May 2015 Climate Change Summary Report

“Switching to biofuels could place unsustainable demands on water use”

May 29, 2015: The Guardian reports: “As the world moves towards renewable sources of energy, it faces an accompanying challenge: water scarcity. The intensive water use in the coal, oil, gas and nuclear industries is well-documented, but if we want to encourage a faster transition to renewables we must also contemplate the water use of the alternatives. It is a great challenge to limit the drain on land and water resources now the transition has taken off. Bioenergy, hydropower, and wind, solar and geothermal energy all require substantial amounts of land and water resources. Given limitations to the availability of land and water, what energy scenarios are feasible in the long run?”

“Forget ‘peak oil.’ Is the world’s economy heading toward ‘peak demand’?”

May 28, 2015: Energywire reports: “Peak oil, meet peak demand. The hypothesis that oil production is about to peak is being swiftly replaced by the idea that the world’s thirst for crude oil is about to hit a ceiling, posing challenges for firms that face investor pressure to grow. One idea has it that even crude demand in emerging markets is on track to peak and then steadily decline, as is occurring in much of the developed world today.”

“Tom Steyer aims to get GOP candidates ‘on the record’ on climate”

May 28, 2015: The Hill reports: “Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer said he does not support any of the Republican candidates for president but that it’s still important to get involved in the primary campaign. Steyer told Gwen Ifill of PBS ‘NewsHour’ that he would be thrilled if a Republican candidate ended up being stronger than a Democrat on the climate change and energy issues that he cares about, but none of the declared or potential candidates in the GOP field for 2016 have indicated as much.”

“Climate rule would bring power sector’s carbon to historic low”

May 27, 2015: The Hill reports: “The Obama administration’s climate rule for the power sector would bring that industry’s carbon dioxide output to its lowest level in decades. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule would cut power plants’ carbon to about 1,500 million metric tons a year by 2025. That level would be the lowest carbon emissions from the power sector since the early 1980s, the EIA said. Its report is based on a Friday analysis the EIA released about the power and emissions implications of the EPA’s rule, which aims to slash power plants’ carbon 30 percent by 2030. The reductions would amount to up to 35 percent below 2005 levels in 2025, the agency said.”

“Obama administration pumps $32M into solar industry”

May 27, 2015: The Hill reports: “The Department of Energy announced a $32 million funding program to support jobs and research in the solar energy sector on Tuesday. Of that funding, $12 million will go toward projects to train solar technicians and provide information about solar power to ‘other professionals in related fields such as real estate, insurance, finance and fire and safety,’ according to the Department of Energy. The funding will go toward the Obama administration’s goal of training 75,000 new solar workers by 2020.”

“Investment fund CEOs call for long-term greenhouse gas cuts”

May 27, 2015: Reuters reports: “Some of the world’s biggest investment funds urged the Group of Seven industrialized nations on Tuesday to commit to a long-term goal to cut world greenhouse gas emissions as part of a U.N. climate deal due to be agreed in December. Cuts in emissions would give investors more certainty, promote research and development and new technologies, and help create jobs, fund chiefs said. ‘We believe climate change is one of the biggest systemic risks we face,’ the fund managers, who oversee more than $12 trillion in assets, said in an open letter to G7 finance ministers. The letter was signed by 120 CEOs of investment funds, including Henderson Global Investors, Schroders and pension plans for French civil servants and Ontario teachers.”

“What Would Ronald Reagan Do About Climate Change?”

May 27, 2015: An op-ed in Forbes states: ““What would Reagan do?” (WWRD?) is a commonplace query on the right, and recently it has been applied to the vexing issue of climate change. It has been pointed out that Reagan embraced the 1987 Montreal Protocol that phased out chloro-flourocarbons (CFCs) in order to reduce damage to the stratospheric ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol was one of the diplomatic precedents for the Kyoto Protocol a decade later, which proposed to begin phasing out greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The implication is that Reagan would have gone along with the Kyoto Protocol, unlike George W. Bush, who rejected it, or the current crop of GOP leaders who are skeptical of the climate campaign.”

“More than 2,000 companies call for lowering emissions using a price on CO2”

May 26, 2015: Climatewire reports: “International business leaders meeting at a two-day summit here have called on governments to sign a global climate deal that leads to net-zero emissions. Their statement was signed by more than 2,000 companies. Leading with science-based targets, the U.N.-backed initiative, bringing together major companies from around the world and from all sectors, sought to chart a low-carbon pathway. It would be built on the belief that a sufficiently high carbon price — imposed either through trading systems or taxes — can tap the innovation of industry and the capital of banks to focus on climate change solutions.”

