WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon, readers, another week has begun. Callie and Maydeen are kicking off this week with Donald Trump selecting former Rep. Lee Zeldin to head up the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as with a preview of the UN’s annual climate change conference, hosted this year in Azerbaijan. It will last until Nov. 22. With Congress back in session, we’re keeping our eyes on critical mineral and geothermal energy bills being taken up this week.
Today’s edition of Daily on Energy also takes a look at the fate of natural gas stoves and heating in Washington state and England. Plus, find out which country has seen the most economic losses from extreme weather events in the last 10 years. There’s a lot on the schedule on the energy and environment beat in the coming days, so be sure to keep reading to see what we are following this week.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
TRUMP PICKS ZELDIN FOR EPA: President-elect Donald Trump has picked former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to head up the Environmental Protection Agency in his new administration.
The details: Monday afternoon, Zeldin confirmed that Trump had offered him the role of EPA administrator. “It is an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator,” Zeldin said in a post to X. “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”
Trump also confirmed the pick in a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner, saying Zeldin is a “true fighter for America First policies.” The former president indicated that Zeldin will lead the charge in rolling back several Biden administration policies saying, “He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decision that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.”
Currently the U.S. ranks 16th on the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy’s Environmental Performance Index for air quality, and 26th for sanitation and drinking water.
Surprising pick: Zeldin flew under the radar for the post as former Trump administration officials and conservative allies had floated a number of different names for EPA leadership. Andrew Wheeler, who led the EPA from 2019 to 2021 during the last Trump administration, had led the field for possible contenders. Other suspected candidates were former EPA official Mandy Gunasekara, ex-EPA regional administrator for Texas Anne Austin, and former Trump ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum had also been floated as a possible pick for Trump’s “energy czar.”
COP29 RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT U.S. CLIMATE COMMITMENTS FOLLOWING TRUMP’S ELECTION VICTORY: As the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) begins, there is uncertainty as to whether the U.S. commitments will hold, following former President Donald Trump’s election victory last week.
Baku, Azerbaijan, is hosting the climate conference, which will feature nearly 198 countries. The goal of this year’s summit is to strike a deal on new funding for developing countries that are affected by climate change.
Although President Joe Biden will not be in attendance, John Podesta, who serves as the senior adviser to the president for clean energy innovation and implementation will be at the summit to negotiate climate deals. But there are questions as to whether the U.S. commitments during this summit will withstand a Trump administration.
What the administration is saying: “[W]hat I want to tell you today is that while the United States federal government under Donald Trump may put climate action on the back burner, the work to contain climate change is going to continue in the United States with commitment and passion and belief,” Podesta told reporters.
“This is not the end of our fight for a cleaner, safer planet. Facts are still facts. Science is still science,” he added. “This fight is bigger than one election, one political cycle, in one country. This fight is bigger still. Because we are all living through a year defined by the climate crisis, in every country of the world.”
In his first term, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 Paris Agreement international agreement that is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and has vowed to pull the U.S. from the agreement again. He has also promised to boost the oil industry by deregulating environmental standards, making it easier for companies to drill.
Non-Attendees: Meanwhile, there are many world leaders who are not expected to attend the conference, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Notable Attendees: Politico reports that Rhode Island Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, will be at the conference to “reassure the international community that large swaths of the U.S. remain committed to steering the planet away from climate catastrophe.” Also, Afghan Taliban officials will be in attendance for the first time since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
HOUSE TO VOTE ON CRITICAL MINERAL AND GEOTHERMAL ENERGY BILLS: With Congress returning this week, House lawmakers will consider Republican bills related to critical minerals and geothermal energy.
Legislation up for floor vote: One is Arizona Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s Critical Mineral Consistency Act of 2024, which would add the Department of Energy’s Critical Materials to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Critical Minerals list.
Ciscomani said the bill would reduce confusion and give the same energy-related benefits to both lists. For example, the USGS minerals are eligible for more extensive clean energy tax credits and financing support than those on the DOE’s list. The legislation would also allow for the permitting of new mining projects.
The second bill is Rep. Young Kim’s Harnessing Energy At Thermal Sources (HEATS) Act that would speed up the permitting process for geothermal energy by waiving the requirement for operators to obtain a federal drilling permit for wells on state and private lands.
Last month, the Department of Interior and Bureau of Land Management proposed that operations confirming geothermal resources are excluded from the step of undergoing an environmental assessment (EA) or an environmental impact statement (EIS).
EXPECTED GAS HEATING BAN IN BRITAIN: Gas heating systems are reportedly poised to be banned from newly constructed homes in England in regulations expected to be announced by the newly elected Labour government next year.
The details: The Labour party is expected to unveil a gas heating system phase out as early as May, with a goal to ban gas boilers from new homes by 2027, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times. Instead, builders and developers will be forced to use electric heat pumps or other alternative non-gas heating systems. The ban, to be dubbed the future homes standard, is focused on reducing carbon emissions. It is expected to cut emissions from newly built homes by around 75-80% compared to current building standards.
