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September 3-9, 2022
In this week's issue:
- EPA Opens Non-Regulatory Pre-Proposal Comment Docket On Power Sector Emissions Rules (September 8, 2022)
- EPA Announces Availability of Updated State Greenhouse Gas Estimates for 1990-2020 (September 2, 2022)
- 100 Largest U.S. Power Companies’ CO2 Emissions Climbed 7 Percent In 2021 (September 6, 2022)
- Sixty Congressional Democrats Urge Administration to Strengthen Justice40 Program (September 6, 2022)
- Industrial Trade Groups Urge Senate To Ratify Kigali Treaty (September 7, 2022)
- House Bills Would Scrap State Clean Air Act Mobile Source Authorities, Fine States For Clean Car Actions (September 6, 2022)
- Senate EPW Hearing Examines Bills Allowing Racecar “Delete Kits”, Livestock Emissions, and Addressing Wildfire Smoke (September 7, 2022)
- NYU’s Revesz To Lead White House Regulatory Review Office (September 2, 2022)
- McCarthy to Step Down, Zaidi To Become National Climate Advisor, Podesta to Oversee IRA Climate Spending (September 2, 2022)
This Week in Review
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EPA has opened a public docket to accept pre-proposal input on its future rulemakings addressing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from new and existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units (EGUs). EPA has assigned Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2022-0723 to this rulemaking, which should be used in locating the regulatory comment portal online, and included in any written comments offered. The Agency said that the goal of this non-rulemaking docket “is to gather perspectives from a broad group of stakeholders in advance of any proposed rulemakings.” The Agency said that it will provide a separate opportunity for public comment on any future proposed rulemakings for EGUs through a formal comment period announced in the Federal Register.
For further information: https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/pre-proposal-public-docket-greenhouse-gas-regulations-fossil-fuel
EPA has announced the availability of updated state-level greenhouse gas (GHG) estimates for 1990-2020, which are consistent with the last published final national Inventory from April 2022. These updates to the state information were accomplished with assistance from various federal agencies that helped to compile information based on state-level analysis, including the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service. The information provided on the EPA website includes state GHG emissions and removals, visualizations using EPA’s data, methods to downscale national data to states and official state GHG inventories.
For further information: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/state-ghg-emissions-and-removals
https://cfpub.epa.gov/ghgdata/inventoryexplorer/
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/learn-more-about-official-state-greenhouse-gas-inventories
A benchmark report of the CO2 emissions of the 100 largest power producers in the U.S. found a 7 percent increase in emissions in 2022 over the previous year. Carbon emissions rebounded thanks to increased power demand and high fossil gas prices that led to greater use of coal-fired power generation, according to the 18th annual benchmarking emissions report by the environmental consultancy Ceres. The report finds that prior year emissions had been declining overall, and remain 34 percent lower than their 2007 peak, but that meeting global climate change targets of no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming by 2050 will require global reduce emissions 7.6 percent annually between 2020 and 2030, according to the United Nations.
For further information: https://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/benchmarking-air-emissions-100-largest-electric-power-producers-united-states-2022
Sixty Democrats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives sent a letter to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Domestic Climate Policy urging the Administration to strengthen its Justice40 initiative, especially in light of the newly adopted Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act that provide additional funds to address environmental justice. Justice40 is designed to provide at least 40 percent of the federal government’s investments in clean energy and environment to disadvantaged communities. Specifically, the Senators and Representatives urged the Administration to do the following:
- consider the 40-percent goal of the Justice40 program to be a floor, rather than a ceiling, and focus on direct investments to disadvantaged communities;
- target disadvantaged communities and energy communities for the creation of good jobs and lasting careers;
- ensure that investments do not actually result in harm to disadvantaged communities by increasing pollution or greenhouse gas emissions;
- create a publicly accessible hub within OMB for information for all programs that will centralize its responsibilities to oversee a “whole-of-government approach” to Justice40;
- plan, implement and oversee in a comprehensive manner, including by providing guidance on how the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool will be used in the federal process to approve proposals, direct funds, inform rulemaking and permitting and carry out other functions; and
- implement for long-term success by establishing processes for constituent engagement and administrative coordination so that disadvantaged communities and frontline organizations can meaningfully shape program implementation.
The letter was led by Senator Edward Markey (D-MA.), Chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety; Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform; Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment; Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) , Vice Chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment; and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), a member of the House Oversight Committee.
For further information: https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_admin_climate_officials_on_justice404.pdf
In a letter to members of the U.S. Senate, trade associations who represent the manufacturers and users of industrial and commercial refrigerants urged ratification of the Kigali Amendments to the Montreal Protocol. The letter was co-signed by Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, the American Chemistry Council, the Air-Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Institute, the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, the Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors’ Association, the Semiconductor Industry Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The letter from the trade groups says that ratification is “essential to provide access to international markets and level the playing field for leading U.S. manufacturers of the innovative replacements for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).” These chemicals are a highly potent greenhouse gas (GHG) with warming potential thousands of times greater than CO2. Initially negotiated in 2016, the Kigali Amendments are an international treaty that limits HFCs as replacements for stratospheric ozone depleting chemicals by drawing down their use by 05 percent, and the AIM Act of 2021 (which passed Congress with bipartisan support and was signed into law last year) sets the same drawdown requirements for the U.S. The U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee cleared the Treaty in May 2022, but it still requires ratification by 67 votes in the U.S. Senate. “Ratification would safeguard the competitiveness of American manufacturers and showcase American climate leadership,” the groups wrote.
