the russian president vladimir putin, rails against the nato expansion and the mistreatment of russians in ukraine. in a comprehensive interview ahead of his summit with joe biden. european parliament give final approval for a coven digital certificate scheme to free up. travel with peers remain over widespread fraud after a french nurse is accused of giving out faith back to the certificate and the f. b. i hale's a global sting operation as a massive success with more than 800 suspected criminals. arrested. however, the ease with which the agency kept their tech raises a host of privacy concern. those your world news headlines for this hour. i'll be back with more in just about 60 minutes, so say the

hi, welcome to the kaiser report, imax taiser with stacy herbert here with our annual summer solutions where we dell not no problems, but on the solutions. they say, hey, right, well, i want to throw this question to tyson slocum. you know, joe biden has announced a slew of sort of renewable energy programs and infrastructure spend on renewable energy projects. i want to, in particular, talk about in the last week or 2. he's announced an energy efficiency and clean electricity standard, mostly focused on utility companies. and the reason why the stood out to me is because you have been recently tweeting about paul singers,

elliot management and his role in public utilities. and so, like, does it does elliot thing or does elliot management that therefore stand to benefit from this and what do you think of biden's overall plan so far? yes, i'll start with biden's plan. i think it's, it's necessarily ambitious. the challenges he's going to need the support of congress and i think that's where the roadblocks going to be. we've already seen similar clean energy standard legislation be approved in the house of representatives. i think there's a strong support in the house for this, but getting it through the stand, it is going to be very difficult. even for democrats, senator joe mansion, a democrat from west virginia, he's in the senate democratic leadership. and more importantly, he's the chairman of the senate energy and natural resources committee, and he's very conservative. he's from a,

a call and now big natural gas producing. and he is put the brakes on a lot of items, clean energy agenda. so i actually don't see good prospects of biden's plan excessively getting to congress this year. i think it's going to be debated. i think folks are going to be talking about it a lot, but in terms of something getting to the president's desk for a signature, i think it's a long shot. now, on the other hand, there are some unilateral authorities. ready that buy it and it's going to be pursuing. he actually has about $40000000000.00 in the loan guarantee. over at the department of energy that's been getting over there for several years. and he just hired up a big name in the word of clean energy invest in a guy in jigger shaw who is now going to be running this $40000000000.00 loan guarantee program. so i think we're going to see

a bunch of capital investment by the department of energy through this loan guarantee program in a number of different clean energy initiatives. but in terms of sweeping legislative mandates, i don't think we're going to see a lot of legislative action because of the roadblocks in the senate. that said, you know, the market is moving towards clean energy, and you bring up elliot management. and i mentioned to some reporters earlier this week that elliot management is the most powerful investor right now in the u. s. utility industry. elliot management run by paul elliot, singer. he's a taurus activist ah, a hedge fund. and he's, he's got simultaneous positions in 4 different utilities. i actually filed a complaint last year about what did you regulatory commission against him and one

of the utility and she was targeting center point and our regulators ultimately dismissed my complaint. but i think there, regretting it now, because basically for a number of regulatory reasons. elliot management is under no jurisdiction, they have federal regulators have no ability to, to regulate their operations and all of these different utilities. and he stands to benefit from a number of the moves that he's pushing at these different companies. so tyson slokum of public citizens energy policy. you talk about joe biden's initiatives, he talk about congress being the stumbling block. ok. now let's go back to another man made national disaster in american history. the dust ball of the 1930s man may last decade, an existential crisis,

so the not estate dust was blowing into washington d. c, and new york city all the way from the great plains in the midwest or out further west. why can't joe biden take a page out of the book and show some leadership? why can't joe buy it and get a spine and say, hey, let's do something for real max. you're absolutely right. and we actually order this and found that he has a number of unilateral executives, it authorities to declare the climate crisis, a threat to national security and the national interest. and accordingly, with that kind of emergency declaration could initiate a number of emergency actions to deal with the climate crisis to promote renewable energy on a much bigger scale than what we're currently doing. to initiate a number of energy efficiency initiatives, through the department of energy and other entities to the federal government is

one of the largest procures of energy, the department of defense, and all of our military equipment and all of our federal buildings. you're absolutely right, max, that, that bite and doesn't necessarily need congress. he declare an emergency. he's very reluctant to do that. you know, i mean, joe biden ah ran against bernie sanders to get the democratic nomination. he's never been a candidate or we're a politician like bernie sanders. he's very moderate, very middle of the road and i think we're seeing that in his governing style. and so i think he would be reluctant to, to declare the kind of emergency for the crisis that you're suggesting. so as an effective, as a leader is what you're saying. now let's talk about the last thing a 1st like, and he's a guy who makes his bones by borrowing money from the fed at 0 percent. if that

