Doug Burgum’s fraught path on climate change
with research by Maxine Joselow Good morning! This is Vanessa Montalbano , the Climate 202 researcher, taking over the top of the newsletter today. As a scheduling note, we wont publish on Monday in observance of Juneteenth . Well be back in your inbox on Tuesday. Not a subscriber? Sign up for The Climate 202 to get scoops and sharp analysis in your inbox each morning. In todays edition, well cover the growing debate over green hydrogen subsidies and the Interior Department s proposal to slash fees for renewable energy development on public lands. But first: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) has gone further on climate action than some of his GOP colleagues are willing to go. But its a fraught issue for the newly declared 2024 presidential candidate , whose state relies heavily on the oil and gas industry for revenue and jobs, surpassed only by Texas and New Mexico in crude oil production. In 2017, Burgum created the states first Department of Environmental Quality , saying at the time that preserving our natural resources for current and future generations is a top priority. Then in 2021, when Burgum was at the start of his second term as governor, he announced a goal for North Dakota to be carbon-neutral by 2030. Yet Burgum is keenly aware of his states marriage to the oil and gas industry, recently praising its provision of jobs for tens of thousands of North Dakotans and in his climate initiatives adopting a carbon capture rather than fossil fuel elimination approach. Anyone who cares about the climate should want as much energy produced in America as possible and sold around the globe, said Lance Trover, a spokesperson for Burgum. We can maintain a clean environment while supporting an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes both fossil fuels and renewable sources. Climate change means North Dakota is pounded by increased rain and snowfall, leading to devastating floods, destroyed infrastructure and strained resources. Yet the states economic prospects are also closely linked to the burning of fossil fuels. Its second in the nation in energy production per capita, according to the federal Energy Information Administration . When Burgum called for the state to reach carbon neutrality by 2030, he emphasized that it would not be achieved via government mandates or by eliminating fossil fuels. Instead, he has prioritized carbon capture and sequestration, which scientists say can be part of the solution to climate change but not all of it. Rather than transitioning to clean energy, Burgum argues that by using technology to capture pollution, the state can continue to be a leader in energy generation. He has also pointed to the states unique geology for massive underground storage capacity. Carbon does not have to be the devil element on the periodic table, Trover said. It is a commodity, and America ought to capitalize on it for the sake of the climate and for the sake of national security. In 2019, Burgum signed a bill that created a tax incentive for fossil fuel projects in the state that install technology to reduce emissions or to store carbon dioxide. Burgums position has evolved over the years when it comes to environmental, social and governance investing, known as ESG. In March, he signed on to a policy statement with 18 other Republican governors slamming the Biden administration for recent efforts to encourage ESG investing in the financial sector, which, they said, could discriminate against oil and gas companies and hurt Americans retirement savings. The proliferation of ESG throughout America is a direct threat to the American economy, individual economic freedom, and our way of life, putting investment decisions in the hands of the woke mob, the governors wrote. Just a month earlier, North Dakota lawmakers shot down legislation that sought to prohibit pension funds from doing business with banks that have adopted ESG policies, saying that such proposals go against conservative free-market principles, our colleague Steven Mufson reported at the time. However, back in 2021 Burgum seemed more open to ESG. While he said ESG principles are being used to restrict investment decisions, he also said ESG-based funds are receiving the majority of new money from investors. BlackRocks head of iShares Americas predicts that by 2030, ESG investing could become a $1 trillion category. If were to continue growing our economy, we need to be able to tap into that capital, Burgum told Future Farmer Magazine. Fortunately, we are situated better than just about any state in the country when it comes to our capacity to capture, utilize and store carbon. Burgum is widely viewed as a long-shot presidential candidate, but he has nabbed endorsements from both of his states GOP senators: Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven. Cramer and Burgum have worked together on some energy and environmental issues, mostly focusing on innovation over regulation and on North Dakotans tradition of being stewards of the land. Doug is one of these guys that can explain in detail how you get to net neutral in a producing state like North Dakota how if you dont kill the innovator, the innovator will find a way to do things better, Cramer said in an interview. I just think hes the kind of voice that can lead in this space as a Republican. As the Biden administration drafts its plan for doling out one of the most lucrative tax breaks in the Inflation Reduction Act , tensions are flaring among clean-energy advocates over the direction it should take. The fight is over green hydrogen, pitched as a super fuel that can power factories and ships and airplanes with zero carbon footprint. It takes an immense amount of energy to make. A lobbying effort spearheaded by industry group American Clean Power Association urges the administration to take a flexible approach that would not initially require hourly tracking of the electrons flowing from the grid to the production of such green hydrogen, which several scholars say is crucial to making sure the fuel is not made with dirty fossil energy. If government requirements are too burdensome at the outset, we will never build a green hydrogen industry, Jason Grumet , the associations chief executive, said in a statement. The stakes are high to get this right. The groups proposal, released Thursday, drew a sharp rebuke from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) as well as the senior climate officer at Google , who warned the blueprint could result in this nascent industry actually worsening the climate crisis. ACPs recommendations concede far too much to a few companies hungry for billions in tax credits and careless toward emissions or an actual clean hydrogen market, said Rachel Fakhry , director of emerging technologies at NRDC. Study after study has shown that even if new [renewable energy] supply is required, ignoring hourly matching would drive substantial emissions increases, be a monster gamble on our electric grid, and undermine the industrys credibility. Many thanks to our colleague Evan Halper for writing this item. Follow him on Twitter here . The Interior Department s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) yesterday proposed slashing fees for developing wind, solar and other renewable energy projects on public lands. The proposed rule would reduce these fees by about 80 percent, according to a news release . It would also allow the bureau to make some federal lands available for renewable energy development without holding a competitive lease sale. The bureau last year issued guidance that lowered rent fees and lease rates for wind and solar projects by about 50 percent. The new proposal would codify this guidance in a regulation, making it harder to undo for a future administration. Our public lands are playing a critical role in the clean energy transition, BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning said in a statement. This proposed rule would allow the BLM to continue leading the way on renewable energy while furthering President Bidens commitment to building a clean energy economy. The head of the United Nations yesterday stepped up his criticism of fossil fuel companies, accusing them of stalling global climate action and pushing a product incompatible with human survival, Frank Jordans reports for the Associated Press . During an impassioned speech in New York, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres also rejected the notion that fossil fuel companies can keep up production as long as they deploy technology to capture their carbon emissions. The problem is not simply fossil fuel emissions, Guterres said. Its fossil fuels period. The U.N. boss appeared to be referencing recent comments by Sultan Al Jaber , the United Arab Emirates official who will lead the next U.N. climate summit. Al Jaber said last month that countries must be laser-focused on phasing out fossil fuel emissions. Guterress remarks came as negotiators from nearly 200 countries wrapped up two weeks of talks in Bonn, Germany, in preparation for this falls summit in Dubai. They also came as the U.N. climate office confirmed that it would require delegates attending the summit to disclose their affiliations, including their ties to any fossil fuel firms. NOT THE AFL - SEA IO https://t.co/zsdl4jDboP Thanks for reading!