Top News

EPA To Extend Comment Deadline On Carbon Rule For Future Plants. According to Politico, “EPA today said it will extend the comment period on its December proposal rolling back carbon dioxide emissions limits for future coal-fired power plants because of the recent government shutdown, though it has not yet picked a specific date. The agency had planned to hold a public hearing on Jan. 8, but it will have to be rescheduled. The comment period was slated to close Feb. 19, but the Clean Air Act requires EPA to take comment for 30 days after a public hearing is held. Environmentalists complained that the shutdown impeded their ability to comment by barring access to certain document and agency experts. ‘EPA is currently determining a new date for the public hearing, and will be announcing that date and the extension of the comment period in the near future,’ the agency wrote in a status update to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Due to the timing requirements, the comment period is likely to be open until mid-March, if not later. That timeline could be delayed once again if the government shut down again in mid-February, when the current appropriations for EPA run out.” [Politico, 1/30/19 (+)]

Polar Vortex: What Is It And How Is It Linked To Climate Change? According to The Guardian, “What is the polar vortex? As its name suggests, the polar vortex is found around the north pole. It’s a band of strong winds, high up in the atmosphere that keeps bitterly cold air locked around the Arctic region. This circulation isn’t considered a single storm, or even a weather pattern as such. Why is it affecting the US? Occasionally, the vortex can become distorted and meander far further south than normal. The phenomenon became widely known to Americans during a particularly frigid spell in 2014, when the media first started using the term ‘polar vortex’. It was also a factor in the ‘bomb cyclone’ that battered the US east coast last year. This time, the polar vortex has broken in two, bringing the coldest conditions in decades to the Midwest US. On Wednesday, Chicago was 10 degrees F colder than Antarctica. ‘At the moment the vortex looks like two swirling blobs of cold air, one settled over North America, the other over Eurasia,’ said Jennifer Francis, the senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. ‘It splits up when there is sudden stratospheric warming.’” [The Guardian, 1/30/19 (=)]

Bill Nye: Climate Change Is Here, And It’s Coming For Our Assets. According to Grist, “The polar vortex is chilling the Midwest, and cable news is using the occasion to talk at length about climate change. CNN’s Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo had a field day tearing down President Trump’s tweet saying the Midwest could use some ‘Global Waming’ — yes, that’s warming with no R — right about now. (F- on science, F+ on spelling.) MSNBC’s Ali Velshi busted out some snazzy graphics to illustrate the rise in CO2 levels in our atmosphere over the long haul, noting the sharp increase in global temperatures as industrialization took off. Then, Chris Matthews of Hardball brought on a special guest — the Science Guy himself. Bill Nye told him what many of us already know. Climate change is real, and it’s coming for our assets. Rural, conservative voters are in fact more vulnerable to economic losses from climate change than city dwellers, Nye pointed out. He called out a few agricultural costs of climate change: Food prices will likely go up as farmers struggle to keep up with seasonal pest management, and some U.S. agricultural production may need to shift north ‘into what would nominally be Canada.’ (Well, oops. As Canadians have been quick to point out, Canada is, in fact, Canada.) The Science Guy definitely got one thing right, though: ‘The longer we mess around and not address this problem, the more difficult it’s going to be.’” [Grist, 1/30/19 (+)]

From Beer To Casinos, Businesses Turn To Solar, Wind Power. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Corporations are fueling record investment in U.S. wind and solar power, seizing an opportunity to show consumers their environmental stripes while also taking advantage of plunging costs and favorable tax breaks. Spending on wind and solar grew 13% in 2018 from the year before, rising above $16 billion, according to consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. It expects growth will more than double in 2019. Corporate buyers are leading that growth, analysts say, and are also touting their support of alternative energy in marketing campaigns. Budweiser may be thought of as a blue-collar beer, but its Super Bowl ad this year has gone green. The spot shows Bud’s famed Clydesdale horses pulling a stagecoach past a Western landscape dotted with modern wind turbines, as Bob Dylan sings “Blowin’ in the Wind.” In 2017, the company agreed to a 15-year deal to pay for about half of the 298 megawatts from a new wind farm in Oklahoma. The deal now produces electricity equal to about half of what Anheuser-Busch consumes in the U.S.” [Wall Street Journal, 1/30/19 (=)]

US Lawmakers Urge Pentagon To Revise Climate Change Report. According to Reuters, “Three Democratic U.S. lawmakers, including the House armed services committee chairman, on Wednesday urged the Pentagon to revise a report on climate change, saying it omitted required items such as a list of the 10 most vulnerable bases. The Pentagon’s report, released on Jan. 10, said climate change was a national security issue and listed 79 domestic military installations at risk from floods, drought, encroaching deserts, wildfires and, in Alaska, thawing permafrost. But the report, required by a defense policy law signed by President Donald Trump in 2017, did not include the top 10 list, and details of specific mitigation measures to make bases more resilient to climate change, including the costs. It also failed to list any Marine Corps bases or installations overseas. U.S. Representative Adam Smith, the chairman of the House committee, said the Trump administration’s report was inadequate. ‘It demonstrates a continued unwillingness to seriously recognize and address the threat that climate change poses to our national security and military readiness,’ Smith said in a release.” [Reuters, 1/30/19 (=)]

EPA

A Hunter's View: No Such Thing As An Isolated Wetland. According to E&E News, “Two drake pintails swoop across the dawn sky toward a duck blind where Carl Boudreaux and Ryan Lambert are waiting. Lambert’s voice ricochets across the muddy water. ‘Kill ‘em, Carl!’ There are two shots. A duck falls. The pintail had likely flown more than 1,000 miles to this swath of Mississippi River Delta. Nobody knows that better than Lambert, who’s been guiding hunters and anglers into the marshes here for some 40 years. When the ducks don’t show up in the marshes in southeast Louisiana and the hunting is as bad as it’s been this winter, Lambert blames farmers draining wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region — 276,000 square miles pockmarked by shallow, wet depressions in the Upper Midwest and Canada — otherwise known as North America’s ‘duck factory.’ Prairie potholes could soon lose their Clean Water Act protections under a Trump administration proposal to erase coverage for wetlands lacking surface connections to larger waterways. Lambert, 61, supports President Trump despite the administration’s wetland proposal, but he wants Midwestern farmers to realize how their actions affect wildlife, the environment — and him — far downstream.” [E&E News, 1/30/19 (=)]

EPA Makes Pitch For Tweaks To Hydrochloric Acid Standards. According to E&E News, “EPA is seeking only slight changes to its air toxics standards for hydrochloric acid manufacturers in a proposed rule that has caught the attention of Illinois lawmakers. The proposal, which would apply to an estimated 19 plants around the country, finds that existing 2003 standards ‘provide an ample margin of safety to protect public health,’ according to an agency summary. The proposal follows a legally required ‘residual risk and technology review’ and now awaits publication in the Federal Register after acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed it last month. In keeping with a 2008 court decision, the draft rule would eliminate regulatory exemptions for excess emissions that occur during plant startups, shutdowns and malfunction; it would also require electronic reporting of performance test results. The Trump administration has adopted a similar approach in final air toxics rules for seven other industrial sources signed by Wheeler last month (Greenwire, Jan. 21). But because the latest proposal requests public comment on the use of ‘risk value’ of ethylene oxide for regulatory purposes, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and five other Democratic members of the Illinois congressional delegation yesterday wrote Wheeler to protest that EPA seemed to be trying to weaken safeguards for that carcinogenic chemical.” [E&E News, 1/30/19 (=)]

