Congressional Review Act might not be an option to fight EPA regs (subs. req’d)
Asked last weekend in a televised interview how he planned to stop U.S. EPA regulation of carbon — rules he says have the potential to inflict serious harm on the economy — House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton mentioned only one specific strategy: using the Congressional Review Act.
What the Michigan Republican did not mention is that the core EPA findings and rules related to carbon mitigation were published more than 60 continuous legislative days ago, making it impossible to nullify them through a resolution of disapproval under that act.
The congressman told Fox News anchor Chris Wallace that a resolution of disapproval offers many advantages over standard legislation, especially because such a resolution can clear the Senate with a simple majority vote of 51.
“There’s also something called the Congressional Review Act, that within 60 days of rules being published, Congress can take this up and with an up-or-down vote, it is filibuster-proof in the Senate,” Upton said. “It has been used before.”
A CRA resolution of disapproval has been used successfully once before, in 2001, to scrap a Department of Labor rule on ergonomics.
But the deadline for using such a resolution has come and gone for most of the EPA climate regulations.
“Certainly, the key rules are already beyond the Congressional Review Act deadline,” said Jeff Holmstead of Bracewell & Giuliani, who served as an assistant administrator of EPA during the George W. Bush years.
EPA’s finding that carbon dioxide and other GHGs endanger human health — which forms the basis for their regulation under the Clean Air Act — was published in December 2009. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) targeted the endangerment finding with a resolution of disapproval in June, aided by a unanimous consent agreement that allowed her to bring the motion to the floor later than would usually be allowed. But the measure fell four votes short in the Senate and never had a serious chance of passing the House or of being signed into law by the president.
The resolution might have had a better chance this year, with Republicans taking control of the House and making major gains in the Senate. Upton even said in his Fox News appearance that he thought a resolution of disapproval could garner enough bipartisan support to overcome a presidential veto.
“Already we’ve seen a number of powerful Democrats indicate that they have real, real qualms about what the EPA is intending to do,” he said.
But support for the resolution is no longer the issue. The endangerment rule was followed in May by the “tailpipe” rule, which adopts new standards for car and light-truck emissions. Those rules support regulation of GHGs from stationary sources such as power plants and manufacturing facilities, as laid out in the so-called tailoring rule published last June.
Upton told E&E Daily yesterday that he understood Congress could not turn back the clock.
Pentagon Must ‘Buy American,’ Barring Chinese Solar Panels
The military authorization law signed by President Obama on Friday contains a little-noticed “Buy American” provision for the Defense Department purchases of solar panels — a provision that is likely to dismay Chinese officials as President Hu Jintao prepares to visit the United States next week.
Although there are many big issues to discuss, including concerns about North Korea, trade and economic matters are certain to be high on the agenda. And while both sides are aiming to keep the discussion positive — the United States is the world’s largest importer and China the largest exporter of goods — simmering resentments over trade in green-energy technologies could be a distraction.
China has emerged as the world’s dominant producer of solar panels in the last two years. It accounted for at least half the world’s production last year, and its market share is rising rapidly. The United States accounts for $ 1.6 billion of the world’s $ 29 billion market for solar panels; market analyses typically have not broken out military sales separately.
The perception that Beijing unfairly subsidizes the Chinese solar industry to the detriment of American companies and other foreign competitors has drawn concern in Congress. The issue of clean-energy subsidies is also at the heart of a trade investigation under way by the Obama administration, which plans to bring a case against China before the World Trade Organization.
Although there are many big issues to discuss, including concerns about North Korea, trade and economic matters are certain to be high on the agenda. And while both sides are aiming to keep the discussion positive — the United States is the world’s largest importer and China the largest exporter of goods — simmering resentments over trade in green-energy technologies could be a distraction.
China has emerged as the world’s dominant producer of solar panels in the last two years. It accounted for at least half the world’s production last year, and its market share is rising rapidly. The United States accounts for $ 1.6 billion of the world’s $ 29 billion market for solar panels; market analyses typically have not broken out military sales separately.
