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Commentary
This week's most significant news involves a study by a marine advocacy group naming global shipping as the 6th largest source of global GHG emissions ranking just behind the United States, China, India, Russia and Japan . . . And, in Japan, a planned investment of $30 billion over the next 5 years to develop carbon capture and sequestration technologies appears to kick off a high stakes technology race that could bring commercial success to the future winners . . . Keeping the US in the clean coal technology contest, Senator Rockefeller added a new proposal to provide tax benefits to offset high capture and sequestration costs . . . States as diverse as Nevada, Massachusetts and Wisconsin are providing details about their future climate strategies.
Congress
- Sen. Rockefeller Offers Bill to Speed Deployment
of Carbon Capture, Coal-to-Liquid Technologies. Sen.
John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) has introduced the Future Fuels
Act (S. 3345), which would provide incentives for deployment
of carbon capture and storage technologies. Additionally, S.
3345 offers a low-cost loan program for coal-to-liquid fuel
production plants, which could only be used should world oil
prices drop below a certain figure established in the
statute. Sen. Rockefeller's bill provides $10.3
billion for tax incentives toward clean coal efforts,
including a $2 billion clean energy bond program for
electricity providers to offset deployment costs of carbon
capture and sequestration. The Future Fuels Act would also
provide mining companies with financial incentives to capture
and sequester methane.
- Sen. Boxer Calls on EPA Administrator Johnson to
Resign. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has called on
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to resign, stating she has
"lost all confidence in Stephen Johnson's
ability to carry out EPA's mission in accordance with
the law." Additionally, Sen. Boxer has been joined by
Sens. Whitehouse (D-RI) and Klobuchar (D-MN) in sending a
letter to Attorney General Mukasey seeking an investigation
of Administrator Johnson. Sen. Boxer alleges that Mr. Johnson
falsely testified before the Environment and Public Works
Committee, and objects as well to Mr. Johnson's
decision to deny California a Clean Air Act waiver to
implement its own vehicle emissions standards.
Administration
- EPA Formally Issues ANOPR on Regulating GHG
Emissions Under the Clean Air Act. The official
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANOPR) on regulating
CO2 and other GHG emissions under the Clean Air
Act (CAA) was published in the Federal Register on
July 30, marking the beginning of the comment period on
EPA's first step in responding to the Supreme Court
decision in Massachusetts v. EPA. The document
includes a number of letters from other federal agencies
opposing the use of the CAA to regulate GHG emissions, as
well as a discussion of the various options for regulating
CO2 under EPA's existing statutory
authority. Comments are due by November 27.
- EPA Reports Population Growth Could Frustrate
Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Efforts. An EPA
report finds that population growth, particularly in the fast
growing southern and western regions of the U.S., could
adversely affect efforts to reduce GHG emissions. The current
U.S. population of roughly 304.7 million is expected to grow
substantially in the next century, though projections vary.
However, even with modest projected increases, land-use
patterns in the faster-growing regions still will be most
affected. Increasing urban sprawl is expected to reduce
carbon sinks, such as forests and wetlands, resulting in
higher carbon emissions. Additionally, the lack of consistent
growth projections "has impeded progress of integrated
assessments of climate and land-use change on endpoints of
concern, such as water quality, aquatic ecosystems, air
quality, and human health." The EPA report is at:
http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=153506.
States and Cities
- WCI Sets September Deadline for Design
Recommendations. At its third stakeholder meeting in
San Diego, the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) set a
September 22 deadline for the release of the final draft of
design recommendations for the regional cap-and-trade
program. WCI released a preliminary design draft in late July
but a number of issues remain to be addressed in the final
draft including the specific regional allowance cap, method
of allowance distribution, implementation timeline, and
reporting requirements. The final recommendations will set
the regional caps and member allowance budgets through 2020.
The WCI is a regional cap-and-trade program whose members
include Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon,
Utah, Washington and the Canadian provinces of British
Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
- Massachusetts Adopts Low-Carbon Fuel
Standard. A bill signed by Massachusetts Gov. Deval
Patrick (D) will require the state to develop a low-carbon
fuel standard. The standard established under the Clean
Energy Biofuels Act (H. 4951) aims to reduce the
state's GHG emissions from the transportation sector
by 10 percent. The bill, which is based on recommendations
from the state's Advanced Biofuels Task Force, will
also require the state to seek to implement the standard on a
regional basis under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
(RGGI). Massachusetts joins California as the only states
with a low-carbon fuel standard.
