TOP HEADLINES

 

Administration Asks Court To Dismiss Lawsuit From EPA Scientists

 

AP | Judge: Trump Administration Violated Law Over Smog Findings

 

Pruitt Misses Deadline To Turn Travel Docs Over To Congress

 

18 Dems To Give Climate Speeches Today

 

The Government Is Close To Finishing A Climate Change Report. Trump Won’t Like It

 

Schwarzenegger Planning To Sue Oil Companies For 'Knowingly Killing People All Over The World.’

 

 

White House And Diplomacy

 

White House Report On Bugs And Disease Skips Climate. According to E&E News, “The report from yesterday details recent progress resulting from U.S. investment in the Global Health Security Agenda, a U.S.-led initiative established under the Obama administration. It includes dozens of other nations and aims to reduce the global threat of infectious disease by investing in prevention, detection and response efforts worldwide. The report lists multiple examples of public health initiatives around the world that have benefited from U.S. assistance, including laboratory and emergency response training efforts, new data collection and electronic surveillance systems, and vaccination campaigns. But climate action, explicitly, remains a missing priority. The report acknowledges a number of factors that may increase the risk of disease transmission, including population growth and the increasing threat of antimicrobial resistance. And it notes that ‘environmental changes have also altered the distribution of mosquitos and other disease vectors.’ Several other sections of the report also point out that environmental health plays an important role in disease prevention. Multiple forms of environmental disturbances, including land-use changes and the spread of human communities, can affect the spread of disease. But climate change, specifically, is a rising concern among infectious disease experts.” [E&E News, 3/13/18 (=)]

 

Kudlow, A Trump Favorite, Has Criticized Climate 'Alarmists.' According to E&E News, “Larry Kudlow has been a cable news pundit, an anti-war organizer nicknamed ‘Kuddles,’ a top economics adviser to President Reagan and a recovering drug addict. Now, the longtime public figure and Washington insider is the apparent front-runner for a key White House energy policy job. Kudlow, 70, has emerged as a top contender to replace Gary Cohn as the leader of the White House National Economic Council, according to sources who know him. He’s the latest potential Cohn replacement to dominate headlines in recent days as rumors swirl about prospects for the job. Other names in circulation include Chris Liddell, a former business executive and White House director of strategic initiatives, and Cohn’s deputy, Shahira Knight. … Stephen Moore, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation who also advised Trump’s campaign, said yesterday in an interview that Kudlow is ‘under serious consideration’ for the job. He added that Kudlow ‘would be my first choice, for sure.’ On energy, Moore said, Kudlow is ‘pro-gas, coal, oil, nuclear. ... He’s totally in line with Trump: Develop our energy resources.’ Earlier this month, Kudlow and Moore penned an op-ed in The Hill criticizing Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. … Kudlow, who had been an informal adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign, lauded the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement last year, touting it as a move toward ending ‘the war on fossil fuels’ in a radio interview last June. He also defended Trump’s environmental stance. ‘Trump never said he wasn’t concerned about climate change. [Trump] said in his speech he takes climate change seriously. But he said, ‘We’re in a bad deal.’” [E&E News, 3/13/18 (=)]

 

Behind The Scenes Of The Paris Decision. According to Axios, “Former White House international energy aide George David Banks, chatting with the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast, offers behind-the-scenes color about President Trump’s decision to begin withdrawing from the Paris deal. On the record: Banks, who wanted the U.S. to remain but with a less stringent emissions pledge, discussed Trump’s June 1 Rose Garden announcement, noting it came before John Kelly became chief of staff and imposed a more defined process. ‘So I didn’t see the speech until maybe a few hours before the speech. I’ll never forget being asked by the comms folks, ‘Hey we need you to go out and defend the speech with the press corps.’ And then I came back and said, well I need to see the speech first in order to be able to prepare for that,’ Banks said. ‘When I first looked at it, I think people who understand the issues recognize that maybe there were some things that didn’t quite reflect the reality of where some things are in the international climate process.’ Prediction: Banks believes Trump will ultimately stay in the deal while weakening the Obama-era emissions pledge. Trump hosts the G-7 summit in 2020, and Banks calls that a venue to claim victory: ‘I think it will be fairly easy for the president to agree that we are going to stay in, we are going to change the number, and then walk out of that summit arguing that he re-negotiated the Paris agreement and did something that no one thought he could do, and came up with a much better deal than what the previous administration presented.’” [Axios, 3/13/18 (=)]

 

Federal Agencies

 

EPA

 

