Research Clips: February 21, 2018

 

 

Obama EPA Chief: Trump Regulation Rollbacks Won't Hold Up Legally

 

White House: Trump Has Confidence In VA, EPA Chiefs

 

IG Report Discounted Tar Creek Superfund Fraud Claims

 

233 Mayors Protest Pruitt's Rule Rollback

 

Dems Question Security Reasons For Pruitt's First-Class Travel

 

IG Warns EPA Fy19 Budget Plan Will 'Seriously' Hinder Investigative Work

 

POLITICAL NEWS

 

White House And Diplomacy

 

White House: Trump Has Confidence In VA, EPA Chiefs. According to The Hill, “The White House indicated Tuesday that President Trump has confidence in his Veterans Affairs secretary and Environmental Protection Agency director despite allegations of travel abuses. ‘I have no reason to believe otherwise,’ White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters when asked if Trump still has confidence in VA Secretary David Shulkin and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. ‘As we have said many times before, if somebody doesn’t have the confidence of the president, you will know.’” [The Hill, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

OMB Greenlights Bid To Scrap Obama Oil And Gas Guidelines. According to EE News, “The White House Office of Management and Budget has cleared U.S. EPA’s proposal to scrap pollution-reduction guidelines for existing oil and gas operations, setting the stage for the rollback of another piece of the Obama administration’s environmental agenda. OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs finished a standard interagency review of the proposed withdrawal notice for the ‘control techniques guidelines’ on Friday, according to the Reginfo.gov website. Once the notice is signed, EPA will put the proposal out for public comment, an agency spokeswoman said in an email today.” [EE News, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Trump's Big Project In Fla. Sidesteps Rising Seas. According to EE News, “An inland traffic corridor in Florida is being promoted by the Trump administration as a top project in its $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, even as the state grapples with rising sea levels along its 1,200-mile coastline. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao touted the $2.3 billion ‘I-4 Ultimate Improvement Project’ as one of the nation’s premier highway rebuilds in an op-ed published in the Orlando Sentinel.” [EE News, 2/21/18 (=)]

 

Paris Agreement 'Not Enough Action' As Emissions Rise. According to EE News, “Two years after inking the Paris climate agreement, emissions are rising again as the world’s euphoria at reaching a global climate accord collides with political realities. The United States expects to see emissions increase 1.8 percent this year, reversing three years of declines, as President Trump plans to quit the Paris accords. Other countries face challenges, too, even as renewable energy grows cheaper and electric cars become more plentiful.” [EE News, 2/21/18 (=)]

 

Former WH Adviser: Trump Will Want To Rejoin Paris Climate Pact By 2020. According to The Hill, “The White House has been considering a plan to rejoin the Paris climate agreement by 2020, a former top White House adviser on international energy and environment issues told E&E news Tuesday. George David Banks, who left the White House last week after reportedly learning that he would not be granted a permanent security clearance because of past marijuana use, said that while working with the administration, he had a plan in place for the U.S. to ultimately re-enter the international accord. ‘There’s nothing in it for the president this year. There’s nothing in it for the president next year,’ Banks said. But in 2020, ‘he’s going to want victories.’” [The Hill, 2/21/18 (+)]

 

Trump Has Done Nothing To Save Coal, Bush Environmental Czar Says. According to Forbes, “President Trump claimed in his State of the Union Address ‘to have ended the war on beautiful clean coal,’ but coal continues to decline in competition with cheap natural gas. I asked Jim Connaughton, who chaired the White House Council on Environmental Quality for the George W. Bush Administration, whether Trump has done anything to save the coal industry. ‘No,’ replied Connaughton, who also directed Bush’s White House Office on Environmental Policy.” [Forbes, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

 

 

Federal Agencies

 

Pruitt, Zinke And Perry To Address CPAC. According to EE News, “Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt are listed on the annual politically right-leaning event’s agenda for this week. Pruitt is scheduled to speak at the Ronald Reagan Dinner on Friday night. He is slated to appear alongside Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro at the ticketed event. Friday morning, Perry and Zinke are expected to appear together. The two Cabinet secretaries will be interviewed by former Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-Colo.).” [EE News, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

 

EPA

 

