Hill Heat

Senate hearing on the Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act, introduced by Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.-02).

Bill text

Witnesses:

• Anna R. Kelles Ph.D., Assemblymember, New York State Assembly, 125th District
• Rob Altenburg, Senior Director for Energy and Climate, PennFuture
• Courtney Dentlinger, Vice President, Customer Services and External Affairs & Chief Customer Officer, Nebraska Public Power District

Analyzing climate change and proposing solutions at the nation-state level can obscure the path forward, as ambition varies widely across countries and can change dramatically as soon as the next election. Furthermore, coordinating the actions of nearly 200 nations (including more than a dozen major emitters) presents its own challenges. Viewing climate solutions as sectoral rather than “national,” may be more productive and give a clearer of how to cut the most emissions in the fastest manner.

This webinar series, sponsored by American University’s Center for Environmental Policy (CEP) and the not-for-profit think tank Energy Innovation, reframes causes and solutions of climate change as “sectoral” issues.

The energy sector has been the focus of many mitigation efforts to date, as clear alternatives like renewable technologies are readily available and increasingly competitive. Should the energy sector be the highest priority for mitigation strategies? What has been done right and what has been done wrong to date? What sort of changes would enhance energy sector mitigation strategies (particularly as these relate to the energy grid)?

Speakers:

• Michael O’Boyle, Energy Innovation
• Michelle Solomon, Energy Innovation
• Dan Fiorino, Center for Environmental Policy, School of Public Affairs
• Moderator: Gabriela Siegfried, EPRI

Mike O’Boyle is Energy Innovation’s Director, Electricity. He directs the firm’s Electricity Program, which focuses on designing and quantifying the impacts of policies needed to affordably and reliably decarbonize the U.S. electricity grid. Mike’s expertise includes clean electricity standards, wholesale market design, monopoly utility regulation, and energy efficiency policies.

Michelle Solomon is a Policy Analyst in the Electricity program at Energy Innovation, working to accelerate the transition to a clean and affordable electricity sector in the United States. Prior to joining Energy Innovation, she completed her PhD at Stanford University in Materials Science and Engineering, focusing on nanotechnology. Immediately after graduate school, she was a Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow in the office of Senator Ed Markey, where she worked on all things energy and environment.

Daniel J. Fiorino is the founding Director of the Center for Environmental Policy and Distinguished Executive in Residence in the School of Public Affairs at American University. Fiorino is the author or co-author of seven books and some 60 articles and book chapters, including A Good Life on a Finite Earth: The Political Economy of Green Growth (Oxford University Press, 2018), Can Democracy Handle Climate Change? (Polity Books, 2018), and Conceptual Innovation in Environmental Policy (with James Meadowcroft, MIT Press, 2017). MIT Press also published the second edition of Environmental Governance Reconsidered (with Robert F. Durant and Rosemary O’Leary) in 2017.

Gabriella A. Siegfried is a Senior Sustainability Analyst at the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI), Gabriella performs research within the energy sector related to ESG governance/disclosure, corporate social responsibility, and cross-industry benchmarking. While at EPRI, Siegfied has led projects on climate change mitigation through sustainability goal-setting and circular economy metric development for the energy sector. Through AU’s Center for Environmental Policy, where Siegfried worked during her MA program, she conducted research on environmental justice, such as analyzing Hurricane Katrina reconstruction and the Texas Freeze of 2021 from an environmental justice lens.

RSVP

The dangers of global warming are increasingly evident—extreme weather, rising sea levels, wildfires, and melting glaciers—but there hasn’t been sufficient political will to take the steps needed to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, which scientists deem essential.

To examine the economic case for moving sooner rather than later, the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy and the Center on Regulation and Markets at Brookings will convene a virtual conference on March 6 to discuss two recent papers. The first, by the IMF’s Tobias Adrian and coauthors, focuses on the benefits of phasing out coal as an energy source. Following the presentation, the World Bank’s Carolyn Fischer will react. The second, by Hutchins Nonresident Senior Fellow Glenn Rudebusch and coauthors, quantifies the inverse relationship between carbon prices and future temperatures, illustrating how climate policy choices determine climate outcomes. Following this presentation, Irene Monasterolo of EDHEC Business School will respond. All four will then participate in a panel discussion on the broader implications of these issues.

Viewers may submit questions by emailing [email protected], on Twitter using the hashtag #ClimateEcon, or at sli.do using the code #ClimateEcon.