Administration Asks Court To Dismiss Lawsuit From EPA Scientists. According to The Hill, “Attorneys for the Trump administration are asking a court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt’s new policy on science advisers. Justice Department attorneys argued that Pruitt’s policy preventing EPA grant recipients from serving on external advisory committees is well within government ethics rules and Pruitt’s authority to pick his own advisers. ‘Plaintiffs make the extraordinary claim that the EPA’s effort to ensure a diversity of viewpoints on advisory committees that provide advice and recommendations to the administrator somehow violates government-wide ethics rules. But the directive that plaintiffs challenge does no such thing,’ the government wrote in a motion filed late Friday. Lawyers further argued that the directive is not intended to change ethics rules, but is instead merely ‘a general statement of policy that describes the appointment philosophy EPA will apply regarding the federal advisory committees it administers.’ ‘Ultimately, the power to appoint committee members is the administrator’s alone and is non-reviewable by the courts under the circumstances presented here,’ the attorneys said in asking for dismissal. ‘Plaintiffs’ challenge to these highly discretionary policy judgments and the EPA’s power to make them is unprecedented and should be rejected by the court.’ … ‘EPA’s effort to purge independent scientists from its advisory committees has harmful implications for the nation’s health,’ Barbara Gottlieb, director of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said at the time. Her group is the leading plaintiff in the case, Physicians for Social Responsibility et al. v. Scott Pruitt.” [The Hill, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

AP | Judge: Trump Administration Violated Law Over Smog Findings. According to The Washington Post, “A federal judge says the Trump administration violated federal law when it failed to meet a deadline to identify all parts of the U.S. with dangerous smog levels. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam on Monday ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to complete the designations by the end of April. His ruling was for two lawsuits, including one filed by California, thirteen other states and the District of Columbia. The agency had until October 1, 2017 to designate what parts of the country were in and out of compliance with smog standards adopted during the Obama administration. The designations trigger a process that forces polluted regions to take steps to improve air quality. An email seeking comment sent to the U.S. Department of Justice was not immediately returned.” [The Washington Post, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

Agency Punches Back In Science Advisers Lawsuit. According to E&E News, “U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has sole authority to name members to almost two dozen advisory committees, agency attorneys argue in a new court filing that seeks to throw out a lawsuit challenging membership standards imposed last fall. ‘Ultimately, the power to appoint committee members is the administrator’s alone and is non-reviewable by the courts under the circumstances presented here,’ agency lawyers wrote in a lengthy dismissal motion Friday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The suit ‘is unprecedented and should be rejected,’ the filing added. The salvo marked EPA’s first formal response to the legal challenge, which is the first of three brought by various university researchers and advocacy groups since Pruitt announced the new standards in late October. Most controversially, Pruitt’s policy bars current recipients of EPA grant funding from serving on the Science Advisory Board, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and some 20 other panels that provide outside expertise on subjects ranging from water quality to environmental justice. Pruitt framed the policy as a matter of preserving the independence of advisory committees from agency influence. Critics have countered that EPA already has adequate conflict-of-interest yardsticks and that Pruitt is simply seeking to stack the panels with members skeptical of the need for tighter environmental regulations, regardless of the scientific evidence.” [E&E News, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

Judge Orders EPA To Issue Ozone Designations Quickly. According to Politico, “A federal judge today said EPA was clearly in the wrong when it missed an October deadline to declare which areas do or do not meet the 2015 ozone standard, and ordered the agency to issue most of the designations by the end of next month. EPA has said it can complete almost all of the remaining areas by April 30. Though the agency already announced that about 85 percent of the country meets the standard, it has yet to declare how much of the remainder will be designated non-attainment and be required to curb pollution. The one exception among the remaining areas is the San Antonio region. EPA said it would need until Aug. 10 to review recently submitted date from the state. But Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. of the U.S. District Court for Northern California sided with the environmental challengers and ordered EPA to finish the San Antonio decision by July 17. That 127-day timeline gives EPA one week to send Texas proper notice of how it intends to categorize San Antonio, plus the standard 120 days for the state to review and respond. Gilliam, an Obama appointee, said EPA failed to show why it would need further time to finish the San Antonio designations and that ‘EPA’s reasoning effectively allows states to drive the agency’s timeline for statutory compliance.’ WHAT’S NEXT: EPA must issue most of the remaining ozone designations by April 30, and the San Antonio designations by July 17.” [Politico, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

Roundtable Wrap-Up. According to Politico, “With stacks of his ‘year in review’ document piled high, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt held a ‘regional roundtable’ with reporters Monday morning to discuss the year ahead and his achievements to date. Here are some of the stories that emerged from the roundtable: — Pruitt said he would sign a waiver allowing blends of 15 percent ethanol gasoline if he can do so legally, via the Houston Chronicle. — By month’s end, Pruitt plans to have reviewed about 400 claims filed over damages sustained during the 2015 Gold King Mine disaster, via The Denver Post. — In states like Nevada, Pruitt touted the need for regulatory rollbacks to help economically, via the Las Vegas Review-Journal. — A final move on Missouri’s West Lake Superfund site could include excavating more than the 67 percent of the site, via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.” [Politico, 3/13/18 (=)]

