In The News
UPDATE: Boxer - Changes may be needed for passage of lands, waterways omnibus
Tuesday December 14, 2010
The omnibus measure is a dearly sought priority of environmentalists who see it as a potential last stab at passing conservation bills before partisanship deepens when the GOP takes over the House next year. Boxer's panel has put forth 21 bills, several of them with high-profile Republican sponsors, for inclusion in a package that could also feature more than 100 measures from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee (E&E; Daily, Dec. 9).
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has yet to make a final decision on whether to move ahead with the package, according to Boxer. "If we get 60 votes, it's a possibility" that the omnibus could be considered, she said. "We may have to change the package to get to 60."
But Boxer was not ready to predict whether certain bills would be stricken from the list. "I don't want to make any changes to it. ... It is a question of somebody objecting to the package because of one or two provisions to it, so at this point I'm not making any changes to it," she said.
Her Republican counterpart on the committee, ranking member James Inhofe (R-Okla.), has criticized the expansive scope of the proposed omnibus and taken particular issue with the addition of a Chesapeake Bay restoration bill that would expand U.S. EPA authority over fertilizer and animal-waste runoff (E&ENews; PM, Dec. 1).
Begich: "Alaska has been doing fracking for a long, long time, and if you notice, there is no controversy.
Tuesday December 14, 2010
Elsewhere, Begich said he's in a good spot to help ease tensions over hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." It's the controversial oil-and-gas drilling technique that's helping enable a natural gas boom in the Lower 48, but is bringing environmental concerns along with it.
"Alaska has been doing fracking for a long, long time, and if you notice, there is no controversy. I think we have a lot of offer to that discussion, which is critical to the Lower 48 gas development," he said.
Begich said it's possible to increase industry disclosure of the chemicals used while protecting proprietary information at the same time. "I think that [disclosure] is an important piece so that people feel comfortable wherever it is done that it is not contaminating groundwater and other things," Begich said.
"I think there is a way to weave through this to ensure the public safety is protected, as we have done in Alaska, at the same time protecting some of the industry's concerns about their proprietary information," he said.
WSJ Editorial: The Cancun Crack-Up
Monday December 13, 2010
Since last year's collapse of the climate summit in Copenhagen, the chances that one of these periodic U.N. confabs would result in a binding global agreement on carbon caps was remote. The failure of the meeting in Cancun to produce one-which was all but official as we went to press last night-only underscores the point.
Not that anyone should be surprised given the kinds of ideas put forward during the conference. Take the proposal to verify compliance with CO2 emissions cuts. As the New York Times explained earlier this week, under the deal "countries would declare their emissions reductions targets and provide regular reports on how they were meeting them. . . . There would be no international monitors or inspectors, and no penalties for failing to reach stated goals." To those disposed to cheat, this is an open invitation.
Politico: WITH THEIR POWERS COMBINED
Friday December 10, 2010
Upton, Inhofe meld message on EPA regs
Friday December 10, 2010
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who was chosen this week to become chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, penned a letter with Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, who will keep his position as the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Though Inhofe is a staunch conservative and Upton has a reputation as one of the more moderate members of the Republican caucus, both wrote that they are "gravely concerned" about the direction EPA is taking.
"In our respective roles on the committees of jurisdiction over EPA, we are fully committed to conducting vigorous oversight," the letter says. "Jobs are at stake, and the uncertainty arising from this and many other regulations emerging from EPA is paralyzing business investment and expansion."
NYT: EPA Delays Tougher Rules on Emissions
Friday December 10, 2010
The move to delay the rules, announced this week by the Environmental Protection Agency, will leave in place policies set by President George W. Bush. President Obama ran for office promising tougher standards, and the new rules were set to take effect over the next several weeks.
Now, the agency says, it needs until July 2011 to further analyze scientific and health studies of the smog rules and until April 2012 on the boiler regulation. Mr. Obama, having just cut a painful deal with Republicans intended to stimulate the economy, can ill afford to be seen as simultaneously throttling the fragile recovery by imposing a sheaf of expensive new environmental regulations that critics say will cost jobs.
