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To Ganesan Arvin[Ganesan.Arvin@epa.gov]

From POLITICO Pro Energy

Sent Fri 5/30/2014 10:06:13 AM

Subject Morning Energy presented by Fuels America: DOE proposes revamping LNG export

application process - GAO: No CRA vote for McConnell - Rule could boost nuclear

By Alex Guillen

I

5/30/14 6:00 AM EDT

With help from Talia Buford

nd

dam Snider

DOE PROPOSES REVAMPING LNG EXPORT APPLICATION PROCESS

Amid heavy

pressure from energy companies and lawmakers to speed up approvals

of

LNG export permits,

DOE announced Thursday it planned to streamline its evaluation process. DOE plans to stop

issuing conditional approvals for proposed liquefied natural gas plants before environmental

reviews have been completed, and the agency will now issue that permission once a project

makes it through a rigorous FERC process. But industry advocates say the changes will muddy

the waters on LNG exports. Talia Buford has the story:

= ~ ~ = = ~ ~ = = - ~ =

Hashing it out on the Hill Several Democrats scrambled over each other to claim credit for the

proposed policy change. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Mary Landrieu's

office blasted out a statement saying DOE had made the move after being pressed by

Landrieu. Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Udall said he is glad that the administration has heeded my

call and took today's step in the right direction,'' while Finance Chairman Ron Wyden said he is

pleased to see DOE has taken my suggestions to heart. Several Republicans, including Reps.

Fred Upton, Cory Gardner and Joe Barton, criticized the change, though Sen. Lisa Murkowski

called it

a

positive step toward fixing a needlessly confusing regulatory review that had become

disengaged from economic reality.

LNG EXPORT SUPPORTERS GET BOOST FROM DOE REPORTS

In a new addendum

to a study on the environmental impacts

of

unconventional gas production, DO

E's

National

Energy Technology Laboratory notes that it is impossible to fully understand the environmental

impacts without knowing details about future gas production. Nevertheless,'' the report says,

assuming for the purpose

of

this document that LNG export proposals would result in additional

export volumes, DOE believes those LNG export volumes would be offset by some combination

of

increased domestic production

of

natural gas (principally from unconventional sources),

decreased domestic consumption

of

natural gas, and an adjustment to the U.S. net trade balance

in natural gas with Canada and Mexico. More:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And another report

from NETL concluded that exporting LNG from the U.S. to Europe and

Asia would not increase life cycle greenhouse gas emissions over using regionally extracted

coal. While there is uncertainty introduced by factors like distance gas would have to be

transported and the efficiency

of

individual power plants, the report concludes that for most

scenarios in both the European and Asian regions, the generation

of

power from imported natural

gas has lower life cycle GHG emissions than power generation from regional coal. Read:

~ ~ ~ ~ = ~ ~ ~ ~ = ' . ·

DOE will take public comments on both documents for

5

days before

the department starts considering the reports for LNG export applications.

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But wait, there s more: DOE also plans to update its 2012 study on the economics of LNG

exports in order to gain a better understanding of how potential U.S. LNG exports between 2

and 20 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) could affect the public interest. In the meantime, DOE

will continue working on export applications.

HAPPY FRIDAY and welcome to Morning Energy. Send your energy news to

= = = = = ~ ~ = = and follow on Twitter and

THE LATEST ON EPA S CLIMATE RULES

GAO to McConnell - No CRA vote for you:

The Government Accountability Office said

Thursday that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

can t

use a Congressional Review Act

resolution to overturn EPA' s proposed rule for future power plants because the regulation is not

yet final. The rule, released in September, isn't set to become final until January. McConnell's

office vowed to continue trying to stop the regulation. Andrew Restuccia has more:

Rule a nukes booster? The rule could give states a new reason to embrace their nuclear power

plants. At least that's the hope of the nuclear industry, which has struggled with a wave of plant

shutdowns as companies face high repair costs, unfriendly power markets and competition with

cheap natural gas and subsidized wind power. Darius Dixon: _ ___ ____ ____

Boehner: I m not qualified t talk science: Some leading conservatives have a new talking

point on climate science: They're not qualified to talk about it. House Speaker John Boehner

became the latest top Republican to try that tack Thursday, following in the footsteps of Florida

