'He could be a real dealmaker': Luján

eyes energy's future

E&E News: 'He could be a real dealmaker': Luján eyes energy's
futureBy George Cahlink
June 15, 2021
 
A few summers ago, former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz was
driving to his fly-fishing retreat when he found traffic stopped in
the northern New Mexico village of Chama. It was the town's
annual parade. He pulled over to watch the festivities and spotted
a familiar face walking the route handing out candy — then-Rep.
Ben Ray Luján.
 
"It was a most unusual place for us to engage in a deep discussion
about DOE, labs and fly-fishing — all of which he is very
enthusiastic about," Moniz recently told E&E News.
 
The chance meetup underscores a key trait that Luján, New
Mexico's newest Democratic senator, brings to the chamber: He's
a relentless politician eager to engage with anyone anywhere on
energy issues, particularly those that affect his state's two massive
Department of Energy laboratories, Sandia and Los Alamos.
 
"When I was secretary, Ben Ray Luján was a reliable ally for
stewardship of this unparalleled resource. He'll do even more now
as senator from New Mexico, home to both Los Alamos [which
was in his congressional district] and Sandia, while realizing that
their vitality is tied to that of the entire system," Moniz said.
 
Indeed, Luján, a former six-term House lawmaker with a
penchant for bolo ties, has already shown his legislative chops in
the Senate by rallying support for attaching a bipartisan provision
to recently passed innovation legislation that would direct $17
billion in new spending for DOE labs over five years.
 
He did so despite opposition from one of the bill's main sponsors,
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who argued such a carve-out would
undermine the intention of the bill to dramatically increase the
speed of technology deployment ( E&E Daily, May 17).
 
But the win on lab funding will likely prove far easier than the
challenges Luján will face in making headway on his other energy
and environmental goals, which he has worked on for nearly two
decades — first as a state utilities regulator and then as a House
Energy and Commerce Committee member.
 
Those challenges vary from creating a federal clean energy
standard to preserving the lands around Chaco Canyon in New
Mexico.
 
If he hopes to make progress on those issues, Luján will have to
navigate the political realities of a 50-50 Senate and balance
interests in a state known for its natural beauty, ancient heritage
and energy production.
 
Jeanette Pablo, a resident senior energy fellow at the Clean Air
Task Force who has worked with Luján on energy and climate
change issues over the past decade, calls the senator a
"progressive with an open door" who is willing to listen to both
sides of an issue and try to find a middle ground, such as his
proposal on a clean energy standard that seeks to straddle both
moderate and liberal interests.
 
"He could be a real deal-maker if things progress with climate
legislation," added Pablo.
 
Luján said his approach was honed as a regulator: He listened to
all viewpoints, learned the policy and then used that information
to guide his legislation.
 
"I like smart people to sit down around me and help me learn
more and to better deliver for whatever that issue," said Luján,
recalling meetings with actuaries and utilities experts before
deciding rate cases.
 
Lawmakers, policymakers and advocates say Luján has the
intelligence, drive and, perhaps most importantly, pragmatic style
that could allow him to find openings on those issues. They say
the combination of his significant experience and relative youth —
he turned 49 last week — could allow him to have an impact on
energy issues for years to come, a career trajectory similar to
former New Mexico stalwarts Sens. Pete Domenici (R) and Jeff
Bingaman (D).
 
"I think people recognize that he has that combination of policy
smarts and an understanding of the politics of the situation. In
order to get the policy right, you have to get the politics right,"
said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a former House colleague of
Luján who proceeded him as head of the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
 
How to handle an oil pause
 
Shortly after taking office, President Biden handed Luján his first
political challenge as senator: the order calling for a pause on all
new energy leases on federal lands.
 
The executive action was hailed by environmentalists as a crucial
step toward a transition away from fossil fuels. But New Mexico
officials warned it would lead to a loss of just over $700 million in
federal drilling payments to the state. Those payments account for
about a tenth of the state budget.
 
The response from Luján, who opposes a permanent ban, shows
how he'll try to position himself to support the administration's
climate goals without alienating his state's energy industry. He's
pressed to end the pause and pleaded with the administration to
focus on helping states and communities that stand to lose jobs
and revenue under new energy transition policies.
 
Instead of traditional energy exploration, Luján argues that there
must be "investments into these communities for job creation, job
opportunity, workforce development, revenue replacement, and
support for whatever" work replaces the energy jobs.
 