Obama EPA Chief: Trump Regulation Rollbacks Won't Hold Up Legally. According to The Hill, “Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy says that regulations struck down by the Trump administration simply because they were issued under President Obama won’t carry weight in court. McCarthy, who led the Environmental Protection Agency from 2013 to 2017, called the recent political targeting of regulations at the agency a ‘real problem.’ ‘I think the important thing is none of them should be touched unless the administration has a real reason to touch them, other than it was done under the Obama administration, and that is the real problem that we see,’ McCarthy on Tuesday told BuzzFeed’s morning livestream program, ‘AM to DM.’” [The Hill, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

IG Report Discounted Tar Creek Superfund Fraud Claims. According to EE News, “An investigation by U.S. EPA’s watchdog agency in 2013 discounted allegations of fraud at the Tar Creek Superfund site in 2013. The findings of EPA’s inspector general run counter to those of Oklahoma State Auditor Gary Jones, who says his audit found criminal violations at the site. But they track with the decision of then-Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who declined to bring charges after receiving Jones’ audit.” [EE News, 2/21/18 (-)]

 

Downplaying Appeal, EPA Vows To Fight Adverse TSCA Ruling On 'Merits'. According to Inside EPA, “In a surprise to some industry observers, EPA appears to be downplaying prospects that it will appeal a recent precedential ruling that rejected its efforts to limit litigation over its denial of a citizen petition under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to the administrative record, saying the agency will fight the litigation ‘on the merits.’ ‘While EPA disagrees with the [court’s] decision to deny the motion to limit the court’s review to the administrative record, the court’s decision simply means that EPA will continue to vigorously defend its decision to deny the petition on the merits as the litigation moves forward,’ according to the agency.” [Inside EPA, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Judges Hear Arguments Over 2 EPA Superfund Listing Decisions. According to EE News, “An appeals court today considered U.S. EPA decisions to add sites to a list of the nation’s most contaminated areas, including a large mining district that contains the Gold King abandoned mine. EPA put the Bonita Peak Mining District and nine other sites on its national priorities list of Superfund sites in September 2016. Sunnyside Gold Corp. has filed a lawsuit challenging EPA’s decision to list the mining district. In a separate suit, a pair of companies argue that the agency broke the law in adding the site of a former dry cleaner and auto shop in Indiana.” [EE News, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

IG Warns EPA Fy19 Budget Plan Will 'Seriously' Hinder Investigative Work. According to Inside EPA, “As Democratic lawmakers increasingly turn to EPA’s Inspector General (IG) to investigate Administrator Scott Pruitt’s practices at the agency, the Trump administration is proposing to cut the IG’s budget in fiscal year 2019, prompting the IG’s warning that the proposed reductions will ‘seriously’ hinder the office’s ability to perform investigations targeting fraud, waste and abuse. ‘The President’s Budget request is substantially less than what we requested, seriously impacting the work we are able to perform. Without sufficient resources, we will not be able to do multiple audits and investigations that have considerable value and return on investment,’ an IG spokeswoman tells Inside EPA. President Donald Trump’s FY19 budget proposal would cut the office’s budget from its current $41.2 million in FY18 to $37.5 million.” [Inside EPA, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

Utilities, States, Environmentalists Clash Over Obama EPA CSAPR 'Update'. According to Inside EPA, “Utilities, states and environmentalists are clashing in legal fights over the Obama EPA’s ‘update’ to its Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) emissions trading program, with disputes over the update rule’s merits including its implementation costs, how to address international emissions, and ‘over-control’ of upwind states. The arguments are detailed in a series of briefs filed Feb. 16 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in State of Wisconsin, et al. v. EPA, et al., in which Wisconsin and utility industry groups are seeking to overturn the 2016 update rule. They argue the rule is unreasonably tough and limits emissions from upwind states more than is required, amounting to unlawful over-control.” [Inside EPA, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