Gov. Rick Scott earlier in the week. It 's a new twist on a strategy some Republican leaders

adopted last year, in which they sought to make jobs and the economy their main staging ground

for attacking Obama's climate agenda. Darren G o o d e : = = = = = = = ~ = = ~ = = ~ = = -

Ashes to ashes:

The U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops wise action to address climate change is

required now to protect the common good for present and future generations. National Catholic

R e p o r t e r : = = = = ~ ~ ~ = - - ~ = =

With a cherry on top:

Add West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito to the list of

lawmakers asking President Obama to just walk away from the regulation. Because of coal's

role in our state's economy, West Virginians will suffer disproportionally from a regulation that

is designed to tum our country away from this affordable and abundant natural resource,'' she

w r i t e s : = = ~ ~ ~ = ~ ~ ~ ~

Radio Free EPA:

Obama will talk about the rule in his weekly address tomorrow, according to

the Wall Street Journal:

= = ~ ~ ~ ~ = - ' - ' - = ~

Plus: The League of Conservation Voters also has a memo out today touting public support for

EPA carbon

r u l e s : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ - - - - - - ~

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Op-ed watch: Harvard law professor Jody Freeman, a former White House energy and

environment adviser to Obama, writes that EPA has a solid legal foundation with the rnle:

= = ~ - - = = ~ = ~ ' · And Paul Krngman says the Chamber of Commerce's report blasting the

rnle's potential costs actually indicates that the numbers are remarkably small.

EPA s proposal to weaken the Renewable Fuel Standard would seriously undercut

investments in America's low carbon advanced biofuel industry. Caving to oil industry pressure

and reducing the market for renewable fuels would undercut the industry's ability to invest ...

especially

if

the Administration's rationale is the oil industry's refusal to provide renewable fuels

infrastrncture despite a law requiring them to. Thirty-three advanced biofuel leaders told

President Obama how the proposal would hurt their industry:

E C PANEL COMBS OVER DOE LOAN PROGRAM: Energy and Commerce

Committee's oversight panel holds a hearing this morning on DOE's loan programs. Lawmakers

have plenty of potential questions to choose from, including the $8 billion in loan guarantees

DOE is looking to offer for advanced fossil energy projects and another $4 billion for renewable

energy and energy efficiency projects. Another likely topic is the Advanced Technology

Vehicles Manufacturing loan program, which still has about $16 billion in authority - including

the potential of opening up ATVM loans to driverless car suppliers. DOE loan chief Peter

Davidson, s well s a DOE deputy inspector general and the Government Accountability

Office's energy director, will testify. Details: 9:15 a.m., Rayburn 2123

TODAY IN NEW LEGISLATION

Cool roofs:

Sen. Ben Cardin's Energy-Efficieny Cool Roofs Act, co-sponsored by Republicans

Mike Crapo and Dean Heller, shortens the depreciation period for energy efficient roofs from 39

years - a period the sponsors say is much longer than the average roof lifespan - to 20 years.

Cardin has filed the bill as an amendment to the Senate's stalled tax extenders package, and a

companion piece in the House is backed by Republican Tom Reed and Democrat Bill Pascrell.

Bill text: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Overseas coal: Rep. Jared Huffman has introduced a bill blocking the Export-Import Bank from

financing any high carbon intensity project, namely coal. As part of his climate agenda,

President Barack Obama directed Ex-Im last year to stop financing most overseas coal projects,

but House Republicans included a rider on the omnibus spending bill earlier this year blocking

the agency from carrying that plan out. Read: ~ ~ ~ ~

SCORED:

H.R. 3301, Fred Upton's bill easing cross-boundary energy infrastrncture permit

requirements, would cost relevant agencies less than $500,000 per year, the Congressional

Budget Office says:

= = ~ = ~ ~ ~ - ' - - = =

DUST TO DUST: The Huffington Post looks at coal companies that hide health threats from

regulators. Cheating on dust samples has been something of an open secret in the coal industry

for years, a fact acknowledged by MSHA. Industry watchdogs suspect that some mines often

operate with dust levels above the 2.0 milligram level, let alone the new, lower threshold of 1.5.

