Energy & Environment — Facing high gas prices, Biden relaxes regulation

Rachel Frazin -  The Hill

The Biden administration is allowing gasoline with a higher content of ethanol to be sold this summer, and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has floated a “rebranded” Keystone XL pipeline.

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Biden allows summer gasoline with more ethanol

President Biden formally announced a waiver on Tuesday that will allow fuel with higher ethanol content to be sold during the summer months, an action he said would help lower soaring gas prices.

Current regulations prevent the fuel from being sold between June and September due to concerns about its effect on smog and other forms of air pollution.

Advocates have said the regulations in question were written for fuels that are 10 percent ethanol rather than the type known as E15, which is 15 percent ethanol.

Administration officials, announcing the decision Monday night, projected it would save the average family 10 cents a gallon, a figure Biden also cited in his remarks Tuesday afternoon.

“Homegrown biofuels have a role to play right now … as we work to get prices under control and reduce the costs for families,” the president said in Iowa on Tuesday, during a speech at POET Bioprocessing in Menlo, next to a giant pile of cornmeal.

It all comes back to Russia: In his remarks, Biden emphasized the role of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the energy market, blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for the recent surge in fuel prices.

“I’m doing everything within my power by executive orders to bring down the price and address the Putin price hike,” the president said.

“Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away,” he said, also describing Putin’s actions as “genocide” for the first time.

Read more about the move here.

Manchin floats ‘rebranded’ Keystone XL

Swing vote Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) floated the idea of a “rebranded” or “rerouted” Keystone XL pipeline during a visit to Canada on Tuesday.

“The brand of the XL pipeline is probably gone,” Manchin told reporters when asked about the chances of a revival of the never-completed vessel. “Can it be rebranded, can it be rerouted, can it be these different things?”

He added that it’s not clear whether the Biden administration “is going to entertain that” but added that “they’d be foolish not to.”

What say you, WH? Asked for comment, a White House spokesperson said that the U.S. is engaging with various oil-producing countries to address the current supply imbalance, but also noted that the Keystone pipeline would not have added to current supply.

During his first day in office, President Biden killed a key border-crossing permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported Canadian tar sands oil to the U.S.

Manchin’s latest comments also follow a Wall Street Journal report that said that the administration was looking for ways to import more Canadian oil after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up fuel prices.

Republicans, meanwhile, have ramped up their criticisms of the Keystone decision in recent weeks amid the high prices, even though the pipeline was only about 8 percent completed upon its cancellation last year.

The company behind the pipeline, TC Energy, said in 2020 that the vessel would not have delivered oil until 2023.

What else did he have to say? Manchin, in his trip to Alberta, also touted an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy.

“My definition of all-of-the-above is every that we possibly can, so if you’re looking at wind and solar, geothermal, you’re looking at hydro, you’re looking at fusion in the future, you’re looking at everything that we possibly can do to reduce our carbon — nuclear.”

Read more here.

GREEN RECOVERY GETS MORE MONEY IN WEALTHY COUNTRIES

The gap is expanding for planned renewable energy spending on the COVID-19 recovery between wealthier and lower-income nations, with less wealthy countries constrained by the cost of commodities like fuel and food, according to a report released Tuesday by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The report found that advanced-economy governments are on track to spend $370 billion on renewables by next year, which tracks with what the IEA says is necessary to reach net zero emissions by 2050. However, those governments dedicated more than 10 times the financial resources to the issue as emerging and developing economies, according to the IEA.

In emerging and developing nations, government spending on renewable energy is on track for about $52 billion by 2023, or less than 25 percent of the trajectory necessary for the zero-emissions goals. Many of these governments, the report notes, have been forced to focus their financial resources on counteracting rising food and fuel prices, meaning they will likely stay low in the months ahead.

“Countries where clean energy is at the heart of recovery plans are keeping alive the possibility of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, but challenging financial and economic conditions have undermined public resources in much of the rest of the world,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement. “International cooperation will be essential to change these clean energy investment trends, especially in emerging and developing economies where the need is greatest.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent spikes in fuel prices have compelled governments to focus on reducing energy costs. Governmental affordability support for energy has increased to about $270 billion since the beginning of winter 2021 in the Northern Hemisphere.

However, the report states that these efforts have not included many of the strategies that could do the most good for reducing fossil fuel demand, such as public transport expansion and heat pump installation.

Read more here.

QUOTES OF NOTE

In a wide-ranging discussion hosted by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) weighed in on climate change and a potential Democratic reconciliation package:

On climate: “We’re going to continue to make strides on climate but through technology, not through clamping down on production. We have to have a practical approach to moving in that direction, and their goals are completely unrealistic and unattainable,” McConnell said, when asked about the Biden administration’s energy policies.

On Build Back Better: “You guys remember the old movie ‘Fatal Attraction?’ Build Back Better reminds me of Glenn Close in ‘Fatal Attraction.’ Every time I think it’s gone, it kind of keeps bouncing back.”

WHAT WE’RE READING

Indigenous people are being killed to ‘protect’ a Congolese park (Grist)

 
The Clean-Power Megaproject Held Hostage by a Ranch and a Bird (Bloomberg)

 
What the 1970s teaches about today’s energy crisis (E&E News)

Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ aren’t defined as hazardous in Wisconsin — so the state can’t force cleanup, judge says (The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

And finally, something offbeat and off-beat: Joy ride.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Energy & Environment page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow