Climate science, policy, politics, and action
Markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023
The chairman’s mark is $802.4 billion.
The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will meet in open session, hybrid format to conduct a to conduct a hearing on “The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress.”
Witness:
Chair Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)
Text of Legislation
Interior programs funded: Central Utah Project, Central Valley Project Restoration, California-Bay Delta Restoration
Budget requests:
Text of Legislation
Riceland Hall – Fowler Center Arkansas State University Jonesboro, AR 10:00am EST / 9:00am CST
President Joe Biden will host a virtual leader-level meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) on June 17, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. This will be President Biden’s third leader-level convening of the MEF since taking office.
This meeting of the MEF is a continuation of the President’s efforts to use all levers to tackle the global climate crisis, urgently address rising costs around the world exacerbated by Russia’s war on Ukraine, and put the U.S. and allies on a path to long-term energy and food security. In urging countries to enhance climate ambition, he invited fellow leaders to join the United States in a set of concrete, collective initiatives that will accelerate global action on climate as well as our energy security and food security efforts.
The MEF includes countries representing 80 percent of global GDP, population, and greenhouse gas emissions. Other leaders critical to the global effort to tackle the climate crisis have also been invited to participate.
The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) invites you to attend one of the virtual public comment meetings it will conduct by telephone on the Line 200 and Line 300 Project draft environmental impact statement.
Driftwood proposes to construct and operate dual 42-inch-diameter natural gas pipelines originating near the town of Ragley in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana southward to a proposed receiver facility near the town of Carlyss in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana.
The FERC staff concludes that construction and operation of the Project would result in some adverse environmental impacts. Most of these impacts would be temporary and occur during construction (e.g., impacts on land use, traffic, and noise). With the exception of climate change impacts, that are not characterized in this EIS as significant or insignificant, we conclude that Project effects would not be significant based on implementation of Driftwood’s impact avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures, as well as their adherence to our recommendations. Other than the non-significant impacts on environmental justice communities associated with the construction and operation of Meter Station 7 and Meter Station 9, we conclude that the Project would not result in disproportionately high or adverse impacts on environmental justice communities.
Docket Nos. CP21-465-000, CP21-465-001, CP21-465-002
Date, Time, and Call-in Information
Thursday, June 16, 2022 5:30 pm (CST)
Note that the comment meetings will start at 5:30 pm (CST) and will terminate once all participants wishing to comment have had the opportunity to do so, or at 7:30 pm (CST), whichever comes first. The primary goal of these comment meetings is to have you identify the specific environmental issues and concerns that should be considered in the final environmental impact statement. Individual oral comments will be taken on a one-on-one basis with a court reporter present on the line. This format is designed to receive the maximum amount of oral comments, in a convenient way during the timeframe allotted, and is in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
As a reminder, the Commission encourages electronic filing of comments and has staff available to assist you at (866) 208-3676 or [email protected]. Please carefully follow these instructions so that your comments are properly recorded.
You can file your comments electronically using the eComment feature on the Commission’s website (www.ferc.gov) under the link to FERC Online. This is an easy method for submitting brief, text-only comments on a project; You can file your comments electronically by using the eFiling feature on the Commission’s website (www.ferc.gov) under the link to FERC Online. With eFiling, you can provide comments in a variety of formats by attaching them as a file with your submission. New eFiling users must first create an account by clicking on “eRegister.” If you are filing a comment on a particular project, please select “Comment on a Filing” as the filing type; and You can file a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to the Commission. Be sure to reference the project docket number (CP21-465-000) on your letter. Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. Submissions sent via any other carrier must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20852
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) invite you to a briefing on regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture, or farming in sync with the local environment and climate, produces multiple economic, climate, and societal benefits. Examples of these practices include reducing or eliminating synthetic pesticide and fertilizer use and soil tillage. The briefing will feature findings from NRDC’s new report, Regenerative Agriculture: Farm Policy for the 21st Century, which was informed by conversations with farmers and ranchers from 47 states and Washington, D.C.
As Congress begins to craft the 2023 Farm Bill, the briefing will cover how federal policies can incentivize and invest in regenerative agriculture, including by making reforms to scale up regenerative agriculture stewardship, supporting the next generation of farmers and ranchers, and funding regenerative agriculture research and education programs. Panelists will describe how these steps can lead to a more resilient and productive agricultural system.