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MINERS NOT MINORS: Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz joins Sen. Mark Udall at the

Colorado School of Mines in Golden today for a summit with energy business leaders on

Colorado's diverse approach to energy development.

WON

ALERT: The Energy Information Administration now has a Flickr page:

= ~ ~ = + - ~ ~ ~ , _ , _ . N o word on when petroleum import charts will be available with filters on

Instagram.

MORE THAN 500 INFLUENTIAL ENERGY VOICES ON ONE PLATFORM: Track the

energy conversation on Twitter with POLITICO's #Energy Insider Tweet Hub, featuring top

tweets from energy reporters, influencers and lawmakers:

= ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ' - " - - ' " .

OP-ED WATCH:

President Obama will approve Keystone XL after the midterm elections

t

eliminate a potent political weapon for the GOP while insulating Hillary Clinton from the

issue, Paul Bledsoe, a Clinton-era White House climate aide, writes in Roll Call:

TODAY IN WEIRD NEWS: Via the AP: A Tennessee man who appeared on 'The Millionaire

Matchmaker' is accused of trying to extort $2.5 million from a nuclear weapons plant in

exchange for 1,200 slides that he allegedly claimed would be damaging if released publicly.

A P : = = ~ ' ¥ - = ~ ~ ~ ~

QUICK HITS

The Justice Department wants BNP Paribas to pay $10 billion over allegations it evaded

sanctions against Iran, unnamed sources tell the Wall Street Journal:

= ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ = ' - ' ~ ' - = =

BusinessWeek looks at Chevron's retreat away from renewable energy development:

- Statoil says police have removed Greenpeace activists who scaled an Arctic rig. Wall Street

Journal: = ~ ~ = = ~ = = ' - ' ' - ' - = ~ ~

- Eight East and West Coast states team up on action plan to have 3.3 million zero-emission

vehicles on the road by 2025.

A P : = ~ = = ~ ~ ~ ~

- Harry Reid's attacks on the Koch brothers is making other GOP donors give to groups that do

not disclose supporters' names, the Washington Post writes: = ~ ~ = ~ ~ = ~ -

- The Sierra Club sues LG&E over alleged pollution from coal ash containment ponds near

Louisville. Courier-Journal: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ - - - - - - -

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- Officials believe a cow caused a small natural gas liquids spill in North Dakota. AP:

HAPPENING TODAY

8 a.m. - Standard Poor s holds a breakfast discussion on climate change economics. 8 5 15th

St. NW

8:30 a.m. The Veolia Institute, Agence Francaise de Developpement, International Union for

Conservation

of

Nature, and the U.S. National Research Council s Water Science and

Technology Board continue their conference on large-scale restoration and sustainable

development. Speakers today include Prince Albert of Monaco, IPCC Chairman Rajendra

Pachauri, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, UN Convention to Combat Desertification General

Secretary Monique Barbut and World Resources Institute President Andrew Steer.

= ~ ~ ~ ~ = - - ~ ~ =

2101 Constitution Ave. NW

THAT S ALL FOR ME.

Have a great weekend.

SEE IT FIRST: THE FRIDAY COVER -

The highly anticipated weekly reveal from

POLITICO Magazine. Drive the conversation every Friday morning by seeing it first. Sign up

h e r e : = ~ ~ ' - = = = ~ = - - = . c c . 1 - = ·

Only Pros know news first on - ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS, TELEMEDICINE,

HEALTH APPS and FEDERAL HEALTH IT. POLITICO

Pro

eHealth launches Tuesday, June

3 covering all of these topics and more. Plus, Pros get exclusive access to instant intelligence,

smart analysis, customized content and Pro-only events. For more info, contact us today at

** The EPA s proposal to weaken the Renewable Fuel Standard would seriously undercut

private sector investments in America s emerging cellulosic ethanol and advanced biofuel

industry - which is beginning commercial scale production at four new plants this year. Caving

to oil industry pressure and reducing the market for renewable fuels would undercut the

industry s ability to make investments in advanced biofuels

...

especially

if

the Administration s

rationale for the reduction is the fact that the oil industry is refusing to provide the infrastmcture

to sell renewable fuels in spite

of

a law requiring them to do so. America

can t

afford to take

two steps backward on our environment and our energy security just

as

low carbon advanced

biofuels are emerging

as

a game-changing renewable fuel. Read what DuPont, Abengoa,

Novozymes, Poet DSM and 30 other advanced biofuel leaders told President Obama about how

the EPA proposal would hurt their industry: *

tories from POLITICO Pro

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DOE seeks to streamline LNG reviews, but industry s not impressed

By Talia Buford 5/29/14 7:27 PM EDT

Amid heavy pressure from energy companies and lawmakers to speed up approvals

of

LNG

export permits, the Energy Department announced Thursday it planned to streamline its

evaluation process.