Tulsa World: Inhofe: EPA delay on ozone standard decision good news
Thursday December 9, 2010
"This is good news,'' said U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., a major player on such issues in Congress.
Inhofe said the revision proposed earlier by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would have had been devastating to the economy of Oklahoma.
Several counties in the state could have "closed down,'' he said.
In addition to Tulsa County, the senator previously had warned that Canadian, Cherokee, Comanche, Creek, Kay, Mayes, Oklahoma and Ottawa counties also could be out of compliance under stricter standards.
Hot Air Exclusive: EPW report on China's supposed green leadership, interview with James Inhofe
Wednesday December 8, 2010
NYT: REVKIN: China, Coal, Congress, Cancún, Climate
Wednesday December 8, 2010
As has long been the situation in these talks, the stances of these countries, the two dominant sources of greenhouse gas emissions, largely shape prospects for the world at large to move beyond the weak terms of the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change and the limited scope of the Kyoto Protocol. That pact restricts emissions from most industrialized countries, but both of the greenhouse giants, for different reasons, are not bound by its terms. The exiting Kyoto targets expire at the end of 2012 and there are few signs that any countries are prepared to commit to new binding limits in the absence of commitments from the two sparring superpowers.
Greenwire: Action on greenhouse gases a 2011 priority for Senate EPW panel -- Boxer
Monday December 6, 2010
Posted by Matt Dempsey Matt_Dempsey@epw.senate.gov
Greenwire
Action on greenhouse gases a 2011 priority for Senate EPW panel -- Boxer
(12/06/2010)
Elana Schor, E&E reporter
The political collapse of cap-and-trade climate legislation won't dislodge greenhouse gas emissions reductions from the top of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's agenda next year, Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) vowed today.
Briefing reporters on her priorities for the international climate talks proceeding in Mexico (see related story), Boxer framed her hard-fought re-election victory last month -- as well as Californians' rejection of a bid to delay the landmark state global warming law -- as a sign of public support for cutting carbon emissions without a comprehensive climate bill.
"What we have to do is just let people know the truth" about the science of climate change, Boxer said. The oil industry-backed ballot measure aimed at stalling California's state law lost decisively, she asserted, after supporters of emissions limits "pulled open the curtain" with a well-funded messaging campaign (E&E Daily, Nov. 3).
"We're going to continue, in this committee, to tell the truth," Boxer added. "That's going to mean some robust debate, and I like that -- let the American people see the deniers, and let them see the science. ... I believe in the American people's wisdom."
Boxer said she expects the environment panel to keep the climate issue front and center through briefings, hearings and other events in 2011. Even as she acknowledged that the cap-and-trade approach passed last year by the Democratic-controlled House is dead for the time being, Boxer said committee action on some form of a climate bill could well come in the 112th Congress.
"We have many things we can do here through the budget process" to make progress on limiting emissions, she said, citing energy efficiency and a renewable electricity standard as potential areas for accord next year. "We will do a comprehensive bill when we have the votes to do that."
Senate Democrats' loss of six seats last month, coupled with the GOP takeover of the House, leaves energy policymakers on the Hill facing multiple fronts of battle over dismantling or delaying U.S. EPA emissions regulations set to take effect next year.
While noting that she is "not blind to" the need for a coordinated defense against any challenges to the Obama administration's authority over greenhouse gas cuts, Boxer also sounded a bipartisan note on the long-postponed congressional transportation debate.
The Californian said she already has talked with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's incoming chairman, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), about keeping the nation's cash-strapped highway trust fund intact. The two will sit down "at the soonest opportunity" to discuss the parameters for a new long-term transportation reauthorization bill, Boxer added.
The environment panel chairwoman also hinted at a communications strategy aligning that transportation bill with the administration's work to tout the environmental benefits of its hike in automobile fuel economy. A long-term reauthorization will be aimed at "reducing congestion," Boxer said, adding later that "cutting congestion is another way of cutting pollution."
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