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Commentary
Look for EPA's release of its general BACT guidance this week, coupled with guidance on BACT determinations for some specific facility-types . . . President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to dealing with climate change, promising to move policy in "chunks" . . . Superchunk: EPA and NHTSA released a Notice of Intent making clear that they are considering a fuel economy standard of 62 mpg for model year 2025 cars . . . DOE is reviving Futuregen with a $1 billion infusion . . . Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) parried the Bingaman-Brownback RES bill with a "Clean Energy" bill. The Graham bill would impose a higher percentage requirement on utilities, but allow compliance not only through renewables but also nuclear power and coal-fired generation with at least 65% capture . . . State Department Climate Envoy Todd Stern denounced the most recent U.N. negotiating text for de-linking funding for developing countries from GHG mitigation commitments . . . Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said his bill delaying EPA regulation of stationary source GHG emissions is likely destined for a Presidential veto, but he also chided coal interests for being "stubborn" in refusing to embrace clean coal and generally adapt to the broader threats facing the industry . . . This week's New Yorker magazine contains a long dissection of the failure of climate change legislation in the Senate.
Executive Branch
- Obama Expresses Interest in Piecemeal Climate and Energy Legislation in Next Congress. In an interview published in Rolling Stone, President Barack Obama said that one of his "top priorities" for next year "is to have an energy policy that begins to address all facets of our overreliance on fossil fuels." The President said that energy legislation might have to be developed in "chunks" rather than in a comprehensive package. Obama also called climate change an "urgent priority" that "has the potential to have devastating effects on people around the globe." Asked if he foresaw a need to "throw the whole weight of the presidency" behind the issue of climate change, the President answered "Yes . . . I am committed to making sure that we get an energy policy that makes sense for the country and that helps us grow at the same time as it deals with climate change in a serious way."
- EPA and NHTSA to Consider Fuel Economy Standards of 62 MPG by 2025. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which are developing joint greenhouse gas (GHG) and fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles and light duty trucks for model years 2017-2025, issued a Notice of Intent outlining the possible stringency and design of these new standards. The Notice indicated that the agencies have identified four potential targets for 2025 model year vehicles, including standards equivalent to an average fuel economy ranging from 47 miles per gallon (mpg) to 62 mpg. The agencies have also done a preliminary analysis of four technological "pathways" for achieving each potential target. Projected per-vehicle costs of the standards range from $770 (for the least stringent of the four standards considered) to $3,500 (for the most stringent), but in all cases would result in fuel savings over the life of the vehicle that would pay back the additional cost in 4.2 years or less. The agencies aim to issue a proposed rule by September 30, 2011. The Notice is available at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/regulations/ldv-ghg-noi.pdf.
- DOE Signs Cooperative Agreement to Provide $1 Billion to FutureGen. The Department of Energy (DOE) has made a formal commitment to provide $1 billion in federal assistance to the FutureGen 2.0 project, which was reconfigured by DOE earlier this year. The FutureGen 2.0 project aims to repower an existing 200 MW pulverized coal power plant in Meredosia, Illinois with carbon capture and sequestration technology. A consortium of Ameren Energy Resources, Babcock & Wilcox, and Air Liquide Process & Construction, Inc. will repower Ameren's 200 megawatt Unit 4 with advanced oxy-combustion technology. The FutureGen Industrial Alliance, Inc. will develop a permanent CO2 sequestration facility and associated pipeline. Funding for the project will be drawn from appropriations made under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (the stimulus package). Under the plan announced by DOE, this funding will be supplemented by contributions from the Ameren and FutureGen consortiums. DOE also stated that a competitive process for sequestration site selection will be announced in the near future.
- State Department Climate Envoy Says U.S. Support for Climate Aid is Contingent on Developing Country Emission Commitments. Special Envoy on Climate Change Todd Stern argued that the most recent negotiating texts to emerge from talks leading up to this December's climate change summit in Cancún, Mexico "absolutely backs away from the fundamental language of the Copenhagen Accord." Stern warned that the U.S. promise in the Copenhagen Accord to assist in mobilizing $100 billion in climate change assistance per year for developing countries by 2020 was contingent on reciprocation by developing countries in the form of GHG mitigation commitments. Stern said that the funding and the emission reduction commitments are "two sides of an equation that only work as an equation because there are two sides."
Congress
- Graham Introduces Clean Energy Standard. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced the Clean Energy Standard Act of 2010, S. 20, which would require utilities to obtain 20 percent of their energy from "clean energy" sources by 2020, with the requirement rising by 5 percent every five years through 2050. "Clean energy" sources would include renewable energy, coal (if at least 65 percent of GHG emissions are captured and sequestered), biomass, energy efficiency, and new nuclear generation. The standard would also give credits for early retirement of high-emitting fossil fuel generation facilities, and allow utilities to make payments of 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour (adjusted for inflation) in lieu of compliance. A utility could petition to waive the compliance requirement for a year to limit the rate impact of the incremental cost of compliance to not more than 4 percent per retail customer per year. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), who recently introduced RES legislation with Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), said he is open to crediting nuclear power in an RES, but Sen. Bingaman is opposed. Sen. Bingaman is pushing to have a vote on his RES bill during the lame duck session.