wasn't available to him is an entire vulture. capital model would collapse in a day. so he just is enabled by the fed, or j power is making the situation much worse. why can't a power raise margin rates are borrowing rates for private equity, so that they stop terrorizing america. what about that? can we have that maybe or why don't they do that? max? maybe you should be fed chair. i think that you would be doing a much better job than paul. i don't know if you would take the job, but you're absolutely right. we've got monetary policy that that strengthens the hand of these vulture funds, like elliot management that are absolutely running wild in the u. s. economy. i don't see them as providing any value added. they're not adding any productivity. they are draining these companies that they target and it's

a serious problem. and like i said, we tried to get federal energy regulators to intervene. but maybe we should have started at the fed because that's where it all begins. while speaking of the fed, you know, maximize our bit corners, and we believe they can fix this quite a few problems. and bitcoin has been in the news about the energy, which we call fun. because, you know, we are, we've covered on the one hand, there are energy rigs that flare, right? like there's a lot of crackers flare, and the huge quantities of methane have been spewed into the air and the united states. since barack obama, like really push cracking as a green solution, but there was a lot of methane, which is you know, a more powerful greenhouse gas, at least for a short term. you had tweeted in the u. s. private equity owned oil drillers, flare 423 cubic feet of natural gas for every barrel of oil produce compared with just $74.00 for publicly traded companies. we have a private equity problem. now,

in the sector, you're able, now they capture all that flared gas. no, no, flared gas, would ever come from any of these rigs if you put a big, quite minor on top of it. so there is a solution to that. but there's another solution here, and this is the interesting thing that i saw in another tweet of yours. you've been on a roll face on the growth of renewable energy production in europe has led to increasingly volatile spot market trading. we need to maximize renewables growth while improving market oversight, ferc and c, f t. c to protect consumers from speculative price volatility. and that's another thing i want to say about why i think when fixed is it, despite all of the story of, you know, it being boiling the oceans and stuff like that is that it does provide, it's always, it's a user that it can turn on and off my mind in an, in a fraction of a moment and it doesn't matter. so it does provide a, a,

decentralize more it uses utilize grid that would otherwise not exist. so in west texas there's a lot of big reminders out there. they build out infrastructure and you know, they are a user that helps in that reduce volatility in my opinion. so what do you think of that? first i agree that i think that bitcoin mining has a potential and that there are opportunities to be part of a clean energy future. i think that there's some operations that are relying on fossil fuels and there's others, like you're saying are capturing waste by products in the, in the combustion and emissions process. there's others that are relying on renewable energy. and so i think it can be part of the solution. and like you said, in terms of a big coin mining, being able to be flexible in its energy use, that's something it can move to what's known as off peak times in the middle of the

night. when most people are not using as much electricity, so you're tapping into existing generation and store instead of having to compete with new generation coming on line to meet higher overall demand middle of the day . so absolutely, there are opportunities there. i think, you know, in general, getting back to the tweet about, you know, conflicts with rising renewables and more volatile spot electricity pricing. again, the rise of renewables. they huge, necessary plus for what's going on in the economy. but we haven't been adjusting our sort of market oversight in market operations because in electricity market that feature significantly more renewable energy because of this intermittent nature. the way that it's, it's coming out of line. there is more price volatility and some traders are

exploiting that to the doctor of consumers. and so this isn't a problem of we can't handle these renewables, it's about up redesigning sort of market structures to ensure that consumers are going to be enjoying the advantages of low cost renewables. alrighty, going to take a break and then we'll be back with tyson slocum, of public citizen energy policy on summer solutions with mac, the stacy don't go away. the me the, i don't know, i mean i some steps in there were rescuing the food that they were not scabbing or, or were rescuing resources that are still good. this is best buy march 21st,

which is in 2 days. all these potatoes, hall panels, onions, all of these came from waste round sources. the. this is great for me because i'm always looking for a way to give things away. dr. because the tax laws, you know, definitely do benefit the wealthier people in our society. so that makes sense for them to throw it out right off rather than give it to somebody who could use it. and then that person is not going to buy it. the me. alrighty. we're back summer solutions with mac and stacy, our annual summer probe into not the problems, but the solutions. now tyson, soccer, ms. weathers, he is from the public citizens energy policy in washington dc. i wanted to follow