EPA Faces New State Pressure To Tighten Assessment Of PFAS Risks. According to Inside EPA, “EPA is facing pressure from states and water utilities to tighten its assessment of the risks posed by a pair of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) substances, known as GenX and PFBS, intensifying pressure on the agency to step up its oversight of the broad class of chemicals in part as a way to harmonize state standards. In recent comments, states including Michigan and Minnesota questioned aspects of EPA’s draft assessments of the two substances and urged the agency to provide better explanations for decisions that made the assessments less strict than EPA could have been. ‘These two documents come at a critical time for environmental and epidemiological [PFAS] investigations, not only in Michigan where 37 sites of PFAS contamination have been identified, but across the nation,’ states Jan. 22 comments from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). Michigan, as well as Minnesota also questioned some of the methodological and other choices that EPA made in the draft analyses that make the resulting risk estimates less stringent.” [Inside EPA, 1/30/19 (+)]

Environmentalists Challenge EPA Plan To Ease Cleanup At Portland Site. According to Inside EPA, “Environmentalists are opposing EPA’s plan to ease strict sediment cleanup levels at the high-profile Portland Harbor Superfund site in Portland, OR, charging the agency lacks the scientific basis to extrapolate eased risk values from a recent risk review for the chemical benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) to other chemicals in the same class at the site. ‘EPA cannot unravel the Portland Harbor [record of decision (ROD)] through the backdoor based on a risk assessment on a single chemical,’ Earthjustice writes in Dec. 21 comments to EPA on behalf of several groups including the Portland Harbor Cleanup Coalition, Willamette Riverkeeper, Audubon Society of Portland and Portland Harbor Community Advisory Group. ‘Doing so would render irrelevant the thousands of public comments on the original proposed plan that urged EPA to use the more stringent and protective remediation method -- dredging -- throughout a greater portion of the Portland Harbor Superfund Site.’ At the same time, two potentially responsible parties (PRPs) are supporting EPA’s decision to incorporate the BaP risk review into the cleanup, and are asking for the agency to align risk management decisions it uses in the revised cleanup plan to comport with that used in the original ROD.” [Inside EPA, 1/30/19 (=)]

Sunoco Hit With $5.4M Penalty For Oil Spills. According to E&E News, “Sunoco Pipeline LP has agreed to pay a $5.4 million civil penalty to settle federal and state claims tied to oil spills in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The Justice Department, EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality jointly announced the proposed consent decree yesterday. The enforcement agreement, which requires a judge’s approval, requires Sunoco to remedy pipeline defects and corrosion problems that resulted in violations of the Clean Water Act and oil spills in 2013, 2014 and 2015. DOJ has touted federal environmental enforcement action that comes as a result of collaboration with state agencies. But two years into the Trump administration, DOJ and EPA are also facing criticism that enforcement penalties targeting polluters have been significantly weaker than past administrations. ‘This excellent result shows how a strong federal and state partnership can bring about effective environmental enforcement to protect local communities in these states,’ said Jeffrey Bossert Clark, assistant attorney general in DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.” [E&E News, 1/31/19 (=)]

Wheeler

Wheeler's Minimal Answers To Senators Offer Few Hints On EPA's Plans. According to Inside EPA, “Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s answers to environment panel senators’ questions ahead of his confirmation vote adopt a minimal approach offering few hints on EPA’s pending regulatory agenda, evading specific responses or commitments on a host of major policies including rollbacks of Obama-era rules. Drinking water is among the only topics where the acting agency chief offers a greater level of detail in his responses, and there he is suggesting the 35 day government shutdown will further delay rules seeking to bolster drinking water protections, including a long-awaited update to the agency’s 1991 lead and copper rule (LCR) and a proposed drinking water standard for the common drinking water contaminant perchlorate. The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) held its confirmation hearing on Jan. 16 for Wheeler’s nomination to head the agency permanently. At the hearing, he similarly avoided sweeping statements or pledges on pending rules such as rollbacks of Obama EPA climate and water policies. As part of the confirmation process senators send nominees questions for the record on a host of topics, and EPW ranking member Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) late Jan. 29 released Wheeler’s responses.” [Inside EPA, 1/30/19 (=)]

National

AUDIO: Why The Midwest’s Deep Freeze May Be A Consequence Of Climate Change. According to PBS, “More than a quarter of the U.S. population is expected to deal with sub-zero temperatures this week. The extreme cold has sparked some public skepticism over global warming, but scientists actually believe it is a consequence of climate change. Amna Nawaz talks to Dr. Jennifer Francis of the Woods Hole Research Center for an explanation of this counterintuitive weather relationship.” [PBS, 1/30/19 (+)]

Majority Of U.S. Coal Mines Shuttered In Last Decade — EIA. According to E&E News, “The U.S. Energy Information Administration today reported more than half of all American coal mines closed during the worst decade for coal in modern memory. In 2008, there were 1,435 coal mines in the United States. By the end of 2017, there were 671. ‘The uptick in mine closures since 2008 has largely been driven by economics, and smaller, less profitable mines have been more susceptible to closures,’ EIA wrote. ‘Several factors dictate the profitability of mines, including the method used to extract the coal.’ Most of the 764 mines shuttered were underground operations. About 60 percent of underground mines closed during the last decade. That meant, as EIA noted, ‘Most of the mine closures were in the Appalachian region.’ More than 77 percent of coal production comes from underground mines east of the Mississippi River, which includes the coal regions of Appalachia and the Illinois Basin.” [E&E News, 1/30/19 (=)]

Green Pinstripes: Yankees Hire Environmental Scientist. According to USA Today, “The New York Yankees are going green, hiring an environmental science adviser. The team said Tuesday that Allen Hershkowitz will focus on energy use, waste management, water conservation and food services at Yankee Stadium. Hershkowitz has a Ph.D. in political economics, specializing in energy resources economics, from the City University of New York Graduate School. He has been a senior scientist for 26 years at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Hershkowitz is chairman and founding director of Sport and Sustainability International, a group that uses the reach of to protect the environment. He is co-founder and past president of the Green Sports Alliance, an organization founded by pro teams in the Northwest to promote sustainable communities.” [USA Today, 1/30/19 (+)]

New Report Lists Steps For Boston To Become Carbon Neutral. According to Utility Dive, “The report, co-authored by the Boston Green Ribbon commission and Boston University, says two-thirds of Boston’s GHG emissions come from buildings and the remaining one-third comes from transportation. Becoming carbon neutral will require rethinking how people build, get around and operate within cities. The report says carbon neutrality is necessary for public health, economic health and social equity. It indicates the impacts of climate change disproportionately fall on the city’s vulnerable populations — including children, older populations, low-income residents, people with disabilities, people of color and those with limited English proficiency — an idea that has been corroborated by a number of previous studies. Carrying out some of the actions will take a lot of work. For example, building more energy-efficient structures is achievable, but carrying out the suggested whole-building energy retrofits on Boston’s centuries-old historic buildings is no easy task. Still, the report contends that such actions and investments to reduce carbon emissions would have significant health benefits for Boston residents immediately and in the future.” [Utility Dive, 1/30/19 (=)]

