{"id":813929,"date":"2022-09-26T12:05:28","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T12:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2022\/09\/energy-permitting-reform-democrats-fossil-fuels\/"},"modified":"2022-09-26T12:07:07","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T12:07:07","slug":"fossil-fuel-backed-clean-power-advocates-are-greenwashing-democrats-pipeline-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/09\/26\/fossil-fuel-backed-clean-power-advocates-are-greenwashing-democrats-pipeline-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Fossil Fuel\u2013Backed \u201cClean Power\u201d Advocates Are Greenwashing Democrats\u2019 Pipeline Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n\n\n\n

A \u201cclean power\u201d group with ties to the fossil fuel industry is touting a new bill, backed by senators Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin, that will accelerate oil and gas pipeline construction \u2014 and claiming it as a climate victory.<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n \n
\n A team of contractors work on the Williams Transco gas liquids pipeline October 6, 2017, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. (Robert Nickelsberg \/ Getty Images)\n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n \n

As Democrats\u00a0attempt<\/a> to depict their newly released energy permitting bill as a climate \u201cwin,\u201d they are being boosted by a \u201cclean power\u201d lobbying group with ties to the fossil fuel industry.<\/p>\n

The American Clean Power Association, which presents itself as the\u00a0voice of clean energy<\/a> and is touting the bill as a way to boost renewables, is led by a former gas industry executive who had previously helped deregulate the industry as President Barack Obama\u2019s energy adviser. Its board of directors also includes officials from electric and gas utilities that could be enriched by the legislation\u2019s provisions to expedite fossil fuel pipelines.<\/p>\n

Several prominent news outlets have already amplified the \u201cclean power\u201d association\u2019s recent\u00a0memo<\/a> \u2014 which asserts that the legislation will \u201cunlock clean energy, American investment, and jobs while protecting the environment.\u201d But few have scrutinized that claim, examined the group\u2019s motivations, or mentioned that its members could benefit from the bill\u2019s pro\u2013fossil fuel provisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cA leading renewables trade group says that without permitting reform, roughly 100 gigawatts of clean energy expected to be deployed by 2030 is at risk of not being built,\u201d a\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0climate reporter\u00a0tweeted<\/a>\u00a0Thursday, citing the American Clean Power Association\u2019s memo pushing the legislation. The lobbying group\u2019s estimate was also\u00a0cited<\/a>\u00a0in a\u00a0Financial Times<\/em>\u00a0article about the clean energy industry\u2019s support for permitting reform, as well as referenced in other major media outlets.<\/p>\n

While the association does include clean energy companies, it is also one of many conduits for fossil fuel\u2013reliant corporations to try to position themselves as part of a green future.<\/p>\n

In Congress, those conglomerates that own and rely on fossil fuels are spearheading the\u00a0\u201call of the above<\/a>\u201d legislative strategy\u00a0embodied by the\u00a0Inflation Reduction Act<\/a> and now adopted by the permitting deal, which would grant the president the power to designate twenty-five energy projects for quick federal approval. Both bills link clean and dirty power together as if they must grow in tandem, even as scientists warn<\/a>\u00a0that fossil fuel buildouts must end to stave off the worst impacts of climate change.<\/p>\n

The American Clean Power Association plays a key role in this \u201call of the above\u201d strategy. It is the environmentally friendly brand that sells permitting legislation as a climate victory by touting its benefits for clean energy interests \u2014 without mentioning that the bill is first and foremost an oil and gas infrastructure bill that could benefit parts of their members\u2019 business that rely on fossil fuel.<\/p>\n\n \n\n \n \n \n

The \u201cMiddle Ground\u201d Fantasy<\/h2>\n \n

The American Clean Power Association is led by Heather Zichal, a former natural gas executive who helped\u00a0deregulate <\/a>the\u00a0gas industry<\/a>\u00a0as part of the Obama administration, before receiving a\u00a0$1.1-million payout<\/a> as a board member at a natural gas conglomerate. As a climate adviser to President Joe Biden\u2019s 2020 presidential campaign, Zichal infamously declared that Biden\u00a0was seeking<\/a> a\u00a0\u201cmiddle ground\u201d on climate policy.<\/p>\n

Zichal joined the American Clean Power Association in December 2020, shortly after Biden was elected. The association\u2019s announcement of her hiring\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0she \u201chas had a long career battling global climate change and brings deep experience in the public and private sector,\u201d without noting what that private sector work entailed: a seat on the board at Cheniere Energy, whose\u00a0revenues are reliant<\/a>\u00a0on more domestic natural gas production for export across the globe.<\/p>\n

Her website\u00a0bio<\/a>\u00a0similarly does not mention her past role with Cheniere Energy.<\/p>\n

The association\u2019s board of directors is also\u00a0stacked<\/a>\u00a0with executives from electric and gas utilities that could benefit from the permitting bill\u2019s measures to ram gas pipelines through the federal government\u2019s approval process.<\/p>\n

The most prominent example is an\u00a0executive<\/a> from the utility giant NextEra Energy, which is leading the Mountain Valley Pipeline \u2014 a project that would specifically be fast-tracked under the bill. The permitting measure was negotiated by coal baron Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who have together raked in more than $340,000<\/a>\u00a0in campaign contributions from NextEra since 2017.<\/p>\n

