 | | Maxine Joselow | | | Good morning and welcome to The Climate 202! šØ Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) has restarted talks with fellow Democrats about reviving President Biden's climate and social spending bill, Maxine and our colleagues reported last night. More on that below. But first: | Biden officials walk political tightrope on natural gas exports, climate action |  White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthy. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) | | | President Biden's top environmental deputies engaged in a political balancing act on Thursday as they touted their commitment to tackling climate change while defending their immediate focus on sending fossil fuels to Europe. The officials, including White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthy and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, boasted about Biden's efforts to prioritize climate action to a room full of clean energy advocates in downtown Washington yesterday. But more than 3,000 miles away, President Biden was simultaneously preparing to announce a major initiative to send shipments of natural gas — a fossil fuel that emits methane, a potent planet-warming pollutant — to the European Union following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In response, the officials sought to walk a fine line, saying America must send gas overseas to counter Europe's reliance on Russian energy in the short term, even as it seeks to boost clean energy to combat climate change in the long term. However, that message failed to satisfy some environmentalists, who worry about locking in new gas infrastructure for decades to come, or some conservatives, who want the administration to do more to unleash domestic fossil production. The details: McCarthy and Regan were two of the keynote speakers at a policy forum hosted by the American Council on Renewable Energy, a nonprofit that advocates for accelerating the nation's transition to wind, solar and other zero-emission energy sources. | | "We have to ensure that the E.U. has energy stability," McCarthy said at the forum. "Nobody can be left without their energy resources." At the same time, she said, "We cannot increase our dependence on fossil fuels. … We have to have this be a short-term emergency fix toward a longer-term effort to achieve clean energy together that's consistent with the commitments of both the E.U. and the United States." Regan, who spoke alongside former EPA administrator Carol Browner, sought to strike a similar balance in his remarks. He also argued that if the United States had deployed more clean energy, Americans would be more insulated from high gas prices sparked by Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. "As we look at this unfortunate war that Putin has waged on Ukraine, and we look at the price volatility that all of us are subject to … it makes all of us reflect on the current investments that are happening and the direction the country's going," Regan said. "If we were a little further down the road, we might be feeling a little less pain from some of these international dynamics." | | In Brussels, Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new agreement today to redirect shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian energy, our colleagues Emily Rauhala, Tyler Pager and Ashley Parker report. As part of the partnership, the United States will seek to increase LNG exports to Europe by at least 15 billion cubic meters this year with the aim of providing larger shipments in the future. Like McCarthy and Regan, Biden sought to strike a careful balance in his brief remarks at the U.S. Chief of Mission Residence in Brussels. "We're going to have to make sure the families in Europe can get through this winter and the next while we're building the infrastructure for a diversified, resilient and clean energy future," he said. Biden added that the U.S. and the E.U. would work together to reduce their dependence on gas and slash their carbon emissions, including by accelerating the adoption of smart thermostats, heat pumps and clean hydrogen. | | It may be impossible, however, for the Biden administration to please everyone with this balancing act. While Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) called the LNG initiative a "step in the right direction," he urged the administration to do more to increase domestic gas production. "Until they clear the backlogged export terminal permits and allow new LNG facility construction, our ability to replace dirtier Russian gas is constrained," Graves, the top Republican on the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, said in a statement. Several environmental groups slammed the administration over the gas announcement, saying it could incentivize the construction of new LNG export terminals, which could lock the United States into gas production for 15 to 20 years or more. "Pushing new toxic export facilities and decades more methane gas is a death sentence for those on the frontlines of the climate emergency, and it won't solve Europe's current crisis," Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute, said in a statement. "President Biden must lead the world with a rapid buildout of renewable energy — not feed the fossil fuel beast that's responsible for both petro-dictators and the climate crisis." | | |  | On the Hill | | Sen. Manchin launches new push for 'all of the above' energy bill |  Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) at the CERAWeek conference in Houston. (F. Carter Smith/Bloomberg News) | | | Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) has restarted negotiations with fellow Democrats about reviving Biden's climate and social spending bill, according to two people familiar with the matter, Maxine and our Washington Post colleagues Anna Phillips and Tyler Pager report. Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has told staff and colleagues that he wants the bill to take an "all-of-the-above" approach to energy policy, according to those individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. The West Virginia senator has also indicated that he wants the Biden administration to make some concessions related to oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and natural gas exports. Administration officials are looking at what policies aimed at boosting domestic energy production they can offer to win Manchin's support, according to one of the individuals, including possible offshore oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico that the Interior Department has said can move forward in light of a recent appellate court ruling. However, Manchin's still-strained relationship with the White House could complicate any negotiations. And it is unclear whether a deal can take shape by the end of July, after which point it will become difficult to move major legislation in advance of the midterm elections. | Sunrise Movement announces second round of 2022 House endorsements |  Congressional candidate Jessica Cisneros in Laredo, Tex. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) | | | The Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate advocacy group, on Thursday released its second round of 2022 House endorsements. The group is throwing its support behind Summer Lee in Pennsylvania, Erica Smith in North Carolina and Charles Booker in Kentucky. All three candidates support the Green New Deal, the proposal to phase out fossil fuels in a decade through a government-led jobs program. Booker is running for the seat held by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) after unsuccessfully challenging then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Sunrise previously endorsed Jessica Cisneros, who has advanced to a runoff for the 28th Congressional District in Texas against incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar. | | |  | Pressure points | | Biden is eyeing an executive order to invoke the Defense Production Act for clean energy |  A Mustang charges at a Ford dealership in Wexford, Pa. (Keith Srakocic/AP) | | | The Biden administration is writing an executive order to invoke the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of key minerals needed for clean energy technologies such as electric car batteries, Nausicaa Renner and Austin Ahlman report for the Intercept. A draft of the document obtained by the Intercept, which remains in the "pre-decisional phase," states that domestic mining of critical minerals "for the production of large capacity batteries for the automotive, e-mobility, and stationary storage sectors is essential to national defense." The move signals that the Biden administration is looking to use executive action to push forward with its ambitious climate agenda while the Build Back Better Act remains stalled in Congress. It follows a recent letter from Senate Democrats urging Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act for green technology. Some environmentalists have also argued that the act could shore up domestic manufacturing of heat pumps. | | |  | Agency alert | | Federal pipeline regulator draws back plan to assess climate effects |  Pipelines at Torrance Refining in California. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg News) | | | The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday pulled back a policy launched last month to consider how pipelines and other natural gas projects affect climate change and environmental justice, amid growing pressure from industry groups and lawmakers, Matthew Daly reports for the Associated Press. A panel of all five commissioners unanimously decided that the plan will now be considered a draft and will only apply to future projects, FERC said. At the same time, FERC approved three natural gas projects that have been pending before the commission for months. Opponents had criticized the new policy, saying it was poorly timed amid a push for increased natural gas exports following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Now, climate activists are accusing FERC of succumbing to political pressure — an allegation that FERC Chairman Richard Glick denied. | | |  | International climate | | Climate policies can help Europe cut its dependence on Russian energy |  A worker inspects pipes at a gas drilling rig in Russia. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg News) | | | The European Union, which relies on Russia for 40 percent of its gas, could use a clean energy transition as relief from the most intense effects of the energy crisis spurred by the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, The Post's Sarah Kaplan, Naema Ahmed, Anna Phillips, Andrew Van Dam and John Muyskens report. E.U. officials outlined a plan this month to boost clean energy and curb Russian gas imports by two-thirds by the end of the year, and to be independent from Russian fossil fuels by 2030. While the transition faces multiple hurdles, the International Energy Agency says it is possible. The transition could be accomplished by installing heat pumps, which use about half as much energy as gas furnaces, or by fast-tracking renewable energy installations. By speeding up renewable projects and investing about 3 billion euros in helping install solar panels on roofs, the IEA estimates that Europe can bring down gas use by 6 billion cubic meters. | | |  | Viral | | |
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