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Washington Brief
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Business Brief
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Chart ReviewWhy is Trump more worried about coal miners than department store employees?
The Washington Post  |
GeneralEnergy CEOs say investor money and jobs at risk because FERC isn’t functional Rebuilding America’s infrastructure is one of the pillars in President Donald Trump’s plan to generate jobs. But a lack of sitting commissioners at the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC) has sidelined up to 15 energy infrastructure projects valued between $15 billion and $25 billion and an estimated 75,000 jobs. Siemens and AES team up to make industrial-size batteries Transnational engineering giant Siemens is taking aggressive steps to expand into the alternative energy market through a new partnership with AES, an Arlington-based power company that operates in 17 countries. The two firms said in a Tuesday regulatory filing that they are forming a new D.C.-based joint venture called Fluence, which will sell industrial-scale batteries to large businesses. Energy bill on standby with health care, budget in flux While congressional Republicans struggle to check off big-ticket agenda items from their to-do list before the August recess, bipartisan Senate energy legislation reworked from last year could fill the legislative vacuum in the coming weeks. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set the procedural wheels in motion to bring up S. 1460 directly to the floor, skipping the committee process and expediting the chamber’s consideration of the bill. Congress Unnerved by Energy Grid Hack For months, Sen. Maria Cantwell has been warning in letters to the Trump administration and colleagues that Congress needs to do more to keep the nation’s energy supply safe from cyberattacks. Now it appears she has a widespread attack to bolster her admonitions. Obama’s Energy Secretary Addresses Trump’s Attacks on His Legacy In a recent interview with MIT Technology Review, Moniz discussed the impact of the administration’s policies on U.S. leadership, how it feels to have his legacy come under attack, and what’s next for nuclear power. Oil Prices Fall, Shrugging Off Potential New Output Cuts Oil prices pulled back Tuesday morning, despite ongoing talk of possible production curbs in Libya and Nigeria and news of shrinking U.S. stockpiles. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 0.5%, to $46.63 a barrel, in London midmorning trading. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading down 0.5%, at $44.16 a barrel. Oil and Natural GasEnergy watchdog warns oil and electricity shortages could develop as investment falls again in 2016 Global investment in energy fell for a second consecutive year in 2016, and an international watchdog is ringing alarm bells about future shortages of oil and electricity. Energy companies and investors last year plowed $1.7 trillion into fossil fuel exploration, new power plants, upgrades to the electric grid and all the other means of powering the world, the International Energy Agency reported on Tuesday. Reading, Writing And Fracking? What The Oil Industry Teaches Oklahoma Students The program centers on teaching math and science through oil-centric lessons and labs. That includes things like calculating the mileage of tanker trucks, or the slope of pipelines. Since the 1990s, the energy board – funded by oil and gas taxes – has spent $40 million on the education program. Utilities and InfrastructureElectricity investment overtakes oil, gas for first time ever in 2016 -IEA Investments in electricity surpassed those in oil and gas for the first time ever in 2016 on a spending splurge on renewable energy and power grids as the fall in crude prices led to deep cuts, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. Total energy investment fell for the second straight year by 12 percent to $1.7 trillion compared with 2015, the IEA said. Texas utility formally ends $18.7 billion merger with NextEra Energy With a new suitor at its side, the parent company of Texas’ largest regulated utility has formally ended its merger agreement with Jupiter-based NextEra Energy. In a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission on Monday, NextEra said it received notice on July 6 from Energy Future Holdings Corp., bankrupt parent company of Oncor Electric Delivery Co., terminating the companies’ July 29, 2016 merger agreement. Trump ‘cannot continue to ignore’ infrastructure, Martin Tuchman says As lawmakers return from recess Monday, President Donald Trump is putting pressure on Congress to coalesce around a bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare, however one manufacturing CEO says infrastructure should be an equally important priority. “You cannot continue to ignore rebuilding the infrastructure … it eventually needs to be replaced and we have been ignoring the infrastructure for a very long time,” Martin Tuchman, co-founder of Interpool and Chairman and CEO of the Tuchman Group, told FOX Business Monday. In Illinois, cloud computing debate could open next chapter of utility rate reform A new staff report on cloud computing is putting members of the Illinois Commerce Commission in the hot seat. A new ICC staff report recommends commissioners initiate a rulemaking on how costs for utility-scale data analytics software should be handled by the regulatory process. RenewablesDominion announces plan for wind project off coast of Virginia Beach Dominion Energy announced Monday that it will partner with a European energy firm to build a long-anticipated offshore wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach. The pair of 6-megawatt turbines are expected to be installed through a deal with DONG Energy of Denmark by the end of 2020 — more than two dozen miles offshore and well out of site from beach-goers, officials said. Apple to build second renewables-powered data center in Denmark Apple Inc said on Monday it will spend 6 billion Danish crowns ($921 million) on a new data center in Denmark, its second