On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn House Office
Building, the Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical
Materials will hold a
hearing
entitled “Clean Power Plan 2.0: EPA’s Latest
Attack on Electric Reliability.” The hearing will examine preliminary
observations concerning the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)
proposed greenhouse pollution
standards
for the power sector and the reliable delivery of electricity.
Jay
Duffy,
Litigation Director, Clean Air Task Force
Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in West Virginia v.
EPA, EPA issued on May 11, 2023, an omnibus
proposed rulemaking that would limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for
fossil fuel-fired power plants, including from both new and existing
natural-gas-fired plants and from existing coal-fired plants, pursuant
to Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).
The May 11, 2023, proposal for fossil-fuel fired power plants would set
limits for new gasfired combustion turbines, certain existing gas-fired
combustion turbines, and existing coal, oil, and gas-fired steam
generating units. The proposed standards are based on technologies
including carbon capture and sequestration/storage (CCS),
low-greenhouse-gas (GHG) hydrogen co-firing, and natural gas co-firing,
which can be applied directly to power plants that use fossil fuels to
generate electricity.
The proposed rules are part of a larger, comprehensive suite of
regulatory actions for power plants. EPA
Administrator Regan announced this suite of actions, known as the
EGU (for “electric generating unit”) strategy,
to address climate, health, and environmental burdens from power plants.
These regulatory actions include the Interstate Transport Rule, Regional
Haze, Risk and Technology Review for the Mercury Air Toxics Rule,
effluent limitations, and a legacy coal combustion residue rule.
In February 2023, the nation’s largest grid operator, the PJM
Interconnection, released a
report
noting that the current pace of retirements of dispatchable generation,
mainly coal- and gas-fired generation, may outpace the addition of new
resources onto the bulk power system. The PJM report cites three
specific EPA policies that are leading contributors to this challenge,
coal combustion residuals regulation, effluent limitations, and the
Interstate Transport Rule, as key drivers in the loss of some 23 GW
generation.
House Energy and Commerce Committee
Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee
On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, at 10:15 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House
Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on
Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold an oversight budget
hearing
titled “Examining the impacts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s proposed changes to the North Atlantic Right Whale
Vessel Strike Reduction Rule.”
Janet Coit, Deputy Administrator for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
Clayton L. Diamond, Executive Director, American Pilots’ Association
Fred Gamboa, Captain, Andreas’ Toy Charters, Princeton, NJ
Frank Hugelmeyer, President and CEO,
National Marine Manufacturers Association
Dr. Jessica Redfern, Associate Vice President of Ocean Conservation
Science, Anderson Cabout Center for Ocean Life at New England Aquarium
The North Atlantic right whale (right whale) is an endangered large
whale species. The right whale’s name originates from the fact that, as
early as the 11th century, whalers considered right whales the “right”
whale to hunt. Right whales migrate seasonally along the east coast,
spending summer and fall in New England and Canadian waters. During
winter months, right whales migrate to the southeastern United States
for calving. Protections for right whales began in 1935 with the
ratification of the League of Nation’s Convention for Regulation of
Whaling. While the 1935 Convention was criticized for being ineffective,
it paved the way for the establishment of the International Whaling
Commission (IWC). The IWC was established by
the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946 as
the global body responsible for the management of whaling and
conservation of whales. This included: catch limits by species and area,
designating specified areas as whale sanctuaries, protection of calves
and females accompanied by calves, and restrictions on hunting methods.
Currently, the IWC has 88 signatory
governments, including the United States. In 1986, the
IWC adopted a global moratorium on commercial
whaling due to the depleting whale stocks. In the United States, right
whales are protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) and
the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA). In fact, right whales
were considered endangered in 1970, before the enactment on the
ESA. Due to population concerns, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed a species
recovery plan in 1991 and updated the plan in 2005. Recovery strategies
focus on: reducing death and injuries from vessel strikes and commercial
fishing operations, identifying important habitat, monitoring the health
of the stock, conducting studies on potential threats, and assessing the
population. In 2017, NOAA declared an unusual
mortality event (UME) for the right whale due to the number of
mortalities and serious injuries in the population. While the exact
cause of the UME is unknown, vessel strikes
and entanglements with commercial fishing gear continue to be considered
the leading causes of whale mortalities and injuries.
In 2008, to address vessel strikes, NOAA
proposed speed restrictions for vessels over sixty- five feet in length
when going through seasonal management areas. In 2013,
NOAA made the speed restriction rule
permanent. NOAA’s speed restriction rule also
stated that NOAA would publish and seek
comment on a report evaluating the conservation value and economic and
navigational safety impacts of right whale vessel speed regulations,
including any recommendations to minimize the burden of such impacts. In
January 2021, NOAA released the assessment and
initiated a public comment period until the end of March 2021. The
assessment made several recommendations, including increasing
enforcement, modifying the safety deviation provision so it could not be
used as frequently, and expanding the speed restrictions to small
vessels. NOAA received over thirty comments.
Notably, the American Pilots’ Association, one of the Republican
witnesses at today’s hearing, provided comments expressing concerns with
requiring “contemporaneous electronic notification” to decrease the
number of vessels using the speed restriction exemption to maneuver
safely. In addition, their comments strongly opposed expanding the speed
restriction rule to vessels smaller than 65 feet, stating that “could be
dangerous for our member pilots and the crews that operate their pilot
boats.”
