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February 26, 2018
The coal producing states of Wyoming and Montana are threatening legal action against Washington State's proposed carbon tax, citing interstate commerce laws. Image courtesy of wikimedia.org.
The Trump administration is facing stiff resistance to its plan to halt federal funding for the EPA's Energy Star program. The President's budget proposal for fiscal year 2019 called for the elimination of the program's entire $42 million budget. Under the proposal, companies seeking an Energy Star certification for their products would be required to pay a fee to EPA. Implementing the proposal would require congressional action, followed by the EPA setting up the fee structure. The Energy Star program provides energy efficiency benchmarks for appliances, electronics, building materials, lighting, and other products and allows companies to label their products with the program's insignia if they meet certain performance criteria. The program maintains broad support with industry, consumers, and environmentalists. Advocates note that the program generates an estimated $30 billion in energy savings annually. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MI), ranking member on the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees EPA, said, "I’ve heard from builders, realtors, manufacturers, and retailers and they all support [Energy Star]."
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The Hill
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been publicly sharing his plans to convene a "red team-blue team" event to push back against established climate science since at least July 2017. However, the effort appears to have stalled for the time being. Advocates for conducting the exercise have questioned Pruitt's ability to lead the effort, while others have expressed concern about the potential political fallout for the administration if it fails to produce a desirable outcome for President Trump's anti-climate agenda. Most recently, the so-called "red team" was being pitched as an internal review of policy, but Pruitt has informed Congress that the original exercise is still expected to happen. Michael Mann, a Penn State University climatologist, said, "The impacts of climate change are now obvious to anyone with an even half-open mind, and I suspect that [the administration's] own polling tell them that their anti-science tropes no longer are playing well with the public."
E&E News
The bipartisan budget deal Congress enacted in February 2018 contained language to beef up an existing tax credit for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The provision, known as Section 45Q, has been touted by CCS advocates as a means of moving the technology toward commercial viability. CCS projects formerly received $10 per ton of CO2 captured and used for enhanced oil recovery and $20 per ton for CO2 placed in "secure geological storage" underground. The revised tax credit would increase those values to $35 and $50, respectively, while lifting an annual volumetric cap of 75 million tons of CO2 currently associated with the credit. These changes would benefit CCS projects constructed over the next six years. Critics of the CCS tax credit suggest it will give a competitive advantage to fossil fuel-fired power plants over renewable energy generation, but supporters argue that CCS provides a key tool for reducing emissions. In support of the tax credit, Jesse Jenkins of MIT said, "Without a clear financial upside, there’s very little reason for companies to pursue that risky [CCS] technology development.”
Green Tech Media
The attorneys general of Montana and Wyoming have suggested that Washington State's carbon tax proposal amounts to an unlawful regulation of environmental issues across state lines. The states have cited the Interstate Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and EPA's federal authority under the Clean Air Act as grounds for their complaint. Montana and Wyoming both house coal-fired power plants that sell electricity in Washington, which is currently considering a $10 per ton carbon tax. For instance, the Colstrip Power Plant is located in Montana, but its largest stakeholder is Puget Sound Energy, which serves 1.5 million customers in Washington. Any pollution generated by the plant in connection with those customers would be subject to the tax. One point of contention is a tax exemption granted to a coal-fired plant in Centralia, Washington that happens to exclusively source its coal from Wyoming and Montana. The plant's owners had agreed to switch to natural gas by 2021.
Billings Gazette
A rapid shift toward electric vehicles by the global auto industry has forced the oil industry to adapt as well. General Motors has stated it will bring at least 20 electric vehicle models to market by 2025, while Daimler and BMW predict up to 25 percent of their sales will consist of electric models by then. National governments are also advancing the transition. China has expressed a desire to have one in five vehicles sold there to be electric within a decade, while India is aiming to sell only electric vehicles in the country after 2030. France and the United Kingdom have pledged to ban petroleum-fueled cars altogether by 2040. As a result, Dutch Shell and BP are predicting global oil demand will peak by 2040, if not earlier. Petroleum companies are beginning to move away from petroleum assets and are emphasizing alternative energy and natural gas. In the United States, gasoline and diesel sales currently account for 70 percent of American crude oil demand.
Houston Chronicle
According to a new report from the advocacy group Protect Our Winters, the low and variable snowfall that is expected to become more common due to climate change can make a significant dent in the American recreation industry. An analysis of reduced snowfall years led to a loss of $1 billion to the economy and 17,400 jobs compared to an average season. While some ski resorts do have equipment to generate their own snow, less business can lead to layoffs. Resorts across the western United States have been experiencing warmer temperatures and reduced snowfall, affecting the quality and availability of activities including skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling. Rebecca Hill, a natural resources economist and report contributor, said, "When somebody goes and skis, they don't just spend money on that lift ticket. They also spend money at restaurants in the area. They buy gas in the area. So it's those other support industries that are also going to be harmed."
NPR, Report
A growing demand for knowledge on how climate change may disrupt private sector operations has led to the growth of companies working to fill in the gaps left by the slow pace of government entities. However, these new companies will have to contend with the uncertainty that follows location-specific, short-term climate forecasting. Some insurance companies already study climate risks and use those outlooks to advise clients on how to avoid those risks. One tech sector start-up, Jupiter, has received $10 million in venture capital and has been recruiting scientists, weather modelers, and data analysts to develop a range of predictive tools that can provide granular risk management details for clients. Company founder Rick Sorkin said, “We know the planet’s getting warmer and sea levels are rising, but on a hyperlocal basis, the quality of those predictions can be much better than it is." Although the U.S. government could assemble this information as well, federal agencies tend to devote their resources toward short-term weather predictions, while long-term needs like updated flood plain maps remain underfunded by Congress.
New York Times
According to a new study appearing in the journal Science, ocean acidification could begin to dissolve coral reefs before 2100. The acidic waters could lead to "net dissolving," meaning the reefs would be losing more material than they can gain for coral growth. The sediments that reefs rely upon for construction are made up of small pieces of coral and other carbonate organisms that have accumulated over millennia. These sediments are 10 times more vulnerable to acidification than the coral animals themselves, which may be able to adapt somewhat. Ocean acidification occurs when carbon dioxide reacts with sea water to form a weak acid. The researchers said it was unclear whether the sediment dissolution could eventually threaten the integrity of entire islands. Coral are already threatened by rising ocean temperatures, pollution, and overfishing. Particularly vulnerable habitats, including Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii, are already starting to dissolve due to a mix of factors.
Reuters
New research indicates inaction on addressing greenhouse gas emissions could have serious consequences for global sea level increases. A study published in Nature Communications found that every five year period where significant climate action is delayed, sea levels could increase by an additional eight inches per year by 2300. The projection is based on the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, which necessitates an end to new greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The longer countries wait to begin drawing down emissions, the less likely this goal will be achieved, thus leading to more severe sea level rise in the future. Additional factors, such as the destabilization of the Antarctic ice sheet, could produce even greater sea level spikes. Lead author Matthias Mengel of the Potsdam Institute said, "One important point was to reveal that sea level [rise] is not in the far future, it’s now, and because the system is so slow, we just can’t see it at the moment. But we cause it now."
Washington Post
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