Where are we on climate in infrastructure?
Presented by Equinor  With help from Ben Lefebvre, Kelsey Tamborrino, Daniel Lippman and Annie Snider  Editors Note: Morning Energy is a free version of POLITICO Pro Energy's morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the days biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro. Quick Fix   Another week of infrastructure talks has passed, but Democrats appear no closer to laying out the scope of climate change provisions in their next big bill.  A looming vacancy at FERC has focused speculation on more than half a dozen potential candidates to fill the seat held by commission swing vote Neil Chatterjee.  Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the House would vote later this month on a resolution axing a Trump-era methane rule after the Energy and Commerce Committee advanced it. YOU MADE IT TO FRIDAY  PROPS! I'm your host, Anthony Adragna. FTIs Cody McGregor was first to name former Sen. Dean Barkley as Minnesota Gov. Jesse Venturas pick. Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to [email protected]. Check out the POLITICO Energy podcast  all the energy and environmental politics and policy news you need to start your day, in just five minutes. Listen and subscribe for free at politico.com/energy-podcast. On today's episode: Biden scraps Trumps water rule. We believe it can. At Equinor, were planning to power more than 1,000,000 homes in New York with homegrown, renewable energy. But we can do more. As a broad energy company with an ambitious net-zero target for 2050, were pursuing the development of offshore wind projects in the US and quickly becoming a leader in the countrys growing offshore wind industry. Driving the Day  EVERY DAY WERE MUDDLING: Another week of infrastructure talks has passed but it remains no clearer how Democrats will resolve their differences about the size and scope of climate change provisions in the eventual package. Progressives say anything sort of ambitious action on climate change wont get their votes, while another bloc of moderates thinks bipartisan talks may yet yield some fruit. A smaller, 10-senator bipartisan negotiating group released a joint statement late Thursday saying its members had agreed to a realistic, compromise framework to modernize our nations infrastructure and energy technologies, though provided no further details. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a member of the group, said their emerging proposal includes provisions that relate to climate change through things like resiliency and pipeline efficiency, but if Democrats are looking for a line item that says climate, they're not going to see that. That strikes ME as highly unlikely to convince many progressive Democrats to support the package. Asked by reporters if climate hawks would find the approach satisfactory, moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters, We got some good energy provisions in there.  Climate hawks are wary of letting the talks linger, and they sent the White House an unmistakable message on Wednesday not to let up. Climate has to be centered in any piece of legislation which becomes law, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told ME on Thursday. We can't leave it behind and then return at a later time in another bill. He expressed confidence climate policy would ultimately be passed but acknowledged it would be a battle. Environment and Public Works Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) told reporters the progressive red line was a timely reminder of how important climate change is to the Democratic conference and predicted the two sides could enact further climate provisions when resolving differences between Senate and House surface transportation bills. During that period of time, it's important for the administration  for the president  to be saying to all of us, especially our Republican colleagues, if you want me to sign a surface transportation bill, climate's important, and keep that in mind, he told reporters. Your host still hears Sen. Sheldon Whitehouses (D-R.I.) words from mid-May in his ears every day and thinks they still apply: Immense amounts of all of this are TBD.  Sign of movement: The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced a $547 billion transportation package loaded with progressive climate initiatives in the wee hours of Thursday morning, and Democratic leaders said it will hit the House floor the week of June 28, Pro Transportations Tanya Snyder reports. Around the Agencies  CLOCK'S A-TICKIN ON FERC: There could be at least eight potential candidates in the running to replace outgoing Republican Commissioner Neil Chatterjee on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and tip the balance toward Democrats, Pros Eric Wolff reports. Biden is expected to make his selection soon, two Senate sources tell Pros Eric Wolff, but green groups fear that any delays in naming a replacement pick for Chatterjee, whose terms end June 30, could harm Bidens climate agenda. The demographics of the eventual nominee will be important, given Bidens commitment to expand diversity and inclusion throughout the federal government, sources tell Eric. Among the names being floated: Maria Robinson, a two-term Massachusetts state legislator who worked for clean energy advocacy group Advanced Energy Economy for years; Martha Guzman Aceves, a commissioner on the California Public Utilities Commission; and Willie Phillips, chair of the Washington, D.C. Public Service Commission. Other possibilities include: Megan Decker, chair of the Oregon Public Utility Commission; Abigail Anthony, a commissioner on the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission; Joshua Epel, a former member of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission; and possible longshot pick Tom Dalzell, a 40-year member of the International Brotherhood of the Electrical Workers who was interviewed by the White House weeks ago. Meanwhile, at an American Clean Power Association virtual summit, FERC Chairman Richard Glick suggested that the commission might redefine who benefits from new transmission lines to allow the costs of such projects to be spread more widely, Eric reports. Hes promised a roadmap this summer for developing a new transmission policy. EPA announced Thursday it would take another look at one of the agencys most sweeping and important public health regulations that the Trump administration opted to leave alone last year, Pros Alex Guilln reports. The agency said its reconsidering the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for particulate matter  last set in 2012  due to scientific evidence that the current standards may not adequately protect public health. PFAS ACTION: EPA took a series of steps relating to toxic forever chemicals on Wednesday, including proposing a rule that would require all companies that have manufactured PFAS in the past decade to report to EPA information such as which chemicals and byproducts were produced and in what volumes, what is known about their health and environmental effects, whether workers were exposed and how the chemicals were disposed of. The agency also withdrew guidance that the Biden administration says weakened a rule (Reg. 2070-AJ99) issued by the Trump administration that effectively