Who's on deck at FERC?
Presented by  With help from Ben Lefebvre, Kelsey Tamborrino, Anthony Adragna and Alex Guilln. 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   Neil Chatterjee's term on FERC is coming to a close, and rumors on who will be his replacement are reaching fever pitch.  Hydropower is projected to have slower growth next decade compared to the 2010s, below what's needed to meet global emissions goals, according to a new International Energy Agency report.  Three Northwestern Republicans who last week signed onto the Conservative Climate Caucus are keeping quiet on climate after a record-smashing heat wave hit their states. HAPPY WEDNESDAY! Im your host, Matthew Choi. Mabrouk to Bracewells Frank Maisano for knowing Algeria is the largest OPEC member by area. Send your tips and trivia answers to [email protected]. Find me on Twitter @matthewchoi2018. 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: Jersey vs. the Pipeline. A message from Chevron: At Chevron, we believe the future of energy is lower carbon. And were taking action to help get there. Learn more. Driving the Day  AND THEN THERE WERE THREE: Today is technically the last day of Neil Chatterjees term on FERC, and the volume of rumors over his replacement is reaching a crescendo. An energy industry source tells ME the White House has made a decision, but it is keeping its cards close to the vest. Multiple sources from the power and natural gas industries and clean energy advocates say there are three in the mix: Massachusetts state Rep. Maria Duaime Robinson, D.C. Public Service Commission Chair Willie Phillips and union stalwart Tom Dalzell. Three lobbying sources tell ME that Phillips is a finalist, and there have been reports that he is the front runner (The rumor mill at Mondays meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners suggested he had the gig). Phillips began his career as deputy press secretary for former Trump Attorney General and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions between 2000 and 2002, according to the resume attached to his official nomination papers to the PSC in 2014. Then, while attending Howard Law School he spent six months interning in the Office of General Counsel for President George W. Bush. He worked at several law firms before going to work for the North American Electric Reliability Corp. in 2010. Robinson has been vetted by the White House, according to a source close to her and published reports. Robinson worked for Advanced Energy Economy, the clean energy advocate backed by tech titans, before returning to the Bay State to run for office. She has written op-eds on the need for rapid transition to a zero-emission power grid, making her the darling of Beltway climate hawks. Dalzell has also been interviewed by the White House, though it was some months ago, a source familiar with the discussion said. Dalzell is a 30-year member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and has the backing of multiple unions. Both Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) have long ties to IBEW, a boost to Dalzells candidacy. THE FORGOTTEN GIANT: Hydropower is the second largest source of low-carbon generation in the U.S., and the largest globally. But its growth appears to be stunting in the next decade, even though about half of its global potential remains untapped, according to forecasts released by the International Energy Agency this morning. Hydropower is the forgotten giant of clean electricity, and it needs to be put squarely back on the energy and climate agenda if countries are serious about meeting their net zero goals, said Fatih Birol, IEAs executive director, just days after China started operations at Baihetan Dam, the world's second largest with a capacity of 16 gigawatts of capacity when fully up and running. Global hydropower is expected to grow by 17 percent this decade, the report predicts, particularly in China, India, Turkey and Ethiopia. But this decades forecast is almost 25 percent slower than hydropowers expansion in the 2010s. There remains major potential for expansion in developing economies, where almost 60 percent of economically viable potential remains untapped (worldwide, it is closer to 50 percent). Baihetan Dam in China has the world's second largest capacity. | Jiang Wenyao/Xinhua via AP  Advanced economies will make up the bulk of the $127 billion expected to be spent on modernizing aging plants, IEA finds. But thats below the $300 billion the group estimates is necessary to modernize plants worldwide. And hydropower faces lengthy regulations and costly challenges to get off the ground, including environmental push back for a power source that often drastically alters its environment. The push for investment is gaining attention on the Hill, with Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introducing bipartisan legislation last week using tax credits to improve dam safety, environmental protections and grid resilience and to remove obsolete dams. The bill tracks with a $63 billion roadmap released earlier this year by a consortium of conservation groups and the hydropower industry to update hydropower infrastructure and remove non-generating dams  priorities the groups said would balance the creation of 500,000 jobs in clean energy with the restoration of 20,000 miles of rivers. For Canada Pros, Zi-Ann Lum has a further breakdown of the IEA report from the other side of the border. As record-setting heat broils the Northwest, three PNW Republicans are keeping mum on climate action to stop it. The silence from Reps. Cliff Bentz of Oregon and Dan Newhouse and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state comes less than a week after the three helped launch the new Conservative Climate Caucus, Pros Zack Colman reports. The dichotomy has led to accusations of politicking on climate rather than genuinely pushing to address the issue. Evergreen Action Executive Director Jamal Raad, who is feeling the extreme heat in his Seattle home, told Zack that the trio are literally talking about this as the need to reach out to more voters, not as actually solving the problem, because they dont agree on this problem.  The Conservative Climate Caucus launched to get Republicans more comfortable discussing climate issues, its founders say, serving more as an educational vehicle than a policy brewery. But to conservatives outside of government hoping to see more climate action, the trios silence is a discouraging sign. Conservatives are learning to think differently about climate change but they dont yet know what to think, Alex Flint, executive director of Alliance for Market Solutions, told Zack. NO CLIMATE, NO DEAL: Progressives are reiterating their threats to jump ship on Bidens infrastructure effort if there arent heavy spending measures to address climate change  and they arent just in the Senate. Rep. Ro Khanna, chair of the House Oversight Environmental Subcommittee, told Pros Anthony Adragna that progressives have enough votes to tank Democratic legislation if their climate demands arent met. You bring a bill that doesnt have climate, its not going to pass," Khanna said. "The progressives are not going to vote for it. Its not going to pass the House of Representatives.  