The Manchin-Schumer permitting bill says the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would run through Manchin\u2019s home state, is necessary to \u201creduce carbon emissions,\u201d even though environmental groups\u00a0estimate<\/a> the pipeline will have the emissions equivalent of twenty-three coal-fired power plants.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the American Clean Power Association did not answer specific questions from us about how it substantiates its claim that the pipeline bill will boost clean energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was modeling done by our research and analytics team,\u201d the spokesperson said, without providing further explanation.<\/p>\n

Experts\u00a0disagree<\/a>\u00a0on the extent to which the permitting legislation would actually unlock massive clean energy investments. An early draft of the legislation was\u00a0emblazoned<\/a>\u00a0with the watermark of the American Petroleum Institute, an oil and gas lobbying group.<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n

\u201cWe Don\u2019t Have Any Interest in What Happens With These Natural Gas Pipelines\u201d<\/h2>\n \n

The American Clean Power Association has a web of ties to companies with a direct interest in passing legislation that speeds up the construction of fossil fuel infrastructure.<\/p>\n

While some names on the association\u2019s board work for renewable energy companies, the board includes executives from seven electric and gas utility companies, including NextEra, Duke, Dominion, Southern Power, Xcel Energy, American Electric Power, and Invenergy.<\/p>\n

Duke Energy and Dominion Energy aimed to develop a natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to North Carolina but scrapped<\/a>\u00a0the so-called Atlantic Coast Pipeline in 2020 due to costs and delays surrounding permits. The project, much like the Mountain Valley Pipeline, is one of several natural gas pipelines in recent years that won approval from federal regulators but failed to secure the necessary permits \u2014 the exact type of project the Manchin-Schumer legislation aims to approve.<\/p>\n

Duke Energy has also been pushing for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, as the company is\u00a0planning to build<\/a> a fleet\u00a0of natural gas plants that would rely on the pipeline\u2019s service.<\/p>\n

Other American Clean Power Association members\u00a0include<\/a>\u00a0Bank of America, one of the biggest\u00a0bank financiers<\/a>\u00a0of fossil fuels; Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a holding company that owns utility, natural gas, and clean energy companies; and Google,\u00a0one of the largest<\/a>\u00a0corporate purchasers of renewables that is also\u00a0heavily invested<\/a>\u00a0in fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

We asked an American Clean Power Association spokesperson in an interview about how its members would benefit from fast-tracked pipeline approvals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have any interest in what happens with these natural gas pipelines,\u201d the spokesperson said, adding, \u201cWe care about the deployment of clean energy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n

Touting Transmission Lines, Downplaying Pipelines<\/h2>\n \n

The American Clean Power Association argues that if Congress fails to enact Manchin and Schumer\u2019s legislation, lawmakers will miss out on an opportunity to slash carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

According to the lobbying group\u2019s fact sheet:<\/p>\n

Failure to act on permitting reform puts an estimated 100 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy projects at risk of significant delay, including over 40 GW of projects reliant on the siting and permitting of new transmission lines. These project delays would result in 550 million metric tons of additional carbon emissions this decade \u2014 equivalent to the annual emissions of 88 coal-fired power plants.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rob Gramlich, the president of Grid Strategies LLC, which conducts economic policy analysis of transmission and clean energy measures, told us that the American Clean Power Association\u2019s estimate is \u201cin the range of what\u2019s reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gramlich\u2019s\u00a0own analysis<\/a> of the legislation found similar emissions reductions from the transmission provisions but did not model the emissions impacts of the rest of the bill.<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s dispute over the extent to which the bill would actually unleash clean energy and transmission construction.<\/p>\n

None of the research firms that analyzed the emissions impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act \u2014 the energy and health care spending bill that passed in August \u2014 have weighed in on the emissions impacts of this accompanying permitting reform bill. The head of one of those firms, Rhodium Group,\u00a0said he thought<\/a>\u00a0Gramlich was overestimating the reductions of the transmission provisions of the bill. (Rhodium has its own\u00a0fossil fuel industry ties<\/a>\u00a0and may have overestimated the positive impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act, according to reporting by\u00a0the American Prospect<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

While constructing transmission lines\u00a0is essential<\/a> for connecting renewable energy resources like wind and solar to customers and achieving emissions reductions, reforms to the approval process for transmission lines could be done through separate legislation.<\/p>\n

Democratic leaders are planning to attach the permitting initiative to an unrelated spending bill that will need to pass by September 30, in order to avoid a government shutdown. Given opposition from\u00a0at least seven<\/a> Democratic Senate caucus members, the measure may need substantial Republican support to pass in the chamber and potentially in the House as well. On Thursday, Democrats scored their first Republican \u201cyes\u201d vote on the matter, as Manchin\u2019s home state counterpart, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, announced<\/a>\u00a0she would support the measure because it would fast-track the Mountain Valley Pipeline. No\u00a0other Republicans<\/a>\u00a0have said they will vote for the permitting bill.<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n

You can subscribe to David Sirota\u2019s investigative journalism project, the\u00a0Lever<\/i>,\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post was originally published on Jacobin<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Democrats\u00a0attempt to depict their newly released energy permitting bill as a climate \u201cwin,\u201d they are being boosted by a \u201cclean power\u201d lobbying group with ties to the fossil fuel industry. The American Clean Power Association, which presents itself as the\u00a0voice of clean energy and is touting the bill as a way to boost renewables, [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1641,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813929"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1641"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813929"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":813930,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813929\/revisions\/813930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}