 

GAO Report Undermines Chemical Cuts In Trump Budget. According to E&E News, “The Government Accountability Office’s technical assessment, which began in October 2015 and wrapped up last month, didn’t offer any specific recommendations to Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.). But many of the ‘potential solutions’ floated by experts GAO interviewed for the 159-page report, released yesterday, fly in the face of budget cuts proposed by President Trump. The solutions — which range from finding new chemical processes to sharing information about safe chemicals — sought to address technological and business challenges that experts from industry, academia and nonprofits said are slowing down progress. Chief among the problems was ‘the lack of a standard definition for sustainable chemistry as well as the lack of agreement on standard ways of measuring or assessing it,’ GAO wrote. ‘Without a standard definition that captures the full range of activities within sustainable chemistry, it is difficult to define the universe of relevant players,’ the report said. ‘Without agreement on how to measure the sustainability of chemical processes and products, companies may be hesitant to invest in innovation they cannot effectively quantify, and end users are unable to make meaningful comparisons that allow them to select appropriate chemical products and processes.’” [E&E News, 3/13/18 (=)]

 

Scott Pruitt

 

Pruitt Misses Deadline To Turn Travel Docs Over To Congress. According to The Hill, “Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has failed to meet a key deadline in his ongoing first-class travel saga. Pruitt has yet to provide key travel documents to Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who requested documentation and explanation surrounding Pruitt’s first- and business-class work travel. The deadline to answer Gowdy was March 6. In a letter addressed to Pruitt at the end of February, the Republican congressman pointed out concerns over the EPA chief’s reported use of a ‘blanket waiver’ to fly first class, a method Gowdy called prohibited. ‘Clearly, federal regulations prohibit a blanket waiver to fly first class except to accommodate disabilities or special needs. Instead, a waiver for each flight is required in order to fly first or business class when traveling on official government business,’ Gowdy wrote. A spokesperson for the EPA said the agency has been in touch with Gowdy’s office in an attempt to get the information to him. ‘We have been in contact with Chairman Gowdy and are accommodating his request as quickly as possible,’ EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a statement.” [The Hill, 3/10/18 (=)]

 

Okla. Attorney General Refuses To Release Superfund Audit. According to E&E News, “The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office continues to refuse to release an audit concerning the Tar Creek Superfund site, with former officials calling the refusal unprecedented. In 2014, then-Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R) declined to allow the release of the audit. Current Attorney General Mike Hunter (R) has continued that policy. The audit allegedly uncovered fraud on the part of the Lead-Impacted Communities Relocation Assistance Trust, which was created to assist people whose health was adversely affected by contaminants in the Superfund site. Clifton Scott, who served as state auditor from 1983 to 2003, said the situation with this audit has no precedent in Oklahoma history. ‘I’m almost sure it never happened,’ Scott said. Hunter didn’t respond to requests for comment.” [E&E News, 3/13/18 (=)]

 

NASA

 

NASA, Still Without Permanent Leader, Loses Temporary One. According to E&E News, “NASA’s acting director announced that he is stepping down next month, though the agency does not have a permanent nor a deputy head to take his position. Just days after he testified to Congress in support of NASA’s budget, including cuts to climate research programs, acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot announced yesterday that he will retire on April 30. Lightfoot, who described his departure as ‘bittersweet,’ said he is stepping down to spend more time with his family but did not specify why he is leaving the agency now. … ‘There’s a value in having that permanent leader that gets the uncertainty out of the system; uncertainty can always be something that people worry about,’ he said in an interview with E&E News. ‘But I think we’ve been fine from an overall perspective.’ The Trump administration did not name a nominee to head NASA until September, the latest nomination for the agency of any president since the agency was created 60 years ago. The administration has also not nominated anyone to be deputy administrator, the agency’s No. 2 position. Trump picked Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) to head the agency, but all Senate Democrats oppose his nomination. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida has also said he is concerned that Bridenstine, who has rejected mainstream climate science, would politicize the agency. Bridenstine’s nomination has not been brought to the floor for a vote and is not currently on the Senate schedule. While Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is ailing from brain cancer, Republicans don’t appear to have enough votes to get the nomination through in the closely divided Senate.” [E&E News, 3/13/18 (=)]

 

NAS

 