“The Green Behind California’s Greens”

May 21, 2015: City Journal reports: “In the fall of 2010, an army of California groups—including blue-collar unions, small businesses, manufacturers, and big energy companies—tried to persuade voters to suspend the state’s rigorous anti-global-warming law, which mandates a rollback of greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels. The advocates for delaying the law argued that, with an unemployment rate of 12.4 percent, California needed to focus on creating jobs and couldn’t afford costly new measures to slash carbon emissions, such as requiring utilities to generate power from renewable sources. But what proponents of the jobs measure, known as Proposition 23, didn’t count on was the financial might of California’s environmentalists. In just months, greens raised three times as much money as the initiative’s supporters.”

“Jeb Bush rails against ‘intellectual arrogance’ in climate change debate”

May 21, 2015: CNN reports: “Jeb Bush hit back against President Obama’s claim that climate change runs an immediate risk, saying Wednesday that while it shouldn’t be ignored, it’s still not ‘the highest priority.’ As he has before, Bush acknowledged ‘the climate is changing’ but stressed that it’s unknown why. ‘I don’t think the science is clear of what percentage is man-made and what percentage is natural. It’s convoluted,’ he said at a house party in Bedford, New Hampshire. ‘For the people to say the science is decided on this is really arrogant, to be honest with you,’ he continued. ‘It’s this intellectual arrogance that now you can’t have a conversation about it, even. The climate is changing. We need to adapt to that reality.’”

“Morning Plum: Obama depicts climate change as national security risk”

May 20, 2015: The Washington Post reports: “As your humble blogger has noted before, President Obama can help ensure that climate change plays a larger role in the 2016 election simply by talking about the issue, thus elevating its profile and making it more likely that the GOP contenders will loudly oppose whatever he is proposing. In a speech today, Obama will ratchet up the rhetoric around climate change, claiming global warming poses an “immediate risk” to the United States and depicting action against it as a national security imperative.”

“Regulators seek climate rule ‘safety valve’ to protect electric grid”

May 19, 2015: The Hill reports: “The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) wants the Obama administration’s climate rule for power plants to include a “safety valve” to protect electric reliability. The safety valve could allow a state to ask the Environmental Protection Agency for a temporary waiver to its compliance plan to protect the reliability of the electric grid. FERC’s letter to the EPA, sent late Friday, did not sound any loud alarms about reliability or say that the climate rule would necessarily threaten the electrical grid.”

“Canada excludes tar sands industry from greenhouse gas cuts”

May 18, 2015: The Hill reports: “Canadian leaders are pledging to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2030 and are promising new regulations to achieve the target. The goal, which is Canada’s official submission to the United Nations for the climate change agreement due to be signed in December in Paris, falls short of the United States’ pledge of a 26 percent to 28 percent reduction by 2025. Canada’s government said the goal is both fair to the country’s industries and ambitious.”

“More and more conservative thinkers want to tax carbon. Will politicians and activists follow?”

May 18, 2015: The Washington Post reports: “We’re in one of those moments again. One of those moments where people (yes, mostly liberals) get together and hope really hard that the climate issue is becoming less divisive, that there’s going to be a breakthrough on the Republican side, and that we’ll finally achieve consensus to take action. You can see it in the recent celebrations of former South Carolina GOP congressman and now climate crusader Bob Inglis, who just won the John F. Kennedy ‘Profile in Courage’ award for trying to convince his party to address the issue. And you can see it in the enthusiasm after New Jersey Republican governor and potential  presidential contender Chris Christie recently said he does accept the basic science of human-caused climate change. Most of all, though, you can see it in the fact that prominent thinkers on the right are increasingly pushing — and drawing considerable attention for pushing — a climate policy idea that Republicans may have to strongly consider one day.”

