Weekly Climate Change Policy Update - February 16, 2010

To receive the Weekly Update via email, visit our Sign Up/Subscribe page.

Commentary

Senator Murkowski’s office believes she has sufficient votes in the Senate for her resolution disapproving of EPA’s endangerment finding . . . State Department Climate Envoy Todd Stern is calling on major developing countries to provide more detail on their mitigation commitments under the Copenhagen Accord . . . Rumblings in the Western Climate Initiative: Arizona’s Governor said the state will not participate in a regional cap-and-trade program, and the Utah legislature passed a resolution questioning climate change science . . . The president of the Edison Electric Institute says that EEI still supports comprehensive, economy-wide climate and energy legislation . . . Major corporations in the United States Climate Action Partnership met with officials in the White House and Republican legislators to discuss the status of legislative efforts and to emphasize the need for regulatory certainty.   

Executive Branch

• President Obama Signals Willingness to Compromise on Climate and Energy Legislation.  Following a meeting with Democratic and Republican Congressional leadership, President Obama said he would be willing to “move off some of the preferences of my party” on issues such as expansion of nuclear power, offshore oil drilling, and clean coal technology in order to strike a bipartisan deal on climate and energy legislation.  However, the President cautioned that he expects “some give” from Republican lawmakers in return, saying: “Bipartisanship can’t be that I agree to all the things that [Republicans] believe in or want, and they agree to none of the things I believe in or want . . . But that’s sometimes the way it gets presented.”  Calling himself an “eternal optimist,” the President expressed confidence that he would eventually sign an energy and climate bill.
• Lead US Climate Negotiator Says Major Developing Countries Must Play a Strong Role in Copenhagen Accord.  At a question-and-answer session at the Center for American Progress, Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern gave a briefing on the results of last December’s international climate change negotiations at Copenhagen and noted the continued divide between developed and developing countries over responsibility for taking action on climate change.  Stern said it was “good news” that 90 countries had formally associated themselves with the Copenhagen Accord and that, pursuant to the Accord, all the major economies had submitted formal greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation actions to the United Nations.  However, Stern said that the submissions of China, India, Brazil, and South Africa (the so-called “BASIC” group) were “a bit ambiguous” and reflected a desire to “cherry-pick” the beneficial aspects of the Accord while treating GHG mitigation commitments as non-binding.  Stern also said that, substantively and politically, the only way to make an international agreement on climate change work is for all major emitters to agree on strong and effective action to reduce emissions.  A transcript of Stern’s remarks is available at http://www.americanprogress.org/events/2010/02/inf/ToddSternTranscript.pdf.
• White House Economic Report Includes Emphasis on Climate Change.  This year’s annual Economic Report of the President, which is prepared by the White House Council of Economic Advisers, included a chapter that stressed the possible economic impacts of climate change and the need to encourage a domestic clean energy industry.  The report said the economic effects of unchecked climate change “are likely to be significant and largely negative” and would “necessitate expensive measures to adapt to these changes.”  In the United States, the report found that climate change is likely to result in more extreme weather events, including stronger winter storms, more intense hurricanes, and increased frequency of drought in some regions of the country.  The report called for the establishment of a national cap-and-trade system for GHGs, arguing that such a system would encourage least-cost reductions of GHG emissions and promote innovation in the energy industry.  Noting the growing share of global GHG emissions coming from China and other developing countries, the report identified the need for strong international cooperation to address climate change.  The report is available at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/2010/2010_erp.pdf.
• NOAA Takes First Steps Toward Establishing National Climate Service.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that it has begun a reorganization that it hopes will lead to the opening of a National Climate Service within NOAA by the beginning of fiscal year 2011 (October 2010).  The new office will not require new funds or staff, because it will draw on the resources of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service; the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research; and the National Weather Service.  However, in order to complete the reorganization, NOAA will require Congressional authorization.  According to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, the purpose of the National Climate Service will be to offer a “one stop shop” for information requests from businesses and local governments, and to offer climate change data and research in a more coordinated fashion.  Six new Regional Climate Services Directors are also expected to be hired to assist the new climate service in regional engagement.  As a first step toward establishing the climate service, NOAA also unveiled a new website located at http://www.climate.gov.