White House

'Just Get Moving.' Trump Admin Sits On $16B For Disasters. According to E&E News, “Republican Texas Rep. Randy Weber is no climate hawk. He has referred to the Paris climate accord as a ‘farce’ and the possible effects of climate warming as ‘decidedly unknown’ and ‘negligible.’ That hasn’t stopped Weber from trying to loosen the Trump administration’s grip on billions of dollars in disaster aid to help his Gulf Coast district prepare for the next megastorm. Texas is one of nearly a dozen states and territories waiting for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to unlock $16 billion in disaster mitigation funds that were allocated nearly a year ago by Congress to help vulnerable communities get ready for the next Hurricanes Harvey, Irma or Maria. Two major hurricanes made landfall since the money was approved. Still, states and territories like Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Puerto Rico are unable to tap the largest well of disaster mitigation funds ever appropriated by Congress. Nobody seems to know why.” [E&E News, 1/31/19 (=)]

Congress

Energy And Commerce Republicans Staff Up. According to E&E News, “Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) this morning announced his roster of top committee aides for the 116th Congress. While the overall staff numbers shrank to match the change in party control, the GOP higher-ups on the panel largely stayed the same as the previous year. ‘The team we’ve organized for the 116th Congress is second to none,’ Walden said in a statement. ‘The Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans are again staffed by a group of highly qualified professionals dedicated to public service and to supporting the work of our Republican members.’ Mike Bloomquist will continue in his role as staff director, and Ryan Long will continue as deputy staff director. Peter Kielty, a 20-year veteran of the committee, will take over the general counsel position. He served as deputy general counsel since 2012. Zack Roday joins Energy and Commerce as the new communications director. He comes from the Republican Attorneys General Association, but he previously worked on Capitol Hill as a spokesman for former Speaker Paul Ryan’s national political organization and as communications director for former Rep. David Young (R-Iowa).” [E&E News, 1/30/19 (=)]

House Democrats Press Pentagon For More Climate Change Data. According to Politico, “House Democrats want the Defense Department to redo its study on climate change by April 1 because it omitted information required by Congress. The Pentagon’s report issued earlier this month said 74 of 79 domestic military installations studied currently face some threat from climate change and that the risks will grow over the next 20 years. But a letter from House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) and Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) sent to acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Jan. 25 said the report failed to list the 10 most vulnerable installations within each service branch — along with mitigation measures and costs for addressing threats — as required by the National Defense Authorization Act. The Pentagon also gave no explanation for excluding the U.S. Marine Corps or international installations, they added, noting that lawmakers had clarified requirements in a July 16 letter to then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.” [Politico, 1/30/19 (=)]

Sen. Whitehouse Accuses DOT Of 'Political Censoring'. According to E&E News, “Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s office scrubbed references to climate change and sea-level rise from a draft letter to Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, newly released documents show. Whitehouse originally wrote to Chao in 2017 seeking information about the threat posed by sea-level rise to infrastructure in Rhode Island, which has 400 miles of coastline. When editing Chao’s response, staff at the Department of Transportation engaged in ‘political censoring,’ according to Whitehouse, a longtime climate hawk. For instance, staff replaced the phrase ‘a changing climate’ with ‘an ever-changing climate,’ according to the documents obtained by Whitehouse’s office and shared with E&E News. They also replaced the phrase ‘sea level rise’ with ‘sea level variations’ — a subtle change that nonetheless alters the meaning. It remains unclear whether career or political staff made the changes, which The Washington Post was first to report. Whitehouse’s office also would not say how the documents were obtained.” [E&E News, 1/30/19 (=)]

E&C Subpanel To Hold First House Climate Hearing Feb. 6. According to Politico, “The House Energy and Commerce Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee today announced it would hold the first hearing in the House on climate change in more than six years on Feb. 6. The hearing is titled: ‘Time for Action: Addressing the Environmental & Economic Effects of Climate Change.’ Witnesses have not yet been announced. ‘Year after year, politicians have ignored this threat and ignored the science. We can’t afford to let them stand in the way any longer,’ subcommittee Chairman Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) said in a video message. ‘To everyone who is speaking out on this issue, we hear you, we believe the science, we understand the urgency and we are committed to getting results.’ Tonko said the hearing would begin to create a ‘powerful record’ about the cost of federal inaction and better understand how a ‘just transition’ would create jobs and help communities impacted by shifts to clean energy. Full committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said earlier this month his committee would make climate change the subject of its first hearing.” [Politico, 1/30/19 (=)]

Ocasio-Cortez, Markey To Unveil ‘Green New Deal’ Legislation. According to The Hill, “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) are reportedly planning to unveil legislation for a Green New Deal in the coming days. Markey’s office confirmed to The Hill that the senator was working with the freshman New York representative on a plan, adding that an announcement regarding the bill’s contents is coming soon. Language in the bill was not yet final, the spokesperson said, nor was a timeline for when the bill would be unveiled. A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez did not respond immediately to The Hill’s request for comment. A spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement, a group of climate change activists that organized a protest attended by Ocasio-Cortez in Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s (D-Calif.) office over the issue last year, told Axios — which first reported news of the legislation — that it was involved in the bill’s discussions. The group added that an announcement was planned for as soon as the end of next week. Several top Democratic candidates who have announced 2020 presidential candidacies have shown some level of support for a ‘Green New Deal,’ including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).” [The Hill, 1/30/19 (+)]

Dems Back Climate Case Against Oil Companies. According to The Hill, “Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and eight Democratic state attorneys general are throwing their support behind a California lawsuit that challenges major oil and natural gas companies for their contributions to climate change. The amicus briefs filed Tuesday with the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit support the state’s regional plaintiffs, who want to keep the suit against Chevron in California. ‘In light of the costly impacts that climate change is already having within our borders, and because the harmful effects of climate change are unlikely to stop in the near future, Amici States have a concrete interest in the ability of state courts to adjudicate climate change-related claims brought by our political subdivisions who are impacted by the conduct of fossil fuel producers and sellers,’ the attorneys general wrote in their brief.” [The Hill, 1/30/19 (=)]

Lawmakers Hopeful They Can Avert Another Shutdown. According to E&E News, “Congressional negotiators are cautiously optimistic that they will reach a deal on border security and new funding for other federal agencies, including EPA and the Interior Department, and avert another government shutdown next month. Top appropriators yesterday held their first conference talks over the border security and agency funding package since the 35-day federal shutdown ended last week. The 17 lawmakers need a deal by Feb. 15, when current stopgap spending legislation expires. ‘Except for Homeland Security, we are very close to agreement on the six appropriations bills. While we have some differences on disaster and relief and recovery. I believe we can come to a speedy agreement there, as well,’ said House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), who added that she was ‘cautiously optimistic’ after the meeting. Congress has passed six of the 12 annual fiscal 2019 spending bills, leaving other agencies operating under a series of stopgap funding bills since Oct. 1, 2018. Among the six unfinished bills are the Interior-EPA, Commerce-Justice-Science, Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, and State-Foreign Operations funding measures.” [E&E News, 1/31/19 (=)]

