Obama's New EV Team: The Technocrat and the Green Cheerleader

MIT's Ernest J. Moniz: In and out of government. (MIT photo)

The suspense is over, and we now know that President Obama’s nominees to head the EPA and DOE are, respectively, Gina McCarthy, currently an EPA assistant administrator, and Ernest J. Moniz, director of the MIT Energy Initiative. Both are likely to be supportive of EVs, though it’s McCarthy who has the more clearly defined track record in the area.

The Track Record

McCarthy has publicly defended clean car legislation numerous times, both in her current role and as the top environmental official in Connecticut. Moniz, less visible on the issues, has shuttled between MIT and such government posts as undersecretary of energy (1997 to 2001) and associate director of Science at the White House (1995 to 1997). At MIT, this Ph.D in theoretical physics supported research into “utility-scale liquid batteries that could enable grid integration of intermittent energy sources” (such as wind and solar), and “bio-engineered batteries.”

“I think generally they will be quite supportive of clean cars and technological innovations to develop a new generation of cleaner, more efficient cars,” said Frank Maisano, an energy specialist at the industry-supported Bracewell & Giuliani Policy Resolution Group. “Moniz has truly been shown to be a real ‘all-of-the-above’ energy advocate, so I fully expect, working within the Administration’s framework for newer, cleaner cars, that he will be a strong advocate for the type of R&D and program funding that will be necessary to make progress.”

Moniz on the Future of EVs

In 2011, Moniz co-chaired an MIT symposium on the future of EVs. According to an MIT report of the conference, “Moniz said he came away from the symposium more optimistic about battery technology and the prospects for significant reductions in battery costs, but more aware of the complexities involved in policy issues and in questions about how to develop the infrastructure changes needed for a significant shift away from petroleum.”

A report that grew out of the symposium notes the "vexing political question" of high-tech battery research being centered in Asia, not the U.S. And it calls for research programs devoted to thinking "out of the internal-combustion box," with cars specifically tailored with sophisticated electronic systems to best suit the needs of the modern urban infrastructure. It also calls on utilities to get ready with programs for off-peak charging and an accessible network of charging stations.

A Fracking Fan

Moniz has a lot in common with the official he’s replacing, since both he and Steven Chu are academics with a deep background in energy technology. As Maisano suggested, Moniz has had his finger in a range of things, and that earned him the ire of Environment America. The group said Moniz “has a history of supporting dirty and dangerous energy sources like gas and nuclear power with polluting partners including BP, Shell, Chevron and Saudi Aramco.”

The Public Accountability Initiative reports that the MIT Energy Initiative “has received more than $125 million in pledges from the oil and gas industry since 2006.” Moniz appears to be supportive of natural gas fracking, and a 2011 industry-supported report by the initiative said the fuel is the “bridge to a low-carbon future.” Other anti-fracking academics took issue, and a public spat developed.

Gina McCarthy: She got the big promotion.

McCarthy was in a supportive role at the EPA, chiming in on such topics as new-and-improved window stickers for cars and higher E15 ethanol blends for gasoline, but she also spoke out strongly in favor of the 54.5-mpg-by-2025 CAFE standard in an appearance before a congressional subcommittee last year. Obama’s clean car rules “will significantly reduce our dependence on oil and save money for consumers and businesses,” she said. The standards “will save an estimated $1.7 trillion for consumers and businesses and cut America’s oil consumption by 12 billion barrels.”

Clean Cars in Connecticut

McCarthy was also a strong clean car advocate as Department of Environmental Protection chief in Connecticut, adopting regulations that required 2009 and later cars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3.11 million tons in 2020, and 4.4 million tons in 2030. The Natural Resources Defense Council’s Francis Beinecke praised her for shaping “clean car standards that will make cars go twice as far on a tank of gasoline.”

Some green groups are cautiously optimistic about Moniz, including the Environmental Defense Fund, but they don’t know him as well as they know McCarthy. Conservative groups know McCarthy, too, and they don't like what they see. The Heartland Institute is a vocal opponent of global warming science, and senior fellow James Taylor proclaims, "Gina McCarthy has a long history of demonizing affordable energy and doing everything possible to shut it down. She also has a long history of making up fictitious facts to support her anti-energy ideology." He didn't cite any "fictitious facts," though.

Interestingly, the MIT Energy Initiative under Moniz (though not authored by him) also put out an “Action Plan for Cars” that made a strong case for using government policies “to put personal vehicle transportation on the road to sustainability.” Among other things, it recommended increases in the CAFE regulations for 2025 along the lines of those actually enacted, endorses a progressive “feebate” system that would provide rebates on fuel-efficient cars and assess fees on gas guzzlers (most vehicles would qualify for something between a $2,000 rebate and a $2,000 fee, the report said), and higher taxes on gasoline, an increase of 10 cents a gallon each year for 10 years.

Changing His Tune in Washington?

It’s not likely that a Secretary Moniz would endorse all those proposals, especially given the unpopularity of new taxes in Washington. But the Obama administration has already supported turning the $7,500 federal income tax credit for battery EVs into a rebate payable at the time of purchase.

It’s interesting to note that then-DEP Commissioner McCarthy looked at the feebate idea in a 2006 report for the Connecticut state legislature, and concluded that it wouldn’t be all that effective on a one-state basis, especially in a state with only one percent of U.S. new car sales. “A Connecticut-only [feebate] program is unlikely to achieve the desired impact unless it expanded to other states or the nation,” her report said. But now McCarthy will have that national pulpit.

There’s likely to be more Senate opposition to McCarthy than to Moniz. The latter is a technocrat, but hardly a green flag waver. McCarthy is an environmental advocate in the mold of the outgoing Lisa Jackson, though fairly careful about it. But she also worked for Mitt Romney when he was a green-leaning governor of Massachusetts. My guess: Both will be confirmed.