Congress

• Murkowski Office Believes Votes Are There.  Robert Dillon, a spokesperson for Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), told reporters that he believes there are 51 votes in favor of passing Sen. Murkowski’s resolution disapproving of EPA’s finding that GHG emissions endanger the public health and welfare.  Passage of the resolution would remove EPA’s authority to regulate GHG emissions unless and until Congress reinstates such authority.  Forty-two senators have publicly stated support for the resolution.  Dillon said that Sen. Murkowski intends to call for a floor vote in early March.

Judicial

• House Republicans and Private Plaintiffs File Challenge to Endangerment Finding.  Thirteen House Republicans from six different states have joined the Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) and sixteen private companies and associations in a suit challenging EPA’s December 2009 finding that GHGs from motor vehicles cause or contribute to an endangerment to public health and welfare. The petition for review was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.  According to the executive director of the SLF, the petitioners plan to argue that the finding was based on “flawed and questionable science” promoted by “vested interests hoping to reap the profits of doom,” including “grant-seeking scientists,” developing countries, and unnamed financial institutions “with ties to Al Gore.”  Under the Clean Air Act, EPA’s endangerment finding obligates the agency to issue tailpipe emission standards for GHGs from motor vehicles.  The standards are expected to be issued in March of this year.  A SLF statement announcing the suit is available at http://www.southeasternlegal.org/default.aspx?page=1&release=437.
• PLF Petitions EPA for “Reassessment” of Endangerment Finding.  Citing the recent “Climategate” imbroglio surrounding the unauthorized release of thousands of documents pertaining to the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a conservative legal organization, has petitioned EPA to reopen public comment on the endangerment finding.  The petition also requested that the agency’s Scientific Advisory Board review the released documents to determine whether the endangerment finding should be reconsidered. 

States and Cities   

• Arizona Governor Bars WCI Implementation.  Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) issued an executive order directing the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality not to adopt rules implementing a cap-and-trade program under the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) without express legislative authorization.  Although the order bars implementation of the regional emission trading program, the order notes that Arizona will remain a member of the WCI to ensure that the state’s unique perspective will be advanced and considered in the development of the WCI program.
• Utah House Adopts Resolution Challenging Climate Change Science.  The Utah House of Representatives approved a resolution that expressed doubts about the legitimacy of climate change science.  The resolution passed 56-17.

Industry and NGOs

• EEI Vows Continued Push for Comprehensive Climate and Energy Legislation.  The president of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), an association of investor-owned utilities that played a major role in influencing the allowance allocation provisions of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, said that EEI will continue to lobby for passage of comprehensive climate change and clean energy legislation this year.  In a “state of the industry” speech in New York, EEI President Tom Kuhn said: “Only well-designed comprehensive climate change legislation can contemplate economy-wide GHG emissions reductions within the context of the current and projected economic landscape, the availability of technology, the reliability of the nation’s power sector and the affordability of its energy supply.”  Kuhn said EEI preferred comprehensive legislation to EPA regulation under the existing Clean Air Act or continued state and local initiatives on climate change.  In addition, Kuhn said EEI was working to pass a bill that would be applicable to the entire economy, rather than impose a cap-and-trade system limited to the power sector.  Acknowledging a difficult political environment for climate change legislation, Kuhn said there was “little room for finding common ground, and little appetite for compromise” on climate change issues in the current Congress.
• USCAP Members Hold Meetings With White House, GOP Senators.  Members of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a well-known business-environmentalist coalition that has strongly supported and helped shape climate change legislation pending in Congress, met with representatives of the Administration as well as key Republican Senators to discuss climate and energy legislation.  According to the trade press, executives of Duke Energy, General Electric, Honeywell International, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the World Resources Institute met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House Director of Energy and Climate Change Policy Carol Browner to discuss the status of legislation and its potential impact on jobs.  The group also met with Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), George Voinovich (R-OH), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to emphasize the need for regulatory certainty and discuss Republican concerns on climate change policy.

Studies and Reports

• RFF Surveys Policy Context for Climate Impacts on Agriculture.  Resources for the Future released an analysis of the effects of policies on the ability of the agriculture sector to adapt to climate change impacts.  The report notes that climate impacts on agriculture are likely underestimated, and that policy choices reflected in environmental laws, agricultural subsidies, trade policies, insurance schemes, and tax policies could significantly facilitate or constrain the adaptive capacity of the sector.  The report is available at http://www.rff.org/Publications/Pages/PublicationDetails.aspx?PublicationID=21021.