Democratic leadership is scrambling to make sure their infrastructure tent can house everyone, with moderates worried about too much spending in a budget measure, progressives worried about too little spending and senior Democrats caught in the middle. House Budget Chair John Yarmuth is urging his party peers not to draw red lines on budget priorities just yet. With details still in flux, it's just safer not to talk about top line numbers, he said. More from POLITICOs Sarah Ferris and Nick Wu. BIOFUELS BIG DAY ON THE HILL: Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) will unveil a package of bills today with two of her Republican colleagues to boost biofuels infrastructure. Klobuchar and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) will introduce the Biofuel Infrastructure and Agricultural Product Market Expansion Act of 2021 to provide grants for activities that expand the sales and use of biofuels derived from U.S. agricultural feedstocks, including converting existing pump infrastructure to deliver ethanol blends with greater than 10 percent ethanol. Klobuchar and Ernst are also unveiling the Clean Fuels Vehicle Act of 2021 to provide a $200 refundable tax credit for the production of flexible fuel vehicles. The credit would be made available to original equipment manufacturers and sunset after 10 years. South Dakota Sen. John Thune (R) will meanwhile co-sponsor the introduction of the Low Carbon Biofuel Credit Act with Klobuchar that would allow ethanol blenders or fuel retailers to claim a 5 cent tax credit for each gallon of E15 blended or sold, and a 10 cent tax credit for each gallon greater than E15 blended or sold. The credit would be fully refundable and transferable for small retailers. SPEAKING OF ERNST: The Iowa Republican is leading five other Midwestern GOP senators in a letter to Biden today to remind him of his campaign trail promises to promote ethanol and the next generation of biofuels in light of reports his administration is considering relief for oil refiners from biofuel blending mandates. IN COMMITTEE: The House Climate Crisis Committee is meeting today about transportation investments to combat climate change, and a House Financial Services subcommittee is having a hearing on climate risks facing the countrys banking and financial system. House Natural Resources will be tackling environmental issues in Puerto Rico today, with an oversight hearing on coal ashs impacts on the island and a full committee hearing on legislation to compensate people in Vieques island for past military activity. In the courts  GARDEN STATE GETS SMACKED DOWN: The Supreme Court handed a victory to PennEast as it tries to build a natural gas pipeline through New Jersey, but the battle isnt over as the developer continues to face other legal challenges. The court ruled 5-4 (in a pretty interesting ideological mix) that the firm could use its eminent domain authority delegated from the federal government to claim land in New Jersey. But the project faces other obstacles, including a separate lawsuit challenging PennEasts approval saying FERC failed to verify the pipelines necessity for customers  the exact issue which toppled another gas pipeline in Missouri last week  as well as the need to get key permits from New Jersey, which will not, uh, fuhgeddaboudit yesterday's defeat. Pros Alex Guilln and Ry Rivard break down the case and its implications for pipeline construction. TOMORROWS LINE 5 ARGUMENT TODAY: The National Wildlife Federation is hailing a recent Justice Department argument in a pipeline case currently being tried in Maine as a potential winner in its legal fight against the Line 5 oil pipeline in Michigan. In an amicus brief, the Biden administration sides with South Portland officials who say that they, and not the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, have the legal authority to decide whether to halt a part of a pipeline system running through their state into Canada  essentially the same circumstances at the heart of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmers fight against Canadian pipeline company Enbridge and its Line 5 system. The Biden Administrations [Maine] filing lays to rest the outlandish claim Enbridge Energy and its political allies have repeatedly raised that Governor Whitmers historic decision to shut down Line 5 was not hers to make, NWF staff attorney Oday Salim said in a press release. The Michigan Attorney Generals office says it shares the same view. We have already told the court that we intend to oppose Enbridges arguments in our case on those issues for reasons similar to those advanced by the DOJ in Maine, a spokesperson for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told ME in an email. Before they can do that, however, a federal district court in Michigan needs to decide on whether the case falls under its jurisdiction or must head to the state level, the spokesperson added. Enbridge did not immediately give ME its thoughts on the arguments. Read the amicus brief here. Still, it might be a stretch too far, says Susan Olenchuk, a pipeline attorney with Van Ness Feldman. The Maine case focused on a piece of the system that connected the pipeline to the marine storage terminal  a facility that is a non-pipeline mode of transportation, as its called in the brief. That chunk of infrastructure, which falls well outside PHMSAs purview, doesnt necessarily exist in the Line 5 fight, Olenchuk said. I would caution against trying to extrapolate it to Line 5, she said of the Portland filing. Movers and Shakers   The American Gas Association is bringing on Terri Oliva as chief financial officer, beginning in August. Oliva joins from the Edison Electric Institute, where she was vice president and chief human resources officer.  Monique Hanis is retiring as communications director for Advanced Energy Economy on July 8, being replaced by Adam Winer, who worked comms at Consumer Reports. A message from Chevron: Weve invested more than $1 billion in carbon capture, utilization and storage projects that are expected to capture nearly 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Thats roughly equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions produced by 660,000 US homes. Learn more. The Grid   "Murkowski has the moxie to take on Trump. Will she?" via POLITICO.  How Last Centurys Oil Wells Are Messing With Texas Right Now, via Bloomberg.  Canada accelerates 100 percent net-zero emission vehicle sales target to 2035, via POLITICO.  Why FEMA Aid Is Unavailable To Many Who Need It The Most, via NPR.  "NEPA changes 'likely' to tackle climate, environmental justice issues, CEQ chair says," via POLITICO. THAT'S ALL FOR ME  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  Follow Us