- Nevada Climate Change Advisory Committee Issues
Recommendations. The Climate Change Advisory
Committee (Committee) established by Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons
(R) issued a set of 28 climate recommendations to the
Governor. According to the Committee, the highest priority
for the state is development a state climate action plan
(Plan) to assess, plan, and implement strategies for reducing
the state's greenhouse gas emissions. The Plan would
include establishment of a department within the
state's Division of Environmental Protection
authorized to set realistic annual GHG intensity targets.
Other high priority recommendations were to impose siting
restrictions under the state's Utility Environmental
Protection Act; to develop an analytical process for making
decisions related to expanding energy transmission corridors;
amending the current renewable portfolio standard that
requires 20 percent of electricity to be obtained from
renewable sources by 2015; and creating streamlined
permitting and review processes.
- Wisconsin Task Force Sends Recommendations to
Governor. The Wisconsin Global Warming Task Force
(Task Force) issued a set of recommendations for reducing the
state's GHG emissions. The recommendations sent to
Gov. Jim Doyle (D) call for the state to reduce GHG emissions
to 2005 levels by 2014, to 22 percent below 2005 levels by
2022, and to 75 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. The
reductions would be achieved through a combination of
measures, including an emissions trading program, increased
investment in energy efficiency, a renewable portfolio
standard, and a clean-car standard.
Studies and Reports
- U.S. Climate Change Science Program Finds
Computer Models Have Been an Accurate and Effective Tool in
Analyzing Climate Trends. The study, Climate
Models: An Assessment of Strengths and Limitations,
compared computer model forecasts to actual weather
conditions in the 20th century and found the predictions to
be accurate. The study also found that temperature changes
could not be explained without taking into consideration
human-caused GHG emissions and associated warming. Overall,
the authors of the study concluded that while computer
modeling is a useful forecasting tool, accurate modeling may
become increasingly difficult because of the complexities
involved in modeling some elements, such as oceans, ice
masses, and sunspot cycles. A copy of the report is available
at:
http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-1/final-report/default.htm
.
- Environmental Group Report Urges EPA to Regulate
GHG Emissions from Shipping. Oceana, a marine
advocacy group, issued a report on GHG emissions associated
with maritime shipping, concluding that "if global
shipping were a country it would be the sixth largest
producer of greenhouse gas emissions," with only the
U.S., China, Russia, India, and Japan emitting more than the
shipping industry as a whole. The group called for a 10
percent reduction in ship speed by 2010 to reduce emissions
by 23.3 percent; a switch to cleaner fuels; and improved ship
fuel efficiency through design changes such as hull shape. In
addition, the environmental group noted that black carbon
emitted by oceangoing vessels magnifies the effects of
climate change. Oceana suggested that near-term reductions in
black carbon emissions could slow climate change, allowing
the industry more time to reduce GHG emission. Click
here to view this report
- Japanese Cabinet Adopts Climate Plan, Sets
October Date for Cap-and-Trade. The Cabinet of
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda adopted a climate change
plan that includes a cap-and-trade program and technology
funding. The cap-and-trade program, first proposed by the
Prime Minister earlier this summer, will begin on a trial
basis in October. The clean technology funding will provide
$30 billion over the next five years to support the
development of clean coal, solar, and fuel cell technologies.
Much of the funding will focus on the development of low-cost
carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. The plan
also calls for Japan to establish a nationwide emission
reduction target by 2009.
- South Africa Announces Climate Plan.
Under a climate plan announced this week, South Africa will
seek to stop the growth of its GHG emissions by 2020-2025 and
begin to reduce its emissions in subsequent years. The plan
will reduce emissions through mandatory energy efficiency
targets, new fuel efficiency standards for the transportation
sector, an escalating CO2 tax, and a long-term
goal of a net zero-carbon electricity sector.
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