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April 4-6, 2019
In this week's issue:
- NACAA Comments on MATS “Appropriate and Necessary” Proposal (April 10, 2019)
- Health Effects Institute Releases 2019 “State of Global Air” Report (April 10, 2019)
- EPA Administrator Testifies on FY 2020 Budget Request (April 9, 2019)
- CASAC Completes Review of EPA’s Draft Integrated Science Assessment for PM (April 11, 2019)
- EPA Defends Revised Mid-Term Evaluation of Light-Duty Vehicle GHG Emissions Standards in D.C. Circuit Brief (April 8, 2019)
- EPA Releases Final Version of 2017 Greenhouse Gas Inventory (April 12, 2019)
- House Foreign Affairs Committee Approves Paris Agreement Bill (April 9, 2019)
- Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Advances Carbon Capture Bill (April 10, 2019)
- House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Holds Legislative Hearing on Eight Energy Efficiency Bills (April 10, 2019)
- Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Holds Hearing to Explore Opportunities to Reduce Power Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions (April 11, 2019)
- House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Holds Separate Hearings to Examine Climate Change-Related Security Risks and Political Hurdles to Climate Action (April 9, 2019)
- House Homeland Security Committee Holds Hearing to Assess the Security Impacts of Climate Change (April 9, 2019)
- Bills to Increase Tax Credits for Electric and Hydrogen Vehicles Introduced in Congress (April 9, 2019)
- Four Democrat Senators Introduce Carbon Tax Legislation (April 10, 2019)
- Congressman Releases “Climate Playbook” to Seek Bipartisan Climate Action (April 10, 2019)
- EPA Seeks Comment on Nine Nominees for One Open Seat on CASAC (April 9, 2019)
This Week in Review
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NACAA submitted comments to EPA on the proposed “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Coal- and Oil-fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units – Reconsideration of Supplemental Finding and Residual Risk and Technology Review” (Mercury and Air Toxics Standards – MATS) that was published in the Federal Register on February 7, 2019. In its proposal, EPA seeks to reverse the agency’s previous determination that it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from coal- and oil-fired electricity generating units (EGUs). The agency also proposes Risk and Technology Review standards and requests comment on the creation of an additional subcategory for emissions of acid gas HAPs from existing EGUs firing eastern bituminous coal refuse. In the comment letter, NACAA opposes the elimination or diminishment of the consideration of co-benefits in EPA’s cost benefit analysis of MATS and the agency’s proposal to reverse the appropriate and necessary finding related to the control of HAPs from EGUs. NACAA identifies some deficiencies in the Regulatory Impact Analysis on which EPA based its rulemaking and recommends some improvements. The association also comments on certain elements of EPA’s risk assessment methodology, including the use of census tract centroids in determining long-term exposures, consideration of facility-wide risks and strategies for evaluating acute exposures. Finally, NACAA questions the need for the separate new subcategory identified in the proposal.
For further information: http://www.4cleanair.org/sites/default/files/Documents/MATS_written_comments-04-10-2019-NACAA.pdf
The Health Effects Institute (HEI) released the 2019 “State of the Global Air” report and companion website examining air pollution exposure and associated health burdens in countries around the world. This is the third annual edition of the HEI report, produced in collaboration with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease Project. The report provides updated information on global exposures to fine particle (PM2.5), ozone and household air pollution, illnesses and deaths attributed to air pollution, patterns and trends since 1990 and sociodemographic patterns. This year’s report also examines, for the first time, air pollution’s impact on life expectancy. Among its key findings are the following: Air pollution is the fifth leading risk factor for mortality worldwide, accounting for nearly five million early deaths and 147 million years of healthy life lost. Air pollution reduces life expectancy on average by 1 year and 8 months globally, with the highest burden in the least-developed countries. Ozone concentrations are creeping upward globally, with the most pronounced growth in rapidly developing countries such as China. On a more positive note, regulatory reforms appear to be driving substantial reductions in PM2.5 exposures in China, and the number of households cooking with solid fuels is declining in many parts of the world. The report’s companion website provides tools to review, compare and download the latest information about air pollution levels and disease burden for individual countries, territories and regions, and to track trends from 1990 to 2017.