EPA 'Lean' Training This Spring — Operations Chief. According to EE News, “Training in U.S. EPA’s streamlined management techniques will begin soon, the agency’s No. 3 official said in an internal email to employees today obtained by E&E News. Assistant Deputy Administrator Henry Darwin wrote that ‘deployment training’ for EPA’s ‘Lean’ management system for teams of agency employees is happening this spring. It comes as the agency looks to boost employee engagement.” [EE News, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Justices Pass On Challenges To EPA's Clean Water Act Power. According to EE News, "Justices pass on challenges to EPA’s Clean Water Act power. According to EE News, ‘The Supreme Court won’t revive a pair of lawsuits challenging U.S. EPA’s authority under the Clean Water Act. Justices today passed on taking up cases related to stormwater policies and permits for water reclamation plants. As with a recent litigation over the Obama-era Clean Water Rule, the Supreme Court petitions centered on the correct legal venue to bring lawsuits. In both instances, a lower court tossed out the suit after finding it did not have jurisdiction.’ [EE News, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Senators Seek EPA Rule Limiting Hfc Production As Officials Split On Kigali. According to Inside EPA, “A bipartisan group of six senators is floating legislation that would require EPA to write a rule to phase down production of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants that act as potent greenhouse gases, amid reports that the Trump administration is split on whether to embrace an international deal to restrict the chemicals. If enacted, the legislation, S. 2448, would provide EPA with authority to achieve the treaty’s goals even as administration officials work to determine whether to support the deal -- the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol -- and seek Senate ratification.” [Inside EPA, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

EPA Can't Delay Deadline On New Formaldehyde Standards. According to Law 360, “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cannot push back the deadline for the industry to comply with new formaldehyde emissions standards, a California federal judge found on Friday, handing environmental groups a victory after they argued the delay effectively ‘eviscerates’ the statute. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White said the current deadline ‘far exceeds’ the Formaldehyde Act’s mandatory 180-day deadline and rejected the EPA’s contention that it’s allowed to further extend that deadline until Dec. 12. The judge said pushing back that deadline violates the act’s mandatory expedient compliance.” [Law 360, 2/21/18 (=)]

 

Hawaiʻi’s Mayors Oppose Trump Administration Repeal Of Clean Power Plan. According to Big Island Now, “Leaders from the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaiʻi County, Maui County and Kauaʻi County have joined 226 mayors from 44 states and territories, representing nearly 50 million Americans to oppose the Trump Administration’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan. Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Hawaiʻi County Mayor Harry Kim, Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa and Kauaʻi County Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho Jr. all signed onto a letter in opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Repeal of Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units.” [Big Island Now, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

Clean Power Plan 'I Never Imagined This Would Happen' — Ex-EPA Staffer. According to EE News, “Former U.S. EPA staff members who worked on the Clean Power Plan are urging the Trump administration to back off its plans to kill the rule. In public comments submitted yesterday, a volunteer group of retired and former agency staff called Save EPA said it should be up to a federal appeals court — not the Trump administration — to decide whether the Obama administration’s signature climate regulation should proceed as originally written. The group includes ex-EPA staffers who helped craft that rule.” [EE News, 2/21/18 (+)]

 

Supreme Court Declines Review Of Suits Over EPA Wastewater Permit Power. According to Inside EPA, “The Supreme Court has opted against reviewing two cases testing the limits of EPA's Clean Water Act (CWA) permit authority over wastewater treatment operations, letting stand appellate rulings that denied review of EPA's objection to a state-crafted CWA permit, and a dispute over nationwide application of a wastewater “blending” ruling. In its Feb. 20 orders , the high court without comment rejected petitions for review in Center for Regulatory Reasonableness.” [Inside EPA, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

EPA Appears To Abandon Limit On 'Sue-And-Settle' Amid Court Losses. According to Inside EPA, “EPA is seeking to settle the first case testing Administrator Scott Pruitt's so-called “sue-and-settle” policy limiting settlement of environmentalists' deadline suits, a move that suggests the agency is quietly abandoning the policy just five months after its adoption amidst a series of court losses. The Department of Justice (DOJ) on behalf of EPA and the Sierra Club filed a Feb. 5 joint status report and motion to stay proceedings in a case the environmental group had brought alleging that...” [Inside EPA, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Connecticut Threatens Suit Over EPA's Proposed Ozone Petition Denial. According to Inside EPA, “Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) is threatening to sue EPA over its proposed decision to deny the state's petition for direct federal regulation of a Pennsylvania power plant that top state officials say is compromising Connecticut's ability to meet federal ozone standards. “Once again, the Trump administration is putting the lives of Connecticut residents at risk. We know that in Connecticut the air we breathe is severely impacted by upwind polluters, such as Brunner Island.” [Inside EPA, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Pruitt

 

