July 2015 Climate Change Summary Report

“What changes to expect from Obama’s final Clean Power Plan”

July 31, 2015: Reuters reports: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will unveil as soon as Monday the final version of a sweeping – and controversial – regulation to cut carbon emissions from the electricity sector. In its initial version, the Clean Power Plan called for cutting the country’s power plant emissions 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, setting different targets for each state. The proposal is the signature piece of President Barack Obama’s climate change policy. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said this week that the final rule will be ‘stronger in many ways than the proposed rule.’”

“Obama’s climate change policy driven by outside forces: report”

July 31, 2015: The Washington Times reports: “The Obama administration’s controversial climate change agenda is being driven largely by outside forces in the environmental community, and powerful activist groups have played a major — and perhaps illegal — role in crafting key Environmental Protection Agency policies, a detailed report released Thursday charges. Emails obtained by the Energy and Environment Legal Institute (EELI), an environmental policy watchdog and frequent critic of the EPA, show that powerful environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and others engaged in secret discussions with top administration officials. Much of the EPA’s climate agenda, including its looming regulations limiting carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, is being crafted by those outside groups, the report says.”

“Report: EPA Broke The Law To Push CO2 Regulations”

July 31, 2015: The Daily Caller reports: “A new report by a government watchdog group claims the EPA broke federal law by secretly colluding with environmental activists to push the Obama administration’s global warming agenda, and urges the agency to go back to the drawing board on its pending carbon dioxide rule. A report by the Environment & Energy Legal Institute unveils ‘records showing illegal activities by EPA staff, colluding with certain environmental group lobbyists to draft EPA’s greenhouse gas (GHG) rules behind the scenes and outside of public view.’ ‘These emails, which EPA forced us to litigate to obtain, prove beyond any doubt that EPA conducted its campaign to impose the global warming agenda unlawfully, making the rules themselves unlawful,’ Chris Horner, an E&E Legal senior attorney, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.”

“EPA poised to push carbon rule compliance to 2022, according to agency document”

July 30, 2015: Energywire reports: “U.S. EPA appears to be leaning toward giving states an extra two years — until 2022 — to start cutting carbon emissions from power plants under a final Clean Power Plan rule expected to be rolled out as early as Monday. The rule will also provide more time for states to submit final plans, according to a timeline E&E obtained that was posted to EPA’s website. Moving out the compliance dates could strengthen support from states friendly to the Obama administration’s climate plan and assuage the concerns of some critics. Across the political spectrum, state officials and energy companies have said more time is a concession EPA could grant in a final rule that would make it easier to cut greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.”

“Opponents of Obama climate rule dismiss extended deadlines”

July 30, 2015: The Hill reports: “Opponents of the Obama administration’s climate rule for power plants are panning revisions to the regulations, arguing the proposal will still inflict serious pain on the economy. The Environmental Protection Agency is poised to give states an extra two years to comply with the first power plant carbon reductions required under the rule and give them an extra year to submit their compliance plans. But Republicans, the coal industry and others fighting the administration’s action say the problems with the regulations go far beyond deadlines.”

“White House: ‘We will not back down’ on climate fight”

July 30, 2015: Politico reports: “President Barack Obama’s top aide vowed on Wednesday that the White House won’t yield to Republican attacks on its landmark climate change rule, even as the administration prepared to soften a deadline for states to cut the greenhouse gases from their power plants. ‘We will not back down. We will finalize a stronger rule,’ White House chief of staff Denis McDonough told an event hosted by The New Republic and the liberal Center for American Progress.”

“States ask for rehearing on EPA climate rules”

July 27, 2015: The Washington Examiner reports: “More than a dozen states petitioned a federal court Friday to rehear a case opposing the Obama administration’s plan to cut emissions from existing power plants. The emission cuts were proposed last year by the Environmental Protection Agency in regulations that place the states on the hook to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Most scientists say the emissions rules seek to cut are the cause of manmade global warming. The rules are the centerpiece of President Obama’s climate change agenda. The states argue that the rules, called the Clean Power Plan, overstep the EPA’s authority and are illegal. Their appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals comes as the rules are being finalized before becoming law, expected in early August.”

“Companies to Pledge $140 Billion in Efforts to Cut Carbon Emissions”

July 27, 2015: The Wall Street Journal reports: “More than a dozen U.S. companies on Monday will pledge to invest more than $140 billion in efforts to cut carbon emissions as part of a new Obama administration initiative leading up to the United Nations climate-change summit later this year. Bank of America Corp., General Motors Co., Cargill Inc. and Alcoa Inc. are among the companies set to sign onto a pledge to address climate change at a White House event Monday with Secretary of State John Kerry and White House adviser Brian Deese. Monday’s announcement, which also includes tech giants Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., is one part of an expansive effort by the Obama administration to address climate change and make it a legacy of President Barack Obama’s time in the White House.”