Luján introduced legislation in May, S. 1740, with Sen. Martin
Heinrich (D-N.M.) that would offer "energy transition payments"
to soften the impact of a shift away from fossil fuels. Under the
plan, the federal government would set a baseline for federal
energy revenue payments to New Mexico, based on past data, and
then require the government to cover any shortfalls if there are
new limits on energy production ( E&E Daily, May 13).
 
The New Mexico Oil and Gas Association praised Luján for
recognizing "the federal leasing pause disproportionately hurts
states like New Mexico the most and undermines the energy
leadership and security earned through safe, responsible
production in our state and across the country." It said it wants to
work with him toward a "low carbon, low emissions" future.
 
But his approach has not alienated greens either — thus far.
 
"He probably, more than any other legislator in the state, has seen
the need to drive innovation, to protect us from the worst
consequences of climate change," said Camilla Feibelman,
director of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter in New Mexico.
 
She said he understands the need to move way from fossil fuels
but wants it "done well and right."
 
Feibelman noted Luján holds a 97% lifetime rating from the
League of Conservation Voters.
 
Not 'flashy,' but effective
 
While well-regarded by environmentalists, Luján only endorsed
the Green New Deal after opting to run for the Senate.
 
He initially held off on backing the progressive plan that was not
popular with House leaders but ended up doing so only after there
was some talk he could face a Senate primary challenge from the
left.
 
His support for the Green New Deal helped to quiet talk of a
Democratic primary for the seat, and Luján had a clear path to the
general election.
 
His signature environmental effort likewise is a balancing act: He
aims for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, about two decades
later than progressives have proposed in the Green New Deal.
 
Luján's federal clean energy standard legislation would require
electricity sellers to increase the amount of clean energy they sell
with a goal of achieving net-zero emissions by midcentury. It
would create a market among sellers for trading clean energy
credits to meet the goal rather than requiring new federal taxes or
investments.
 
The legislation builds off a model he spearheaded for New Mexico
as a state regulator as well as a recommendation from last year's
report by the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, a
panel he served on. He expects to again sponsor the CES bill with
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), who introduced the Senate version of
his House CES bill in 2019.
 
Aside from pushing for a CES, Luján has focused on expanding
science and technology efforts at DOE laboratories aimed an
accelerating the energy transition. For example, he won a
provision in the Senate innovation bill to create a foundation at
DOE that would make it easier for labs to leverage private-sector
investments to jointly develop technologies like next-generation
batteries.
 
"He has always really taken on the hard issues," said Jetta Wong,
who worked with Luján as the director of DOE's first Office of
Technology Transitions under the Obama administration. "He's
doing the stuff that other people, one, don't understand, and two,
don't really see as flashy."
 
Wong credits Luján with not only helping to secure the dollars
needed for the office, but also working on complex legislation
related to technology transfer and small businesses at DOE. She
said some of his proposals made it into law as part of last year's
Energy Act update.
 
Luján did not land on either the Senate's Energy and Natural
Resources or Environment and Public Works committees, the
panels most closely associated with energy and environment
legislation in the chamber. Heinrich serves on ENR.
 
But Luján said he can continue to influence the ongoing energy
debate from his current committee assignments, including a seat
on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
 
"In the Biden administration, we are going to see a restoration of
the role that science is going to play in our national
policymaking," said Luján, noting that he is a member of the
Commerce subcommittee that oversees the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy.
 
He also points to his role as chair of the Commerce Subcommittee
on Communications, Media and Broadband as a chance to weigh
in on power grid resiliency and protection.
 
Seeking justice through conservation
Another priority for Luján is conservation, an issue he sees
through the prism of environmental justice.
 
"Whether you are Black, Hispanic or Native American [in] all of
the conversations surrounding infrastructure investments and
energy, there needs to be a realization that the lack of
environmental justice is leading to health care concerns in those
communities and needs to be addressed," he said.
 
For years now, he has sought a permanent ban on drilling near
the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, land long held as
sacred by Native Americans.
 
Luján successfully passed House legislation last Congress for a
one-year ban on mineral development around Chaco, but it stalled
in the Senate. He'll try again this year with Heinrich, who backed
last year's Senate version, and will benefit from having a strong
Chaco ally in Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the former New
Mexican lawmaker.
 
In addition, Luján is pushing environmental justice legislation
related to Cold War-era nuclear testing in New Mexico.
 
He wants to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to
cover more of his state's "downwinders" who were exposed to
radioactive fallout during the tests as well Native American
communities who were exposed to open pit uranium mining
operations tied to weapons testing.
 