Protesters Deemed Threat To Pruitt, Triggered Probe. According to EE News, “U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s security detail reported protesters who disrupted one of his speeches as a potential threat, sparking an investigation by the agency’s internal watchdog. The EPA inspector general opened an investigation into the purported threat to the administrator posed by two protesters who interrupted Pruitt’s speech at the Environmental Council of the States’ conference in Washington on April 7, 2017. The protesters, both women, shouted at the administrator one after the other about EPA’s recent decision to allow continued use of the controversial pesticide chlorpyrifos, which has been found to be a risk to human health. One held what appeared to be an orange, while the other carried several oranges in a basket. Within a minute of the start of each of their protests, they were led out of the room where Pruitt was speaking.” [EE News, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Dems Question Security Reasons For Pruitt's First-Class Travel. According to EE News, “House Energy and Commerce Democrats are questioning how U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is better protected by flying first class. Reps. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), in a letter to Pruitt today, took issue with the EPA chief’s use of more expensive flights. They asked for documents regarding his travel and wondered how Pruitt was safer by not taking a coach seat. ‘It remains unclear how any possible security threats warranted the frequent issuance of waivers authorizing you to fly first-class on domestic flights, or how sitting in a first-class seat is safer than sitting in economy class,’ they wrote.” [EE News, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

233 Mayors Protest Pruitt's Rule Rollback. According to EE News, “A group of 233 mayors from 46 states and territories are condemning U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s attempts to roll back the Clean Power Plan, former President Obama’s signature climate rule. In a letter submitted today, the leaders say repealing the climate regulation would have devastating health and economic impacts on more than 51 million people they represent collectively. ‘Communities across the country are experiencing the effects of climate change today: sea level rise; hotter, longer, and more frequent heat waves; increased extreme weather; and many other harmful impacts,’ said the letter. ‘There is broad agreement that the future economic costs of climate change should not be overlooked.’” [EE News, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

 

DOE

 

DOE Posters Trigger Whistleblower Guidance. According to EE News, “More than six months after posters went up at the Energy Department warning ‘every leak makes us weak,’ federal officials have removed them and published new guidance for protecting whistleblowers. The Office of Special Counsel earlier this month confirmed the DOE posters had been taken down. It also updated previously issued memos calling on all federal agencies to ensure their policies and practices on monitoring employee email and other communications don’t interfere or ‘chill’ workers from lawfully disclosing wrongdoing.” [EE News, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Watchdog Questions Source Of PJM's Political Donations. According to EE News, “A consumer group filed a complaint with federal regulators today questioning whether the nation’s largest electric grid operator violated the Federal Power Act by giving ratepayer money to political campaigns. PJM Interconnection — which coordinates the grid in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia — has given a total of $456,000 to the Democratic and Republican governors’ associations since 2007, according to a complaint filed by Public Citizen.” [EE News, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Texas Grid Operator Moves To Protect State Jurisdiction. According to EE News, “Texas’ main grid operator endorsed a protocol change yesterday to clarify its ability to stop electricity transfers to Mexico — if necessary — as it seeks to keep regulatory oversight primarily with state regulators. In voting for the item, the board of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) followed through on a request from the chairwoman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC). DeAnn Walker is seeking to stave off worries about a possible claim of jurisdiction by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.” [EE News, 2/21/18 (=)]

 

DOE's Walker Plugs North American Energy Model. According to EE News, “Building a robust model of North America’s energy infrastructure will help industry players and regulators ‘understand the interdependencies of the different energy systems,’ said Bruce Walker, the Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability. It will also help ensure the resilience and reliability of the grid, Walker said, delivering on a policy focus of the Trump administration.” [EE News, 2/21/18 (=)]

 

 

CLIMATE ADVOCACY AND OTHER NEWS

 