The Government Is Close To Finishing A Climate Change Report. Trump Won’t Like It. According to The Washington Post, “The U.S. National Academies on Monday released a public peer review of a draft document called the U.S. National Climate Assessment, a legally required report that is being produced by the federal Global Change Research Program. The document, which is in its fourth installment, closely surveys how a changing climate is affecting individual U.S. states, regions, and economic and industrial sectors. The final version is expected later this year; the last version came out in 2014 during the Obama administration. … The report, 1,506 pages long in draft form, says U.S. temperatures will rise markedly in coming decades, accompanied by many other attendant effects. It predicts that Northeastern fisheries will be stressed by warmer ocean waters, that the Southeast will suffer from worsening water shortages, that worse extreme-weather events will tax water and other types of infrastructure, and far more. … ‘We had 16 experts review it, go through it in detail, see if it meets the congressionally mandated requirements, and we agree that it did,’ said Robin Bell of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, chair of the committee that reviewed the report. … ‘Coastal ecosystems are being transformed, degraded, or lost due to climate change impacts, particularly sea level rise and higher numbers of extreme weather events,’ the document states. ‘As the pace of coastal flooding and erosion accelerates, climate impacts along our coasts are exacerbating preexisting social inequities as communities face difficult questions on determining who will pay for current impacts and future adaptation strategies and if, how, or when to relocate vulnerable communities,’ it continues.” [The Washington Post, 3/12/18 (+)]

 

Draft Reports Highlight Latest Research. According to E&E News, “Scientists have reviewed draft climate science reports detailing how climate change is affecting the U.S. — from drought in Texas to rainstorms in the Northeast — and suggesting actions that can be taken to address the problems. The latest drafts of two major climate science reports were reviewed by teams of scientists from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. They found that the fourth National Climate Assessment, along with the Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report, ‘accurately describes the science of climate change and impacts occurring and likely to occur this century across the nation.’ The team of researchers recommended changes — from data alignment to rewriting sections to broaden their audience — before the reports are finalized. ‘The scale of this collaboration is rare and impressive and the rich array of perspectives introduced through this process provides an opportunity to develop a foundational climate change report that informs and highlights adaptation and mitigation efforts and serves as a valuable resource for broad audiences,’ researchers wrote. … The reports include regional sections that show how climate change affects drought in Texas or extreme rains in the Northeast. The latest draft shows species of fish moving north as oceans warm and certain fish that are popular with anglers in the Gulf of Mexico disappearing. ‘What’s beautiful about this report is that it really highlights the climate impacts down into where you and I live,’ said Robin Bell, the committee review chairwoman and a professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. ‘You can also read this report and see what the responses to climate impacts are, how people are adapting and how people are mitigating.’” [E&E News, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

Congress

 

Senate

 

18 Dems To Give Climate Speeches Today. According to E&E News, “Once a week for almost six years, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has risen on the Senate floor and offered an impassioned plea to his colleagues to address the increasing threats from climate change. He delivered the first in April 2012, accusing Congress of ‘sleepwalking’ through the climate crisis. Today, Whitehouse is reaching a milestone of sorts — his 200th weekly ‘Time to Wake Up’ climate speech on the Senate floor. But this time, he won’t be alone: 17 of his colleagues — 16 Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, and independent Maine Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats — will also speak on climate. The whole exercise, scheduled to kick off around 5 p.m., will last about three hours. Besides Schumer and King, also scheduled to speak on the Senate floor this evening are: Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons of Delaware, Bill Nelson of Florida, Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.” [E&E News, 3/13/18 (=)]

 

Judiciary And Legal

 

Schwarzenegger Planning To Sue Oil Companies For 'Knowingly Killing People All Over The World.’ According to The Hill, “Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) is planning to sue oil companies, alleging they are ‘knowingly killing people all over the world.’ Schwarzenegger said during an interview with Politico’s ‘Off Message’ podcast that he is still working on the timing for his push, but he is now speaking with private law firms. ‘This is no different from the smoking issue. The tobacco industry knew for years and years and years and decades that smoking would kill people, would harm people and create cancer, and were hiding that fact from the people and denied it. Then eventually they were taken to court and had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars because of that,’ Schwarzenegger, a global environmental activist, said. ‘The oil companies knew from 1959 on, they did their own study that there would be global warming happening because of fossil fuels, and on top of it that it would be risky for people’s lives, that it would kill.’ Schwarzenegger accused oil companies of being irresponsible and vowed to go after them. ‘It’s absolutely irresponsible to know that your product is killing people and not have a warning label on it, like tobacco,’ he said. ‘Every gas station on it, every car should have a warning label on it, every product that has fossil fuels should have a warning label on it.’ He said he hopes to spread awareness about the harmful effects of fossil fuels. ‘I don’t think there’s any difference: If you walk into a room and you know you’re going to kill someone, it’s first-degree murder,’ he said during the interview.” [The Hill, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