During the Obama years, Luján was also involved with
successfully pressing the administration to preserve hundreds of
thousands of acres of public land in the state, now known as the
Rio Grande del Norte and Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks
national monuments. Last Congress, he backed legislation that
became law to protect wilderness areas within those monuments.
 
Demis Foster, the executive director of Conservation Voters New
Mexico, said Luján would often pore over maps of the lands. She
said he was "instrumental" in winning the monument
designations. Crucially, she said, he would regularly try to pull
Republican-learning conservationists into talks about preserving
lands, believing that it needed not be a bipartisan issue.
 
"He understands how important it is for collaboration in these
huge efforts," she said. "It's tough for people who are typically at
odds to sit together and try to negotiate on something, and he was
the one that really said you have to do it that way."
 
From the casino to the Senate
 
Luján was born into a political family as the youngest of four
children of Ben Luján, a towering force in state politics. His father
spent nearly 40 years as a state lawmaker, including the last 12 as
speaker before his death in 2012.
 
Ben Ray Luján recalls wandering the statehouse halls as a child
and still lives on his family's farm in Nambe, just north of Santa
Fe.
 
Heinrich, who worked for Luján's father and has known the
politician whom many simply call "Ben Ray" for two decades, said
his New Mexican heritage is central to his political identity.
 
"He is the king of retail politics back home because he has such
deep, long-standing relationships with so many people," said
Heinrich. "He grew up watching how to advocate for people right
in his own home. So he's really good at working with people and
finding a path."
 
(Luján is often assumed to be related to the state's Gov. Michelle
Lujan Grisham (D), but the two are not closely related. He said
you have to go back several generations to find any shared
ancestry.)
 
His powerful connection has been used as a weapon against him
by political opponents.
 
When Luján sought an open seat on the New Mexico Public
Regulation Commission in 2004, he had not finished college, and
his only government experience was as deputy state treasurer, a
post he had been appointed to a few years earlier.
 
Luján came to the commission as other states were beginning to
develop renewable energy standards to move away from fossil
fuels. He saw an opening for New Mexico to set its own regulatory
rules for renewables, especially for solar energy, in a state that
averages more than 250 days of sunshine per year.
 
Jason Marks, a fellow Democrat who served on the panel with
Lujan, said the future senator was quick to reach out to and visit
other states to learn about how they were moving ahead with their
renewable energy standards. He said Luján was savvy enough to
realize after a push to legislate a statewide standard failed that the
best option would be to mandate it via the commission.
 
Marks said Luján spent a summer going to a judicial college in
Nevada to learn about administrative law, a skill that would prove
vital in moving a renewable fuel standard through the commission
as its chair from 2005 to 2007.
 
"He didn't have a clue about administrative law when he got in,
but he learned," said Marks, who called Luján a "great
commissioner" whose leadership on a solar standard has helped
make it the cheapest form of electricity in the state and spurred
numerous solar projects. Luján eventually finished college in
2007.
 
The next year, he would win a House seat being vacated by then-
Rep. Tom Udall, a Democrat who was making a bid for the Senate,
but not before campaign opponents seized on his thin resume as a
casino worker prior to joining the regulation commission.
 
Still, the attempt to label him a "blackjack dealer" without a
college degree fell flat. As in his race for the commission, his
family's familiar name helped him win what has become a reliably
Democratic district in the state's northern tier.
 
In the House, Luján focused on science and energy issues from his
seat on Energy and Commerce while developing a reputation for
strong Democratic messaging and fundraising.
 
He broke into leadership when he won a race to helm the DCCC in
2016, making him the first Hispanic to lead the party's campaign
arm. Democrats made modest gains in 2016, but the New
Mexican became a party star after he helped lead them to the
House majority in 2018.
 
Shortly after the election, Luján was appointed assistant speaker,
the party's No. 4 leadership post, and was seen as a potential
replacement someday for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
 
However, when Udall caught many by surprise in 2019 by
deciding not to seek reelection, Luján cleared the Democratic field
and won the general election by more than 5 percentage points.
 
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a former state utilities regulator who
served in the House with Luján and is now sponsoring abandoned
well and mine cleanup legislation with him, says his background
in leading a commission is well-suited for the Senate, where
consensus-building is vital.
 
Cramer also said it doesn't hurt to have negotiated a rate case or
two, adding "there is something to be said for the ability to dive
deep on technical issues and regulations."