Meet The Most Important Woman In Solar. According to EE News, “Wherever Abigail Ross Hopper goes, her laptop and cellphone go, too. ‘I carry them around as if they were fashion accessories,’ said Hopper, the president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, in a recent interview. That connectivity came in handy last May, when the U.S. International Trade Commission decided to consider a petition by Suniva Inc., a bankrupt solar manufacturer in Georgia, to place tariffs on imported solar cells (Energywire, May 24, 2017). Hopper was attending the American Wind Energy Association’s conference in Anaheim, Calif., when she got a call about the ITC’s decision. ‘I actually changed my trip back so that I could do a webinar with our members to explain the process going forward,’ Hopper recalled. ‘Originally, I was supposed to be on an airplane at that time.’” [EE News, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Bipartisan Senate Bill Would Allow Ban On HFCs. According to EE News, “A bipartisan group of lawmakers last week introduced legislation that would allow U.S. EPA to implement a deal meant to phase out certain greenhouse gases. The legislation would give EPA authority to ban hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning that are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide. Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced the ‘American Innovation and Manufacturing Act.’” [EE News, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Tackling Climate Change When Trump Won’t Talk About It. According to Axios, “President Trump and his administration have gone to extreme lengths to wipe climate change from the U.S. federal government’s lexicon and question whether it’s a real issue at all. That’s got people working to tackle the problem wondering, paradoxically, how to make progress without the Trump administration acknowledging it. The bottom line: A surprisingly large amount of progress is being made, actually, including on certain federal policies, within corporations and by local governments. Ultimately, though, the scale of the problem needs not only federal acknowledgment but also concerted backing.” [Axios, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

Industry

 

3M To Pay $850 Million To Settle Suit Over Chemical Disposal. According to Associated Press, “3M Co. has agreed to pay the state of Minnesota $850 million to settle a major case alleging the manufacturer damaged natural resources and contaminated groundwater by disposing of chemicals over decades, Minnesota’s attorney general announced Tuesday. The state was seeking $5 billion from Maplewood, Minnesota-based 3M in a case that focused on the company’s disposal of chemicals once used to make Scotchgard fabric protector and other products. The lawsuit, filed in 2010, alleged 3M damaged Minnesota’s natural resources, including more than 100 miles of the Mississippi River. The state also said the chemicals contaminated drinking water, harmed wildlife and posed a threat to human health.” [Associated Press, 2/21/18 (=)]

 

 

Opinion

 

Trump Can’t Kill Renewable Energy. According to the New Republic, “Environmental advocates and journalists (me included) have a habit of describing Trump’s presidency as a major blow to renewable energy. But the reality is far more complicated. Yes, the Trump administration has adopted an aggressively pro–fossil fuel agenda and has pushed policies that are undoubtedly harmful to renewable energy. But that doesn’t mean he’s destroying the industry altogether, nor that he has the ability to do so. From solar to wind to geothermal energy, the renewables industry is withstanding Trump—and in some cases, it’s doing better than ever.” [New Republic, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

Opinion: Cutting EPA Indoor Air Pollution Research Will Cost Money And Lives. According to The Hill, “Among the many headlines following the release of the Trump administration’s 2019 budget proposal this week was a 23 percent reduction in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Lost in the noise was an even deeper gutting of several individual research and management programs at the EPA, which, if successful, will have great negative impacts on human health and productivity. The proposed cuts include 33 percent reductions in research on chemical safety and sustainability, 61 percent reductions in research on sustainable communities, and 66 percent reductions in research on air and energy compared to the fiscal year 2018 continuing resolution budget, as well as the complete elimination of the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) research program and the indoor air and radon management programs.” [The Hill, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

Opinion: Climate Change Policies Create American Jobs. According to San Francisco Examiner, “It’s been a month since the Women’s March, and yelling at politicians in Washington, D.C., on the television feels old. Thankfully, there’s a chance to resist again next Wednesday. The Environmental Protection Agency is holding a listening session in San Francisco on its proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan. The EPA announced its intention last October as deadly wildfires choked California. The Clean Power Plan would combat climate change by requiring utilities to reduce carbon emissions. Although it has not gone into effect since it was passed in 2015, the plan also promises to lower asthma rates, increase energy efficiency and spur renewable energy investment. It would help the United States remain competitive as the world transitions to a clean energy economy.” [San Francisco Examiner, 2/21/18 (+)]

 

Editorial: Scott Pruitt’s EPA Will Talk ‘So-Called Clean Power Plan’ In KC. According to Kansas City Star, “The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency intends to repeal President Barack Obama’s policy on fighting the droughts, floods, fires and rising sea level that characterize climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. But before it can do that, it’s required to hold a series of ‘listening sessions’ where critics and supporters of the change can step up to the microphone and share their views. Under EPA director Scott Pruitt, who as Oklahoma attorney general helped lead the dozens of states that challenged the Clean Power Plan, the agency now refers to the 2015 directive as the ‘so-called Clean Power Plan.’” [Kansas City Star, 2/21/18 (=)]