Schwarzenegger To Sue Oil Firms Over 'First-Degree Murder.' According to E&E News, “Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) revealed yesterday that he plans to file a lawsuit against oil companies, asserting that they know their ‘product is killing people,’ and to launch a related public campaign. Schwarzenegger announced the lawsuit in an interview with Politico’s ‘Off Message’ podcast at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. ‘We’re going to go after them, and we’re going to be in there like an Alabama tick. Because to me, it’s absolutely irresponsible to know that your product is killing people and not have a warning label on it, like tobacco,’ Schwarzenegger said, according to the publication. ‘Every gas station on it, every car should have a warning label on it, every product that has fossil fuels should have a warning label on it.’ He also said: ‘I don’t think there’s any difference: If you walk into a room and you know you’re going to kill someone, it’s first-degree murder; I think it’s the same thing with the oil companies.’ He told the publication he is working with private law firms to prepare the lawsuit but does not yet have a timeline for filing the case. Schwarzenegger repeatedly compared the fossil fuel industry to the tobacco industry, pointing to the latter’s long denial that tobacco use could cause lung cancer and other ailments. ‘This is no different from the smoking issue. The tobacco industry knew for years and years and years and decades that smoking would kill people, would harm people and create cancer, and were hiding that fact from the people and denied it,’ Schwarzenegger said. ‘Then eventually, they were taken to court and had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars because of that.’” [E&E News, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

 

Ally Groups

 

Rockefeller-Backed Group Recommends On Policy. According to Politico, “The Rockefeller Foundation-created initiative, 100 Resilient Cities, today released a series of recommendations in four policy areas, including infrastructure and flood insurance. The recommendations, which have been endorsed by mayors in Boston, Pittsburgh, Miami and Honolulu, outline specific strategies for improvement, including the creation of ‘a national infrastructure bank to further private investments in resilience,’ as well as a coordinated effort by departments and agencies to increase efficiency of disaster response, by integrating future forecast and scenario data and analysis into decision-making, among other ideas.” [Politico, 3/13/18 (=)]

 

Opinion

 

Editorial: A Must-Do List For Climate Change In Greater Boston. According to The Boston Globe, “Think big. Much of the climate change planning in the region anticipates sea level rise of up to three feet by the end of the century. And that could be handled without offending community sensibilities or riling up property owners too much, says Paul Kirshen, professor of climate adaptation at the University of Massachusetts Boston: Relatively small, unobtrusive barriers and attractive green spaces would be enough to block and soak up the water. But if greenhouse gas emissions remain at current levels, he warns, sea level rise could top 7 feet. That means bigger structures at bigger cost, with more blocked sight lines. It also means giving up on shoreline development in some cases. This is a much more difficult conversation, but an essential one. Think heat. The dramatic flooding of the last few months has focused public attention on the dangers of rushing water. But experts say our primary challenge may be hotter temperatures. Between 1971 and 2011, the thermometer topped 90 degrees in Boston for about 11 days per year. By 2070, there could be as many as 90 days of 90-plus degree temperatures per annum. That’s virtually the entire summer. That kind of heat would pose significant public health threats. And with the temperatures expected to be even worse to the south, places like Massachusetts could see significant migration — straining our transportation networks and exacerbating our housing crisis. Go macro. There is periodic talk in Massachusetts of building stronger regional governance structures to deal with problems like transportation and housing. It never seems to go anywhere. Climate change poses an existential threat, though, and a regional approach is a must. Lawmakers should seriously consider creating regional resiliency authorities with real power — read: taxing power — so they can orchestrate a smart defense.” [The Boston Globe, 3/12/18 (+)]

 

Research And Analysis

 

Credits Will Cause A 'Surge' In Projects — Report. According to E&E News, “Recently passed legislation in Congress will prompt an unprecedented ‘surge’ in carbon capture, utilization and storage, and increase projects by more than 65 percent, the International Energy Agency said in a new analysis. The IEA report is one of the first deep dives into the impact of a bipartisan deal last month, which more than doubled the number of existing tax credits for carbon storage. The language from Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) also eliminated a cap on the credit program and allows incentives for air capture and other utilization of carbon dioxide outside of enhanced oil recovery. IEA said expanded tax credits under Section 45Q of the tax code could prompt more than $1 billion in capital investment over the next six years and may lead to 10 million to 30 million metric tons of additional CO2 capture capacity. ‘This would increase total global carbon capture by around two thirds and, by incentivizing industry to find the lowest-cost projects, could be cheaper than projects already operating around the world,’ IEA said. However, the international organization does not see a jump in carbon capture use on coal or natural gas plants in the power sector or on many industrial plants, or ‘air capture’ projects that would suck CO2 out of the air. That would leave out the bulk of global emissions, including the third of greenhouse gas output that comes from electricity generation.” [E&E News, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

