Weekly Political Roundup — Going for Gold on Electrification
Posted February 26, 2010 at 9:34 am 
Filed in: While Washington’s eyes were glued to yesterday’s health care summit and everyone else’s eyes have been on the Olympics, there have also been some interesting developments in the energy debate this week.
On Tuesday, three members companies of the Electrification Coalition—a partner of SAFE—testified before Senator Dorgan’s Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. Each of them emphasized the importance of moving forward with an organized plan to deploy an electrified transportation system in order to reduce American exposure to the dangers posed by oil dependence.
Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President and CEO of FedEx Corporation, asked, “[I]f we can spend approximately $15 billion a year for eight years in order to eventually end an addiction that would otherwise cost us upwards of $600 billion a year in perpetuity, does it not make wise budgetary sense to do so?”
Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies said, “This technology is here today. We have the capability right now to deploy an electrified transportation sector that will dramatically improve our nation’s trade balance, national security, and environment, and reduce consumers’ cost of transportation. What is required is coordination and support to push past initial regulatory and financial hurdles.”
And Mary Ann Wright, Vice President and Managing Director of Business Accelerator Project Power Solutions for Johnson Controls said, “Investing in a series of large-scale demonstration projects will encourage the adoption of electric vehicles and prove their market readiness … By concentrating investments in a limited number of communities, we can maximize leverage from the opportunity to demonstrate that grid-enabled vehicles can meet drivers’ needs.”
Speaking of the Olympics, perhaps as important as the hearing is the fact that the millions of Americans who are watching the games every night are being treated to Nissan’s advertising campaign for its new all-electric LEAF. Electrification is not just for Washington any more.
Elsewhere in the energy world, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson tried this week to head off a potential showdown between the administration and a bipartisan group of senators concerned about EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. It is unclear at this point whether her effort was successful or not.
Tuesday’s E&E (subscription required) reported that:
“Facing mounting pressure from congressional lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, the Obama administration yesterday vowed to gradually phase in climate regulations for industrial sources.
“U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said that no stationary sources will face greenhouse gas regulations this year and that small sources will not be subject to permitting requirements any sooner than 2016. EPA is also considering ‘substantially’ raising the thresholds in its proposed ‘tailoring’ rule to exempt more facilities from requirements that they minimize their greenhouse gas emissions.
“The announcement is seen as a step forward by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers who have expressed concerns about the possible economic consequences of regulating carbon dioxide and other gases, but several senators said they still plan to move forward with efforts to handcuff EPA’s regulatory authority.”
“‘It helps,’ said Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who was one of the lead signatories on the letter sent last week to EPA.”
“Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is pushing a separate resolution aimed at blocking EPA climate rules, also welcomed EPA’s announcement.”
E&E’s sister publication ClimateWire, however, showed Senators being less than satisfied:
“Senate lawmakers intend to push forward efforts to curtail U.S. EPA’s climate regulations, despite the agency’s assurances yesterday that it will cautiously phase in controversial permitting requirements.
“‘I am glad to see that the EPA is showing some willingness to set their timetable for regulation in to the future—this is good progress but I am concerned it may not go far enough. I believe we need to set in stone through legislation enough time for Congress to consider a comprehensive energy bill,’ Rockefeller said in a statement.”
Once again, an age-old truism in Washington is confirmed: conflicts between branches of government can be as or more intractable than conflicts between political parties.
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