up tyson before the break. we were talking about renewable energy production in europe was led to increasingly volatile spot market trading. and you were suggesting that there needs to be improved oversight of the ferc and the c f t. c to protect consumers. question for you as have the various scandals over at the c f t c been cleaned up? are they still pretty much the same captured regulator that we've seen now for 30 years? well, i think there, there is a problem of a lack of computer leadership at the c s t c right now. so bite and nails commission or ross banner as acting chair back earlier this year and didn't name him as a permanent chair. and without that title of a permanent chair, the chairman can't really initiate

a lot of wholesale reforms. and so as a result, we haven't seen a lot of movement in terms of cleaning up problematic aspects of the agency. announcing new major initiatives, there's sort of a leadership back room as we wait for president biden to name a permanent chair, and we don't know what that hold up is. there is an open seat. and so it might be something where they are trying to figure out who to name to that open seat and then designate that person his chair. you know, as you know, there was a for c s t c, a chairman gary against miller, who is now the chair of the security exchange commission. you have been chairman of the cf 2 c back during b, a obama years. i thought he did a pretty good job in the time that he was there. but you know, his, his focus is now at the fcc. so i don't see the problems with the see if you see

being fixed until we get some new blood in terms of a new chairman that's going to be able to address those problems. so i want to segue to electric vehicles and also hearken back to the last part of this episode. because i disagree with one position, the 2 of you took, which is that we should have declare a state of emergency and just push through things that gave us the patriot act that gave us the response to the pandemic, which we're not allowed to really talk about in social media including youtube, this goes out on youtube as well. so we can't really talk about the disastrous policy there. i think they tend to rule out policies that end up benefiting their friends and corporations, often the expense to the population and are never quite forthright. at the actual cost. so electric vehicles are great. they go to 0 to 61 point one seconds. if you

have a turbo thruster on it as much as talking about and you know, they don't speak emissions, but okay, we're building the this lithium mining operation. the clayton valley lithium project in nevada, it was rushed through their approval process. the native americans in the area we're not really consulted. you're going to have 24 hour mining for, for decades after 2 years of 24 hour construction of this. so a uses a lot of water, like what are the cost of having electric vehicles like well, let's talk about the lithium and then if we have time, we'll talk about cobalt, but we're having a lithium at mining now in the united states. what are the cost of that and to the benefits with the cost benefit analysis on that? there's no question that there are challenges and issues with the sourcing key

models like lithium for battery production. that i've said when you're comparing the the environmental impact of extracting oil and refining it into gasoline for your internal combustion engine. gasoline powered vehicles versus the life cycle of operating electric vehicle. the electric vehicle is going to win in terms of a far smaller emission and environmental impact. that said, there is still an impact and you highlight an excellent issue out west where, you know, some local tribes were against this facility. and what you're seeing is a lot of pressure to come up with domestic sources of lithium production because we remain so dependent upon china as the rest of the world for those important

battery inputs. so i think it really, there is a federal role here to ensure that we are developing lithium and other needed components as sustainably as possible. that we prioritize investments into you know, making sure that we're using less water in the extraction process that we embark on an aggressive, mandated recycling program for batteries as they grow older and are not operable anymore. so none of these, our big barriers to continued e v deployment and adoption. it just means that we need to be ah, extremely aware and prioritize the, the entire sustainability of the supply chain. but again, moving towards electric vehicles,

replacing them with gasoline. powered cars is going to provide a lot of net benefits for the planet. but you know, we just need to remain vigilant on making sure that the supply chain for electric vehicles is as sustainable as possible parts. the biggest supplier of left him in the world is afghanistan. us has been dropping bombs there for 20 years. did we manage to get any lithium? you know, i don't know, but i'm glad that it looks like we're getting out of there. you know it's, it's been a really tough floor for and for a lot of people, a lot of americans, a lot of afghans. oh, but i don't know whether or not we, we got any lithium or on our way out there. and the other issue is cobalt and that is, are, are there sources within the u. s. or other more, you know, sustainable areas right now, most of it comes from the congo and there's child labor there and all sorts of

abuses. so, i mean, it's just interesting that a lot of this is being driven by e. s. g sort of funds and investments. but like like it, you can't have an electric car right now without child labor. essentially it happens via the congo. this is absolutely an issue that, that the industry needs to have more leadership on. and i think there's a role for the federal government to, to initiate regulations and standards as well. again, there's, anytime you're talking about a transition away from fossil fuels into renewables, you are going to have disruptions there with that transition you're going to have pick up. ah, these are all problems that can be addressed and can be solved. if we commit resources to solving them and not just, you know, pushing the problem, ah, the people of congo or the people of china or the people can stand to deal with. we

