H. Res. 1469 – Ensuring
accountability for key officials in the Biden-Harris administration
responsible for decisionmaking and execution failures throughout the
withdrawal from Afghanistan.
H.R. 8790 would fast-track logging on public lands, bypassing essential
environmental reviews and endangering wildlife, clean air, water, and
the health and safety of our communities, explains the John Muir
Project.
NEPA Rollbacks: This bill weakens the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), limiting environmental
reviews and public input—key goals of Project 2025.
Endangered Species Act (ESA): Provisions in H.R. 8790 undermine
ESA protections for wildlife habitats,
reflecting Project 2025’s push for economic interests over
environmental safeguards.
Federal Land Management: H.R. 8790 promotes increased logging on
BLM and National Forest lands, aligning with
Project 2025’s priorities for extraction industries.
Anti-Climate Science Rhetoric: This bill misuses wildfire narratives
to justify logging, despite the fact that most fires this year have
occurred in grass, rangeland, and shrublands—not forests. This
highlights that logging is not a solution to the real causes of
wildfire activity, such as climate change and urban development. For
detailed fire data, please refer to this tool.
Epstein recently
participated
in the Alliance For Responsible Citizenship conference convened by
Jordan Peterson with support from the Heritage Foundation.
The purpose of this
hearing
is to explore the benefits and risks of marine carbon dioxide removal
(mCDR) approaches as they relate to carbon capture and sequestration. In
addition, this hearing will inform members on research and development
of this technology and address scientific gaps and deficiencies facing
researchers and scientists today.
Noah Deich, Senior Advisor, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon
Management, U.S. Department of Energy
Dr. Sarah Kapnick, Chief Scientist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
Ben Tarbell, CEO and Co-Founder, Ebb Carbon
Dr. Scott Doney, Joe D. and Helen J. Kington Professor in
Environmental Change, The University of Virginia
The ocean is the Earth’s largest carbon sink, holding 42 times the
amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that is in the atmosphere and absorbing
25% of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions each year. Global
atmospheric carbon reduction efforts have led scientists to try to
enhance the ocean’s natural sequestration abilities by developing mCDR
techniques. Leveraging the ocean can help diversify the range of carbon
dioxide removal approaches, reducing the pressure on land-based
approaches.1 Marine CDR can also have
non-carbon environmental benefits, such as reducing ocean acidification,
replenishing ecosystems, and providing jobs. However, most mCDR
techniques have not been tested at scale, and a few are at the earliest
stages of research. Dedicated resources, including streamlined
permitting, to enable research will help clarify the uncertainties
associated with mCDR.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is home to the
Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), established to better understand
impacts of ocean acidification and adaptation. In May 2023, the program,
in collaboration with the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory,
published their paper Strategy for NOAA Carbon
Dioxide Removal Research: A White Paper documenting a potential
NOAACDR Science
Strategy as an element of NOAA’s Climate
Interventions Portfolio. In September 2023,
OAP announced $23.4 million in funding for
public and private research in mCDR, with a focus on understanding
uncertainties and filling knowledge gaps for different mCDR approaches.
These awards support 17 projects with partners from 47 institutions to
further enhance efficiency of marine research and provide
NOAA with funding and information sharing
opportunities to advance mCDR development.
The Department of Energy (DOE) supports mCDR as a key technology
development area. It is a central component of
DOE’s Carbon Negative Shot — calling for
innovation in CDR pathways that can capture
CO2 and store it at gigaton scales for less
than $100/net metric ton of CO2-equivalent. In
October 2023, DOE announced $36 million for 11
projects across 8 states, funneled through the Advanced Research
Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) Sensing Exports of Anthropogenic
Carbon through Ocean Observation (SEA-CO2) program, to accelerate the
development of mCDR technologies. The focus of the projects receiving
these funds is to advance sensing and modeling techniques that more
accurately measure the impacts of mCDR technologies. Supported projects
include development of fiber optic sensor cables, micro-electronic
seafloor probes, and ocean carbon flux monitoring. If successful,
SEA-CO2 measurement, reporting, and
verification technology innovations will ensure that the quantity and
quality of emission removals are correctly valued. 
On Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. ET, U.S. House Natural
Resources Committee Democrats will host a roundtable
discussion
with expert panelists titled, “Holding Big Oil Accountable for
Extortion, Collusion, and Pollution.”
A recent Federal Trade Commission complaint and multiple class action
lawsuits allege that Big Oil has colluded with
OPEC to pad their profits by raising energy
prices for Americans. This price-gouging adds to the hundreds of
billions of dollars in subsidies Big Oil already receives annually
through direct tax breaks and by passing along health and environmental
cleanup costs to taxpayers and communities.
Meanwhile, House Republicans continue to put polluters over people,
pushing additional handouts and giveaways for the fossil fuel industry,
many of which mirror proposals in Trump’s Project 2025. Former President
Trump also recently requested $1 billion in campaign contributions from
Big Oil executives, promising to roll back environmental regulations,
fast-track fossil fuel project permitting, and enhance tax breaks even
further.
Roundtable panelists will discuss these issues, the impacts on American
communities, and how Congress can support the American people by holding
Big Oil accountable for its extortion, collusion, and pollution.
Members:
Vice Ranking Member Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.)
Panelists:
Kristina Karlsson, Deputy Director of Climate Policy, Roosevelt
Institute
Alex Witt, Senior Advisor on Oil & Gas, Climate Power
Bekah Hinojosa, Co-Founder, South Texas Environmental Justice Network
Chris Marshall, Director, Energy & Environment Program, Accountable.US
On Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at 10:15 a.m. in room 1324 Longworth
House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee
on Federal Lands will hold a legislative
hearing
on the following bills:
H.R. 1479 (Rep. Ciscomani), “Chiricahua National Park Act”, to
redesignate the Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona as the
Chiricahua National Park;
H.R. 1504 (Rep. Horsford), “Apex Area Technical Corrections Act”;
H.R. 8931 (Rep. Stefanik), To redesignate Saratoga National Historical
Park as Saratoga National Battlefield Park;
H.R. 9492 (Rep. Valadao), To amend Public Law 99-338 with respect to
Kaweah Project permits;
H.R. 9516 (Rep. Chavez-DeRemer), “Military Families National Parks
Access Enhancement Act”, to provide for lifetime National Parks and
Federal Recreational Lands Passes for family members of members of the
Armed Forces who lost their lives while serving their country; and
S. 612 (Sen. Cortez Masto), “Lake Tahoe Restoration Reauthorization
Act”.
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the World
Resources Institute (WRI) invite you to a briefing about effective
policy-making for carbon dioxide
removal (CDR).
CDR—the practice of removing and storing
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and ocean—comes in many forms,
including direct air capture, soil carbon sequestration, ocean
CDR, and forest restoration. These methods
have garnered increasing scientific, governmental, and private sector
interest, but expanded policy development is needed to bring them to the
scale needed to meet national climate goals.
Leveraging key findings from recent reports, panelists from NGOs,
academia, and the private sector will explore existing policies
supporting different stages of CDR
development, the level of CDR we expect to
need, the potential for CDR in the United
States, policy options to enable scaling to that level, and private
sector perspectives on the policy landscape. Panelists will also
pinpoint key takeaways relevant for federal policymakers.
Speakers for this session include:
Katie Lebling,
Associate II, Carbon Removal and Industrial Decarbonization, World
Resources Institute (WRI)
Galen Bower, Senior Analyst, Rhodium Group
Peter Psarras, Research Assistant Professor, University of
Pennsylvania
Laura Hatalsky, Deputy Director of Policy, Carbon Removal Alliance
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact
Daniel O’Brien at [email protected] or (202) 662-1880.
