InsideSources

Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics. 

Energy

How Harry Reid powers his energy agenda
POLITICO
Darius Dixon
The Nevada Democrat’s unusually tight grip on nominations for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given him an effective veto power over the people Obama appoints to their five-member leadership boards. They in turn have advanced policy priorities important to his state, from blocking the proposed nuclear waste site in Yucca Mountain to opening the electrical grid to more wind, solar and geothermal plants across the West.

Obama Pursuing Climate Accord in Lieu of Treaty
NEW YORK TIMES
Coral Davenport
But under the Constitution, a president may enter into a legally binding treaty only if it is approved by a two-thirds majority of the Senate. To sidestep that requirement, President Obama’s climate negotiators are devising what they call a “politically binding” deal that would “name and shame” countries into cutting their emissions. The deal is likely to face strong objections from Republicans on Capitol Hill and from poor countries around the world, but negotiators say it may be the only realistic path.

U.N. Draft Report Lists Unchecked Emissions’ Risks
NEW YORK TIMES
Justin Gillis
Runaway growth in the emission of greenhouse gases is swamping all political efforts to deal with the problem, raising the risk of “severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts” over the coming decades, according to a draft of a major new United Nations report.

A climate for change: The EPA’s limits on emissions are important but not enough
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
The EPA is starting the country down a carbon-reduction path, an important signal to Americans and foreigners seeking confidence that the United States will cut its carbon use. But the regulations’ greatest contribution will come if they prod Congress to enact a plan that’s both more comprehensive and more efficient.

How fracking insulates USA
USA TODAY
Editorial
Yes, the Middle East, North Africa and the Persian Gulf pose many dangers. And, yes, climate change is in desperate need of attention. But the U.S. can address these issues on their own terms. In the interim, the push to add new oil and gas supplies needs to continue. Not only does it hold down prices and add jobs, it also eases security threats emanating from both the Middle East and Vladimir Putin.

Germany’s Expensive Gamble on Renewable Energy
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Matthew Karnitschnig
But many companies, economists and even Germany’s neighbors worry that the enormous cost to replace a currently working system will undermine the country’s industrial base and weigh on the entire European economy. Germany’s second-quarter GDP decline of 0.6%, reported earlier this month, put a damper on overall euro-zone growth, leaving it flat for the quarter. Average electricity prices for companies have jumped 60% over the past five years because of costs passed along as part of government subsidies of renewable energy producers. Prices are now more than double those in the U.S.

Why Investors’ Fossil-Fuel Addiction Is Tough to Kick
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Ben Geman
A new report explains why getting big money out of fossil fuels, especially big oil, is a tall order, even if a growing number of universities, cities, and churches have agreed to shift their investments in recent years. “Fossil fuels are investor favourites for a reason. Few sectors offer the scale, liquidity, growth, and yield of these century-old businesses vital to today’s economy,” states the report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a London-based research and analysis company.

Technology

David Plouffe will land in the middle of Uber’s biggest problem to date
POLITICO
Kevin Robillard
David Plouffe, one of the Obama campaign’s most high-profile operatives, has his first Uber scandal to manage — and he hasn’t even walked in the door yet. On Tuesday, The Verge reported on an elaborate campaign by Uber to recruit drivers from rival Lyft — including full-out marketing pitches, as well as allegedly trying to frustrate Lyft’s business by booking and then canceling rides. The “SLOG” campaign, Lyft alleges, has resulted in more than 5,000 canceled rides. These tactics have long been rumored, but Tuesday’s news is the most detailed to date, showing how Uber allegedly tries to recruit Lyft drivers using credit cards and burner phones to create fake accounts.

This is Uber’s playbook for sabotaging Lyft
THE VERGE
Casey Newton
Uber is arming teams of independent contractors with burner phones and credit cards as part of its sophisticated effort to undermine Lyft and other competitors. Interviews with current and former contractors, along with internal documents obtained by The Verge, outline the company’s evolving methods. Using contractors it calls “brand ambassadors,” Uber requests rides from Lyft and other competitors, recruits their drivers, and takes multiple precautions to avoid detection. The effort, which Uber appears to be rolling out nationally, has already resulted in thousands of canceled Lyft rides and made it more difficult for its rival to gain a foothold in new markets. Uber calls the program “SLOG,” and it’s a previously unreported aspect of the company’s ruthless efforts to undermine its competitors.

Comcast comments: Round one in books
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Brooks Boliek
More than 75,000 comments were submitted to the Federal Communications Commission before the period closed Monday, and it was a mixed bag. Small cable operators, the nation’s biggest streaming video service and a pair of big city mayors all lodged reservations. Other state and local officials threw their support behind the deal.

What New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and others want from the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
The Federal Communications Commission has wide latitude to determine the merger conditions Comcast will have to accept if it wants the agency’s blessing. … From New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to cable advertising firms to state public service commissions, there are those who believe that the FCC should impose stronger merger conditions. Here are a few of those ideas.