have to take responsibility for that supply chain sustainability. well, that's the point i have about bitcoin, and bitcoin mining is psych between minors need to mine at electricity cost under $0.04 a kilowatt hour. that's not coal. you know that this is, these are renewable sources. they need to find and they could take those mining rigs to the location. most of our energy in the united states is actually law in the whole world is lost in transmission, right? because it's difficult to transmit energy between minors can go there, capture the wealth, and then you know, help build the economy. but you know, that's the other important issue here is unless you're coming to kaiser report, you know, now the media covers any of these stories where we do have to make a major change. you either have only the positive side and or only the negative

side on the, to partisan, sorta coverage of whatever the topic is. so like, there is no sort of, you know, comp, station, public conversation allowed on any sort of major thing like the pandemic or here having to transition to a more renewable energy sources. you know, what are you doing to rectify that situation? i know you're out there, you're coming on programs like this and, and clarifying topics. people can contact you, of course, on twitter, and you're really great at engagement and just answering, honestly and forthrightly. i appreciate that i, i think, you know, the problem is with a lot of big media outlets, there's not a lot of new ones. like you said they, they look at things through a sort of a lens that is sometimes filtered out through partisan affiliations in this country . and these challenges that we're dealing with in reality look, nothing like that sort of approach that, that there's, that there's

a lot of different angles and it's important that we get it right. and you know, i'm grateful for programs like yours that are dealing with these issues. you know, we're going to continue to be independent. you know, one thing about me and my organization is that we're not partisan. you know, we don't support democrats, we don't support republicans. we support the right policies that are going to work for the most people. and, you know, sometimes democrats are composing that and sometimes they're in the way of that. and it's our job to not be best friends with joe biden, or nancy pelosi or mitch mcconnell, but to promote the right policy for, for that majority of working americans. and that's, that's what we're going to keep doing. right. so last year, annually, $160000.00 and tara was hours of energy produced on planet earth. the tragedy of that, as a 3rd, or 850000 terre one hours that wasted,

that means it's an infrastructure problem. roads are bad pipes are bad, or the, the organizational cape melodies are bad. why not the jobs act and put americans to work or new jobs, fixed the infrastructure. don't waste all those tens of thousands of tear one hours of energy before we start going digging for left the m and cobalt and getting all fancy with our electric vehicles. want to clean up the mess tyson? right? no, you're actually right. there is a huge challenge, so called wasted energy and some of it you're on the electric side is through line loss. you're, we're moving electricity over large physical distance. and the longer that electricity travels over those lines, you're losing energy. we're also losing a lot of energy in terms of your inputting a fuel, whether it's natural gas or cold, and you're losing efficiencies within the combustion process,

especially for thermal plants and in internal combustion engines. typically, renewable resources don't feature that type of a fish and sea loss in the energy production. and if you are located, especially smaller scale renewable resources, closer to the, to the sources of, of, of consumption ah, small scale renewable farms and wind farms. that instead of being out in the country side, they're in urban areas where people live, then you don't have that sort of transmission load loss. and you're able to, to recapture more of the energy that's being produced. and so there are definitely benefits to localized sources of energy. alright, tyson slocum, public citizens energy policy. thanks for being on summer solutions. always. my pleasure. all right now is going to do it for this edition of summer solutions with mac kaiser and stacy herbert. thanks. guest, tyson slocum?

until next time, via the me. ah . unfortunately we are witnessing a trend in media. they go from one news fiasco to another. the weapons of mass destruction story, the russia gate hogs hunters laptop. back in bounty tale. and now the possible coven lab leak story. now why does anyone in their right mind, even tune in any more one of the worst in a mess. shootings in america was in las vegas in 2017. the tragedy a close a little of the real last vegas, where many say elected officials are controlled by christina learners. the shooting revealed what? the l v m p d really is. and now it's part of the stand machine to the american public barely

remember that happens, that just shows you the power of money and las vegas. the powerful showed that true colors when the pandemic had the most contagious contagion that we've seen in decades. and then you have a mayor who doesn't care. so here's caroline goodman, offering the lives of the vegas residence to be the control group. to the shiny facades conceal a deep indifference to the people vice gonna say that they will take an action. absolutely, keep the registering and keep the slot machines doing. this is a money machine is a huge cash register that is ran by people who don't care about people's lives being lost. ah i me

ah ah ah, i use the method boom box the one bit show you can't afford to mit i'm branch boy why think can coming up the us.