Welcome

• David Wessel, Director – The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy Senior Fellow – Economic Studies

Paper presentation – The Great Carbon Arbitrage

• Tobias Adrian, Financial Counsellor & Director – Monetary and Capital Markets Department, International Monetary Fund

Discussant

• Carolyn Fischer, Research Manager of the Sustainability and Infrastructure Team in the Development Research Group – World Bank

Paper presentation – Climate policy curves: Linking policy choices to climate outcomes

• Glenn Rudebusch, Nonresident Senior Fellow – Economic Studies, The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy

Discussant

• Irene Monasterolo, Professor of Climate Finance – EDHEC Business School, EDHEC-Risk Climate Impact Institute

Panel discussion

• Moderator: Sanjay Patnaik, Director – Center on Regulation and Markets, Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Development Fellow – Economic Studies
• Tobias Adrian
• Carolyn Fischer
• Irene Monasterolo
• Glenn Rudebusch

RSVP

Join us on March 3rd at 4 pm in Lafayette Square to tell President Biden he must #StopWillow before it’s too late!

On Feb. 1st, the Biden administration took another step towards approving the Willow Master Development Project – a massive oil drilling development in Alaska’s western Arctic that threatens local communities and wildlife, and the global climate.

President Biden promised to deliver on climate – but ConocoPhillips’ dirty and dangerous Willow project would irreversibly take us backward. Willow would emit 278 million metric tons of climate pollution over the next 30 years. That’s equivalent to the annual emissions from 74 coal plants — one-third of all remaining U.S. plants.

Extracting millions of barrels of oil in Alaska would only increase temperatures in a region that’s already warming four times faster than the rest of the world. Willow will disproportionately impact the community of Nuiqsut, a predominantly Iñupiaq village of about 500 people already experiencing extreme pollution from existing oil projects.

The Biden administration is expected to issue its final decision on the project as soon as March 6th. That means we still have time to pressure Biden and his Department of Interior to deny this dangerous project, #StopWillow, and prevent this climate bomb!

RSVP

The Committee will hold a hearing titled “Farm Bill 2023: Conservation and Forestry Programs.”

Witnesses:

• Terry Cosby, Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Zach Ducheneaux, Administrator, Farm Service Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Randy Moore, Chief, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

There will be a hearing of the Committee on the Budget on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, 10:00 AM in Room SD-608. Members of the Committee may participate in person or by video conference technology. To consider: “Rising Seas, Rising Costs: Climate Change and the Economic Risks to Coastal Communities”

Witnesses:

• Dr. Sean Becketti, Principal, Elliott Bay Analytics
• Matthew Eby, Founder And Chief Executive Officer, First Street Foundation
• Kate Michaud, Town Manager, Warren, Rhode Island
• Dr. Jessica Weinkle, Associate Professor, University of North Carolina Wilmington
• Marlo Lewis, Jr., Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Hearing page

Witness:

• Joseph Goffman, Assistant Administrator (acting), Office of Air and Radiation at the Environmental Protection Agency

Goffman’s nomination was stalled through 2022.

Business meeting, following the caucus lunches, to consider the nominations of

• Career diplomat Stephanie Sanders Sullivan, of Maryland, to be Representative to the African Union, with the rank and status of Ambassador
• Career diplomat Michael Alan Ratney, of Massachusetts, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Geeta Rao Gupta, of Virginia, to be Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues
• Former Los Angeles mayor Eric M. Garcetti, of California, to be Ambassador to the Republic of India
• Former ambassador to India and current Mastercard lawyer Richard R. Verma, of Maryland, to be Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources, Department of State
• Cuban-American technologist, political operative, and venture capitalist L. Felice Gorordo, of Florida, to be Alternate Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
• ExxonMobil lawyer Richard L.A. Weiner, of the District of Columbia, to be Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
• Venezuelan-American politician and law professor Leopoldo Martinez Nucete, of Virginia, to be Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has placed holds on most of the nominees.

On Tuesday, February 28, 2023, at 2:00 p.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources will hold a legislative hearing on H.R.­ ___ (Graves of Louisiana), “Building United States Infrastructure through Limited Delays and Efficient Reviews Act of 2023”.

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

• Brenda Mallory, Chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality
• Brent Ridge, President and CEO, Dairyland Power Cooperative, La Crosse, Wisconsin
• Brian Veerkamp, President – Board of Directors, El Dorado Irrigation District, Placerville, California
• Keith Pugh, PE, PWLF, President, American Public Works Association, Asheville, North Carolina
• John Beard, Jr., Founder, President and Executive Director, Port Arthur Community Action Network

On Tuesday, February 28, at 1:00 p.m. (or 30 minutes after the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security markup concludes), the Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials will meet in open markup session in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building to consider the following.