“Saudi claims oil price strategy success”

May 15, 2015: CNBC reports: “Saudi Arabia says its strategy of squeezing high-cost rivals such as US shale producers is succeeding, as the world’s largest crude exporter seeks to reassert itself as the dominant force in the global oil market. The kingdom’s production rose to a record high of 10.3m barrels a day in April and there is no sign that it plans to reverse its policy at next month’s meeting of Opec, the producers’ cartel, in Vienna. ‘There is no doubt about it, the price fall of the last several months has deterred investors away from expensive oil including US shale, deep offshore and heavy oils,’ a Saudi official told the Financial Times in Riyadh, giving a rare insight into the kingdom’s thinking on oil strategy.”

“U.N. climate chief slams fossil fuel investments, outlines steps for Paris deal”

May 15, 2015: Climatewire (subscription required) reports: “On the heels of President Obama’s controversial decision to greenlight renewed oil drilling in the Arctic, the United Nations’ top climate change official yesterday declared that fossil fuels have become an unwise investment. Christiana Figueres, who leads the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, avoided commenting directly on the White House move allowing Royal Dutch Shell to begin exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea. But she noted that oil and gas reserves must stay underground and give way to renewable energy in order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2100. ‘We have absolutely no opinion about what governments do with companies that operate within their geographic boundaries,’ she said. ‘But there is an increasing amount of analysis that points to the fact that we will have to keep the great majority of fossil fuels underground.’”

“Senate GOP launches attack on EPA climate rules”

May 14, 2015: The Hill reports: “Senate Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday that would overturn the Obama administration’s landmark climate regulations for power plants and make it nearly impossible to rewrite them. The bill is the GOP’s first major legislative push against the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions limits since Republicans seized control of the Senate in November. The rules have drawn intense criticism from Republicans and industry groups, who warn they will cost billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of jobs and have negligible environmental benefits.”

“Meet the Mirai: Why Toyota wants to make your next car run on hydrogen”

May 13, 2015: The Washington Post reports: “The Toyota sedan cruising last week down a leafy suburban parkway was like any family car on the road, save for one key detail: Its power was coming not from gasoline but hydrogen, stored in tanks beneath the seats. The first mass-market car to run off hydrogen, the $57,500 Mirai, has quickly become a powerful force in the battle for tomorrow’s roads. The four-seater can drive farther and refuel faster than any electric car a driver can buy. But the world’s biggest car company, even before the Mirai’s first California sale in October, is placing a massively risky bet on hydrogen, now sold at only a dozen American fueling stations. For many, it still evokes the Hindenburg and the hydrogen bomb.”

“Cellulosic refiners hamstrung by chaos in RFS-credit market”

May 12, 2015: Greenwire (subscription required) reports: “Quad County Corn Processors produced the Midwest’s first gallons of cellulosic ethanol last summer with new technology added to a corn-ethanol plant in western Iowa. And the company reached a milestone last month by producing its millionth gallon of the advanced biofuel. But all is not well for Quad County. Refiners aren’t buying cellulosic fuel credits through the renewable fuel standard program for what the company produces. And so Quad County has received as much as $600,000 less than expected for its wares — a shortfall that’s hurt the company’s bottom line and affected its negotiations with other ethanol companies over licensing the technology.”

“Lonely Republican Voices Buck Party to Urge Action on Climate Change”

May 12, 2015: Scientific American reports: “Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo says it’s ‘vital’ that lawmakers begin working on legislation to address climate change, which he says could damage both the economy and environment of his district in South Florida. His views diverge sharply from those of other Republican lawmakers, including the state’s two presidential aspirants in former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio. And although Curbelo has not endorsed a policy by which to reduce carbon emissions, some observers describe his openness to the issue as a thawing moment in the seemingly frozen congressional debate over global warming.”

“Chris Christie: ‘Global warming is real’”

May 11, 2015: The Hill reports: “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie broke slightly with many of the announced and potential Republican presidential candidates, saying that climate change is real and that humans contribute to it. ‘I think global warming is real. I don’t think that’s deniable,’ Christie said at a Keene, N.H., event, according to MSNBC. ‘And I do think human activity contributes to it.’ Christie later added that the degree to which humans contribute to climate change is still subject to debate.”

“Promoters of renewable energy failed to account for the return of cheap oil”

May 11, 2015: An op-ed in The Washington Times states: “The green energy movement in America is dead. May it rest in peace. No, a majority of American energy over the next 20 years is not going to come from windmills and solar panels. One important lesson to be learned from the green energy fad’s rapid and expensive demise is that central planning doesn’t work. What crushed green energy was the boom in shale oil and gas along with the steep decline in the price of fossil fuel that few saw coming just a few years ago. An International Energy Agency report concedes that green energy is in fast retreat and is getting crushed by ‘the recent drop in fossil fuel prices.’ It finds that the huge price advantage for oil and natural gas means ‘fossil plants still dominate recent [electric power] capacity additions.’”