Are Renewable Portfolio Standards On The Way Out? Three Ballot Initiatives Say Otherwise — Michigan, Arizona And Nevada Could See Major Political Fights Over Proposed Measures To Boost Renewable Energy Standards. According to Utility Dive, “A trio of proposed renewable energy ballot initiatives has caught the eye of the energy sector. Confined to two Western and one Midwestern states, these ballots are backed by climate activist and billionaire Tom Steyer, through his super PAC NextGen America. … But even as wind and solar energy costs decline and tax credits are extended, some clean energy advocates say RPSs are still necessary to drive growth, especially in states where the monopolistic utility model dominates, such as in Arizona, Michigan and Nevada. Michael O’Boyle electricity policy manager for Energy Innovation, notes that the states have made headlines with political wrangling over investing in renewable energy. ‘I would think that these states, have the privilege of moving later than California and have the privilege of buying solar that’s 85% cheaper than 2009,’ O’Boyle said ‘The utilities in those states, particularly Arizona, have been notoriously slow in embracing renewable energy that is right in their backyard.’” [Utility Dive, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

Climate Change Could Slowly Alter Northeast Forests. According to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “To the casual observer, with the northern hardwood forests and the ever-present conifers, Mother Nature has created an unmatched mosaic that likely has been associated with this region of North America for eons prior to European settlement of the continent. Looking deeper, biologists see red flags and hear the clanging of alarm bells. ‘When I see that forest, I see change,’ said Justin Richardson, a biogeochemist and assistant professor in the University of Massachusetts Department of Geosciences. ‘No forest is ever stagnant, and there are always new species moving in and old species moving out, but those changes normally take tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years to take place.’ Mr. Richardson, who conducted extensive research on the changing climate and its impact on the forests of the region as part of his doctoral work in Dartmouth College’s Department of Earth Sciences, led a 2016 study that concluded climate change is prompting a makeover of the forests of greater New England. ‘What we’re seeing now is a much more rapid change,’ Mr. Richardson said. ‘We believe a shift is clearly taking place, from coniferous to more deciduous vegetation.’ … ‘But a changing climate will push certain trees out of the New England region,’ Mr. Richardson said. His study concluded that certain climate scenarios project that the stands of coniferous trees in that part of the country will lose 70 to 100 percent of their current range to deciduous trees by 2085 because of increased temperature and precipitation, as well as changes in timber harvesting.” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3/12/18 (+)]

 

Thank Colleges For Imminent Carbon Taxes (No Seriously, Thank Them). According to Wired, “WE CAN ALL agree that taxes are no fun. But taxes are also what fund public education so our kids can read good, and what keep firefighters employed so our houses don’t burn down. And it’s looking more and more likely that taxes could help our planet from burning down too, with something called a carbon tax. The simple premise: Pump out carbon dioxide, pay a fee. ‘There’s a long, long line of research that shows that carbon pricing is often between 5 to 10 times more efficient than the policies that we already do,’ says MIT economist Christopher Knittel. Things like fuel economy standards for cars, or renewable energy requirements for electricity companies. … It turns out that colleges provide a fantastic model for how to start thinking about a carbon tax on a state or even national level. Consider Yale. In July of last year it deployed a clever charging scheme for its buildings, based on facilities’ energy use relative to the campus as whole. ‘If in any period an individual building does better compared to its historical period than Yale does compared to its historical period, then that building gets money back,’ says Casey Pickett, director of Yale’s carbon charge project. ‘If it does worse than Yale did, then it ends up paying money.’ By pitting individual buildings against their own historical energy usage, the system helps control for the different sizes and ages of the facilities—a 50-year-old building can’t compete against a brand new one, after all. It also adjusts for weather, since you don’t want to be comparing your heat-blasting January usage against a less energetically costly April. All the while, the buildings are compared to the school as a whole.” [Wired, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