“Nation’s top 100 power plants cut carbon emissions 12%”

July 24, 2015: Los Angeles Times reports: “The nation’s top 100 power plants, including those run by power companies in the Los Angeles region, reduced their collective carbon emissions 12% from 2008 to 2013, according to a report released Thursday. Though emissions have fallen in recent years, carbon produced by the largest power plants was 14% higher than in 1990, the report by Ceres said. In its 54-page report, Ceres, a Boston organization that advocates for public policies on climate change and other environmental issues, stated that emissions are expected to decline further as power companies retire coal-fired plants and install pollution controls on facilities that continue to operate. Over the last two years, carbon emissions have basically been flat, the report states, but efforts such as the federal Clean Power Plan are expected to further reduce emissions from the power companies.”

“Study attributes carbon drop to recession”

July 22, 2015: The Hill reports: “The decreases in the United States’ carbon dioxide emissions are due mainly to the economic recession, not a switch away from coal use, a new study concluded. The study published Tuesday in Nature Communications said that although the 11 percent drop in carbon emissions from 1997 to 2013 has largely been attributed to increased use of natural gas, such a conclusion is purely speculative. ‘In our results, natural gas plays a bit part in decreasing emissions,’ Steven Davis, a University of California Irvine professor who co-authored the study, said in a statement. ‘The real heroes are consuming less stuff and using energy more efficiently,’ he said. Researchers found that a large, 10 percent drop in carbon from 2007 to 2009 accompanied dramatic changes in how Americans consumed products and energy, and various changes to manufacturing and other energy-intensive industries.”

“Industry: EPA is pulling the plug on new biofuels”

July 16, 2015: The Washington Examiner reports: “The advanced biofuel lobby is raising concerns that the Environmental Protection Agency, the supposed defender of clean-burning fuels, could be setting up the industry for a devastating fall if new regulations are enacted. The defenders of the second-generation fuels, derived from agriculture waste and other feedstock, say EPA’s recently proposed Renewable Fuel Standard only appears to boost demand for biofuels, while in reality it gives the agency the power to reduce production forever. Brent Erickson, vice president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a prime defender of the emerging advanced biofuel industry, framed the new proposal as a ‘cynical’ attempt to appease the refinery and oil industries. The proposed rules would trigger the EPA under the Clean Air Act to rewrite the standards at much lower levels beginning next year.”

“Senate rejects climate change education measure”

July 16, 2015: The Hill reports: “Republican senators rejected an amendment to a No Child Left Behind reform bill Wednesday that looked to establish a federal climate change education program. The measure, from Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would have created a grant program for school districts to ‘develop or improve climate science curriculum and supplementary education materials,’ according to the amendment text. It failed on a 44-53 vote.  Before the vote, Markey said the amendment aimed to ‘ensure that we provide the best science training available for this next generation, the green generation.’ ‘The children of our country deserve the best scientific education they can get on this topic,’ he said. ‘They are the future leaders of our country and our world. They must be equipped for this generational science.’”

“Gas beats coal in U.S. power mix for first time”

July 14, 2015: EnergyWire reports: “Gas-fired electricity outpaced coal-fired power in the United States for the first time in April, another signal of intensifying pressure from the shale revolution on the coal industry. Plummeting prices for natural gas spurred its growth as the United States claims 31 percent of its electricity powered by gas with 30 percent powered by coal, according to research firm SNL Energy. Wood Mackenzie’s Brett Blankenship said cheap gas colliding with new environmental regulations to curb mercury and related pollution from coal-fired plants has particularly injured coal generation. ‘Low gas prices mean coal plants are running less, and when they run their margins are typically compressed,’ Blankenship said. ‘So companies find it difficult to make the investments needed to comply with regulations and keep those plants running.’”

“Colorado renewable energy standard constitutional, judge rules”

July 14, 2015: The Denver Post reports: “A federal appeals court on Monday rejected a lawsuit claiming that Colorado’s renewable energy standard violates the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit was brought by the Washington-based Energy & Environment Legal Institute, a free-market-oriented litigation group. Colorado is requiring investor-owned utilities to get 30 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. Because the electric grid that Colorado is tied to covers 11 states, EELI argued the renewable mandate limits out-of-state coal plants from selling electricity.”