Second Panel Sets Hearing For Hectic Week On Climate. According to E&E News, “Democrats have been chomping at the bit to take on climate change since they won the House in November, and after a brief delay due to the partial government shutdown, they will finally get their chance next week. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change will hold its first hearing on the topic Feb. 6, subcommittee Chairman Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and full committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) announced in a joint statement last night. The Natural Resources Committee is planning its own climate hearing the same day — just about 24 hours after the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is scheduled to vote on the nomination of acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. The House hearings have been in the works for weeks, and they will likely mark the first formal shots in the long-brewing battle between Democrats and the Trump administration, which has eagerly pulled back climate regulations and openly denied climate science. The two House panels will soon have help from Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chairwoman Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has been talking over strategy with Pallone and Tonko.” [E&E News, 1/31/19 (=)]

Langevin Asks Pentagon To 'Redo' Climate Study. According to E&E News, “Rhode Island Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin, a force in Congress for the military to address climate change, is asking the Pentagon to revise a report it sent to Congress earlier this month. A provision in the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act told the Pentagon to assess the top 10 military installations within each service that would be most vulnerable to the effects of climate change over the next 20 years and to include information on mitigation measures and the costs of implementing them. ‘The report completely missed the mark in terms of what the law required in terms of a detailed list of the top 10 military bases most vulnerable to climate change,’ Langevin, who authored the provision, told E&E News. ‘We want them to redo the report,’ he said. Langevin chairs the Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities.” [E&E News, 1/31/19 (+)]

Lawmakers Introduce Water, Wildlife, Disaster Bills. According to E&E News, “House and Senate lawmakers continue introducing energy and environment bills, including one that would affect EPA’s power over certain Clean Water Act permits. A bill from Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) would restrict the agency’s ability to veto Clean Water Act permits issued by the Army Corps of Engineers. The ‘Reform EPA Act,’ H.R. 843, would only allow EPA to block a project for 30 days after the Army Corps has issued a permit. The bill takes aim at two controversial actions by the past administration. The Obama EPA proposed restrictions on mining in Alaska’s Bristol Bay before the company behind the Pebble mine had submitted a permit application. Separately, the agency vetoed permits for the Spruce mountaintop-removal mine project in West Virginia years after the Army Corps approved the project. In a statement, Gibbs said the bill would bring regulatory certainty to industries like mining and homebuilding that often require Clean Water Act permits for their projects.” [E&E News, 1/31/19 (-)]

'Green New Deal' Legislation Could Be Unveiled Next Week. According to the Washington Examiner, “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., could notch an early win in the new Congress with legislation outlining the ‘Green New Deal’ proposal, which could be unveiled as early as next week. Ocasio-Cortez, a key champion of the ambitious environmental platform, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., have been working on a bill that includes measures aimed at transitioning the U.S. away from fossil fuels within a decade, Axios reported Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Markey, a longtime player in energy policy on Capitol Hill, told the outlet the legislation was still being drafted and the precise timing of its release was not yet known. But the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led activist group who has been influential in the process, said it is due as soon as next week. Many Democrats see the ‘Green New Deal’ as an important step to signal the party’s focus on climate change. The framework has already won the support of top-tier 2020 presidential hopefuls, Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.” [Washington Examiner, 1/30/19 (=)]

House Democrats Just Told The Pentagon To Redo Its Climate Change Report. According to Mother Jones, “Earlier this month, the Pentagon released a landmark report that identified the 79 American military installations most vulnerable to the ‘effects of a changing climate.’ The 22-page filing frankly acknowledged the security implications of climate change—in dramatic contrast with President Trump’s very public global warming skepticism—but Democrats roundly criticized its failure to include several details requested by Congress, including specific cost estimates to protect or replace the ten most vulnerable bases from each of the military services. Now those lawmakers want a complete do-over. In a letter released Wednesday afternoon, three Democratic members of the House Armed Services panel, including Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.), urged acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan to compile another report by April that ‘thoroughly and clearly addresses’ the criteria requested by Congress. ‘They clearly ignored the requirement in the law,’ says Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI), one of the signatories, who had described himself as ‘deeply disappointed’ with the original report. ‘The report they issued was completely unsatisfactory.’” [Mother Jones, 1/30/19 (+)]

Courts and Legal

Greens Sue EPA To Force Drinking Water Standards. According to Politico, “Environmental groups today sued EPA over missed deadlines for reviewing and issuing new drinking water standards. Waterkeeper Alliance, Waterkeepers Chesapeake and California Coastkeeper Alliance filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, arguing that EPA’s failure to update standards for several closely watched contaminants violated the Safe Drinking Water Act. The lawsuit also challenges the agency for missing key deadlines set by the law for reviewing new contaminants and making regulatory decisions on those it has already studied. The suit comes the same week POLITICO reported that EPA decided not to regulate two separate toxic chemicals under the law. ‘At the same time the Trump administration is proposing to weaken the Clean Water Act and is actively allowing toxic chemicals to pollute our drinking water, it also is failing to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act, which stops polluted water from reaching our taps,’ said Marc Yaggi, Waterkeeper Alliance’s executive director, in a statement.” [Politico, 1/30/19 (=)]

Enviros Sue EPA Over Failure To Regulate Pollutants. According to E&E News, “The Waterkeeper Alliance is suing EPA for failing to update its drinking water standards. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, EPA is required to identify unregulated contaminants that should be monitored or regulated, and review and revise existing regulations for known pollutants. The Waterkeeper Alliance, along with Waterkeepers Chesapeake and California Coastkeeper Alliance, says EPA has failed at those duties, risking public health. ‘Unfortunately, over the last two decades, EPA has been perpetually behind schedule in virtually all phases of the Safe Drinking Water Act’s regulatory process and has missed numerous deadlines, often by years,’ the lawsuit says. ‘With unsafe drinking water causing health crises in numerous locales across the country, EPA’s delays and inaction with respect to regulating the quality of the nation’s drinking water puts the public at unnecessary and unacceptable risk.’ EPA has yet to develop new regulations for tetrachloroethylene (perc) or trichloroethylene (TCE), despite determining in 2010 that existing regulations for the solvents should be revamped to better protect human health.” [E&E News, 1/30/19 (=)]

EPA, Environmentalists Spar Over Path Forward For Ash Rule Revisions. According to Inside EPA, “Environmentalists and EPA are making competing arguments for an appellate court’s path forward on revisions to Obama-era coal ash disposal standards the agency has pledged to reconsider, with the challengers now suggesting the court could scrap the new rule but stay that mandate to avoid making regulatory compliance ‘impossible.’ In a pair of response briefs filed Jan. 29 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, each side in Waterkeeper Alliance, et al., v. Andrew Wheeler, et al., is pushing back against the other’s preferred approach to reconsider the revised ash standards. Environmentalists are insisting the court could scrap the new policy without disrupting the power sector, despite claims by the agency and utilities that any such move would have dire consequences. ‘Even if this Court were to find that vacatur would result in disruptive consequences, the Court has ample tools to mitigate any such consequences without leaving an illegal and harmful rule in place. For example, after deciding to vacate the Deadline Extensions, the Court could stay its mandate,’ environmentalists say in their new brief.” [Inside EPA, 1/30/19 (=)]