For further information: https://www.stateofglobalair.org/
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change, defending the Administration’s FY 2020 budget request for EPA. Wheeler also testified twice in Congress last week on the budget, before the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. The Administration’s recommended budget calls for significant cuts to EPA funding, including a $2-billion reduction for EPA overall (to $6.1) and a 33-percent cut in funding for state and local air grants (from $228.2 million to $152 million). During the hearing Wheeler defended the budget as sufficient to support the agency’s core mission. Members questioned Wheeler on a variety of programs including EPA’s proposal to limit the use of scientific studies to only those with publicly available data (Wheeler reported the rule will be issued by the end of the year); the reorganization of the regional offices, which will be implemented shortly; New Source Review, including provisions in the Affordable Clean Energy rule; and the automobile fuel-efficiency rule and the California waiver.
For further information: https://energycommerce.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/hearing-on-the-fiscal-year-2020-epa-budget
EPA’s seven-member, independent panel of science advisors transmitted a letter to Administrator Andrew Wheeler providing the results of its peer review of the agency’s Integrated Science Assessment for Particulate Matter (External Review Draft) – October 18, 2018 (Draft ISA). The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) held two public meetings to discuss the Draft ISA (on December 12-13, 2018 and March 28, 2019); the final response to EPA was preceded by a March 7, 2019 draft response. Although the final review is less critical of the Draft ISA than the March 7, 2019 draft response, CASAC still finds fault with aspects of EPA’s research, stating that, “Overall, the CASAC finds that the Draft ISA does not provide a sufficiently comprehensive, systematic assessment of the available science relevant to understanding the health impacts of exposure to particulate matter (PM).” CASAC goes on to recommend that three “fundamental limitations” be remedied in a second draft of the ISA for CASAC review: 1) lack of comprehensive, systematic review, 2) inadequate evidence for altered causal determinations and 3) clearer discussion of causality and causal biological mechanism and pathways. In addition to recommending preparation of a Second Draft ISA, CASAC recommends that the EPA, by the time of the review of the Second Draft ISA, reappoint the previous CASAC PM panel (or appoint a panel with similar expertise) as well as adding expertise in specific disciplines. In addition to providing consensus responses to EPA’s Draft ISA, CASAC’s final review document also includes individual review comments from members of panel.
For further information: http://4cleanair.org/sites/default/files/Documents/CASAC-PM-Review_of-Draft_ISA-04112019.pdf
In a brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, EPA defended the April 13, 2018 “Mid-Term Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Model Year 2022-2025 Light-Duty Vehicles” issued by then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. The revised Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) has been challenged by 18 states, seven public interest and environmental groups and a number of business petitioners, who have asked the court to set it aside as “an unlawful effort to weaken the nation’s clean car rules.” In its brief, EPA argues primarily that these cases are not justiciable. It asserts that the MTE was not final agency action subject to judicial review, but merely a decision to initiate a rulemaking, and therefore just an initial step in EPA’s ongoing deliberative process. That process continued with the issuance of a proposed rule and will culminate in a final rule expected later this year, EPA states. The agency also argues that the petitioners lack standing to challenge the MTE and that their claims are not prudentially ripe for review. EPA rebuts the petitioners’ arguments that it did not fulfill procedural requirements set forth in its Evaluation Rule, claiming that it provided opportunities for public comment that went “beyond” those required by the regulation. Finally, EPA argues that even if the MTE is judicially reviewable, the petitioners’ arguments fail on substantive grounds as well. The MTE includes numerous sound reasons based on the record before the agency for electing to initiate notice-and-comment rulemaking, EPA asserts. Moreover, EPA claims that any judicial review of EPA’s decision to initiate rulemaking must be “extraordinarily deferential,” due to the preliminary nature of the agency’s decision and the broad degree of discretion afforded to EPA under Section 201 of the Clean Air Act.