The perception that Beijing unfairly subsidizes the Chinese solar industry to the detriment of American companies and other foreign competitors has drawn concern in Congress. The issue of clean-energy subsidies is also at the heart of a trade investigation under way by the Obama administration, which plans to bring a case against China before the World Trade Organization.
Casualties of Climate Change: Sea-level Rises Could Displace Tens of Millions (Subs. Req’d)
Since the beginning of recorded time, climate-forced migrations have reshaped civilization. Four thousand years ago a prolonged drought and the resulting famine in Canaan drove Jacob and his sons to Egypt, setting the stage for the famous exodus led by Moses. Three millennia later a prolonged dry period and lack of grazing lands helped to push Mongol armies out of Central Asia as far west as Europe, where many settled and intermarried. And in the 20th century the American Dust Bowl, an ecological catastrophe precipitated by drought and compounded by bad land-management policies, displaced 3.5 million people from the Midwest.
Today this age-old story has a new twist. We are entering an era marked by rapid changes in climate brought on by man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Anticipated changes include higher rainfall variability, greater frequency of extreme events (such as droughts and floods), sea-level rise, ocean acidification, and long-term shifts in temperature and precipitation—any of which can profoundly disrupt the ecosystems that supply our basic needs. In our more densely settled world, people may be forced from their homes in numbers never seen before.
Alaska pipeline closed, oil prices rise
The Trans Alaska Pipeline was shut for a second day on Sunday because of a leak, with no indication of when it would reopen, sending oil prices higher on fears that a prolonged closure could restrict U.S. supplies.
The leak was discovered at the start of the pipeline in Prudhoe Bay early Saturday, forcing oil companies to cut production to 5 percent of their average 630,000 barrels per day.
The shutdown of one of the United States’ key oil arteries, which carries about 12 percent of the country’s production, is the latest setback for 33-year old pipeline, which is becoming more expensive to maintain as it ages and handles less than a third of the oil it did at its peak in the 1980s.
U.S. crude futures rose about 1.7 percent, to $ 89.50 a barrel in early electronic trading in Asia.
Closures of the pipeline, although short, have provoked criticism of its operators, particularly major owner BP, whose reputation is already at an all-time low after the Gulf of Mexico blow-out last year, causing the largest-ever U.S. oil spill and attracting renewed government scrutiny of the oil production industry.
“This adds to what happened in the Gulf of Mexico at a time when U.S. regulators are still looking at regulations around oil drilling,” said Ben Westmore, commodities analyst at National Australia Bank. “Events like this carry risk around future regulation that could dramatically reduce supply on a more permanent basis than this temporary outage. There is a possibility the risk is pretty substantial for the (oil futures) market.”
The shutdown of the 800-mile (1,280 kilometer) line, which runs from the Prudhoe Bay oilfield to the tanker port of Valdez, has not yet affected shipments, and tankers are being loaded on schedule at Valdez, meaning there is no immediate danger of restricted oil supply. Oil produced during the shutdown will be stored at Prudhoe Bay until the pipeline reopens.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co, the operator of the pipeline which discovered the leak on Saturday morning, had no estimate of how much oil leaked, but none seems to have escaped beyond concrete encasing the pipeline at the intake pump station at Prudhoe Bay.
“The concrete encasement is why we don’t believe there’s any environmental impact,” said Alyeska spokeswoman Michelle Egan. “Until we can excavate, we won’t be able to say that definitely.”
She provided no estimate of when the pipeline would reopen or when normal oil production could resume.
Green Lobby Weighs ‘Political Realities’ of Energy Policy, Finds ‘Clean Energy Standard’ Isn’t So Bad
The wind industry’s largest trade group a few months ago rejected the idea of a “clean power” mandate on utilities that included nuclear, some coal and natural gas as options. But American Wind Energy has a new opinion today.
With talk starting about an energy bill, the wind influence group finds itself receptive to the policy it previously dismissed.
“We’re open to talking about anything at this point,” said Rob Gramlich, AWEA’s senior vice president of public policy.