Judge Sees 'Clear-Cut Pattern' Of PG&E Causing Blazes. According to E&E News, “A federal judge who has been critical of PG&E Corp.’s safety record said the utility has a ‘clear-cut pattern’ of starting fires. U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup is overseeing PG&E’s probation for safety violations that led to felony convictions for the 2010 explosion of one of its gas pipelines, which killed eight people. He has proposed strict protocols for California’s largest utility following a series of massive fires along its 125,000 miles of power lines over the past two years. ‘Usually a criminal on probation is forthcoming and admits what they need to admit. You haven’t admitted much,’ Alsup told lawyers for the company at a hearing yesterday in federal court in San Francisco. ‘There’s a clear-cut pattern here: that PG&E is starting these fires.’ ‘Does the judge just turn a blind eye and say, ‘PG&E, continue business as usual, continue to kill people’?’ Alsup asked. Earlier in the hearing yesterday, Alsup concluded PG&E violated its probation by not telling its monitor details about the investigation and resolution of the 2017 Honey fire. The judge said he’ll set a sentencing date for that later.” [E&E News, 1/31/19 (=)]

International Meetings and agreements

UN Laments Widespread Failures To Protect Environment. According to Bloomberg, “Failure to implement and enforce environmental laws is one of the greatest impediments to mitigating climate change, reducing pollution, and preventing loss of habitat and species, the United Nations Environment Program said. It can also interfere with economic growth as natural resources are exploited in an unsustainable manner, driven in part by organized crime engaged in illegal trade practices. Since 1972, countries have enacted more than 1,100 environmental agreements and developed many other national and regional legal frameworks. As of 2017, 176 countries out of the U.N.’s 193 member states had environmental laws and regulations while more than 50 had established 350 environmental courts and tribunals. But in its first-ever global report on the environmental rule of law released earlier this month, the U.N. agency attributes governments’ weak enforcement of these legal frameworks to a lack of political will and a perception that environmental rules hinder economic development.” [Bloomberg, 1/31/19 (=)]

Research and Analysis

Climate Change May Increase Congenital Heart Defects. According to Science Daily, “Rising temperatures stemming from global climate change may increase the number of infants born with congenital heart defects (CHD) in the United States over the next two decades and may result in as many as 7,000 additional cases over an 11 year-period in eight representative states (Arkansas, Texas, California, Iowa, North Caroline, Georgia, New York and Utah), according to new research in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. ‘Our findings underscore the alarming impact of climate change on human health and highlight the need for improved preparedness to deal the anticipated rise in a complex condition that often requires lifelong care and follow-up,’ said study senior author Shao Lin, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., professor in the School of Public Health at University of Albany, New York.” [Science Daily, 1/30/19 (=)]

Air Pollution May Be Affecting How Happy You Are. According to The Conversation, “For decades now, GDP has been the standard measure of a nation’s well-being. But it is becoming clear that an economic boost may not be accompanied by a rise in individual happiness. While there are many reasons for this, one important factor is that as nations become richer, environmental features such as green space and air quality often come under increasing threat. The mental health benefits of access to parks or waterfronts, for instance, have long been recognised but more recently researchers have also started to look at the role air pollution can play in our general mental health and happiness. With more tangible outcomes such as health, cognitive performance or labour productivity, the adverse effects of poor air are significant and well-established. The link to infant mortality and respiratory disease is well known, and the World Health Organisation estimates that around 7m deaths are attributable to air pollution each year. But while many people will die and many more will acquire a chronic health condition, focusing on objective indicators such as these may still understate the true welfare cost. This is because there is now good evidence of a direct link between air quality and overall mental health and happiness.” [The Conversation, 1/30/19 (=)]

NO2 Exposure Raises Odds Of Premature Death. According to E&E News, “Long-term exposure to increasing levels of nitrogen dioxide can lead to premature death for older people, university researchers conclude in a new study. The study, published online this month in the journal Environment International, tracked deaths among some 14 million Medicare beneficiaries around the United States from 2000 to 2008 in conjunction with area air monitoring data for nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Overall, a 10-parts-per-billion increase in annual average NO2 exposure was linked to a higher risk of death from heart and respiratory ailments and — to a much smaller degree — cancer, according to the findings. The researchers also found the first evidence ‘of adverse and significant association of NO2 with pneumonia mortality,’ the paper says. NO2, a respiratory irritant, is part of a broader class of gases known as nitrogen oxides that are produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels. Leading sources of emissions are cars, trucks and coal-fired power plants. Under the Clean Air Act, it is one of a half-dozen pollutants for which EPA is required to periodically assess — and, if needed, revise — air quality standards based on the latest research into their health and ecological effects.” [E&E News, 1/30/19 (=)]

Scientists Say Warming Oceans Leading To Widespread Deaths Of Some Starfish. According to The Hill, “Scientists say that rising ocean temperatures likely exacerbated by human-caused global warming were behind the deaths of millions of starfish along the Pacific Coast. According to a new scientific study released Wednesday, millions of starfish began dying off in 2013 when the Pacific Ocean became unusually warm during a heat wave, dubbed the Blob. Twenty species of starfish were affected by the widespread disease, which began with starfish developing white lesions before dissolving their flesh and limbs and ultimately leading to their death. The New York Times reported that Cornell University professor Drew Harvell and her colleagues focused on the population of sunflower star — the predatory star known for having between 16 and 24 limbs spanning four feet across — for the study. Published in the Science Advances journal, the study shows a relationship between where sunflower stars developed the disease and died and where heat spread through the ocean. The study shows a correlation, but does not determine that heat is the direct cause of starfish deaths.” [The Hill, 1/30/19 (=)]

Study: Climate Change Could Lead To Worse Heart Defects In Babies. According to The Hill, “Rising temperatures associated with climate change could trigger heart defects in babies, according to a new study in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Heart Association. Mothers exposed to extreme heat during the early stages of their pregnancy, approximately three to eight weeks post-conception, could lead to more babies being born with congenital heart defects (CHDs) between 2025 and 2035. The study found that higher temperatures caused by climate change could result in as many as 7,000 additional cases of CHDs in the United States during that time. Midwestern states such as Iowa will potentially have the highest increase in mothers exposed to excessively hot days during the spring and summer months, followed by the southern states such as Georgia and North Carolina. The study notes that there is a lack of research regarding heat-related CHDs, although animal studies have found that heat exposure during early pregnancy can cause fetal cell death or severe fetal malformations. CHDs are among the most common birth defects and are the leading cause of infant morbidity and mortality in the U.S., the American Heart Association noted.” [The Hill, 1/30/19 (=)]

AUDIO: With Better Data On Climate Change, Scientists Predict Extreme Conditions Earlier. According to All Things Considered on NPR, “Scientists are getting more and better data on our changing climate. Now, there’s a push to use it to help people cope with the extremes we know are coming. MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: Now, on this day of historically low, even dangerously low, temperatures in the upper Midwest, we bring you a story about how scientists are learning about climate change. They’re getting more and better data. And now there is a push to use that data to help people cope with the extremes we know are coming. Joe Wertz of StateImpact Oklahoma and NPR’s energy and environment team reports.” [NPR, 1/30/19 (+)]