Why the economics of the Internet look totally different in North America
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
The interconnection market might be complicated and opaque to most of us, but it’s a vital part of our Internet experience — which makes a new blog post by the networking company Cloudflare so illuminating. Cloudflare is one of a number of companies that move data to and fro across the Web. Because so many other networks connect to it, the company has a good vantage point from which to observe global Internet traffic flows. And what it finds is that more companies in North America pay for interconnection than in almost any other region of the world.

California’s Embrace of Anti-Theft Technology in Smartphones Puts a Squeeze on Thieves
NEW YORK TIMES
Brian Chen
If the history of security technology is any indication, the kill switch could have a significant impact on phone theft. The introduction of sophisticated mechanisms, like GPS tracking and engine immobilizer systems that make it nearly impossible to start a car without its ignition key, for example, has led to a steady decline in car theft in the United States.

Finance

The Federal Reserve can wait to act on interest rates
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
The uncertainties clouding Ms. Yellen’s crystal ball cloud those of the hawks as well. Inflation remains low, as do measurements of inflationary expectations, while the pain of elevated joblessness remains palpable. Often forgotten in the debate over when to raise interest rates is the fact that, in practical terms, it probably involves no more than a few months sooner or later. The Fed can’t keep its options open forever, but it still has ample time to study them.

Watch bank stress tests for rate rise timing
FINANCIAL TIMES (Subscribe)
Robert Jenkins
Six years on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the failure by policy makers to implement effective reform is constraining monetary policy. Those charged with regulation understandably want to satisfy themselves that the banking system can withstand the next bout of financial turmoil – turmoil that may or may not be triggered by rising rates. They are currently hard at work. So when will rates rise? Ironically, it is when the regulators sound the “all clear” with respect to the banks that investors might want to take cover.

Warren Buffett’s Tax Whopper
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
President Obama and Senate Democrats are going to need a new business front man. This week they’ve been officially abandoned by their erstwhile tax-policy patron saint Warren Buffett, who has joined up with what the President likes to call the “corporate deserters” who locate their legal headquarters somewhere other than the United States.

Inversion Critics and Investors May Be Misjudging Burger King Deal
NEW YORK TIMES
Steven Davidoff Solomon
But the Burger King-Tim Hortons tie-up is different from other tax inversions in which the tax savings appeared to be the primary motivation. Instead, it appears as if Burger King is moving to Canada for other reasons.

Congress wants to keep Burger King from having it their way on taxes — but can’t agree on how
WASHINGTON POST
Drew Harwell
Policy makers from both parties cried foul Tuesday over Burger King’s potential tax-shaving merger with Canadian coffee giant Tim Hortons, but they couldn’t find common ground on how best to beat back the specter of corporate tax dodging.

SEC Wants More Detail on Loans Backing Securities
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Andrew Ackerman
U.S. regulators will take long-awaited steps to give investors more information about the quality of mortgages and other loans underpinning certain securities. The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to complete rules Wednesday that would require banks and other firms to provide investors with more details about loans pooled into bonds known as asset-backed securities.

Boeing battles for bank’s survival
THE HILL
Kevin Cirilli
Boeing is pulling out all the stops in an aggressive campaign to save the Export-Import Bank. The aerospace giant is employing a high-powered team of lobbyists as it presses lawmakers to reauthorize the 80-year-old agency before its charter expires on Sept. 30. The company has poured $4.18 million into its lobbying operation in recent months, a 6 percent increase over the second quarter of 2013, and has at least 18 lobbyists working on financial services issues alone.

Politics

Farm Bill Has Become a Midterm Flash Point
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Kristina Peterson
Democrats in at least five other battleground states in this year’s tight contest to determine control of the Senate are highlighting their support for the bill while many GOP candidates are saying Congress missed an opportunity to overhaul costly food-stamp and farm programs.

Obama faces a back-to-work challenge
WASHINGTON POST
David Ignatius
What is Obama’s plan as he returns to school for fall? Recently, he has seemed to adopt the strategy of a student who’s tired of being bullied: Work hard; make decisions; ignore criticism to the extent possible; hope for new friends and a change of luck. This careful, passive strategy might be acceptable in a world that was benign and forgiving of mistakes. But to recover in the remaining years of his crisis-plagued presidency, Obama will need to take a riskier, more aggressive approach.

GOP senate candidates mum on birth control mandate change
THE HILL
Elise Viebeck
Republican Senate candidates are staying silent on President Obama’s latest changes to the birth control coverage mandate even as the policy catches flak from the religious right.  Top GOP hopefuls haven’t weighed in on the issue since Friday, when the administration announced new measures meant to accommodate religious groups and businesses that object to their insurance covering birth control.