For further information: http://www.4cleanair.org/sites/default/files/Documents/California_v_EPA-EPA_brief_4-8-19.pdf
EPA released the final version of its annual greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory for 2017. In the report, entitled the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2017, EPA finds that overall U.S. GHG emissions in 2017 totaled 6,456.7 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, a 0.5-percent decrease from the previous year and a 13-percent decrease below 2005 levels. The final tally is a small improvement form the draft version of the inventory released in February, which assessed a more modest 0.3-percent drop from 2016. EPA attributed the overall decrease to a 4.25-percent decline in power sector emissions. According to the inventory, power sector emissions continue to be driven by shifts away from coal-fired power generation toward natural gas and renewables but also benefited from milder 2017 weather conditions that helped to reduce demand. Meanwhile, nearly every other economic sector reported in the inventory – transportation, industrial, agriculture and residential – posted slight emissions increases. Some of the inventory’s key findings for non-CO2 GHGs in 2017 were that hydrofluorocarbon emissions increased 2.1 percent and methane emissions increase 0.2 percent relative to the previous year.
For further information: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks-1990-2017
The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to approve legislation that would require President Trump to develop a plan within 120 days to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. In 2015, the U.S. pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act, would also prohibit the Trump Administration from spending funds to exit the Paris Agreement. The full committee passed the measure by a 24 to 16 party-line vote. The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to approve H.R. 9 last week, on April 4, 2019, and it is likely that the legislation will be scheduled for a vote on the House Floor soon. For further information: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/9/all-actions and https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/markups?ID=1E1580A0-6A8E-4A41-A782-84D16F16BA14
(8) Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Advances Carbon Capture Bill (April 10, 2019) – The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved S. 383, the Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies (USE IT) Act by a unanimous voice vote. The bill is sponsored by Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) and has 13 co-sponsors, including eight Democrats. S. 383 is identical to legislation introduced by Barrasso in the last Congress and would support research for new carbon utilization and direct air capture technologies as well as encourage the construction of carbon capture, utilization and sequestration infrastructure.
For further information: https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings?ID=0CB610C3-5624-42CA-BA83-00588618AAA8 and https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/383
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved S. 383, the Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies (USE IT) Act by a unanimous voice vote. The bill is sponsored by Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) and has 13 co-sponsors, including eight Democrats. S. 383 is identical to legislation introduced by Barrasso in the last Congress and would support research for new carbon utilization and direct air capture technologies as well as encourage the construction of carbon capture, utilization and sequestration infrastructure.
For further information: https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings?ID=0CB610C3-5624-42CA-BA83-00588618AAA8 and https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/383
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy held a legislative hearing to review eight largely bipartisan bills addressing an array of energy efficiency policies. The package of bills includes legislative proposals that, if enacted, would promote smart building technology (H.R. 2044), create rebates for homeowners who make energy efficiency improvements (H.R. 2043), establish residential weatherization grants (H.R. 2041), establish a smart energy and water efficiency pilot program (H.R. 2019), reauthorize the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program (H.R. 2088), reauthorize grants for public building energy efficiency improvements (H.R. 2119), establish a national energy workforce training program (H.R. 1315) and fund state energy planning (H.R. 2114). Two Department of Energy officials, Dan Simmons, assistant secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and James Campos, director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, testified in response to the bills.