Fact Checking The Claim Of A Major Shift In Climate Change Opinion. According to Forbes, “One frequently sees articles announcing a watershed moment in public concern over climate change. A recent CNN article said ‘A growing number of Americans, including most Republicans, believe that climate change is happening, a shift in public opinion from three years ago.’ By contrast, a Gallup headline says, ‘Global Warming Concern Steady Despite Some Partisan Shifts.’ Which is true? Is climate change belief increasing? The answer is yes and no. Overall, the change is minor; in some segments it has changed greatly. Polls show little change in belief in climate change Belief in climate change is a much-studied subject. It has long been surveyed by Pew, Gallup, Yale/George Mason and others. It is periodically surveyed by various researchers, survey firms and news organizations. Reported change over time varies with the polling organization and specific question. The graph below shows that roughly 80% to 90% of those polled by Gallup believe the Earth has warmed or will warm. This has not changed greatly in the past 20 years.” [Forbes, 1/30/19 (=)]

More Supersonic Jets Mean More Booms, More Pollution, Study Says. According to Bloomberg, “The return of supersonic jets to the commercial marketplace at a scale sought by the aviation industry could create severe noise and climate impacts around the world, a new study published Jan. 30 found. A fleet of 2,000 aircraft flying 5,000 flights per day globally in 2035—as one aspiring manufacturer envisions—could double the area around airports exposed to noise pollution and emit an extra 1.6 to 2.4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the International Council on Clean Transportation study found. Three American firms are pushing to pioneer a renaissance of supersonics, but the aviation industry already is grappling with tough noise and emissions levels, Dan Rutherford, program director for marine and aviation at the council and the study’s lead author, said. ‘What this analysis calls into question is whether the public could accept that level of success,’ Rutherford told Bloomberg Environment Jan. 29.” [Bloomberg, 1/30/19 (=)]

Heathrow Could Get Sonic Boom 'Every Five Minutes' From Fast Jets. According to The Guardian, “Heathrow airport could be hit by a sonic boom every five minutes as a new class of supersonic aircraft come into service, research suggests. It is predicted that by 2035 there could be demand for up to 2,000 supersonic passenger jets, which could knock hours off long-haul trips. As well as further eroding the chance of limiting global warming by contributing to greater aviation emissions, the revival of supersonic aircraft would bring sonic booms to many parts of the UK, according to analysis by the International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT). Dan Rutherford, the report’s author, said there could be 300 daily landings and takeoffs by supersonic jets at Heathrow airport, and the noise would affect twice as large an area as subsonic craft. Manchester and Gatwick airports would be less affected with around 10 and 20 flights per day respectively, the report says.” [The Guardian, 1/30/19 (=)]

Climate Change Could Hurt Babies' Hearts, Study Says. According to CNN, “Heat and pregnancy do not mix. High temps don’t just make a pregnant woman uncomfortable, the heat can actually hurt the health of her baby -- and with climate change, this will probably become a bigger problem. A study in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Heart Association found that a larger number of babies will probably be born with congenital heart defects between 2025 and 2035 due to their mothers’ exposure to higher temperatures, triggered by climate change, while pregnant. This especially holds true for moms who were pregnant through spring or summer. Climate change could result in as many as 7,000 additional cases of congenital heart defects in the United States over an 11-year period, according to the study. The Midwest will probably see the biggest percent increase, followed by the South and Northeast regions of the United States. Earlier research found that climate change could ‘halt and reverse’ progress made in human health over the past century, but there’s more limited research on theimpact that has on pregnancy, the authors said. Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defects and can hurt a baby’s overall health and potentially impact how their body works or develops.” [CNN, 1/30/19 (=)]

Extreme Weather

'That Wind Chill Out There Is Not Even A Joke'. According to E&E News, “Minnesotans awoke this morning to sunshine and the coldest temperatures in a generation, testing the state’s capacity for stoicism amid the most extreme polar vortex since 1996. Thermometers in the Twin Cities dropped to minus 28 degrees Fahrenheit before dawn, and overnight wind chills made it feel like minus 55 at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The National Weather Service in Chanhassen, Minn., just outside Minneapolis, posted a photo early today showing its Nimbus digital thermometer reading: minus 30. Overnight temperatures in northwest Minnesota dropped to minus 42, while wind chills fell to minus 64 in the city of Park Rapids, approaching temperature records dating to the 19th century. Several communities in southern Minnesota broke low temperature records set in the 1950s. Thousands of power outages were reported last night, and Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electric utility, warned that demand for home heating was placing a strain on its natural gas supplies. About 150 customers in the Princeton area about 60 miles northwest of Minneapolis lost heat, utility spokesman Matt Lindstrom said, and were given hotel rooms for the night.´[E&E News, 1/30/19 (=)]

Calif. Starts Over On Forest Strategy To Fight Blazes. According to E&E News, “California wildland managers said yesterday that they want to speed up logging and prescribed burns designed to slow wildfires that have devastated communities in recent years. After the deadliest and most destructive blazes in state history, officials are scrapping 12 years of efforts and starting anew on creating a single environmental review process to cover projects on private land, such as cutting back dense stands of trees and setting controlled fires to burn out thick brush. A new process would still need to clear administrative hurdles and may face lawsuits. The goal of the one-step process is to double the state’s forest management efforts to a half-million acres of non-federal land each year, a target set by former Gov. Jerry Brown (D). The new system is slated to be ready within a year. President Trump has repeatedly criticized California’s Democratic officials for not doing a good enough job managing the state’s forests and has threatened to cut off the state’s federal disaster funding.” [E&E News, 1/30/19 (=)]

How Climate Change Is Behind This Week's Extreme Cold Snap. According to CBC, “Baby, it’s frigid outside. A large swath of Canada, from the Prairies to Nova Scotia, is under a deep freeze. Temperatures in Winnipeg are dipping down to –36 C Monday night with a windchill of almost –50 C. In Windsor, which is typically the warmest spot in Ontario, the overnight temperature will dip to –27 C with a windchill of –40 C. Even in parts of the U.S. Midwest, temperatures are expected to have a wind chill of –50 C. This may leave some, like U.S. president Donald Trump, wondering where global warming has wandered off to. The fact is, it’s climate change, or global warming, that’s behind this extreme cold. Ever since the bitter winter of 2014, a new winter-weather catchphrase has been making the rounds: polar vortex. The polar vortex is nothing new. It’s just that it typically encircles the north pole. However, in recent years, it seems to be meandering southward every so often. ‘This air mass always exists, and it often gets bumped and pushed around. In this case, the jet stream pushed it all the way down to the U.S. Midwest,’ said CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe. ‘Sometimes that air mass can get split, or divided because of the jet stream, so it ends up getting stuck in place.’ That’s what happened this week: the jet stream managed to split the descending polar vortex into three.” [CBC, 1/30/19 (=)]

