Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics.
Energy
Study: East Coast states could cash in on offshore drilling
FUEL FIX
Jennifer Dlouhy
The economic benefits that would flow from offshore oil drilling in U.S. Atlantic waters outweigh the potential environmental costs of the activity, according to a study released Wednesday. The report, commissioned by the Interstate Policy Alliance and South Carolina’s Palmetto Policy Forum, says oil and gas drilling from Delaware to Georgia would generate $10.8 billion to $60 billion in added economic value for those states, plus $2.1 billion to $11.6 billion in tax revenues.
US solar and wind start to outshine gas
FINANCIAL TIMES (Subscribe)
Ed Crooks
Large wind farms and solar plants are now cost-competitive with gas-fired power in many parts of the US even without subsidy, according to Lazard, raising the prospect of a fundamental shift in the country’s energy market.
Obama pushes energy efficiency, rural solar power
THE HILL
Timothy Cama
The Obama administration unveiled a slew of actions Thursday aimed at improving energy efficiency and increasing the use of solar power in homes and businesses, including $68 million in spending.
Al Gore: Climate Skepticism Will Haunt Republicans in 2016
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Ben Geman
Asked if it would hurt the GOP nominee to be a climate skeptic or advocate against taking action on global warming, Gore replied: “Oh, yes. Definitely.” “In a general election? At the national level, where moderate voters hold the balance? It would be extremely harmful to a Republican candidate,” Gore told National Journal in an interview Wednesday. But Gore doubts that a “pro-climate” Republican can get the GOP nod, because “carbon polluters and anti-government extremists control many of the state primaries, if not most.”
Climate campaigners to take Manhattan
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Andrew Restuccia
Greens are hoping to draw 100,000 people to New York City on Sunday for a massive climate change march aimed at grabbing policymakers’ attention ahead of a key summit of world leaders.
France Bets on Geothermal Energy
NEW YORK TIMES
Editorial
France is making a new push to develop geothermal energy. The goal is to reduce the carbon emissions that contribute to global warming while ensuring the nation’s energy independence. Hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas was banned in France in 2011, and the government of President François Hollande has pledged to reduce the country’s dependence on nuclear power from 75 percent of electricity produced to 50 percent by 2025. It thus makes sense to develop geothermal energy.
Technology
Knives out for net neutrality fight
THE HILL
Julian Hattem
On Capitol Hill, deep partisan divides over the issue virtually guarantee that whatever decision the FCC makes will be met with steep opposition. That could presage a vicious and drawn-out battle that spills into the months after the FCC finalizes its rules, which Chairman Tom Wheeler has planned to do by the end of the year.
FCC ‘very much’ eyeing Web rules shakeup
THE HILL
Julian Hattem
“Title II is very much on the table,” Chairman Tom Wheeler said during a House Small Business Committee hearing on Wednesday, referring to the section of the Communications Act that some have urged the agency to turn to for stronger rules.
Making the Internet more expensive for consumers
WASHINGTON TIMES
Pete Sepp
Lawmakers should do the right thing and enact a “clean” permanent ban on Internet-access taxes — if not for the good of the American taxpayer, then for their own political survival.
Congress Is About to Decide Whether to Tax Your Internet
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Dustin Volz
Uncle Sam may start charging you for the right to access the Internet. Or you might soon find yourself paying a sales tax on purchases made at online retailers like Amazon and eBay. Depending on whom you ask, the two issues are either completely unrelated or close cousins.
FCC Chief Defends Secret Meetings
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Shalini Ramachandran
The country’s chief telecommunications regulator defended the use of secret meetings during merger reviews, in response to criticism from Comcast Corp. CMCSA -0.24% and a U.S. senator in recent weeks. In an open letter Wednesday, Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said the FCC has allowed for parties to discuss concerns about a transaction privately since “at least 1997” under a rule that provides a “limited opportunity” to those who don’t want to comment publicly “due to fear of possible reprisal or retribution.”
Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for police, even with search warrants
WASHINGTON POST
Craig Timberg
Apple said Wednesday night that it is making it impossible for the company to turn over data from most iPhones or iPads to police — even when they have a search warrant — taking a hard new line as tech companies attempt to blunt allegations that they have too readily participated in government efforts to collect user information.
Finance
Fed Plots Cautious Course on Rate Rises
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Jon Hilsenrath
With the economy gradually improving, U.S. central-bank officials plan to end the bond-buying program known as quantitative easing after October, hoping to finally stop expanding a six-year experiment in monetary policy that has left the Fed holding more than $4 trillion of Treasury and mortgage bonds. The Fed on Wednesday also detailed a new technical plan for how it will raise short-term interest rates, something most officials currently don’t intend to do until next year.
Yellen’s Discretion
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Countless words were written Wednesday about the Federal Reserve’s latest policy statement, claiming that it signals this or that or something else. We’ll come right out and admit that we have no idea what it says about the future of monetary policy. We doubt even Fed Chair Janet Yellen knows.
Alan Greenspan: Congress should kill the Ex-Im Bank
THE HILL
Kevin Cirilli
Add Alan Greenspan to the list of Export-Import Bank opponents. Asked in an interview with the Hill whether he supports renewing the bank’s authorization — its charter expires Sept. 30 — the former Federal Reserve chairman said simply, “As an economist, no.” “But if I were a politician running for office, I suspect I might,” he added.
Eric Cantor’s out, Wall Street’s still in
POLITICO
Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman
Wall Street’s position in Washington hasn’t changed one iota, even if one of its strongest ties might have just broken and publicly candidates from both parties love to dump on it on the trail.