“Unraveling the Relationship Between Climate Change and Health”

July 14, 2015: The New York Times reports: “Is climate change a serious threat to human health? Simple logic would suggest the answer is yes, a point that the Obama administration is using to build support for the president’s effort to make climate change a centerpiece of his final months in office. A White House report listed deepening risks. Asthma will worsen, heat-related deaths will rise, and the number and traveling range of insects carrying diseases once confined to the tropics will increase. But the bullet points convey a certainty that many scientists say does not yet exist. Scientists agree that evidence is growing that warmer weather is having an effect on health, but they say it is only one part of an immensely complex set of forces that are influencing health.”

“America Doesn’t Need a Carbon Tax”

July 9, 2015: A letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal from Jay Timmons, the President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, states: “Sen. Chuck Schumer’s that Democratic control of both the White House and Senate will result in passage of a carbon tax is an ominous declaration that should drive any responsible leader, including the presidential candidates, to reject that option outright. With high taxes and increasing regulatory burdens already weakening America’s competitiveness, a carbon tax will further cede our mantle of economic leadership. A nonpartisan study of carbon-tax proposals commissioned by the National Association of Manufacturers found that a $20 per ton tax, increasing at 4% each year, would cut GDP by 0.5%, or $97 billion, in 2023 alone.”

“Environmental Protection Agency chief: Power plant rules will survive”

July 8, 2015: The Washington Examiner reports: “Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said she is confident the Obama administration’s cornerstone climate regulation that would limit power plant carbon emissions will survive an expected legal challenge. Her comments at a Washington event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor on Tuesday come a week after the Supreme Court sent an EPA rule limiting mercury and other toxic air pollutants back to a lower court. The high court found in a 5-4 decision that the agency didn’t properly consider the costs before crafting the rule. ‘The court seemed to go out of its way to narrow this decision in many ways,’ she said.”

“How GOP candidates can talk climate without saying ‘climate change’”

July 7, 2015: The Washington Examiner reports: “The eventual Republican presidential nominee will likely need to address climate change at some point, but a new analysis suggests candidates are better off avoiding the topic altogether in primary contests and devising some way to address the issue without saying the words ‘climate change.’ The first results of an ongoing effort between GOP pollster Adrian Gray and the Environmental Defense Action Fund, the advocacy arm of the Environmental Defense Fund, paint a complex picture for Republican presidential hopefuls who both want to establish conservative bona fides to attract primary voters, and keep their options open to appeal to independents in the general election.”

“Obama’s Clean Power Plan could push millions of minority Americans into poverty”

July 6, 2015: An op-ed in The Washington Times by Justin Sykes, federal affairs manager at Americans for Tax Reform, states: “This summer the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will finalize its carbon-dioxide emission regulations under President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. The EPA’s own data projects the regulations will reduce global carbon by less than 1 percent and sea level rise by one one-hundredth of an inch. The price Americans will pay for these “benefits” is layoffs and increased energy rates. Yet for the nation’s most vulnerable, the impacts will be far worse, pushing millions into poverty. Proposed in June 2014, the Clean Power Plan imposes emission reduction targets on each state, with some facing targets as high as 50 percent and 70 percent.”

“Hybrid, EV sales tumble in 2015”

July 2, 2015: The Detroit News reports: “Sales of hybrid and electric vehicles fell sharply in the first half of 2015, hurt by low gas prices, fewer incentives and a broader market shift away from cars. This is shaping up to be the toughest year for electrically powered vehicles since General Motors Co. and Nissan Motor Co. launched mass-market advanced vehicles in 2010. A new Georgia law takes effect this week that ends the $5,000 state tax rebate on EV sales and adds a $200 yearly registration fee for EV owners to pay for road repairs.”

 

“TransCanada touts Canada’s carbon plans in new U.S. pitch for Keystone”

July 1, 2015: Energy Guardian reports: “TransCanada is making a new pitch to win U.S. approval for its long-stalled Keystone XL pipeline, declaring it must meet strict new carbon standards in Canada and therefore won’t exacerbate climate change. In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and two of his deputies, Kristine Delkus, executive vice president and general counsel, pointed to Canada’s commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions as well as a planned carbon tax hike in Alberta as reasons why the project would hit a high bar for environmental standards. President Barack Obama, in announcing his Climate Action Plan two years ago, said he wouldn’t approve the project if it would ‘significantly exacerbate’ carbon emissions and climate change. In her letter, Delkus said that the tougher standards in her country wouldn’t allow that.”