Record Fires And A Bankrupt Utility Threaten Renewables. According to E&E News, “A contract to sell electricity to Pacific Gas and Electric Co., California’s largest utility, was historically the gold standard in the renewables business. Not anymore. The San Francisco-based power company’s bankruptcy has thrown the Golden State’s renewable market into flux, creating uncertainty for an industry shouldering much of the burden associated with greening California’s economy. Analysts do not expect the bankruptcy to hinder California’s ability to meet its ambitious renewable energy targets. PG&E is ahead of schedule in meeting state requirements for renewable purchases. And it is far from the only renewable buyer in the California market. Corporations and municipal community choice aggregators, which buy energy on behalf of their communities, have emerged as leading purchasers of solar in the state in recent years. Yet the PG&E bankruptcy poses new risks for renewable developers, power-sector observers say. Firms that inked long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with PG&E now face the prospect of seeing their contracts renegotiated on less favorable terms in bankruptcy court. That carries substantial risk for companies that took on large amounts of debt to build projects they assumed would be paid off by high-priced contracts with PG&E.” [E&E News, 1/31/19 (=)]

Climate Change Shifts 'Murder Wind' That Drives Fires. According to E&E News, “Hot, dry Santa Ana winds that feed Southern California wildfires threaten to peak later in the year and potentially drive longer fires because of climate change, according to new research. Santa Anas, which can gust up to 100 mph, are expected to decrease in the months of September and October and then strengthen in December and January over the next 80 years, say the authors of a study published today in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The weakening of Santa Anas in the fall would be good news, except that climate change is also triggering hotter summers and shifts in precipitation, said Alexander Gershunov, who co-wrote the study with Janin Guzman-Morales. Both scientists are with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. When taken together, it means ‘wildfire season in California will likely shift from October toward December,’ Gershunov said. ‘In December, we’re more likely to get back-to-back Santa Anas. So if the fuels are dry in December, and a fire starts in Santa Ana wind conditions, it’s likely to burn longer.’” [E&E News, 1/31/19 (=)]

Opinion Pieces

Op-Ed: Policymakers Should Glean Lessons From Canada's Carbon Tax. According to The Hill, “Many prominent economists in the United States penned an opinion piece on Jan. 16 in the Wall Street Journal recommending a national carbon tax as the most cost-effective way to combat climate change. Yet their call-to-action ignores the gap between how carbon taxes operate in theory and how governments implement them. North of the border, Canada’s real-life experience with carbon taxes underscores this phenomenon. First, some background. Many economists, including 2018 Nobel Prize-winner William Nordhaus, have designed ideal carbon taxes, which reduce emissions while promoting economic growth — but without considering how government interests affect implementation. Economists generally agree that an efficient carbon tax is characterized by: revenue neutrality, with all revenues used to reduce more costly harmful taxes; substitution of existing regulations; and prohibition against subsidies to energy alternatives, including renewable sources like wind and solar power. But in reality, these criteria have never been achieved in practice.” [The Hill, 1/30/19 (=)]

Op-Ed: How Dangerous (And Historic) Is The Polar Vortex Hitting The Midwest? According to The Hill, “For a while there, Chicago’s 2019 weather was normal. With just three days left in January, temperatures had averaged a few tenths warmer than usual. It had been a bit snowy, but no big deal. Then the Polar Vortex happened. On Wednesday, Chicago may well be having its coldest day in recorded history. Its all-time record low temperature, -27 degrees Fahrenheit set in 1985, and its all-time lowest high temperature, -11 degrees set in 1994, are both in serious danger. For that matter, people throughout the Midwest are in serious danger, too. Extreme cold weather is nasty stuff, especially with winds as strong as they are. Ordinary happenings can quickly become fatal when wind chills are below -50 degrees. Got a flat? It might have been caused by the extreme cold. Now try changing the tire while wearing a heavy coat, scarf, and thick gloves, while snow is whipping across your face and building up on your exposed skin. Take off your gloves to work with the lug nuts, and you could immediately get frostbite. That car coming up behind you might not notice you crouched next to your left rear tire, because visibility is so poor with the blowing snow, and any jerk of the steering wheel could send the car into a spin.” [The Hill, 1/30/19 (=)]

Op-Ed: Is 100% Renewable Energy For The US Possible? Yes. According to Utility Dive, “Across America, devastating hurricanes, hellish wildfires, deadly heat waves and other disasters have brought the climate change crisis close to home. In response, more than 100 cities, counties and states — including the two largest, California and New York — have committed to use only renewable or zero-emissions sources for electricity by mid-century. Should the nation as a whole shoot for such an ambitious goal? Is it even possible for the entire U.S. to supply electricity reliably with 100% renewable energy sources? The bottom line: Yes. But the devil is in the details, and the debate rages over how to get there. Pressing the issue are newly elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and hundreds of public interest groups supporting her proposed Green New Deal. In a letter to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the groups say heading off catastrophic levels of global warming demands a shift to 100% renewable power generation by 2035 or earlier. The Environmental Working Group also supports the goals and spirit of the Green New Deal.” [Utility Dive, 1/30/19 (+)]

Op-Ed: What Green New Dealers Can Learn From The First New Deal. According to the Washington Post, “Seeking to create a politics that will address the climate crisis, Democrats ranging from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) advocate a Green New Deal, evoking Franklin D. Roosevelt’s mobilization of Americans to fight the Great Depression. With their emphasis on economic restructuring, public employment and social justice, the Green New Dealers have much in common with their Democratic predecessors. Indeed, they have more in common than they know: The original New Deal was itself a green New Deal, and modern Democrats should learn from its successes and failures alike. When Roosevelt promised Americans a New Deal upon accepting the Democratic nomination for president in July 1932, he pledged a series of programs to defeat the Depression and prevent its recurrence. Prominent among them was a proposal for sustainability in the use of natural resources. At the convention, he exclaimed, ‘Why, every European Nation has a definite land policy, and has had one for generations. We have none. Having none, we face a future of soil erosion and timber famine.’ The Dust Bowl disaster vindicated his dire prophecy: Plowing and planting unsuitable soil with little regard for its natural properties led to the destruction of the prairies and the impoverishment of farm regions.” [Washington Post, 1/31/19 (=)]

Opinion: Pacific Gas And Electric Is A Company That Was Just Bankrupted By Climate Change. It Won’t Be The Last. According to Washington Post, “On Tuesday, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) — California’s largest utility and one of the United States’ largest investor-owned electric utilities — filed for bankruptcy. It claimed that bankruptcy was its ‘only viable option’ because of liabilities arising from numerous California wildfires that some, including a federal judge, have traced to the company’s power lines. Most scientists agree that global warming worsened the effects of the decade-long drought in California, making it more likely that each errant spark could cause unprecedented damage. PG&E did too little too late to manage this growing risk, and it is far from alone. As we explain below, PG&E’s crisis is just one example of how climate change is creating massive risks for U.S. corporations. PG&E’s bankruptcy is a symptom of a more general problem: Corporations haven’t priced in the consequences of global warming. A recent study in the journal Nature Climate Change shows that corporate expectations for current and future spending on the management of physical risks from climate change are off by two orders of magnitude. Companies and investors are still drastically underestimating the risk that climate change poses to both their infrastructure and their underlying assumptions about economic prosperity.” [Washington Post, 1/30/19 (=)]