DOE plans to stop issuing conditional approvals for proposed liquefied natural gas plants before

environmental reviews have been completed, and the agency will now issue that permission once

a project makes it through a rigorous FERC process.

But industry advocates say the changes will muddy the waters on LNG exports.

Basically what they 're doing here is flipping [the process] upside down with a justification that

makes it look like this will streamline things, but in essence, they've added these additional

conditions for NEPA, said Daniel Kish, senior vice president

of

policy at the Institute for

Energy Research, referring to the National Environmental Policy Act reviews.

The proposed changes were unveiled in a blog post by Christopher Smith, DOE' s principal

deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy, and will be subject to a 45-day public review and

comment period ending on July 21.

DOE also said it will begin a new economic study and it released two environmental reports that

examine the environmental footprint

of

unconventional gas production and the greenhouse gas

impacts

of

LNG exports.

The changes, Smith wrote, are being undertaken to reflect changing market dynamics, since

the conditional reviews were originally intended to give companies the assurances necessary for

them to continue investing during the NEPA and FERC processes. Smith said investors are

already undertaking those investments prior to the Energy Department review.

By removing the intermediate step

of

conditional decisions and setting the order

of

DOE

decision-making based on readiness for final action, DOE will prioritize resources on the more

commercially advanced projects,'' Smith wrote. The change will also improve the quality

of

information that DOE makes public about its determinations.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) agreed with DOE s changes, especially welcoming DOE s

commitment to additional study on LNG exports.

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  The Energy Department is doing the right thing today by taking steps to protect America's

advantage,'' Wyden said.

I

have long said that the studies DOE has relied on need to be updated

to reflect current market conditions and data. I am pleased to see DOE has taken my suggestions

to heart and that we will look before we leap in order to maximize the economic and

environmental benefits

of

natural gas. A clearer process will mean more certainty for developers

and workers about which projects are commercially viable.

But Bill Cooper, president of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, said the DOE change will

create more regulatory uncertainty by combining its two roles

s

regulator

of

natural gas and a

participant in the FERC process.

The approval is pushed to the end

of

the line,'' Cooper said. You can go through the entire

FERC process, spend millions - scores

of

millions

of

dollars - chasing that and you still

don't

know what will happen at DOE, which is an agency that has shown a proclivity to changing it's

rules, as evidenced by today.

Still, the change won't necessarily hurt all the companies seeking to build projects, Cooper said.

Projects that have received conditional approval were already going through the FERC process,

and several others may be close to finishing that DOE process, so they may decide it doesn't

make sense to contest the rule change, he said.

Industry associations said they hoped the change helps to clear the logjam

of

projects at DOE.

We

are hopeful that this approach accelerates the process for approving LNG export terminals

but we are still studying the proposal to see what the impacts will be,'' said Dan Whitten,

spokesman for America's Natural Gas Alliance.

It remains to be seen whether the new guidelines will improve the current process, but there's

no doubt that the system today is too slow,'' said Erik Milito, director

of

upstream and industry

operations at the American Petroleum Institute. The economic and environmental benefits of

LNG exports are well-established by numerous studies and reports, and the time for review is

past.

On the Hill, some members

of

Congress were optimistic about the changes' ultimate effect on

the process.

I have long warned that the United States faces a narrowing window of opportunity to enter the

global gas trade,'' said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), ranking member on the Senate Energy

and Natural Resources committee. This proposal for reform is a positive step toward fixing a

needlessly confusing regulatory review that had become disengaged from economic reality. I

continue to oppose delays to the build-out of our export capacity, which I firmly believe to be in

the national interest, and do not believe additional study is necessary.