Liebreich: Beyond Three Thirds, The Road To Deep Decarbonization. According to Bloomberg, “In my BNEF Summit keynote in London last September, I talked about how far clean energy and transport had come over the last fifteen years. Where renewable energy used to be dismissed as ‘alternative’, I talked about the ‘new orthodoxy’ of what I called the Three-Third World: by 2040 one third of global electricity will be generated from wind and solar; one third of vehicles on the road will be electric; and the world’s economy will produce one third more GDP from every unit of energy. The fact that we are on track for the Three-Third World is quite extraordinary. It certainly outstrips my expectations when I founded New Energy Finance in 2004. And it is probably unstoppable: wind, solar and battery costs will continue to fall faster than any mainstream energy forecasters expect, and there is nothing that makes me think President Donald Trump will succeed in his attempts to revive coal. That’s the good news. The bad news is that even though we are on track to achieve the Three-Third World by 2040, it will not be enough to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. Electricity currently meets only just over 20% of the world’s final energy needs; and even if you add in the proportion of oil going into passenger cars and light trucks and you are still only addressing about a third of final energy consumption. As I pointed out at the end of my Summit keynote, there is no emerging new orthodoxy on how to decarbonize the rest of the economy – industry, chemicals, aviation, shipping and, in particular, heat.” [Bloomberg, 3/13/18 (+)]

 

Red Cross Using Climate Science To Stockpile Aid Supplies. According to E&E News, “The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is turning to climate attribution studies to help it recalibrate operations. The partnership with the science organization World Weather Attribution will help drive decisions about where to stockpile emergency supplies and how to design shelters that can withstand extreme weather. The challenge is to expect the unexpected, said Maarten van Aalst, director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. ‘Increasing extremes mean we need to be prepared for a wider range of risks, including rising uncertainties,’ he said.” [E&E News, 3/13/18 (=)]

 

As Urgency Mounts, Worry Among Climate Scientists Gets Personal. According to Reuters, “When marchers took to the streets of Washington in a pro-science demonstration after U.S. President Donald Trump’s election, it was the first time climate scientist Cynthia Rosenzweig put on an activist hat. Rosenzweig, who works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, has spent decades researching and warning about the dangers of global warming, from punishing floods to drought. But fears that policy-makers may ignore science and cut funding for research has had her and many like her struggling to balance scientific detachment with the urgency of their findings. They say they worry that scepticism about climate change is diluting the gravity of their discoveries and losing the attention of the next generation of researchers. Tens of thousands of people, including Rosenzweig and other scientists swapped lab coats for protest signs, joined the March for Science last April. ‘I would say that was my tipping point,’ said Rosenzweig during a United Nations-backed climate summit in Canada last week where scientists and city planners looked at ways for cities to battle climate change. ‘Every scientist has to find their own place in the spectrum of science and activism,’ she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview. … ‘My biggest worry on the political orientation of the current (U.S.) administration is that it dissuades young, brilliant students from studying climate,’ Masson-Delmotte told the Foundation. She was speaking her personal opinion and not in her capacity as a U.N. official, she said.” [Reuters, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

 

New Mexico

 

N.M. Attorney General Accuses Company Of Shady Sales Practices. According to E&E News, “New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas (D) filed a suit against Vivint Solar Inc. last week, accusing the solar rooftop provider of defrauding customers and using deceptive sales practices. The company operates in more than 20 states. The suit specifically targets the company’s door-to-door sales practices and agreements made with buyers to purchase power from solar panel installations. The complaint says Vivint binds customers into 20-year contracts that require them to buy electricity from the panels installed on their homes at rates that increase by more than 72 percent over the contracts’ duration. This, according to the suit, allows the company to far overstate savings when pitching its products. ‘Consumer complaints highlight the cumulative impact of Vivint’s multiple false statements and unfair business practices from the initial door-to-door sales pitch through design of solar systems to the billing for their production,’ the suit said. The company said the lawsuit will not stand. ‘Our commitment to our customers is to provide them the opportunity to adopt clean, renewable energy while always adhering to the highest ethical sales standards,’ spokeswoman Helen Langan wrote in an email.” [E&E News, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

Ohio

 

Editorial: One Last Job For The Governor — Extend Pollution Curbs To Existing Oil And Gas Wells. According to Akron Beacon Journal, “John Kasich still hasn’t persuaded the Republican majorities at the Statehouse to boost the severance tax on oil and gas drilling. And the governor isn’t likely to do better on that front during his remaining nine months in office. Yet that failing hardly captures the full story of his efforts to oversee the industry as it pursues the shale plays in this part of Ohio. … Now there’s something more the governor can do in this realm before he leaves office. He can move to extend these protective steps to existing oil and gas wells. As it is, the industry is a leading emitter of both methane, a potent greenhouse gas and big contributor to climate change, and volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which contribute heavily to smog, inviting higher rates of asthma and other respiratory ailments. The need to act quickly became plain last month with the release of a scientific, peer-reviewed analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund. The study found that methane emissions from oil and gas sites in Pennsylvania are five times greater than the levels reported by companies. The analysis reflects actual measurements at the well sites. It follows that Ohio, with its similar shale play, now the fastest growing in the country, faces a comparable pattern in emissions. … The Environmental Defense Fund estimates that Pennsylvania wells emit more than 520,000 tons of methane each year, largely through ‘leaky, outdated and malfunctioning equipment.’ That’s the equivalent of 11 coal-fired power plants, according to the report. So the benefit of extending the regulation goes beyond the lower emissions of methane, reduced smog and advances in public health. The oil and gas companies would become more efficient and cost-effective as they recover more product to sell.” [Akron Beacon Journal, 3/10/18 (=)]