Op-Ed: Kamala Harris Is Wrong About Science Fiction. According to the Washington Post, “Sen. Kamala D. Harris was half right in her speech launching her 2020 presidential campaign when she said we need to address climate change based on ‘science fact, not science fiction.’ The truth is, we need both. Science fiction has an important role to play in rescuing the future from the huge challenges we’re facing — and the responses to Harris’s statement illustrate this perfectly. When the California Democrat’s statement about climate change went out on social media, a number of people pointed out the truth: Science fiction has been helping us to prepare for a world of potentially disastrous climate upheaval for years. But an equal number of loud voices took issue with Harris’s warnings about climate change, because in our post-truth era, the scientific consensus about what humans are doing to our planet is still somehow a matter of opinion. And that’s why science fiction is more important than Harris gives it credit for. No amount of scientific evidence will convince deniers — or the vast number of people who merely live in a state of denial. We live in an era in which facts and fiction are blurring into an indistinguishable mess and power belongs to whoever can tell the best story, true or not. No one can even tell what’s real anymore, and what matters is just how something makes us feel — which is why we need better stories, that, in the words of author Neil Gaiman, ‘lie in order to tell the truth.’” [Washington Post, 1/30/19 (=)]

Op-Ed: The Left Must Be Bold And Back A Green New Deal. According to The Guardian, “It’s often said that real change takes place at a time of crisis, but that’s not the whole story. A crisis makes change possible, but only when new ideas are knocking about does it actually happen. Otherwise, it is soon business as usual. The US economist Milton Friedman understood that fact, which is why he toiled away in the political wilderness to plot the downfall of postwar social democracy and was fully prepared when trouble arrived in the mid-1970s. The left was so in thrall to market forces and globalised capital that it blew a golden opportunity in 2007 Contrast that with the mainstream left, which was so in thrall to market forces and globalised capital that it was bereft of ideas when the financial crisis broke in 2007, and as a result blew a golden opportunity to challenge the status quo. The age of austerity was the result. Lessons needed to be learned – and they have been, not least by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who won a seat in the US House of Representatives and has been calling for a 21st-century equivalent of Franklin Roosevelt’s plan to tackle the Great Depression: a green new deal.” [The Guardian, 1/31/19 (+)]

States

Arizona

Key Ariz. Committee Signs Off On Drought Plan. According to E&E News, “A multistate agreement to conserve Colorado River water took an important step forward yesterday as a key legislative panel signed off in Arizona, the last of seven states that must sign on to the deal by tomorrow. Amid fears that prolonged drought is endangering water supplies from the Colorado River, a state House committee voted unanimously to let Arizona sign on to the agreement and implement a series of changes to state water laws. Arizona is the only state that requires the Legislature’s approval to sign on to a drought contingency plan negotiated by the seven states that draw water from the constrained river. The Legislature’s approval would be the final puzzle piece that avoids potentially more severe cutbacks. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation director Brenda Burman has said she’s facing pressure from other states to limit Arizona’s water deliveries without a complete drought plan.” [E&E News, 1/30/19 (=)]

Florida

Florida Bill Would Have Students Learn Alternatives To Climate Change, Evolution. According to the Tampa Bay Times, “A bill that would allow school districts to teach Florida students alternatives to concepts deemed ‘controversial theories’ — such as human-caused climate change and evolution — has been filed in the state Legislature. The language of the bill sounds fairly unremarkable, requiring only that schools ‘shall’ teach these ‘theories’ in a ‘factual, objective, and balanced manner.’ But the group that wrote the bill, the Florida Citizens Alliance, says the bill is needed because curriculum currently taught in Florida schools equates to ‘political and religious indoctrination,’ according to their managing director, Keith Flaugh. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, said that schools need to teach ‘different worldviews’ on issues like evolution and climate change. He asserts that textbooks now skew toward ‘uniformity’ of thought. ‘Nothing is ever settled if it’s science, because people are always questioning science,’ Baxley said. ‘If you look at the history of human learning, for a long time the official worldview was that the world was flat. Anything you now accept as fact comes from a perspective and you learn from examining different schools of thought.’” [Tampa Bay Times, 1/29/19 (-)]

Florida Lawmaker Sourced Anti-Climate Change, Anti-Evolution Bill From Islamophobic Fringe Group. According to Miami New Times, “It’s 2019 and Florida lawmakers still want to debate the existence of evolution and human-caused climate change. For that, you can thank longtime state senator and proud son of the Confederacy, Ocala’s Dennis Baxley, who recently teamed up with a fringe-right, virulently Islamophobic group to push yet another anti-science bill. Earlier this month, Baxley filed SB 330 — a bill that seemed to, innocently enough, revise the ‘minimum baseline standards’ for what kids are taught in Florida public schools. One of the few additions Baxley proposed was to ensure all ‘controversial theories and concepts’ be ‘taught in a factual, objective, and balanced manner.’ That is nothing more than an opening for parents and teachers to challenge allegedly controversial ideas such as climate change and evolution. Baxley got the idea for the bill from the Naples-area group the Florida Citizens’ Alliance. The Tampa Bay Times yesterday confirmed the Citizens’ Alliance drafted the bill’s text to ensure alternative theories on climate change and evolution are taught in Florida’s schools. Notably, the vast majority of scientists do not believe there are credible alternatives to the theories of evolution and climate change.” [Miami New Times, 1/29/19 (=)]

New Mexico

Coal's Turbulent Decline Unfolds In N.M. According to E&E News, “The biggest electricity provider in New Mexico often goes by just three letters — PNM. Now it’s knee-deep in efforts to shed its association with a four-letter fuel — coal. The portion of coal in PNM’s generation mix dropped from 68 percent in 2005 to 56 percent in 2012 to an estimated 38 percent last year. Before 2031 is over, the utility expects to be coal-free. But the Public Service Company of New Mexico — PNM’s formal name — can only leave coal behind if it curbs its reliance on the San Juan Generating Station and Four Corners power plant. And while there’s a push from environmental interests, stoked by the state’s new Democratic governor, to ditch the black rock, there are also widespread concerns about the economic fallout for northwestern New Mexico and tribal populations. Tension was evident yesterday as the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) voted to direct PNM to file an application by March 1 on the possible abandonment of San Juan. The company had been seeking to do that later this year, but the PRC decided to move ahead, even as critics suggested that could affect potential legislation.” [E&E News, 1/31/19 (=)]

Blue State Environmental Wave Grows As New Mexico Governor Signs Clean Energy Order. According to Utility Dive, “Lujan Grisham ran strongly on clean energy during the 2018 midterms, climbing a wind turbine in a campaign ad and joining six other Democratic governors in flipping state executive seats from red to blue. She ran in part on bringing the state to 50% renewable energy by 2030 and 80% by 2040, and her election marked another clean energy pendulum swing for the state. New Mexico was one of the founding members of the Western Climate Initiative under Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson in 2007, but Republican Gov. Susana Martinez withdrew the state from the agreement in 2011. Grisham’s order comes on the heels of a similar move by J.B. Pritzker, the recently elected Democratic governor of Illinois. The move in the first month of her governorship ‘puts in place a team and a process going forward to do even more and figure out what polices will work for New Mexico going forward, how can New Mexico work with other states and ... figure out what more needs to be done in the coming months and years to put New Mexico back in a leadership position,’ Noah Long, director of the Interior West and Northwest Climate & Clean Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Utility Dive.” [Utility Dive, 1/30/19 (+)]

Chad Ellwood

Research Associate

cellwood@cacampaign.com

202.448.2877 ext. 119