The future homes standard is also meant to improve energy efficiency for homes, encouraging homeowners and developers to install solar panels on their roofs. However, it will not mandate the installation.
Before going into effect, the legislation will go through a 12-month delay for preparations and transitional arrangements that can last up to a year, according to the Financial Times. If the ban is brought forth in six months, this means the ban would likely not go into effect until May 2027.
Some reaction: While the expected ban has been embraced by many climate activists, it has raised worries about the nation’s goal of building 300,000 homes each year. Steve Turner, executive director of industry group the Home Builders Federation, told the Telegraph that the heat pump supply chain will need to see a significant boost as only 35,000 heat pumps are being installed each year. He also raised the fear that the grid may not be able to handle the new added demand. “If you’re not using gas for heating, that will load more onto the grid. We need to make sure there’s enough resilience within that,” Turner said.
WASHINGTON VOTERS BLOCK BANS ON GAS STOVES: Breaking from the clean energy goals of Washington state’s Democratic leadership, residents in the Evergreen State have put their support behind natural gas, voting to block any bans on gas stoves.
The vote: Approximately 51.4% of voters had cast their ballot in favor of a ballot question, Initiative 2066, the natural gas policies measure, when multiple local news outlets called the Washington vote early Friday afternoon. That lead has since grown to 51.6% of voters in support of the initiative and 48.4% voting against it. With 91% of the vote in as of Monday, the Associated Press has nonetheless not called the race.
The measure: The initiative was written to ban the state’s building code council from blocking, discouraging, or penalizing the use of natural gas. It would also bar state and local governments from restricting access to natural gas for purposes such as heating or cooking with a natural gas stove. Additionally, it requires utilities to provide natural gas, even if other energy sources are available.
Current state building code encourages and incentivizes buildings to opt for electrification, such as through heat pumps, rather than pursuing natural gas. The code does not mandate utilities or buildings to choose the greener options.
Some background: Several Democratic-run cities and states have regulated gas stoves in certain buildings in recent years. In 2021, New York became the first state to ban natural gas stoves in most new homes and buildings, going into effect as soon as 2026. Two years prior, Berkeley, California, also passed a ban on natural gas hookups in new buildings. Since then, other cities have followed suit, including San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Read more from Callie here.
EXTREME WEATHER’S MULTI-TRILLION DOLLAR IMPACT: Nearly 4,000 extreme weather events recorded worldwide over the last 10 years have caused around $2 trillion worth of damage to the global economy, according to a new report.
The details: The International Chamber of Commerce released the report on Monday, saying their findings point to a “real and tangible cost” over delaying actions aimed at curbing the effects of climate change. The ICC, the largest business organization in the world, said its estimates not only reflect physical destruction caused by extreme weather disasters like floods, droughts, and wildfires, but also human deaths. These effects are only expected to grow, as the ICC estimates that extreme weather events rose by 83% from 1980-1990 to 2000-2019.
The report estimates that around 1.5 billion people were impacted by these extreme weather events – with the United States being hit the hardest. Between 2014-2023, the U.S. saw the most economic losses at around $934.7 billion. China and India followed, albeit not closely, seeing losses of approximately $267.9 billion and $112.2 billion respectively.
Key quote: “The data from the past decade shows definitely that climate change is not a future problem: the productivity losses from extreme weather events are being felt in the here and now by the real economy,” secretary general of the ICC John W.H. Denton AO said in a statement.
A LOOK AHEAD:
- Nov. 11 is Veterans Day.
- Nov. 11 The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) begins.
- Nov. 11 – 13 is the US-Mexico Natural Gas Forum, hosted in San Antonio, Texas.
- Nov. 11 – 15 is Mass Clean Energy Week, hosted by Boston University.
- Nov. 12 The House Committee on Rules will meet to consider the Critical Mineral Consistency Act of 2024.
- Nov 12. is the 23rd Annual Energy Litigation Conference featuring discussions on AI, litigation for renewable projects, regulation for onshore and offshore projects, and more.
- Nov. 13 Harvard University is hosting a Harvard-China Project Research Seminar on Discrepancies between wind power generation in the U.S. and China.
- Nov. 13 the United States Energy Association is hosting a virtual press briefing on how to make the supply chain more resilient.
- Nov. 13 The Hudson Institute will host a discussion on “Competing with China on Critical Minerals.”
- Nov. 13 Heatmap to hold a discussion on the election impacts on the Inflation Reduction Act with former FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee & Sen. John Hickenlooper.
- Nov. 14 Wood Mackenzie is hosting a webinar on why oil and gas needs to address Scope 3 emissions, featuring discussions with the research firm’s carbon team.
- Nov. 14 FERC Commissioner Lindsay See & ex-EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler will discuss the future of environmental law post-Chevron at the Federalist Society.
RUNDOWN
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