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Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.EPA says broad language of Clean Air Act justifies Clean Power Plan
By Robert Walton, Utility Dive.
Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has filed a final brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that signals the end of legal briefing for the case, defending the Clean Power Plan by pointing to the broad language Congress used in the Clean Air Act, Argus reports.
- EPA's filing marks the end of the briefing stage of the case. Oral arguments will be heard June 2; the court is working on an expedited basis, after the U.S. Supreme Court delayed implementation of the rule.
- According to the EPA, the Clean Air Act requires the agency to implement the "best system of emission reduction;" lawyers have focused on the word "system" to mean a broad range of measures across the industry.
Carbon Fee Debate Goes Mainstream in Washington State
By John Upton, Climate Central.
As governments worldwide begin imposing fees on pollution to try to protect the climate, a debate over dueling approaches — one that has long been restricted to conferences and academia — is becoming prominent in Washington state.
Washington voters will decide in November whether to introduce a carbon tax on fossil fuels and electricity from coal and natural gas, with the goal of slowing global warming while reducing taxes on sales and manufacturing and keeping total tax revenue flat overall.
If Initiative 732 passes, the Evergreen State would buck a national trend in which other states have been adopting a different system for carbon pricing — that of cap-and-trade, in which pollution levels are capped and allowances to release pollution are sold and traded.
Ethanol groups criticize US climate plan for excluding biofuels
By Erin Voegele, Ethanol Producer Magazine.
On April 22 a ceremony was held at United Nations headquarters in New York to coincide with Earth Day during which several nations, including the U.S., signed the Paris Agreement that aims to limit global temperatures rise to below 2 degrees Celsius. Leaders in the U.S. ethanol sector have criticized the U.S. for not include biofuels in its plan.
According to information published by the Renewable Fuels Association, the agreement will enter into force when at least 55 countries collectively representing at least 55 percent of global emissions sign on in support of the agreement.
Leading up to the Paris Agreement, countries submitted individual plans, known as Intended National Determined Contributions, which outline how they plan to meet greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. While 37 countries have included biofuels in their INDCs, the U.S. has not.
Extending Ohio's Freeze on Renewable Energy Standards Will be Met With Opposition
By Peter Krause, Cleveland.com.
You can bet that the debate over Senate Bill 320 will be hearty, if not contentious. The bill, introduced Monday by Ohio State Sen. Bill Seitz, a Republican from Cincinnati, calls for extending the freeze on the renewable-energy requirements imposed on the state's investor-owned utilities. It would also freeze energy-efficiency mandates.
Green-minded advocates and those who see the development of renewable energy as a way to create jobs are dismayed. They believe Ohio is heading backward. Seitz, on the other hand, doesn't buy all the talk about jobs and said he believes renewable energy is overpriced.
Energy Bill Faces Tight Calendar, Partisan Divide in the House
By Rich Heidorn, Jr., RTO Insider.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed its first major energy bill in almost a decade Thursday but faces a tight calendar to reach agreement with the House, where Republicans approved their own measure with little Democratic support.
Cantwell (left) and Murkowski
The Senate’s Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 passed 85-12, with support of all but a handful of Republicans. The House’s North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act cleared 249-170 in December with support from only three Democrats.
President Obama has threatened to veto the House bill but expressed support for most of the Senate provisions.
Methane Emissions Definitely Either Going Up or Down
By Jack Fitzpatrick, Morning Consult.
As the Obama administration aims to cut methane emissions, environmentalists and natural gas industry leaders are at odds over who’s to blame for the emissions, how much can be cut, and which agencies should regulate them.
But a focal point of the debate is still unclear: How much methane is being emitted from natural gas systems, and is it more or less than in previous years?
The Environmental Protection Agency’s 2016 greenhouse gas inventory report, released earlier this month, indicated that methane emissions from natural gas systems were significantly higher than in previous reports, even when measuring emissions for the same year. Emissions estimates for 2013 were reported at 6,295 kilotons in the 2015 report and then at 7,023 kilotons in the 2016 report, an 11.6 percent increase for the same year.
EPA defends scope of CO2 standards
By Argus Media.
Congress gave the US Environmental Protection Agency significant flexibility in determining how best to reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector, government lawyers said.
The section of the Clean Air Act used to issue the Clean Power Plan for existing power plants grants the agency the ability to look beyond what can be done at individual facilities in determining the "best system of emission reduction," EPA lawyers said in a 22 April court filling. The word system in particular means the agency can look at a "broad scope" of potential measures, such as "generation shifting," or moving to less carbon-intensive electricity sources, EPA said.
"This broad statutory language shows that Congress was directing EPA to consider a wide range of measures to reduce emissions from sources," the agency said.
RGGI seeks views on minimum requirements for trade with non-member states
By Ben Garside, Carbon Pulse.
RGGI has opened a consultation on what other US states need to do in order to trade with the regional cap-and-trade market under the Clean Power Plan.
While RGGI was designed to be open-ended to allow other states to join the power generation cap-and-trade system, its regulators are now seeking views on what minimum requirements would need to be met to allow trade with states not initially willing to join.
Such provisions are envisaged by the federal government under the CPP, for which the vast majority of the 47 states facing targets are considering using carbon markets to meet their goals from 2022.
Iowa backs Renewable Fuel Standard extension
By Biofuels International.
The Iowa Senate passed a bipartisan resolution calling on the US Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), President Obama and the next president of the US to continue to support the renewable fuels standard (RFS) through to 2022 in order to encourage American energy production and to strengthen rural communities.
The resolution calls the RFS one of the simple most successful energy policies in US history and notes the program represents a congressional promise to American biofuel producers, farmers, communities and investors that biofuel blend levels will increase each year.
The resolution serves as a reminder of the benefits of the RFS to the state of Iowa in terms of economic output and the preservation of Iowa’s agricultural way of life, according to US ethanol trade body Growth Energy.
Gas goes green as suppliers opt for carbon neutral sources
By Miles Brignall, The Guardian.
Many of us have signed up with energy companies that offer 100% renewable electricity, so why not switch to a gas tariff that also promises to be carbon neutral? Energy firm Good Energy is hoping to tempt green households to do exactly that. This week the Chippenham-based firm started offering a domestic gas tariff that will allow customers to claim their gas usage produces no overall net carbon.
Launched to coincide with the Paris climate change agreement signing yesterday, Good Energy’s “green gas” tariff will include 6% biomethane, produced in the UK from organic matter including manure and even sewage. The move makes it the latest supplier to offer green gas – produced from the 300 or so anaerobic digesters dotted around the UK, a small number of which directly feed the biogas they produce into the national grid.
Good Energy says the overwhelming majority of its 39,000 gas customers will be automatically moved to the tariff. Other emissions produced by customers will be offset through carbon-reduction schemes that support local communities in Malawi, Vietnam and Nepal.
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