Legislation to be considered includes:

• H.R. 1070, a bill to amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) to treat the owner or operator of a critical energy resource facility as having been issued an interim permit for the treatment, storage, and disposal, of hazardous waste, and for other purposes. This legislation, which was included in Title VI of H.R. 8981 of the 117th Congress, is patterned after a previous SWDA practice. It would address delays for SWDA-regulated waste permitting that is a condition of operation, but only for facilities that deal with critical energy resources. Specifically, the permitting involved would relate to on-site storage of more than 90 days, onsite waste treatment, or on-site waste disposal. The legislation would provide a facility, that files a Part A permit application, “interim status” until EPA or the State requires the facility to submit its Part B permit application for a long-term permit. (Rep. Carter introduced this legislation.)
• H.R. 1131, a bill to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to authorize the use of flexible air permitting with respect to certain critical energy resource facilities, and for other purposes. This legislation would authorize EPA to issue flexible air permits and facilitate flexible, market-responsive operations for critical energy resource facilities. Flexible air permitting is a procedure that has been promoted by EPA to allow industrial facilities to obtain advance approval for changes to an emissions source without requiring the change to be reviewed and approved individually. Flexible air permitting ensures equal or greater environmental protection than conventional air permits. (Rep. Joyce introduced this legislation.)
• H.R. 1140, a bill to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to waive application of certain requirements with respect to processing and refining of a critical energy resource at a critical energy resource facility, and for other purposes. This legislation would authorize the EPA Administrator, under certain conditions, to waive temporarily any Clean Air Act (CAA) or Solid Waste Disposal Act requirement the Administrator determines is necessary to allow for the processing or refining of a critical energy resource to meet national security or energy security needs and to serve the public interest. The introduced bill includes new language that establishes requirements, timeframes, and a public interest protection by which the Administrator must act to avoid or minimize any adverse environmental impacts of a temporary waiver. (Rep. Pence introduced this legislation.)
• H.R. 1158, the Elimination of Future Technology Delays Act. This legislation would address repeated, documented delays with EPA reviewing and making legally mandated, timely determinations of pre-manufacturing notices for new critical energy resources and new uses of existing critical energy resources. The legislation would prevent EPA from withholding judgment on a notice and preventing commercialization – without justification – of a substance beyond the Toxic Substances Control Act’s (TSCA’s) statutory deadlines. This legislation would also prevent EPA from proactively encouraging manufacturers to exercise their right to suspend or end the legal clock on EPA action if EPA has not made an initial review of the new critical energy resource and communicated the noted risks to the applicant. Finally, this legislation would require EPA to consider economic, societal, and environmental costs and benefits when determining whether an “unreasonable risk” exists from the manufacturing, processing, commercial transportation, use or disposal of the critical energy resource. (Rep. Curtis introduced this legislation.)
• H.R. 1141, Natural Gas Tax Repeal Act. This legislation would repeal the natural gas tax contained in Sec. 136 of the CAA. The natural gas tax was established through amendments to the CAA contained in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was signed into law on August 16, 2022. Sec. 136 of the CAA authorizes the EPA to impose or collect a “charge on methane emissions,” also referred to as a tax on natural gas. H.R. 1141 also would rescind the unobligated balance of any amounts made available under Sec. 136. The IRA authorized and appropriated over $1.5 billion under Sec. 136 of the CAA. (Rep. Pfluger introduced this legislation.)
• H.R. 1023, a bill to repeal section 134 of the Clean Air Act, relating to the greenhouse gas reduction fund. This legislation would repeal the program established under section 134 of the CAA and would rescind any unobligated balance of any funds made available under this section. Section 60103 of P.L. 117-169, the IRA, added this new section to the CAA to establish a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and appropriated $27 billion for EPA to award grants under the program until September 2024. (Rep. Palmer introduced this legislation.)
• H.R. 1155, Keeping America’s Refineries Act. This legislation responds to a regulatory proposal in the Biden administration’s Risk Management Rule (RMP) expansion (proposed on August 18, 2022). The regulatory proposal would make petroleum refineries using hydrofluoric acid alkylation units conduct technology and alternatives analyses of their existing plant’s chemical usage and manufacturing practices to identify changes that could be made. This bill would prevent this operations assessment requirement from applying to refineries with active construction or operating permits. A new refinery or refinery without its permits could choose to follow the RMP assessment requirement (if finalized) or demonstrate it conforms or will conform to American Petroleum Institute Recommended Practice 751. Of note, section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer Act of 1995, requires the Federal government to defer to industry consensus standards when those standards intersect with agency goals. (Rep. Crenshaw introduced this legislation.)