Holder: Wall Street executives being investigated
USA TODAY
Kevin Johnson
Citing Wall Street’s “troubling return” to risky conduct that preceded the 2008 financial collapse, Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that federal authorities are poised to file criminal charges against an undisclosed number of individuals at various financial institutions.
Justice Department Urges Banks to Implicate Employees
NEW YORK TIMES
Ben Protess
Marshall L. Miller, the No. 2 official in the Justice Department’s criminal division, detailed in a speech on Wednesday how banks would either earn credit for exposing nefarious individuals or face charges for protecting them.
CFPB proposes rule to supervise large auto finance companies
WASHINGTON POST
Danielle Douglas
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday proposed bringing the financing units of the big automakers under federal supervision for the first time, a move that would ultimately let the agency examine the lending arms of Toyota, Ford and Honda.
America’s B-minus economy
WASHINGTON POST
Robert J. Samuelson
The annual income and poverty report reminds us of our economic strengths and weaknesses. Long-standing racial and ethnic differences remain. In 2013, median household incomes for blacks and Hispanics were only 59 percent and 70 percent of that of non-Hispanic whites. On the other hand, there’s ample evidence of underlying resilience. Overall, I’d grade us at a B-minus.
CFTC Loosens Restrictions on Some Swaps Trades
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Andrew Ackerman
The CFTC on Wednesday voted, 4-0, to ensure financial firms that enter into significant amounts of swaps with public utilities can escape requirements that they register with the CFTC as swaps “dealers.” Such registration carries costs, which the utilities said would be passed along to them. Swaps allow traders to make bets or hedge risks and have come in for stricter oversight given the central role they played in the financial crisis.
The Democrats’ Student-Loan Weapon
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Andrew Kelly and Kevin James
Democrats face an uphill battle in their quest to hold the Senate in November. In their effort to get an edge, they’ve targeted one group in particular: college-educated voters with student-loan debt. Democratic plans to help student-loan borrowers have been a key talking point on the campaign trail this year, and sit at the center of the party’s “Fair Shot” agenda.
Politics
Democrats turn on Debbie Wasserman Schultz
POLITICO
Edward-Isaac Dovere
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is in a behind-the-scenes struggle with the White House, congressional Democrats and Washington insiders who have lost confidence in her as both a unifying leader and reliable party spokesperson at a time when they need her most. … The perception of critics is that Wasserman Schultz spends more energy tending to her own political ambitions than helping Democrats win. This includes using meetings with DNC donors to solicit contributions for her own PAC and campaign committee, traveling to uncompetitive districts to court House colleagues for her potential leadership bid and having DNC-paid staff focus on her personal political agenda.
Why a GOP Senate Majority Is Still in Doubt
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Karl Rove
With 47 days before the election, Republican candidates must do two things. The first is to make the case for electing someone new who will be a check and balance in the Senate on Mr. Obama and his agenda, rather than returning a Democratic loyalist who toes his line. The second is to offer a positive, optimistic conservative agenda to make independents who disapprove of Mr. Obama comfortable voting Republican. Both must be done while defending themselves. Finally, reducing the Democratic cash advantage will tip the needle in the GOP’s direction.
Obama’s ‘Year of Action’ Becomes a Year of Fear
NATIONAL JOURNAL
James Oliphant
President Obama’s “Year of Action” has turned into a Year of Fear. The country seems mired in dread. And that could have mortal consequences for midterm Democrats. New polls out this week betray a rattled public, one that is jittery about war, security, and the economy—and one that is increasingly looking to the GOP, not the party in power. Even as the White House has sought to reassure Americans that the campaign in Iraq will be limited, that the president isn’t going to act alone on immigration in the near future, and that the economy is doing better, the damage appears to be done.
Obama Faulted in Terror Fight, New Poll Finds
NEW YORK TIMES
Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Dalia Sussman
For the first time in his presidency, more Americans disapprove of President Obama’s handling of terrorism than approve of it, as discontent about his management of foreign affairs and the fight against Sunni militants in Iraq and Syria weighs on an anxious and conflicted public, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.
Honesty and Ground Troops
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Rather than trimming to mollify his left flank, Mr. Obama would be smarter to rule nothing out and be honest about the sacrifices that might be required to “degrade and destroy” Islamic State. He should explain the stakes without limiting the options for his generals. This would make Islamic State less likely to doubt U.S. resolve, while forcing liberals in Congress to stand with or against Mr. Obama from the start. And it would leave no openings for critics on the right or left to claim they weren’t told the truth.
House Votes to Authorize Aid to Syrian Rebels in ISIS Fight
NEW YORK TIMES
Jonathan Weisman
An unusual but overwhelming coalition in the House voted Wednesday to authorize the training and arming of Syrian rebels to confront the militant Islamic State, backing President Obama after he personally pleaded for support. The 273-to-156 vote was over a narrow military measure with no money attached, but it took on outsize importance and was infused with drama, reflecting the tension and ambiguity of members wary of the ultimate path to which any war vote could lead.
In Debut, Benghazi Panel Leaves Sparring to Others
NEW YORK TIMES
Ashley Parker and Amy Chozick
The special House committee on Benghazi seemed determined to prove on Wednesday that it would not be the bickering, partisan panel that many expected. But the outside political class did not get the memo.
Transportation secretary weighs in on the airline legroom fights: ‘Travelers aren’t sardines.’
WASHINGTON POST
Abby Phillip
It seems that travelers have a friend in Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. Though Foxx doesn’t have the authority to compel airlines to do anything unless it is directly related to safety, he made it clear in a recent interview that his agency is monitoring the ongoing mid-air skirmishes. And he sent an important message that can potentially bring both sides of this raging debate together. “[T]ravelers aren’t sardines,” Foxx told Condé Nast Traveler.