For further information: https://energycommerce.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/hearing-on-investing-in-america-s-energy-infrastructure-improving-energy
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing on innovative technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector. Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) led off the hearing with an opening statement that praised recent declines in U.S. power sector emissions while noting the challenges raised by anticipated global increases in electricity demand. “Greater use of electricity will almost certainly lead to an increase in global emissions. The opportunity we have in front of us is to foster an innovation ecosystem here in the United States that can lead to energy breakthroughs that deliver cleaner, more affordable, and more reliable energy technologies.” The Committee’s top Democrat, Ranking Member Joe Manchin (D-WV), echoed Murkowski’s global perspective in his opening remarks. “Global climate is not the U.S. climate and it’s not the North American climate. And for some reason we lose sight of that. We think if we penalize, the rest of the world will follow suit. From what I understand, the average coal plant in Asia is 11 or 12 years old and they plan on running for another 30 years. What do you all plan to do there or how do we get them on board?” he said. The hearing featured five witnesses: Dr. Arun Majumdar, co-director of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University; Sarah Ladislaw, director and senior fellow at the Energy and National Security Program Center for Strategic and International Studies; Abe Silverman, vice president and deputy general counsel at NRG Energy, Inc.; Robert Bryce, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute; and David Sandalow, inaugural fellow at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.
For further information: https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2019/4/full-committee-hearing-to-examine-opportunities-for-energy-innovation-and and https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2019/4/senate-energy-committee-holds-second-hearing-to-examine-climate-change
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee scheduled back-to-back hearings on climate change, with the first, entitled The Need for Leadership to Combat Climate Change and Protect National Security, held by the full committee on Tuesday morning. The hearing featured two witnesses: former Secretary of State John Kerry and former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. In his opening remarks, Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) cited recent flood damage at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska and hurricane damage last spring to North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune as illustrative of the national security risks created by climate change. “For several decades, our national security leaders – including the two men sitting at our witness table – have been warning that we need strong and decisive leadership to combat climate change and to plan for the national security implications we are going to face. These warnings have come from Democratic Administrations and Republican Administrations alike.” Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-OH) devoted the majority of his opening comments to criticizing the “Green New Deal” resolution. The Committee’s focus on climate continued into the afternoon when the Subcommittee on Environment convened a separate hearing, entitled Climate Change, Part I: The History of a Consensus and the Causes of Inaction. Subcommittee Chairman Harley Rouda (D-OH) led the proceeding, explaining his goals for the meeting in his opening statement. “Political disagreements are a hallmark of democracy, and I welcome constructive debates about what to do about the problem of climate change. But politics should be separate from our acknowledgement of the problem itself. The science was clear then, and it is equally clear now, and our panel today is going to help us make sense of why the U.S. has not taken decisive action to address a problem that we’ve known for decades.” The Subcommittee heard from a single panel of four witnesses: former Senator Tim Wirth; Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Health and International Affairs; Jeffrey Sachs, a professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University; and Nicholas Loris, a fellow in energy and environmental policy at the Heritage Foundation.
For further information: https://oversight.house.gov/legislation/hearings/the-need-for-leadership-to-combat-climate-change-and-protect-national-security and https://oversight.house.gov/legislation/hearings/climate-change-part-i-the-history-of-a-consensus-and-the-causes-of-inaction
The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery held a hearing to investigate potential security threats from climate change. Subcommittee Chairman Donald Payne (D-NJ) opened the hearing by noting the connection between climate change and severe weather events. According to Payne, “As climate change continues to make extreme weather events worse, our critical infrastructure will be at risk of failing, a terrifying prospect for our homeland security.” The Chairman went on to state that climate change also poses threats to our healthcare system, food production, military installations and commerce. The Subcommittee’s top Republican, Ranking Member Peter King (R-NY), focused his prepared remarks on the importance of pre-disaster mitigation. “The reality is that natural disasters will continue to occur, and we should use every disaster as an opportunity to learn and improve our mitigation capabilities to decrease the loss of life and damage to our homes and infrastructure,” he said. The hearing’s witnesses included Astrid Caladas, senior climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists; Timothy Manning, senior advisor to the Pacific Disaster Center; Kristie Trousdale, deputy director of the Children’s Environmental Health Network; and Dan Eggleston, president and chairman of the board at the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
For further information: https://homeland.house.gov/hearings-and-markups/hearings/assessing-homeland-security-impacts-changing-climate and https://republicans-homeland.house.gov/king-opening-statement-at-hearing-on-impacts-of-changing-climate/
A bipartisan group of Senators introduced the Driving America Forward Act (S. 1094), which will expand the electric vehicle and hydrogen fuel cell tax credits available to consumers. Currently, a tax credit of up to $7,500 is available to a consumer who purchases an eligible electric vehicle. However, the credits phase out permanently when an automaker sells more than 200,000 vehicles. S. 1094 would allow $7,000 in tax credits for consumers and increase the cap for each manufacturer to 600,000 vehicles. The sponsors are Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Gary Peters (D-MI) and Susan Collins (R-ME). The sponsors have reported that over 60 organizations are supporting the bill, including various industry and environmental groups. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) has introduced a companion bill in the House.