For further information: https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/trade-groups-kigali-doc.pdf
Two bills introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would limit tools available to states to address emissions from mobile sources. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) introduced the “Revoking Engine and Vehicle (REV) Requirements Act”, which would amend the Clean Air Act to eliminate provisions under Section 209 that allow California to set vehicle emissions standards that are more protective than those set nationally, as well as removing authorities under Section 177 of the Clean Air Act for other states to adopt California’s standards. Currently, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, Virginia, and New Mexico have taken actions under Section 177. The bill would “terminate all existing waivers provided in the repealed sections.” A separate bill, introduced by Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) is titled the “Options for Ownership Act,” which would require the secretary of Transportation to withhold 15 percent of a state’s Highway Trust Fund dollars if the state takes action to limit the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles. Neither bill is likely to advance in the 117th Congress but may see more traction if Republicans retake control of the House and Senate following the midterm elections this November.
For further information: https://bost.house.gov/2022/9/bost-lamalfa-act-to-prevent-states-from-requiring-zero-emission-vehicles and https://lamalfa.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-lamalfa-introduces-bill-to-repeal-california-s-clean-air-act
The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing to examine four bills, including bills targeting EPA’s regulatory authority over emissions from cattle feeding operations, limiting its ability to regulate emissions tampering kits sold for vehicles used for auto racing, and two separate bills addressing research and communications around air pollution from wildfires. The first bill examined, the “Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act of 2021” (S.2736) was first introduced in the 115th Congress in 2016, and was reintroduced last year by Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) with a number of co-sponsors, including 11 Democrats. It would exempt vehicles from a Clean Air Act prohibition on tampering with emission controls assuming that the change is made to prepare the car “solely for competition.” Witnesses described concerns that EPA has articulated its policy to exercise enforcement against manufacturers and distributors of these kits rather than against drivers, and it may be impossible to know whether the vehicles are being used as street vehicles, and not solely for racing. (EPA’s enforcement against vehicle emissions tampering is a National Compliance Initiative that was called for and supported by NACAA.) A September 6, 2022 letter from a group of 11 medical trade associations, including the American Lung Association, the American Public Health Association, and the American Thoracic Society urges the Committee’s Chairman, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Ranking Member, Sen. Shelly Capito (R-WV), “to oppose the RPM Act in its current form and to instead look for a path forward that would maintain EPA’s authority to hold violators accountable for failure to use required emissions controls.” The Committee also examined the “Livestock Regulatory Protection Act of 2021” (S. 1475) introduced by Sen. John Thune (R-SD),which would exempt livestock farms from Clean Air Act permitting requirements. Although the Senate has exempted these emissions since 2009 as part of the Appropriations process, this bill would make those exemptions permanent. Finally, the Committee examined two bills introduced by Sen Jeff Merkley (D-OR): the Smoke-Ready Communities Act of 2021 (S. 2661) and the Smoke Planning and Research Act of 2021 (S. 2421).The first would appropriate funding for clean air agencies and others to improve prediction, communications, response and resilience with communities vulnerable to breathing severe air pollution related to wildfires; the second would establish four “centers of excellence for wildfire smoke” at colleges or universities. Cassandra Moseley, a research professor and vice provost for academic operations at the University of Oregon, noted that while the most impacted areas for wildfire smoke pollution are in the west, large fires send smoke that affects air quality to all parts of the country. She said the country may need to approach shelters from smoke much as it does heating or cooling shelters during the winter and summer.
https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/letter-from-health-groups-to-epw-re-rpm-act.pdf and https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2022/9/chairman-carper-s-opening-statement-hearing-on-clean-air-act-legislation
The White House has announced that Ricky Revesz, the former dean of New York University (NYU) Law School and current Director of the Institute for Policy Integrity and of the American Law Institute, will be nominated to be Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OIRA is the office that provides final interagency review of federal rulemakings, including those from EPA. Revesz, who currently serves as the AnBryce Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus at the NYU School of Law, has published extensively on regulatory policy as it affects environmental regulation and climate change. He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University, earned a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. Following clerkships with Chief Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court, Revesz joined the NYU Law School faculty in 1985.
For further information: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/02/president-biden-announces-key-nominees-30/
A White House announcement says Gina McCarthy will depart from her position as national climate adviser on September 16, 2022 and that she will be replaced in that role as well as chair of the Biden administration’s National Climate Task Force by Ali Zaidi, her current deputy. Zaidi previously worked in various climate and energy policy roles during the Obama administration. “I am immensely grateful for Gina’s service, and I am proud to announce the promotion of Ali to National Climate Advisor”, the announcement reads. “Gina has been an invaluable member of my senior staff since day 1 of the Administration, and I wish her the best as she moves forward.” In addition, John Podesta, the founder and board chair of the Center for American Progress, will be the senior adviser to the president for clean energy innovation and implementation. In that role Podesta, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and the chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, will oversee and coordinate the implementation and deployment of the $369 billion in climate funding that was passed under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. “We are fortunate that John Podesta will lead our continued innovation and implementation”, the announcement says, “His deep roots in climate and clean energy policy and his experience at senior levels of government mean we can truly hit the ground running to take advantage of the massive clean energy opportunity in front of us.”
For further information: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/02/president-biden-announces-senior-clean-energy-and-climate-team/