Others didn't mince their words, or attempt to hide their distrust of the administration's efforts.

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Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) called the changes

a

poorly disguised tactic to slow down the LNG

review process and hamstring the development of our abundant and clean burning natural gas

resource.

He continued: This is just another example of the White House moving the goal posts and falls

into the Obama administration's familiar pattern

of

unreasonable delays and unauthorized rule

changes.

Several Democrats - including Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Udall of Colorado, Ed

Markey

of

Massachusetts and Debbie Stabenow

of

Michigan - hailed the changes s a positive

development, although some reiterated their desire that DOE and the administration closely

study how natural gas exports would affect the environment and U.S. consumers.

America shouldn't export first and ask questions later, said Markey, who called for hitting the

pause button on any new natural gas export

approvals while the studies and environmental

reviews are ongomg.

Low-cost natural gas provides our nation with a national security and economic advantage that

supports America's manufacturers and consumers,'' he said. We should not give away that

advantage without full analysis and debate.

GAO thwarts McConnell s attempt to kill climate rule

By Andrew Restuccia I 5/29/14 6:05 PM EDT

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's push to kill a major proposed EPA climate

regulation is going to have to wait.

The Government Accountability Office Thursday that McConnell can't use a Congressional

Review Act resolution to overturn EPA' s for future power plants because the

regulation is not yet final. The rule, released in September, isn't set to become final until

January.

McConnell's office vowed to continue trying to stop the regulation.

While Leader McConnell was disappointed by the GAO ruling, he will continue to use every

possible tool at his disposal to protect American families from the President's costly over

regulation and devastating War on Coal,'' McConnell spokesman Michael Brumas said in a

statement.

The decision is a boon to the EPA and its allies - and it comes just days before the agency is set

to unveil an even bigger for existing power plants. But it 's a blow to

McConnell because it makes it less likely he'll secure an anti-EPA vote before the November

elections.

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under the CRA, a seldom-invoked law that allows lawmakers to repeal a regulation with a simple

majority vote. It marked the first time that a senator has filed such challenge to a rule that hasn't

become final yet.

In a January to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who heads the GAO, McConnell made

the case that the proposed climate rule warranted special treatment because the agency proposed

the regulation under a very unusual provision o the Clean Air Act. The provision, McConnell

argues, means that any power plant whose construction has begun after the regulation is

published is already subject to the rule.

Thus, the proposed [greenhouse gas] rule immediately changes the legal landscape for anyone

seeking to develop a fossil fuel power plant,'' McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote.

But GAO special counsel Susan Poling wrote in an opinion Thursday that the office's

responsibilities under the CRA are not triggered until a rule is finalized.

Under CRA's statutory scheme, GAO's role is not triggered by the issuance

o

proposed rules,''

Poling wrote. GAO's role under CRA is to receive the rules submitted by executive branch

agencies and issue reports to Congress on the major rules received. Proposed rules, whether

major or nonmajor, are not submitted to

GAO.

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer applauded the decision.

The Congressional Review Act was not intended to cover proposed rules because it would be so

disruptive to the regulatory process,'' the California Democrat said in a statement. GAO's legal

opinion ensures that the public will be able to comment and fully participate in the rulemaking

process, including the President's proposals on limiting dangerous carbon pollution.

The Natural Resources Defense Council said allowing a CRA challenge on a proposed rule

would have set a horrible precedent.

If

Sen. McConnell's preemptive tactic were allowed to go forward, it would open the door to

congressional meddling in every proposed health and safety protection and would have

politicized a process that should be based on law and science, said Franz Matzner, NRDC's

associate director

o

government affairs. Blocking critical health protections before agency

experts have had a chance to fully consider public input was never the intent o the

Congressional Review Act.

Republicans' recent efforts to overturn finalized EPA rules using the CRA have fallen short

o

garnering enough support in the Senate.back

EPA climate rule could lift nuclear s fortunes

By Darius Dixon I 5/29/14 4:15 PM EDT

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plants.

At least that's the hope

of

the nuclear industry, which has struggled with a wave

of

plant

= = ~ - =

s

companies face high repair costs, unfriendly power markets and competition with

cheap natural gas and subsidized wind power.