For further information: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1094 and https://www.stabenow.senate.gov/news/stabenow-alexander-peters-collins-kildee-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-expand-electric-vehicle-and-hydrogen-fuel-cell-tax-credits
A group of four Democrat senators led by Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced legislation to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with a carbon tax. The bill, entitled the American Opportunity Carbon Fee Act, has been assigned bill number S. 1128 and is cosponsored by Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). The legislation would impose a $52-per-ton carbon fee in 2020 and increase by six percent beyond inflation annually. An analysis of the proposal conducted by Resources for the Future estimates that the measure would achieve a 51-percent reduction in U.S. GHG emissions relative to 2005 levels by 2029. The tax would also raise approximately $2.3 trillion over its first 10 years, which would be directed to provide worker tax credits and to fund state responses to damages from climate change. S. 1128 closely resembles legislation introduced by Senators Whitehouse and Schatz in the last Congress: this is the fourth Congress during which Senator Whitehouse has introduced a version of the bill.
For further information: https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-schatz-heinrich-gillibrand-introduce-updated-carbon-fee and https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1128
Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) released the “Climate Playbook,” a compilation of existing legislative proposals addressing various issues related to climate change. According to Peters, the resource provides opportunities for immediate climate action because many of the bills it features have already seen bipartisan support. The Playbook’s list of legislative proposals is organized into the following groups: 1) economy-wide emission reduction incentives; 2) pricing carbon emissions; 3) reducing transportation emissions; 4) reducing electricity sector emissions; 5) reducing manufacturing and industrial emissions; 6) promoting energy-efficient buildings; 7) reducing agriculture emissions; 8) reducing short-lived climate pollutants; 8) reducing emissions through foreign policy; 9) investing in adaptation and resiliency; 10) workforce re-training; and 11) research, development, demonstration and deployment. Rep. Peters intends to update the document as new initiatives are introduced or if existing proposals are modified.
For further information: https://scottpeters.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-peters-unveils-the-climate-playbook-recommendations-for-immediate
EPA seeks comment on nine candidates that have been nominated to fill one open seat on the agency’s seven-member, independent Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC). The agency solicited nominations in s February 28, 2019 Federal Register notice (84 Fed. Reg. 6783). The following nine individuals were nominated: José D. Fuentes (Pennsylvania State University), Robert W. Howarth (Cornell University), Bill Jackson (Retired from United States Forest Service), Ronald J. Kendall (Texas Tech University), Wayne Landis (Western Washington University), Danica Lombardozzi (National Center for Atmospheric Research), Richard Peltier (University of Massachusetts), Bernard Singleton (Dillard University) and Katherine von Stackelberg (Harvard University). Comments on the candidates should be submitted to Aaron Yeow of EPA by April 30, 2019 (yeow.aaron@epa.gov),
For further information: http://4cleanair.org/sites/default/files/Documents/CASAC-EPA_Seeks_Comment_on_9_Nominees-040919.pdf