Latest news with #AlexEpstein
E&E News
12 hours ago
- Business
- E&E News
Fossil fuel booster meets with Republicans on megabill
A fossil fuel advocate briefed Senate Republicans during a meeting at the Capitol on Wednesday, as leadership looks to iron out disagreements over clean energy credits in the GOP megabill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said the issue of energy tax credits 'is not totally settled' after the Finance Committee released text Monday. The legislation targeted wind and solar incentives but extended the runway for other sources like geothermal, hydropower and nuclear. It would also get rid of tax breaks for electric vehicles, rooftop solar and other residential energy-saving incentives. Advertisement Alex Epstein, an author and longtime supporter of fossil fuel expansion, met with Senate Republicans during a lunch. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles was also at the Capitol on Wednesday.
E&E News
6 days ago
- Business
- E&E News
Fossil fuel booster was ‘enormous' help in megabill talks
Fossil fuel advocate Alex Epstein is prodding GOP lawmakers to demand drastic cuts to green energy tax credits as Republicans wrestle over how deeply to slash incentives for renewables. Epstein, an author and founder of a for-profit think tank that promotes fossil fuels, has been influential in House conservatives' push to secure deeper cuts to renewable energy subsidies in the Republican megabill, GOP lawmakers said in a recent podcast interview. Epstein is also working to push Senate Republicans to go even further to eliminate incentives for renewables. His involvement in negotiations over the budget reconciliation package — a massive priority for the GOP and the Trump administration — offers the latest indication of Epstein's influence on Republican energy policy during the second Trump administration. Advertisement His profile has risen over the past decade as the oil industry and the GOP have increasingly latched onto his arguments that fossil fuels are widely beneficial to humanity and the world. A pair of House Republicans thanked Epstein shortly after the chamber passed the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act,' which would cut off most clean energy tax breaks for projects that start 60 days after it becomes law. An earlier draft of the tax provisions, released by the Ways and Means Committee, would have given developers until 2031 to get their projects online. Epstein helped get the legislation to its final version, which included moving up the deadline, as well as other restrictions, the lawmakers said. 'You deserve enormous praise for being engaged in this and being a voice that helped us enormously with logic and reason,' Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said in an interview on Epstein's podcast. That interview, recorded on May 26, described how Epstein and House conservatives worked to shrink the timeline for phasing out renewable energy tax credits from the Biden-era climate law dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act. Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) said during that podcast that he was 'grateful' to Epstein for making the case to end wind and solar energy tax credits. The incentives have been a sticking point as congressional Republicans have haggled over how aggressively to claw back funding for projects, including many that benefit red districts. Epstein said he's been talking to various groups, including the Republican Study Committee, where he's made 'the case for full termination.' He warned against a phase-out that would allow 10-year subsidies in 2031. 'On Donald Trump's 95th birthday, he can celebrate with wind subsidies still existing,' Epstein said. 'What I was arguing for very strongly is at minimum, you have to get rid of the new subsidies, and you absolutely have to have them all expire and stop under Trump's term,' he said. 'I try to be persuasive' Epstein told POLITICO's E&E News that his work around rolling back the tax breaks mainly has been about providing data and other information to lawmakers who ask, such as cost breakdowns of certain paths Congress could take. But he acknowledged that he wants to cut off the subsidies as soon as possible and advocates that position. 'I always just tell all politicians that if you want to do the pro-freedom thing on energy, I'll help you as much as I can,' he said. 'I try to be persuasive. But the persuasiveness is intellectual, and it's in terms of, basically, the fate of the country.' Epstein argues that subsidies are harmful to the electric grid because they incentivize intermittent power sources. Renewable energy advocates and moderate Republicans argue the very opposite. Asked about how influential he's been in the legislative process, Epstein deferred to Roy and Brecheen. 'I am happy with the help I was able to provide between the Ways and Means proposal and the House 'Big Beautiful Bill,'' Epstein said of the changes in the legislation. 'According to the people who are involved in that, they've said publicly that I was very helpful. So I'll take them at their word there.' He also thinks he's helped inoculate Republicans against arguments from renewable energy advocates. 'What I've found heartening about the process is that at least a lot of politicians know to heavily discount what they're hearing from lobbyists,' he said. Prodding the Senate for more cuts Epstein signaled in the May podcast that he was hoping to help nudge the Senate to go even further than the version of the megabill that cleared the House in late May. 'The House bill only cuts those subsidies for new projects, not existing ones, unfortunately,' Epstein said. 'By cutting new solar wind subsidies — the House bill does a lot of good — but the Senate can do far more good if it cuts all of them.' Epstein's talking points are also included in a June 9 memo that House conservatives sent to Senate Republicans urging the Senate to 'more fully end the Green New Scam.' That memo encourages the Senate to 'significantly strengthen the rollback of IRA subsidies for wind and solar to end during President Trump's term' and to 'terminate all the IRA subsidies.' 'I'm providing very valuable ideas in terms of, how can you save even more than the House did,' Epstein told E&E News of his work lobbying the Senate. 'I'm very actively trying to talk to literally any senator who is willing to talk to me about this.' But he specified that he's aiming to be transparent with his advocacy. 'I have no conversations behind the scenes with anybody that do not reflect exactly what I say in front of the scenes.' The Senate may be moving in the opposite directions. Senior Republicans have said they expected their tax credit language to be more generous to renewables. Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) told senators Wednesday he wanted to 'extend the runway' for the incentives, according to lawmakers in the room. Companies and groups are lobbying to protect the credits. The Center for American Progress released a report Thursday saying their loss would hurt the grid because of lost generation. Epstein, author of 'The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels,' has met with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin this year. Epstein hosted now-Energy Secretary Chris Wright on his podcast when Wright was an oil and gas executive. And he received a warm introduction from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who was North Dakota's governor at the time, at a 2023 energy conference. He leads the Center for Industrial Progress, a think tank, and the Energy Freedom Fund, a lobbying-focused organization he recently launched.