“The Corn Ethanol ‘Bridge’ Is Crumbling”

May 8, 2015: An Environmental Working Group blog post states: “The Congressional notion that ethanol could act as a bridge to truly green biofuels is crumbling before our eyes. A new research study led by Joost de Gouw of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has concluded that ethanol refineries emit up to 30 times more air pollutants than originally thought. The pollutants – referred to as volatile organic compounds or VOC – are the principle culprits when ozone forms at ground level. VOCs are not the only issue. Strikingly, the NOAA researchers found that when a refinery produced one kilogram of ethanol, 170 times more ethanol escapes into the air than burning the same amount in a car. Ethanol air pollution forms acetaldehyde, a probable carcinogen and strong contributor to ground-level ozone.”

“Obama Climate Rules Face New Attacks From Republicans”

May 6, 2015: National Journal reports: “Senate Republicans are preparing new legislation to upend the tentpole of the Obama administration’s climate action plan, but they’re also cracking the law books for an offensive playbook. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said she will introduce a bill next week challenging the EPA rules limiting greenhouse-gas emissions from existing power plants. Speaking after a Tuesday hearing on the EPA rules, Capito said her bill is still being worked out but would touch on the time line of implementation and the ability of states to opt out of EPA regulations. Her bill will target both the rules on existing power plants and a finalized rule on new power plants.”

“Technology — a missing building block in the Clean Power Plan?”

May 5, 2015: Energy Wire (subscription required) reports: “Somewhere between the power plant and light switch, as much as 6 percent of U.S.-generated electric power disappears, lost in transmission as current pushes its way through power lines. If a sizable part of those line losses could be recovered, the preserved energy would matter to consumers and to utilities that will have to find new ways to produce or conserve electricity under U.S. EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Advanced technologies to do that, and much more, are here or on the way, said Matt Rogers, a director of the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm who managed the Energy Department’s ‘smart grid’ investment program in 2009-10.”

“E.P.A. Carbon Emissions Plan Could Save Thousands of Lives, Study Finds”

May 5, 2015: The New York Times reports: “New carbon emissions standards that were proposed last year for coal-fired power plants in the United States would substantially improve human health and prevent more than 3,000 premature deaths per year, according to a new study. The study, led by researchers at Syracuse and Harvard Universities, used modeling to predict the effect on human health of changes to national carbon standards for power plants. The researchers calculated three different outcomes using data from the Census Bureau and detailed maps of the more than 2,400 fossil-fuel power plants across the country.”

“White House: Prepare for climate change in infrastructure planning”

May 5, 2015: The Hill reports: “The Obama administration is convening local and state leaders and experts Tuesday to encourage infrastructure planning to incorporate climate change preparation. The administration is hoping that along with factors like population and economic growth, local and state governments can think of a changing climate when they build highways, bridges, transit and other projects. Jeffrey Zients and Christy Goldfuss, advisers to President Obama on economic and environmental policy respectively, explained the effort in a Tuesday blog post.”

“Oklahoma takes aim at climate plan”

May 1, 2015: The Hill reports: “Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) and the state Legislature are taking a stand against Obama administration climate rules. Fallin signed an executive order this week saying her state will not comply with a proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule setting targets for carbon emission reduction at power plants. Republicans have said the plan is an unfair expansion of executive power. Fallin’s order prohibits the state’s Department of Environmental Quality from writing a strategy to reduce carbon emissions under the Clean Power Plan.” 

“Blacks, Hispanics reject Obama climate change agenda over concerns about poor”

May 1, 2015: The Washington Times reports: “The very same voters who helped put Barack Obama in the White House increasingly are turning against the president’s climate change agenda, with influential black and Hispanic leaders warning that stiff regulations to limit carbon emissions will have a devastating effect on the poor and will further stifle economic opportunity for minorities. Some of Mr. Obama’s most ardent supporters say they simply cannot go along with the administration’s increasingly ambitious program to combat global warming. They argue that, contrary to the Environmental Protection Agency’s claims, the carbon regulations will drive up utility bills for poor households and will stunt economic growth in low-income areas.”