The wind industry, along with other energy trade groups and companies, is re-examining its positions on the clean energy standard, or CES, along with other energy issues as it lobbies lawmakers in the new Congress. As advocacy begins, many are reconsidering a policy they had not backed before.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Wednesday he is starting work on a bill that would require utilities to generate a portion of power from clean energy, which would include renewables, nuclear and coal with carbon capture and sequestration. The CES is thought to be more popular with Republicans than the greens-only requirement called the renewable electricity standard, or RES.
At Least Some Politicians Get It
Advocates of federal action to address climate change had little to cheer about in 2010. The prospects may be even grimmer this year, with nearly every important committee chair in the now Republican-controlled House dismissing the threat of global warming or the human contribution to it.
As Congress dawdles and denies, some states are moving forward. Massachusetts recently announced a plan to curb emissions from homes, cars and factories by one-fourth below 1990 levels over 10 years — considerably more aggressive than President Obama’s commitment in Copenhagen to reduce emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels. The plan relies on existing technologies to produce more power from renewable sources like wind, tougher energy-efficiency standards for buildings and more investments in mass transit.
Massachusetts will also benefit from its participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 2008 agreement among 10 Eastern states, including New York, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. These emissions have already dropped dramatically in the region, in part because utilities have been switching from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas.
The Massachusetts announcement follows California’s approval of a cap-and-trade program requiring 360 large enterprises, including refineries and power plants, to gradually reduce emissions to help achieve a statewide reduction of 15 percent from current levels by 2020 — just under Mr. Obama’s target.
Climate Change May Continue for at Least a Millennium
Climate change may be unstoppable for the next millennium.
Rising carbon-dioxide levels in the atmosphere will affect the climate for at least another 1,000 years, based on a simulation by researchers at Canada’s University of Victoria and University of Calgary. That will cause the West Antarctic ice sheet to collapse by the year 3000 and raise sea levels by 4 meters (13 feet), it showed.
The study, published online in Nature Geoscience, is the first full climate model to make predictions so far into the future, the Calgary university said in a Jan. 9 statement. Researchers studied the length of time needed to reverse climate-change trends if the world stopped using fossil fuels and putting CO2 in the atmosphere as of 2010 and 2100.
“Ongoing regional changes in temperature and precipitation are significant following a complete cessation of carbon-dioxide emissions in 2100, despite almost constant global mean temperatures,” researchers led by Nathan P. Gillett at the Victoria university said.
The effects’ duration may be related to inertia in world oceans, with parts of the southern Atlantic Ocean beginning to warm only now as a result of CO2 emissions in the previous century, according to the researchers.
“The simulation showed that warming will continue, rather than stop or reverse, on the 1,000-year time scale,” Shawn Marshall, a geography professor at the University of Calgary, said in the statement.
More power to Iowa growing wind power
With all the health problems associated with coal-fired power plants, it is great to see another wind project begin in Iowa. Not only will MidAmerican be bringing new jobs into Iowa, it will also be replacing that much need for coal produced energy. That will help make Iowa a healthier place to live again.
Wind projects are already exporting our wind energy to other states. Expanding that is a good way to increase revenue being brought into the state.
China Sunergy Lands Deal for World’s Largest Solar Roof
China Sunergy (CSUN) has secured a 7 MW solar module supply contract with CEEG (Nanjing) Solar Energy Research Institute, for the Nanjing South Railway Station solar roof project. It’s the world’s largest stand-alone building integrated photovoltaic (”BIPV”) project for one structure and will be one of the most energy efficient public buildings in China. The company announced a big 120MW Italian solar supply deal just a couple weeks ago.
“China Sunergy is delighted to be the module supplier for the ‘largest stand-alone BIPV project in the world,” said Mr. Stephen Zhifang Cai, CEO of China Sunergy. “We are very happy to see our high-quality solar panels being used in this landmark project, which will certainly raise public awareness and appreciation of renewable energy. We look forward to playing an increasingly bigger role in building China’s eco-friendly projects.”
Climate Progress