On August 1, 2022, NOAA published the
proposed
rule
amending the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule.
The proposed rule extends the applicability of the speed restriction
rule to include boats measuring 35 feet and longer, expands the seasonal
management areas, makes dynamic management areas mandatory (renamed as
dynamic speed zones), and changes how the current safety deviations can
be used.
While the proposed rule says the actions are “significant” under
Executive Order 12866, something that would normally require review by
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of
Management and Budget, this rule was not reviewed by
OIRA. It was determined that
NOAA’s draft Regulatory Impact Review
estimated that only approximately 15,899 vessels would be affected by
the rule and the cost of $46 million per year was not high enough to
warrant review.
NOAA is currently reviewing the over 20,000
public comments submitted for the proposed rule. While there is no
official timeline, NOAA anticipates a final
rule by the end of the year.
The Committee on Rules will
meet
Monday, June 5, 2023 at 3:00 PM ET in H-313,
The Capitol on the following measures:
H.R. 277 –
REINS Act of 2023, to provide that major
rules of the executive branch shall have no force or effect unless a
joint resolution of approval is enacted into law
H.R. 288 – Separation of
Powers Restoration Act of 2023, requires courts to decide de novo all
questions of law, including the interpretation of statutes, rules, and
guidance, without agency deference
H.R. 1615 – Gas Stove
Protection and Freedom Act, prohibits the Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) from using federal funds to (1) regulate gas stoves
as a banned hazardous product, or (2) issue or enforce a product
safety standard that prohibits the use or sale of gas stoves or
substantially increases their price
H.R. 1640 – Save Our Gas
Stoves Act, prohibits the Secretary of Energy from finalizing,
implementing, or enforcing the proposed rule titled “Energy
Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer
Conventional Cooking Products” or any energy conservation standard if
it is likely to result in the unavailability of a type (or class) of
product based on what type of fuel that product consumes
The purpose of this
hearing
is to examine the reliability and resiliency of electric service in the
United States in light of recent reliability assessments and alerts.
James B.
Robb,
President & Chief Executive Officer, North American Electric
Reliability Corporation
Manu
Asthana,
President & Chief Executive Officer, PJM
Interconnection, L.L.C.
Dr. Melissa C.
Lott,
Senior Research Scholar and Director of Research, Columbia Center on
Global Energy Policy, Columbia University, School of International and
Public Affairs
David J.
Tudor,
Chief Executive Officer & General Manager, Associated Electric
Cooperative Inc.
On Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at 2:30 pm ET, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla
(D-Calif.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW)
Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, will hold a
hearing
to examine the impact of aging drinking water and wastewater
infrastructure and rising water rates, as well as recently authorized
water affordability programs in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Witnesses:
Kyle Jones, Legal and Policy Director, Community Water Center
Rosemary Menard, Water Director, City of Santa Cruz
Mark Pepper, Executive Director, Wyoming Association of Rural Water
Systems
Jeffery Martin Baran to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission
S.1111,
Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean
Energy Act of 2023
A bill to enhance United States civil nuclear leadership, support the
licensing of advanced nuclear technologies, strengthen the domestic
nuclear energy fuel cycle and supply chain, and improve the regulation
of nuclear energy, and for other purposes.
A lifeline for those suffering from climate anxiety, Facing the Climate
Emergency combines Salamon’s expertise in clinical psychology and
disruptive climate activism to help readers transform their fear and
grief into courage and heroism.
This beloved self-help book provides emphatic guidance for the
overwhelmed and concrete strategies for tackling anxiety and other
painful climate emotions. Facing the Climate Emergency offers inspiring
portraits of ordinary people who are striking school, throwing soup onto
paintings, and otherwise disrupting normalcy in order to raise the alarm
and create rapid policy change.
Facing the Climate Emergency helps people. That’s why writer and
director Adam McKay writes in the foreword to the 2nd edition, “I hope
this book becomes as ubiquitous as the Heimlich maneuver in
restaurants.”
About the Speakers —
Margaret Klein Salamon, Ph.D, is the executive director of the Climate
Emergency Fund, which raises and
grants millions of dollars to nonviolent disruptive climate activists. A
graduate of Harvard with a Ph.D. from Adelphi University, Margaret
brings her psychological expertise to all of her climate work. As
founder of the grassroots advocacy group Climate Mobilization, she
spearheaded the campaign for governments to acknowledge the climate
emergency through an official declaration. A climate emergency has now
been declared by over 2,270 global governments, comprising more than 1
billion of the world’s citizens. Her Climate Awakening project
facilitates hundreds of virtual and in-person small-group conversations,
helping people transform their fear, rage, and despair into effective
action.
Roberta Baskin spent more than 30 years as an awarding-winning
investigative reporter at CBS News,
ABC news, & PBS
exposing stories of injustices. Roberta’s storied career garnered more
than 75 journalism awards, including three duPont Columbia Awards, two
Peabody Awards, and multiple Emmys. Her investigations reformed
injustices and improved dozens of health and safety products and
practices. She now serves on five non-profit boards dedicated to climate
justice and solutions to socio-economic divides.