- House, Senate Introduce Clean Energy Bills. Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) introduced the Small Business Clean Energy Financing Act of 2010, H.R. 6212. The bill would create a loan guarantee program to support small businesses that manufacture low-carbon and energy efficiency technologies. Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced a package of new and previously introduced clean energy tax incentives. The Advanced Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2010, S. 3935, would provide $2.5 billion in tax credits to manufacturers of renewable energy or energy efficiency technologies, create a $1 billion tax credit program to support energy efficiency modifications by U.S. manufacturers, expand an existing tax credit for combined heat and power systems, promote energy storage systems, make an existing tax credit for carbon capture and sequestration projects an allocated credit, and provide a tax credit for home energy efficiency retrofits. A summary of S. 3925 is available at http://bingaman.senate.gov/policy/aetia_summ.pdf.
- Rockefeller Advocates Clean Coal. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) told reporters that "This country cannot do without clean coal, and that is a hard sell back in my home state. They want coal. No, I said . . . we want clean coal." Sen. Rockefeller said that it is important to develop clean coal technology, and that opposition to climate science and policy by coal interests was: "asking to be swallowed up by natural gas. . . . It is like asking to close down their own operations and put all these coal miners out of work. It won't be the climate change that does it. They do it by being stubborn." Sen. Rockefeller also said his bill to delay EPA regulation of stationary sources of GHG emissions by two years would be vetoed by President Obama even if it passed Congress, but that "the point is the message."
Industry and NGOs
- Public Health Advocates Back EPA Regulation of GHGs. Eighteen national public health organizations and sixty-six state-level organizations and health experts sent a joint letter to President Obama and all members of Congress calling climate change a "serious public health issue" and supporting regulation of GHGs under the Clean Air Act by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Rising temperatures, the letter argues, will increasingly expose Americans to respiratory illness, heat and weather-related stress, and insect-borne diseases. The letter emphasizes that these impacts will fall most heavily upon vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children, and low-income households. The letter states that the signatories "urge opposition to any efforts to weaken, delay, or block the EPA from protecting the public's health against these risks," and asks Congress to resume efforts to pass comprehensive climate change and clean energy legislation. Organizations signing the letter include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, the American Medical Association and Physicians for Social Responsibility. The letter is available at http://www.apha.org/about/news/pressreleases/2010/epa+group+letter+release.htm.
- Latino Organizations Oppose Legislation to Delay or Block EPA Regulation of GHGs. Nineteen organizations representing Latino citizens of the U.S. sent a letter to President Obama and all members of Congress opposing legislation that would "block or delay" the EPA from "enforcing the Clean Air Act" by regulating GHG emissions. According to the letter, 66% of the nation's Latinos live in areas that do not meet federal air quality standards. The letter warns that climate change will add to this problem by exacerbating ground level ozone formation and other local air quality problems. The letter argues: "Current efforts to undermine implementation of the Clean Air Act would derail our country's progress towards clean energy, harm millions of children, elderly persons and vulnerable populations resulting in greater health care costs and lost productivity as well as health harm and deaths." The letter is available at http://hstrial-vocesverdes.intuitwebsites.com/Latino_CAA_letter_9-29.pdf.
Studies and Reports
- Royal Society Releases Guide to Climate Science. The United Kingdom's Royal Society, an independent fellowship of prominent scientists and the world's oldest scientific academy, released "Climate Change: A Summary of the Science." The report provides an overview of the evidence for climate change and describes the uncertainty involved in predicting future changes. The report concludes that policy decisions will have to be made in the absence of perfect knowledge, but should be informed by scientific evidence. The report is available at http://royalsociety.org/climate-change-summary-of-science/.
International
- Germany Sets Post-2020 GHG Reduction Targets in National Energy Strategy. In its national energy strategy, Germany set long-term GHG emission reduction targets for the post-2020 period. The GHG targets call for a 55 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2030, 70 percent by 2040 and 80 percent by 2050. The energy strategy also sets energy efficiency goals for the same period as well as a target level of renewable energy generation as a share of total energy consumption. Germany is the largest GHG emitter within the European Union.
- Chinese Province Adopts Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Rules. The Chinese Province of Qinghai became the first in the nation to pass climate change regulations. Rather than impose specific emission targets or policy measures, the new regulations outline the climate change mitigation and adaptation responsibilities of local governmental officials and the heads of regional state-owned enterprises. The regulations set the table for the development of new GHG emission reduction, energy conservation and water conservation measures.
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