Speakers
To learn more about NRDC’s report directly from the farmers involved, view the short video “What is Regenerative Agriculture?” and read the blog post “NRDC Report: Pathways to Regenerative Agriculture.” EESI’s current article series on climate and agriculture also dives into key sustainable agriculture practices, including cover crops, agroforestry, no-till farming, and rotational livestock grazing.
FERC is hosting a scoping meeting for the Cat Creek Energy pumped storage hydropower project in Idaho (docket P-14655-002) from 10am-12:00pm Mountain Day Light Time (MDT) (or 12pm to 2pm Eastern Standard Time).
The virtual meeting is preceded by a virtual site review.
At the scoping meeting, Commission staff will: (1) initiate scoping of the issues; (2) review and discuss existing conditions; (3) review and discuss existing information and identify preliminary information and study needs; (4) review and discuss the process plan and schedule for pre-filing activity that incorporates the time frames provided for in Part 5 of the Commission’s regulations and, to the extent possible, maximizes coordination of federal, state, and tribal permitting and certification processes; and (5) discuss the potential of any federal or state agency or Native American tribe to act as a cooperating agency for development of an environmental document. Meeting participants should come prepared to discuss their issues and/or concerns. Please review CCE’s PAD in preparation for the scoping meetings. Directions on how to obtain a copy of the PAD and SD1 are included in this document.
Commission meeting held in Room 2C, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426. Open to the public.
Link to meeting webcast when live
| Meeting agenda | ||
|---|---|---|
| ADMINISTRATIVE | ||
| A-1 | AD22-1-000 | Agency Administrative Matters |
| A-2 | AD22-2-000 | Customer Matters, Reliability, Security and Market Operations |
| ELECTRIC | ||
| E-1 | RM22-14-000 | Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements |
| E-2 | RM22-10-000 | Transmission System Planning Performance Requirements for Extreme Weather |
| E-3 | RM22-16-000 | One-Time Informational Reports on Extreme Weather Vulnerability Assessments |
| AD21-13-000 | Climate Change, Extreme Weather, and Electric System Reliability | |
| E-4 | EL15-70-003 | Public Citizen, Inc. v. Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. |
| EL15-71-003 | The People of the State of Illinois, By Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan v. Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. | |
| EL15-72-003 | Southwestern Electric Cooperative, Inc. v. Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc., Dynegy, Inc., and Sellers of Capacity into Zone 4 of the 2015-2016 MISO Planning Resource Auction | |
| E-5 | ER21-2455-000 | California Independent System Operator Corporation |
| ER21-2455-001 | ||
| E-6 | ER21-2460-000 | New York Independent System Operator, Inc. |
| ER21-2460-001 | ||
| E-7 | ER22-707-001 | ISO New England Inc.and New England Power Company d/b/a National Grid |
| E-8 | ER21-56-000 | Guzman Energy,LLC |
| E-9 | ER21-61-000 | El Paso Electric Company |
| E-10 | ER21-58-000 | TransAlta Energy Marketing (U.S.) Inc. |
| E-11 | ER17-910-003 | Pacific Gas and Electric Company |
| ER17-1509-003 | ||
| ER17-2181-003 | ||
| ER18-1102-002 | ||
| E-12 | RD22-3-000 | North American Electric Reliability Corporation |
| E-13 | ER22-1247-000 | NSTAR Electric Company and ParkCity Wind LLC |
| GAS | ||
| G-1 | RP21-1001-008 | Texas Eastern Transmission, LPHYDRO |
| H-1 | P-3063-023 | Blackstone Hydro Associates |
| H-2 | P-619-164 | Pacific Gas and Electric Company and City of Santa Clara |
| H-3 | P-2004-302 | City of Holyoke Gas and Electric Department |
| H-4 | P-2107-047 | Pacific Gas and Electric Company |
| H-5 | P-3777-011 | The Town of Rollinsford, New Hampshire |
| CERTIFICATES | ||
| C-1 | CP20-312-000 | Equitrans, L.P. |
| RP21-882-000 | ||
| C-2 | CP22-167-000 | Roaring Fork Midstream, LLC |