bans the import of certain PFAS chemicals, and published a final rule adding three additional PFAS chemicals to the Toxics Release Inventory. PHMSA HITS KINDER WITH $2.2M FINE: The Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration is seeking $2.2 million in civil penalties from Kinder Morgan for the leak of 460,000 gallons of gasoline from one of its pipelines in New Mexico in 2018. In its filing, PHMSA said the pipeline company, one of the biggest in the country, failed to adequately inspect the stretch of its El Paso-to-Tucson pipeline that eventually developed a 22-inch gash and did not provide the proper tools and information to its control room workers to deal with the leak. Kinder Morgan declined to comment on whether it would appeal the fine. ROLLING BACK: The Interior Department will propose repealing most or all of the valuation rule that was finalized in the waning days of the Trump administration and trimmed royalty payments for fossil fuels extracted from public lands, Alex reports. At the time, the agency estimated the regulation would save industry $28.9 million a year in royalty payments for coal, oil and gas extracted from public lands. On the Hill  METHANE CRA IN THE QUEUE: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced the full House would vote to nullify a Trump-era rule weakening methane emission limits the week of June 22. That happened shortly after the full House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to advance the Congressional Review Act resolution on a party-line vote of 30-22, Alex also reports. Once signed into the law, the action would effectively reinstate Obama-era methane standards on the oil and gas industry, though the Biden administration is working to expand methane limits. Also hitting the floor next week is legislation H.R. 1187 (117) requiring the disclosure of key environmental, social, and governance metrics to shareholders of public companies so that corporations can be held accountable for their decision-making relating to equity, justice, and public health, according to Hoyer. PRESSURING CHINA ON SOLAR PANELS: Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee are asking acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Troy Miller to block imports of Chinese solar panels and other products that contain polysilicon that was allegedly made through the forced labor of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province, Pro Trades Doug Palmer reports. CBP tends not to comment on active investigations. Fossil fuels  ADD SOME, TAKE SOME: The U.S. on Thursday removed several former Iranian officials and energy companies  who they say no longer work with the government  from its sanctions list while imposing new ones on several entities it said work with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Pros Ben Lefebvre reports. Ahmad Ghalebani, who had been managing director of Irans state oil company, is among those removed. The action comes as both countries have restarted negotiations over Irans nuclear program. VERY MODEL OF MEASURING METHANE: The International Energy Forum is working with France-based satellite data company Karryos to create a standard for measuring methane emissions from the energy industry ahead of the United Nations climate change conference in November. The Methane Measurement Methodology Project will allow countries access to satellite data from the Copernicus constellation of satellites operated by the European Space Agency, with artificial intelligence and advanced algorithms to detect and measure methane emissions, according to the IEF. The group said in a press release the information would help countries present credible plans for reducing their methane emissions as part of emissions reductions commitments. NORD STREAM 2 INCHES FORWARD: Nord Stream 2 has completed one of the two controversial pipelines that will delivery natural gas from Russia to Germany, and it will begin tests today to verify its leak-free and ready to be loaded with gas, POLITICO Europes America Hernandez reports. Several additional certification and regulatory steps would then need to be completed before it could begin operations. What We're Reading  DOWN THE PROJECT PIPELINE: The U.S. solar industry added 2,827 MW of utility-scale capacity during the first quarter of this year, according to new data from S&P Global Market Intelligence released Thursday. Thats a 36 percent uptick from the same period last year and brings the total utility-scale capacity in the U.S. to 51,966 MW. The U.S. solar project pipeline now totals 110,903 MW, according to the data, of which 15,279 MW is under construction and another 78,566 MW is in early development. NextEra Energy is the largest owner of planned U.S. installations between 2021 and 2025, with a pipeline of 9,834 MW of projects. Everythings bigger in Texas: The data show that Texas leads the pack with the highest amount of solar capacity in advanced development or under construction, followed by North Carolina and California. Texas Permian Basin is also home to the largest solar projects completed in the first quarter. Transmission providers have been busy building more infrastructure in the area to keep up with demand from oil and gas drillers, which have turned to renewable energy to power operations, S&P said. Minnesota meanwhile has the largest amount of capacity announced in Q1, with 490 MW of proposed solar farms. Movers and Shakers  Former Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) has joined the advisory council at Nuclear Matters. Mike Carter-Conneen is joining CarbonCure later this month as director of corporate communications. Amanda Kules is now deputy director of scheduling and advance at the Interior Department. She previously worked on the Biden Inaugural Committee and campaign in Nevada and Arizona and is a POLITICO alum. The Grid   Oil ends higher, with U.S. prices back above $70 a barrel, via MarketWatch.  Wallflowers of the Green Energy Boom, via Wall Street Journal.  Trump dismisses climate change, calls on Biden to fire joint chiefs, via The Hill.  Bitcoin Mining Council Makes Debut as Energy Backlash Increases, via Bloomberg.  How green bottlenecks threaten the clean energy business, via The Economist. THAT'S ALL FOR ME! A message from Equinor: The energy transition is the defining challenge opportunity of our time. Without energy, the world would simply stop. Today, 80% of energy comes from fossil fuelsand the energy system has to change. The world needs energy  but it must be affordable, reliable, and accessible. By accelerating the energy transition. At Equinor, were growing our portfolio in renewable energy and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Were already planning to power more than 1,000,000 homes in New York with homegrown, renewable energy. But for us, thats only the beginning. By the time the global population reaches 9 billion in 2050, our goal is to have net-zero emissions. Discover more about Equinor at www.equinor.com/USA. Follow us on Twitter Matt Daily @dailym1    Gloria Gonzalez @ggonzalez2176    Anthony Adragna @anthonyadragna    Matthew Choi @matthewchoi2018    Zack Colman @zcolman    Alex Guillen @alexcguillen    Ben Lefebvre @bjlefebvre    Annie Snider @annelizabeth18    Kelsey Tamborrino @kelseytam    Eric Wolff @ericwolff