Now, by aiming to take a whack out

of

greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, the

regulation that EPA is expected to release Monday could breathe new life into prospects for

nuclear plants' carbon-free energy.

f course, it's too early

to

say how much greenhouse gas cutting the EPA will demand, or how

states will decide

to

meet the new standard. But the rule should make states less likely to

relinquish the reactors already producing thousands of carbon-free megawatt-hours inside their

borders, analysts say.

A state's not going to be

s

agnostic toward energy sources anymore, said Kyle Aarons, a

senior fellow with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. States are going to start valuing

zero-carbon energy more than they do already.

For one thing, it 's widely expected that EPA' s rule will allow for emissions reductions to be

applied statewide, rather than just plant by plant.

f

hat's the case, the loss

of

a nuclear plant

would mean that a state would have to replace a considerable amount of power with renewables,

or risk seeing its total carbon emissions rise.

Individual state designs responding to the rule could include similar

to the Northeast's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Exelon Corp. CEO Chris Crane noted.

Those designs could include explicit moves to benefit nuclear power, said Crane - whose

company, the country's largest nuclear operator, has been openly pondering the closure

of

some

of its plants.

The new interest in maintaining nuclear power, which makes up about 20 percent of the U.S.

electricity supply but more than 60 percent of the nation's carbon-free power, is at odds with the

industry's increasingly dire economic straits. In the last four years, five nuclear plants have

either retired or announced plans to do so - totaling about 4,800 megawatts

of

nuclear-based

electricity that will leave the grid by 2020.

Some in the industry say a nation awash in natural gas, with regional power markets that value

low price ahead

of

reliability and stability, has been eating away at nuclear' s ability to remain

profitable.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), an outspoken critic of the industry, poked fun at it earlier this month

by turning around an old adage about how nuclear power would be too cheap to meter.

Instead, he said, it 's become too expensive to matter.

But lately, some states are beginning to make it clear that they want

to

help nuclear maintain its

foothold.

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On Wednesday, the Illinois state House advanced a urging FERC, EPA, regional grid

operators and several state agencies to adopt policies that help nuclear power. The bill is

sponsored by Democratic state House Speaker Michael Madigan, Republican leader Jim Durkin

and three other members. Nuclear power represents more than

5

percent

of

the electricity in the

state, and the resolution calls nuclear plants the only greenhouse gas (GHG) free source

of

predictable, non-intermittent, and reliable electric generation.

Other states could find themselves working together on implementing

EPA'

s greenhouse gas

rule, perhaps by creating new trading networks, said Jennifer Macedonia, a senior adviser at the

Bipartisan Policy Center.

Such a network might present indirect ways to help nuclear power by improving the competitive

economics

of

nuclear generation and allowing increases in nuclear power output that offset fossil

fuel generation to count

as

part

of

a compliance strategy.

Nuclear fares better in a system that allows trading to comply with performance standards

compared to an approach where each plant must reduce its emission rate by X,'' Macedonia said.

Coal - the cheapest, dirtiest and most abundant fossil fuel - would bear the heaviest burden in

EPA's

rule. Crane hopes that culling the power fleet

of

old coal plants will help secure better

pricing for nuclear and other sources with fewer emissions.

I

do think that the retirement

of

what we call the Eisenhower era

of

coal plants will help

improve the economics

of

not only the nuclear fleet but also the clean, large coal units

as

the

constrained prices come up,'' he said at a Resources for the Future event earlier this month when

asked about the rule.

Another option to boost nuclear could mirror the renewable portfolio standards already on the

books in dozens

of

states.

While a majority

of

states require utilities to get a portion

of

their electricity from renewable

energy, Ohio's energy portfolio standard allows nuclear to fill up to half

of

the state's goals.

Other states could expand their standards in a similar way.

Aarons said one way to press the cost difference would be to put a price on carbon emissions -

something a grid operator could do when a generator bids into the electricity market. So, coal

becomes significantly more expensive, gas becomes slightly more expensive and zero-carbon

source [would] stay the same,'' he said.

Grid operators are still making their dispatch decisions based on the lowest cost generator,'' he

said. But those cost figures now include carbon.

