Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion
 
 
Volume 1                                                                   July 29, 2019                                                                 Issue 20

Note to Readers. The Senate will soon be following the House out of Capital City for their August recess. Climate Politics will drop down to one report a week during the recess.

A brew of a different sort.  Murray Energy Corp. founder Bob Murray said he had provided President Donald Trump another memo containing policy recommendations, which include pressing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to elevate coal power sales among state public utility commissions.

The coal executive hosted a fundraiser for Trump's 2020 campaign at an arena along the Ohio River. According to reports, the event drew a crowd of several hundred spruced-up donors, many associated with the energy industry. (E&E News)

• Murray was behind Secretary of Energy Perry’s proposing to FERC that coal plants should be kept operating for national security reasons—notwithstanding their contributions to global warming and being uneconomic.
• He continues to push for a reversal of the endangerment finding.
• I would imagine that the Trump will continue to express sympathy for the coal guy’s to-do list at least as long as the money holds out—just a guess.
  

On the count of 3. More than 60 media outlets have committed to a week of focused climate change coverage in September.

The effort was coordinated by the Covering Climate Now project, which was co-founded by the progressive magazine The Nation and the Columbia Journalism Review, in partnership with The Guardian.

                     Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion
 
 
Volume 1                                                                    July 25, 2019                                                                 Issue 19

This Week’s Notion: There auto be a law.

From the Washington Post:

Four automakers from three continents have struck a deal with California to produce more fuel-efficient cars for their U.S. fleets in coming years, undercutting one of the Trump administration’s most aggressive climate policy rollbacks.
The compromise between the California Air Resources Board and Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW of North America came after weeks of secret negotiations and could shape future U.S. vehicle production, even as White House officials aim to relax gas mileage standards for the nation’s cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs.

The deal reached between California and the four auto companies is truly extraordinary both in terms of why the deal came about and the position in which it puts the Trump administration. Since Day 1 of the Trump presidency, the auto industry had been hoping to re-negotiate the deal it struck with the Obama administration on auto and light truck fuel efficiency standards (CAFE) for the period 2021 through 2026.

Over the past two and a half years of the Trump administration, the auto industry has learned the meaning of the phrase be careful what you wish for; as it just might come true. The bad news came to industry representatives in late February on a conference call with the White House. They were told that the administration had cut-off any further conversations with California officials and was going ahead with its proposed Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule freezing the standards at 2020 levels.

The freeze has been called the Trump administration’s most environmentally significant regulatory rollback yet" by the Rhodium Group following its penetrating analysis of the rule’s impact on the environment. The call is not surprising. The transportation sector has surpassed electricity as the major contributor of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere; and, Trump’s efficiency 36.9 mpg is standard is 14.5 mpg more lenient than Obama’s 51.4 mpg.

                     Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion
 
 
Volume 1                                                                    July 22, 2019                                                                 Issue 18
 
Still negotiating. Congressional negotiators and the White House are hoping to reach an accord, before the House leaves for summer recess at the end of this week, that would raise both discretionary spending and the nation's debt ceiling.

The lead negotiators, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), both said late last week they were close to an accord that would lift automatic budget cuts, known as sequestration, due to hit in 2020 and 2021.

They are also in agreement about raising the nation's debt ceiling, which is due to be hit in September.
Discussions were focused on finding ways to offset the costs of spending increases over the next two years that could reach $150 billion. (E&E News)

• There are several alternative approaches to the $150 billion in offsets—some more appearance than reality. One of the options is to tap the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve for a portion of the offsets.
• White House negotiators appear to be losing ground to Speaker Pelosi, which may raise the odds that Trump won’t initially agree with the final proposed arrangement. However, no side seems to want another government shutdown.

                       Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion
 
 
Volume 1                                                                   July 18, 2019                                                                 Issue 17

This Week’s Notion:

Presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden released his “Plan for rural America.” He joins other Democratic candidates, e.g., Warren, Klobuchar, and Sanders in reaching out to a constituency that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016.

Whatever else one might think the meaning of the 2020 national election to be, it represents a line in the sand for the fight against rising global temperatures. While the nation’s politicians fiddle, Earth continues to burn, and the rate of species extinction accelerates, with grave impacts on people around the world.

According to the Pew Research Center Trump won comfortable majorities of both rural white men and women, according to the exit poll. While Trump held a 10-percentage-point advantage over Clinton among white women nationally (53% to 43%), his victory margin nearly triples to 28 points among rural white women (62% to 34%). Trump led Clinton by 32 points among all white men nationally (63% to 31%), but he beat the Democrat by 48 points among white men living in rural areas (72% to 24%).

Although rural America is only 20 percent of the nation’s population, it presents an outsized opportunity for the 2020 Democratic contender for the presidency in terms of the Senate and the electoral college. Big or small, every state has the same number of Senators.

In terms of electoral votes, rural voters have proportionally more weight than large urban population centers. It’s the way the founders designed the system—until its changed presidential candidates can lose the election while garnering millions of votes more than their competition.

                Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion
 
 
Volume 1                                                                     July 15, 2019                                                                 Issue 16
 
Just butt out. Federal agencies have until Aug. 1 to submit plans for eliminating at least a third of their advisory committees, according to new guidance from the Office of Management and Budget.

The instructions follow an executive order signed by President Trump last month, which instructed agencies to get rid of panels established under the Federal Advisory Committee Act that have become obsolete or whose costs outweigh their benefits.