 

Pennsylvania

 

It’s Special Election Day. According to Politico, “Voters in southeastern Pennsylvania will pick their new member of Congress today, and Democrats are hoping for a surprise upset in the coal country district that President Donald Trump won handily. The 18th District special election pits Republican Rick Saccone and Democrat Conor Lamb, and the latest polls show Lamb leading in the heavily blue-collar area, left open by the resignation of Republican incumbent Rep. Tim Murphy. Trump carried the district by 20 points in 2016. On energy issues, Lamb lists ‘modern energy development’ as one of his priorities, with calls for increased natural gas-extraction jobs. Lamb says government should not impede energy development and job creation, according to his website, but notes the need for government ‘to enforce the law and hold companies accountable if they endanger workers or pollute our air or water.’ For his part, Saccone hasn’t laid out his energy priorities on his campaign site, but he’s previously touted coal production and hit EPA for its regulations during his time as a state lawmaker. Lamb, a Marine and former federal prosecutor, spent Sunday with the United Mine Workers of America, where he spoke directly to retired coal miners on pensions and Social Security, the Associated Press reported. ‘People have paid into these programs over the course of a lifetime,’ Laid said, some 40 miles outside of Pittsburgh. ‘I do not believe, as [House Speaker] Paul Ryan does, that these are entitlements or another form of welfare.’” [Politico, 3/13/18 (=)]

 

Virginia

 

Hampton Roads Sea Level Rise Is Accelerating, Report Says. According to The Virginian-Pilot, “Hampton Roads will continue to face one of the nation’s highest rates of sea level rise, according to a new report, which predicts that water levels at the region’s most-watched tide gauge will increase by more than a foot between now and 2050. The report issued Monday by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science predicts that sea level rise will keep accelerating locally as the planet continues to warm. Planning officials and ocean scientists in Hampton Roads said they weren’t surprised by the predictions, adding that it has become more apparent that sea levels are rising at a steepening pace. ‘It’s completely in line with a lot of the other reports I’ve seen coming out’ in recent years, said Ben McFarlane, a senior water-resources staffer at the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. He said a number of localities already have begun planning for an extra foot or more of tidal water by midcentury. The region has long been cited among a handful of U.S. metro areas considered most vulnerable to sea level rise. Larry Atkinson, an oceanography professor at Old Dominion University, said local tide gauges are providing ‘good evidence for acceleration.’ He said, ‘That’s probably the big take-home’ from the institute’s report.” [The Virginian-Pilot, 3/12/18 (=)]

 

Op-Ed: Virginia’s Electric Utility Overhaul Paves Way For Cleaner, More Efficient Energy. According to an op-ed by Michael Town and Walton Shepherd in The Washington Post, “Three key elements of the law make this a victory for all Virginians. Utilities will finally invest significantly in energy efficiency, the very best tool to lower Virginia’s rising electricity bills and reduce air pollution, rather than continue the relentless cost increases that have made Virginia’s bills the 10th-highest in the nation. The $1 billion investment utilities will make in efficiency upgrades and programs over the next decade will yield long-term dividends for Virginia ratepayers and our environment. Virginia will finally join the American clean energy revolution currently underway, as the law makes a truly transformational commitment to solar, wind and grid technology upgrades that will deliver as many clean electrons to our outlets as possible. The 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy declared to be ‘in the public interest’ under this legislation is enough to power more than 1 million homes. This will be good for both the climate and customers, as solar and wind are often the cheapest energy you can find nowadays and some of the fastest-growing job creators in the country. This law finally turns the page on an outdated regulatory model that was putting a damper on our economy and our clean air, with an endless succession of fossil fuel plants that were good for utilities but bad for Virginians’ pocketbooks. Now, regulators are free to approve investments that make better economic sense: efficiency programs such as lighting upgrades and weatherized homes and businesses that lower energy consumption and therefore bills, low-cost renewable energy and grid technology upgrades to optimize the most efficient use of our various resources to lower total costs and carbon and other pollutants.” [The Washington Post, 3/12/18 (+)]