in the Nordic country to run entirely on renewable energy. Facebook in January also announced plans to build a data center in Denmark, only its third outside of the United States. CoalNAPP market boosted by exports, waiting on domestic deals The Northern Appalachia 13,000 Btu/lb coal market is continuing to see support for export tons and is starting to heat up with US utilities set to award term contracts, sources said Monday. A producer told S&P Global on Monday that few domestic term or spot deals have been made since springtime but there are “a lot or irons in the fire” with RFPs still open for tonnage through 2018. Coal-fired plants top polluters in Europe Coal-fired power stations are responsible for the most pollution in Europe, with Britain among the top polluters, the European Union says. The European Environment Agency said in a report late Sunday that half of the plants responsible for the largest releases of air and water pollution were in Britain, with a total of 14. NuclearTrump triggers fight over Yucca waste site For the first time in at least seven years, the proposed repository for high-level nuclear waste is on the political agenda in Washington, D.C., and lobbyists are dusting off their playbooks to once again advocate for or against the site. President Trump sought $120 million in his budget proposal for fiscal 2018 to restart the licensing process for Yucca, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry has become a vocal defender of the project. DOE already has red teams. And they don’t always work The idea of using “red teams” to evaluate climate science has become fashionable in the Trump administration. But it’s not a new concept for nuclear issues. French energy minister says up to 17 nuclear reactors may be closed by 2025 France may consider closing up to 17 nuclear reactors by 2025 to achieve its target of a reduction of the share of nuclear in the power mix to 50%, new energy minister Nicolas Hulot said Monday in a radio interview for RTL. ClimateBanks Heed Carney’s Call to Tackle Risks of Climate Change Eleven major banks including Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG said they’ll seek ways to address the financial risks of global warming, after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney urged investors to act on the threat. The group started a pilot project to implement the recommendations of a taskforce set up by Carney to increase financial reporting standards on issues related to the environment, according to a statement from the United Nations Environment Finance Initiative on Tuesday. Cap and trade is alive, and it might grow under Trump The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative once labored in the shadows of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. No longer. Countries with coral reefs must do more on climate change – Unesco Countries with responsibility over world heritage-listed coral reefs should adopt ambitious climate change targets, aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions to levels that would keep global temperature increases to just 1.5C, the UN agency responsible for overseeing world heritage sites has said. At a meeting of Unesco’s world heritage committee in Kraków, Poland, a decision was adopted that clarified and strengthened the responsibility of countries that have custodianship over world-heritage listed coral reefs. Advocates for Methane Rule Dominate EPA Hearing Public interest groups and local stakeholders at a public hearing Monday urged the Environmental Protection Agency to continue to enforce methane regulations. The hearing at the EPA’s headquarters in Washington related the agency’s recent moves to delay the Obama administration’s methane rules for two years. A Message from the Center for Western Priorities: America protects its most iconic land for all time, from the Grand Canyon to Acadia, and from the Statue of Liberty to Zion. But Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is planning to eviscerate America’s treasured national monuments, ignoring the more than 9 out of 10 Americans who’ve told Secretary Zinke: Keep your hands off of American public lands. Visit Monuments to America to learn more. Opinions, Editorials and PerspectivesA Russia Sanctions Trap Congress wants to increase sanctions on Russia for meddling in the 2016 election, and please go for it. U.S. companies are already prohibited from investing in or advising on oil and gas projects in Russia. But the bill would also bar them from taking part in any project anywhere with sanctioned Russian firms. Electric cars pose headaches for the oil industry: Steward Electric cars are having a moment. There are only a few on the road compared to gas guzzlers but recent predictions by reliable sources see battery powered vehicles becoming the rage much sooner than had been expected. The OPEC Challenge to America’s Energy Dominance: There’s No Free Market for Oil The U.S. shale industry is nothing if not resilient. OPEC—a cartel of petrostates holding the world’s largest and cheapest oil reserves—leverages state control over its oil resources to undermine America’s competitive producers. Thanks to its latest moves, the U.S. energy industry is again under pressure, reminding us that we must take stronger action to ensure our energy security and energy sovereignty. A Message from the Center for Western Priorities: By a 9-to-1 margin, Utah residents are telling Interior Secretary Zinke to keep Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante national monuments. These lands are sacred to tribal nations, enjoyed by outdoor enthusiasts, and critical to local Utah economies. Will he listen to Utahns or just special interests? Visit Monuments to America to learn more. Research ReportsThe Carbon Majors Database: CDP Carbon Majors Report 2017 This report looks at industrial carbon dioxide and methane emissions deriving from fossil fuel producers in the past, present, and future. In 1988, human-induced climate change was officially recognized through the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). |
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