 

Opinion: He’s Right! Scott Pruitt Hits Ball Out Of The Park On Climate Change. According to American Spectator, “Pruitt’s interview demonstrates he is the best EPA administrator the agency has ever had, and arguably the best cabinet pick President Donald Trump has made in his still-young administration. That Pruitt has the courage to confront environmental activists regarding their lies and misinformation on this key issue is a gift to all the ‘forgotten Americans’ who voted for Donald Trump for president. Keep it up, Mr. Pruitt! We love you, man!” [American Spectator, 2/21/18 (-)]

 

Opinion: Why Utilities And Environmentalists Can Find Common (Green) Ground. According to Utility Dive, “While the power industry and environmentalists will not always see eye-to-eye and each side must have reasonable expectations, they have powerful incentives to work together.  Making the environmental choice is increasingly the economic one. It’s good for business. And whether the push is based on the profit motive or the environment – whether it’s one shade of green or the other – the result is the same:  a cleaner, more sustainable grid, and a lower-carbon economy.” [Utility Dive, 2/21/18 (+)]

 

Opinion: How Six Americans Changed Their Minds About Global Warming. According to The New York Times, “The Rev. Richard Cizik used to believe climate change was a myth. The science had to be rigged, he thought; those who believed in it were just tree-huggers. But in 2002, a friend convinced Mr. Cizik to go to a conference about climate change, and there, he said, ‘the scales came off my eyes.’ Nearly 70 percent of Americans now say that climate change is mainly caused by human activity, the highest percentage since Gallup began tracking it two decades ago. The number of Americans who say they worry ‘a great deal’ about climate change has risen by about 20 percentage points.” [New York Times, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

Opinion: Energy Policy Should Be Guided By The Free Market — Not By Subsidizing Losers. According to The Hill, “But if Round II resembles Round I, the administration will dig itself into a deeper hole. For decades, the federal government has implemented distortionary energy subsidies and regulations. Further undermining competitive markets and pouring billions in subsidies to cronies is a surefire way to harm all energy customers, stifle innovation and promote energy dependence on handouts. Congress should press the administration for a course correction — or else members will face the wrath of dismayed voters with higher energy bills this fall.” [The Hill, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

Opinion: Winter Olympics Future Is Murky If We Don't Get A Handle On Climate Change. According to USA Today, “Does your family have a ‘thing’? A particular hobby that you bond over, passing traditions, jokes and maybe even equipment down from one generation to the next? For my family, it’s skiing. I was only 2 when my dad, who ran a ski school, started teaching me to ski. Now that I have a daughter of my own, I can’t wait for her to learn to walk — so I can teach her to ski! But by the time she grows up, and has kids of her own to teach to ski at entirely too young an age (as per family tradition), there could be a whole lot less snow around. If we do not find the courage to kick our fossil fuel addiction and transition to clean energy, we will warm the atmosphere to the extent that areas currently covered in white all winter long could see only sporadic snow.” [USA Today, 2/21/18 (+)]

 

 

Research And Analysis

 

NOAA: Assessing The Global Climate In January 2018. According to NOAA, “The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for January 2018 was the fifth highest for the month of January in the NOAA global temperature dataset record, which dates back to 1880.” [NOAA, 2/20/18 (+)]

 

Study Sees 'Early Victories' In Climate Rollback Suits, But Uncertain Result. According to Inside EPA, “A comprehensive study of climate change litigation in the first year of the Trump administration finds that the vast majority of pending cases seek to increase protections rather than roll them back, and while courts have halted some regulatory stays and delays, the study says it is too soon to tell whether Trump critics will succeed in blocking policy rollbacks. The Feb. 14 working paper, ‘U.S. Climate Change Litigation in the Age of Trump: Year One,’ by Dena Adler of the Sabin Center for Climate Change at Columbia University, concludes that while ‘litigants have scored some early victories from courts and pressured agencies to publish outstanding rules, the long-term ‘stickiness’ of these individual outcomes remain uncertain.’” [Inside EPA, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