Agencies have until September 30 to reduce the total number of committees and can count panels eliminated as of January 2017 toward their one-third total. Committees established by Congress through statutory authority would not be up for consideration. (E &E News)

• Arguably, the federal government has too many advisory committees. The Trump administration—especially the White House—doesn’t like having people around that disagree with them. It’s fair to assume that the one-third reduction call is not particularly well-intentioned.
• The Trump administration has been consistent in its desire to rid itself of advisory committees, especially the ones that are heavy with members chosen by agencies during Obama’s administration. The appointments are usually staggered, so it is not unlikely to take several years to be rid of them.
• Pruitt purged EPA’s advisory committees. The purge didn’t go overly well as the replacements refused to be given the conclusions before they had a chance to discuss things. Trying that on an administration-wide scale would have proved problematic for the administration.

              Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion
 
 
Volume 1                                                                     July 11, 2019                                                                 Issue 15
 
Nothing like a good slime. It seems algal slime has turned Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis into an environmentalist. After toxins in Florida’s waters killed animals and left humans scared to swim, the state’s future governor made cleanup a campaign issue. Florida’s severe green and red algae blooms are also killing tourism and businesses in the state. (The Guardian)

To his credit, Governor DeSantis is making good on his promises. While in Congress, DeSantis was a Trump believer and a climate change denier.

• What changed for DeSantis was being closer to the problem. The situation proves once again that Tip O’Neil was right—all politics are local.
• Florida’s current junior senator, Rick Scott, was nicknamed Red Tide Rick for his having dismissed the blooms and their relationship to climate change. It nearly cost him the Senate election. Now Scott too has changed his tune and is working with the Florida Congressional delegation to find solutions to the problem.

Don’t shoot. Representative Matt Gaetz offered an amendment that would nix the June 30, 2022 expiration date for the drilling moratorium in Gulf Test Range. An amendment from the bipartisan Florida delegation would prohibit oil and gas pre-leasing and any other relevant activities off the state’s coast to maintain military readiness.

So, sue him. Two major health organizations on sued the Trump administration over its roll-back of an Obama-era rule on power plant emissions.

The American Lung Association and the American Public Health Association are challenging President Trump’s newly unveiled American Clean Energy (ACE) rule, the admin-istration’s replacement for the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan. (The Hill)

                  Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion.com
 
 
Volume 1                                                                   July 8, 2019                                                                    Issue 14
 
The House and Senate are back in session this week after taking time off for Independence Day.

The clock starts ticking. The Environmental Protection Agency's final rule replacing the Obama-era Clean Power Plan was published this morning, kicking off a 60-day window to bring lawsuits over the regulation - something multiple state attorneys general have said they will do. The Trump EPA seeks to justify its interpretation of the Clean Air Act as the only legal interpretation - a harder argument to win in court but one that, if successful, could prevent future administrations from implementing stricter regulations on power plants' greenhouse gas emissions. (Daily Journal Federal Register)

• Legal challenges to the Affordable Clean Energy Plan, Trump’s answer to the Clean Power Plan are some of the few things that can be counted on these days.
• As important as the outcome of the challenges is, what judges and justices have to say about the legality of EPA regulating power plant emissions both inside and outside the fence line is perhaps more important.
• It’s possible the courts could maintain the precedence of the landmark Massachusetts v EPA case in which the High Court said EPA would be obligated to regulate greenhouse gas emissions if it found them harmful to health, while at the same time ruling that the Clean Air Act doesn’t permit the Agency to regulate beyond the fence line.

The public is entitled. Senators, including Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), are considering writing legislation to make federal records more accessible in response to the EPA and Interior Department's recent changes to their Freedom of Information Act policies. Environmental groups oppose the agencies' policy changes, which give the agencies more control over the fulfillment of records requests. (The Hill)

Volume 1                                                                          July 1, 2019                                                               Issue 13
 
Note to readers: Due to the July 4th holiday this is the only issue published this week.

Populist leaders will need bigger walls.  A United Nations report is warning that the world is risking a "climate apartheid" scenario in which the wealthy can pay to avoid the consequences of global warming while the rest of society suffers. 

“Even if current targets are met, tens of millions will be impoverished, leading to widespread displacement and hunger,” U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, said in a report released last week. 

The report says that extreme climate change threatens to push "more than 120 million more people into poverty by 2030," according to Alston, who added that it will "have the most severe impact in poor countries, regions, and the places poor people live and work.” (The Hill)

Wanting it both ways. ExxonMobil is working to encourage a major Washington lobbying group to support policies addressing climate change, according to a top company official.

Facing public, investor and legal pressure, oil companies are increasingly backing action on the issue of climate change while remaining members of trade associations, e.g., the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), whose positions don’t align with that shift.

Royal Dutch Shell, under pressure from activist investors, announced earlier this year it was leaving AFPM, citing "material misalignment" on climate policies. Exxon is opting to stay and try to influence the group’s positioning, Nick Schulz, Exxon’s director of stakeholder engagement, said at a recent conference. Exxon also supports the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and a carbon tax. (Axios)

• It’s hard to take these steps by major oil companies seriously when they continue to work against the transition to renewable energy sources for power production and improved vehicle fuel efficiencies.
• Support by Exxon and other oil majors for a national carbon tax also ring hollow when their support is linked to a get-out-of-jail-free card in the form of freedom from civil damage lawsuits.