AND CHINA CLOSE TO DEAL ON ARCTIC PROJECTS TO MOVE NATURAL GAS: Russia and China are on the cusp of making a deal to pursue “very big” infrastructure projects that would help bring natural gas out of the Arctic, according to a top Russian diplomat.

“Almost everything has been completed so far, but there is only one gap, which is the price,” said Andrey Denisov, Russia’s ambassador to China. “Price is the final detail but a crucial one, and it’s quite natural in the discussion between seller and buyer — the seller wants the price as high as possible but the buyer wants to pay as little as possible.”

The partnership is expected to involve Chinese and Russian entities working together to expand Arctic navigation. Russia will get China’s help in developing new shipping routes in exchange for fuel supplies.

World powers see the Arctic region becoming increasingly important as melting ice opens the prospect of new shipping lanes and access to untapped natural resources.

The Rundown

Washington Post A climate change solution slowly gains ground

Axios Renewable energy mandates are costly climate policies, study says

E&E News Cap and trade migrates south

CBS News How wind and solar became America’s cheapest energy source

Calendar

MONDAY | April 22

Earth Day

All day, College Park, Maryland. The University of Maryland Energy Innovation Institute holds its eighth annual Engineering Sustainability Day forum, with the theme “Toward Zero Emissions and Beyond.”

TUESDAY | April 23

8:30 a.m., 4300 Nebraska Avenue NW. The American University (AU) Center for Environmental Policy holds a conference on “EPA and the Future of Environmental Protection,” April 23-24.

9 a.m., 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE. NASA continues Earth Day celebration with more than 20 hands-on activities and demonstrations.