D.C. Court Wades Into Messy Feud Between Energy Researchers. According to EE News, “A high-profile dispute between a Stanford University professor and an energy researcher who criticized his work landed in court yesterday, as both sides argued over whether the $10 million defamation lawsuit should move forward. Researcher Christopher Clack and the National Academy of Sciences urged the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to dismiss a recent challenge from Stanford University’s Mark Jacobson, who sued them last September for publishing an article challenging Jacobson’s 2015 research that suggested the U.S. electric grid can transition to 100 percent reliance on wind, solar and hydropower by 2050.” [EE News, 2/21/18 (=)]

 

Study: Waters On Track To Rise For Centuries, Even If Emissions Stop. According to EE News, “It’s a given of climate change that greenhouse gases emitted today will shape the world for future generations. But new research underscores just how long those effects will last. A striking new study published yesterday in the journal Nature Communications suggests that sea-level rise — one of the biggest consequences of global warming — will still be happening 300 years from now, even if humans stop emitting greenhouse gases before the end of the current century.” [EE News, 2/21/18 (=)]

 

Study: How Crushed Volcanic Rock In Farm Soil Could Help Slow Global Warming — And Boost Crops. According to Inside Climate News, “Pulverizing volcanic rock and spreading the dust like fertilizer on farm soils could suck billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere and boost crop yields on a warming planet with a growing population. In a paper published this week in the scientific journal Nature Plants, an international team of researchers lays out the prospects for ‘enhanced rock weathering’—a process that uses pulverized silicate rocks, like basalt, to speed the ability of minerals to store carbon in soil.” [Inside Climate News, 2/21/18 (=)]

 

Environmental Groups

 

Citing Co2, Sierra Club Fights Biomass Plants In California Tree-Disposal Debate. According to Inside EPA, “Sierra Club California is launching a fight against efforts to allow biomass plants to substantially increase incineration of the millions of dead trees in the state, charging that the process results in excessive emissions of carbon dioxide, conventional air pollutants and air toxics. ‘The last place that should be increasing waste incinerator activity is California,’ said Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California, in a Feb. 12 press release announcing an advertising campaign against the dead tree burning. ‘The California legislature has established goals to cut climate pollution and local air pollution and increase the amount of non-combustion, clean renewable energy we use. Waste incinerators undercut those goals even as they dirty the air.’” [Inside EPA, 2/20/18 (=)]

 

Environmentalists Lost Big On LNG Exports. Now What? According to EE News, “After years of fever-pitched opposition to liquefied natural gas exports, the Sierra Club quietly pulled its last LNG lawsuit from federal court last month. The withdrawal followed a series of losses in similar cases, a subdued end to environmentalists’ chief legal campaign against shipping U.S. natural gas around the world. The Sierra Club considers LNG exports too risky for the climate, but federal judges repeatedly found that the government had sufficiently considered impacts. Many in the natural gas industry are now breathing a sigh of relief, satisfied that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit spoke clearly on the climate issue and glad that the Sierra Club got the message.” [EE News, 2/21/18 (-)]

 

Science Group Reserves Nearly $2M In Airtime To Boost Dems In Three States. According to The Hill, “A group focused on recruiting and training scientists to run for office is reserving nearly $2 million in TV ads in three states that house highly competitive House races in 2018. 314 Action, named after the first three digits of pi, reserved $1 million in broadcast TV ads in the Los Angeles media market, $500,000 in the Detroit media market and $350,000 in the Seattle media market.” [The Hill, 2/21/18 (=)]

 

 

STATE AND LOCAL NEWS

 

How Fossil Fuel Allies Are Tearing Apart Ohio's Embrace Of Clean Energy. According to Inside Climate News, “On March 30, Bill Seitz, a charismatic Republican, took to the floor of the Ohio House to make a case for gutting a 2008 law designed to speed the adoption of solar and wind as significant sources of electricity in the state. The law, he warned, ‘is like something out of the 5-Year Plan playbook of Joseph Stalin.’ Adopting a corny Russian accent, he said, ‘Vee vill have 25,000 trucks on the Volga by 1944!’’ Nine years before, Seitz and his colleagues, Republicans and Democrats alike, had voted overwhelmingly for the measure he now compared to the work of a Communist dictator. It made Ohio the 25th state to embrace requirements and inducements to lure utilities away from coal, a major contributor of the gases fueling global climate change. Studies suggested the law would help create green energy jobs and boost the Ohio economy—and it has.” [Inside Climate News, 2/20/18 (+)]