Republicans o climate science: Don t ask us

By Darren Goode

I

5/29/14 7:27 PM EDT

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Some leading conservatives have a new talking point on climate science: They're not qualified to

talk about it.

House Speaker John Boehner became the latest top Republican to try that tack Thursday, seeking

to deflect an issue that has given Democrats an opening to brand the GOP s anti-science.

Listen,

I'm

not qualified to debate the science over climate change, Boehner told reporters

when asked about the science behind climate change. But I am astute to understand that every

proposal that has come out of this administration to deal with climate change involves hurting

our economy and killing American jobs.

Similarly, Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott has offered the response on

multiple occasions when the topic has come up lately. Even the conservative billionaires Charles

and David Koch, who have put big money into fighting President Barack Obama' s energy and

climate policies, disclaimed any pretense at scientific know-how when wealthy climate activist

Tom Steyer challenged them to a debate on climate change.

We are not experts on climate change, Koch spokeswoman Melissa Cohlmia said in an

to The Wichita Eagle this month. She added, The debate should take place among the scientific

community, examining all points

of

view and void

of

politics, personal attacks and partisan

agendas.

It' s a new twist on a strategy some Republican leaders in which they sought to

make jobs and the economy their main staging ground for attacking Obama's climate agenda.

Of course, some conservatives still scoff at the consensus among mainstream climate scientists

that the Earth is warming, in large part because

of

human causes, and that potentially devastating

consequences await. The best known may be Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who wrote a book

branding the whole idea a hoax and a conspiracy. But House Science Chairman Lamar

Smith (R-Texas) also dove into the issue at a Thursday, arguing that the debate on

climate science is not settled.

The president says there is no debate,'' Smith said. Actually, the debate has just begun.

But other Republicans appear to have softened their views.

Scott, for example, had said in 2011 that he's not convinced there's any man-made climate

change. Now

he's

facing a tough fight for reelection

in

one

of

nationwide where

Steyer is aiming to make climate change a litmus test for voters.

Another reason for the change in tone could be Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubia's recent

struggles over the topic. After taking a public pummeling, Rubio had to walk back this

month in which he told ABC News that

I

don't agree with the notion that some are putting out

there, including scientists, that somehow there are actions we can take today that would actually

have an impact on what's happening in our climate.

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Other Republicans got the message, one GOP political consultant surmised.

You don t want what happened to Marco Rubio happen to you, the consultant said. And so

the viewpoint of politicians is there's no upside to being dragged into the quicksand of climate

change science. It's the easy way out

of

a sophisticated conversation.

Polling also shows the public largely siding with scientists on the reality of climate change and

the human impact, while the issue of climate change still lags far behind issues like the economy,

jobs and Obamacare. So what's the point of a politician diving into climate science? the GOP

consultant asked.

Conservative Republican energy consultant Mike McKenna was more dubious about the talking

point.

Political guys have been training members to say it because they are afraid

of

the issue,'' he

said. Issue staffers think it is ridiculous.

Liberals have noticed the tactic. The website DailyKos = ~ = S c o t t s new stance climate-

change-mutism this week, while ThinkProgress climate researchers s saying it 's the job

of

leaders like Boehner to understand the science.

Of

course, this is not the first time a politician has used the I'm-no-expert gambit to try to skirt a

troublesome issue. Obama earned his own backlash after a 2008 presidential

= ~ = ~ = - - - =

where he said the question of when life begins was above my pay grade.

Still, environmentalists say the science issue poses special perils for Republicans who oppose

Obama's climate policies.

Attacking the research looks less and less politically successful because you look like some

kind of throwback,'' said David Goldston, a former Republican chief of staff on the House

Science Committee who is now director of government affairs at the Natural Resources Defense

Council. So that 's fallen off the charts.

Of course, Republicans are still eager to argue that Obama' s policies will devastate the economy,

kill jobs and cause huge spikes in energy prices. Expect that debate to heat up after the

administration unveils its landmark existing power plants on Monday.

While climate change and environmental policies overall have become more partisan, Goldston

said skeptics are on the defensive.

They're going to try all sorts of economic arguments, where we think it's easier and easier to

prove that those arguments don 't hold any weight,' ' he said.

Erica Martinson nd Lauren French contributed t this report back

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