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Roll Call: “We’re just getting started”
Renewable electricity and energy independence may have been the topic of Rep. Mike Levin’s recent conversation with Roll Call, but the takeaway was much larger: the congressman’s commitment to bipartisan problem-solving and getting things done for California families.
Over the past year alone, Levin has…
DCCC Spokesperson Dan Gottlieb:
“With so much chaos and dysfunction in the halls of Congress, Mike Levin’s bipartisan leadership for Southern California stands out. Rep. Levin has followed through on his promises of working across the aisle and delivering for Californians, and that’s why his neighbors are excited to re-elect him in 2024. Levin has a proven record of consistent advocacy on issues like renewable energy and consumer protections, and in his own words, he’s ‘just getting started.’”
Read excerpts from Rep. Levin’s Q & A with Roll Call below:
Roll Call: In a purple district, Rep. Mike Levin stays focused on green energy
Jim Saksa | January 11, 2024
You’ve been here since 2019. What’s one thing you’ve learned about Congress?
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I think people would be surprised by the time every member puts in. And by and large, every member cares very deeply about their constituents.
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It’s forced me to be less judgmental. As a colleague to 434 other members, I think most of them are in this for the right reason.
You once worked as an environmental lawyer. Now that you’re in Congress, you want to speed up energy permitting for renewable projects. What concessions would you be willing to make to get more colleagues on board?
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The key is, how do we fully unlock the potential of all the new renewable electricity we’re going to generate, the solar and wind?
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The challenge we have today is that it’s easier to build a multistate pipeline than it is to build a multistate transmission line. So how can we build the transmission lines and corresponding distribution infrastructure we’re going to need?
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I have a bill with Sean Casten [we rolled out in December] that has a lot of support, and I hope will be a consensus bill, at least for House Democrats, of what we need to do.
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Sometimes when I hear the term “permitting reform,” people mistake that for providing a free pass for more and more and more fossil fuels. But I don’t think we’re going to hit our climate goals, nor are we going to have a positive economic outcome over the long term, if we just double down on fossil fuels.
Speaking of fossil fuels, gas prices are high in California, even though they’re lower elsewhere. And U.S. oil production hit record levels.
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California is a unique situation for a number of reasons. Number one is we have a special blend of gasoline that can only be refined in certain refineries. Second, we do have a cap-and-trade program that impacts the price, though not as much as some might want you to believe.
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California created a new Division of Petroleum Market Oversight at the state level, and what we’ve seen is some pretty troubling transactions on the spot market. Trying to figure out what’s behind unusual market activity needs to be a federal concern as well as a state concern, so I called on the FTC to investigate.
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Independent of how much we drill in the United States, we are at the will of OPEC. We are at the will of the Saudis, and geopolitically, it’s a mess. And so decoupling our transportation and our domestic energy from global geopolitics — and particularly from countries that don’t want us to succeed — is a good idea.
So do you think it’s good that we’re drilling a record amount right now?
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I agree with my friends on the other side of the aisle who talk about energy independence, but I want clean energy independence. I’m troubled when they think more drilling is the answer to everything.
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In 20, 30, 40 years, we’re all going to be using a whole host of new technologies to move goods around, move people around, build buildings, grow food, generate electricity. It’s all going to change, and the question is: Are we going to rely on other countries, including some countries that don’t particularly like us, for these technologies? Or are we going to manufacture and invent these technologies here?
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How do we get from where we are today to a cleaner, more cost-effective energy future? I strongly support the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act related to clean energy tax policy, and I think we need a lot more.
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I was very proud to be on the select committee for climate in 2020. It was in the middle of a pandemic, so it didn’t necessarily make the news that it could have. But we put out this incredible 500-page report with all the things we need to do to hit our goals.
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We implemented some of that, but there’s still so much to do. And as I look at this permitting reform bill, that’s a key piece of it. That will help unlock the potential of this 10-year window of tax policies that we have.
How realistic do you think that is?
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I started getting into sustainability and clean tech back around 2007-2008, and that’s when I knew I wanted it to be a career. You should focus on the things you’re passionate about — that’s what I always try to tell my kids.
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Whether it’s California policymakers or federal policymakers, they’ve set bold goals, and then they’re told those goals are unrealistic. But we just have to keep at it. Because when I started out, I remember hearing that a 33 percent renewable electricity goal was unrealistic, and then California hit it. And I heard a 50 percent goal was unrealistic, and then 100 percent.
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It’s the same with electric cars. My friends across the aisle seem not to be too fond of electric cars these days, but I remember doing my senior research as an undergrad on something called the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, where the Clinton administration tasked the Big Three to come up with an 80 mpg hybrid. This is way back in the late ’90s, and at the time, people thought that’s crazy. You can’t do that. You can’t design cars that can get 80 miles per gallon and are still cars that people want to buy. But here we are. And I think we’re just getting started.
In politics, can the ends justify the means?
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