Preview Newsletter
ACC PM 11/7/2016
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(ACC Mentioned) Omnova Solutions Names New CEO
Nov 7, 2016 | Plastics News
By Rachel Abbey McCafferty
Omnova Solutions Inc. will soon have a new CEO. -
(ACC Mentioned) Omnova Solutions (OMN) CEO McMullen to Step Down; Successor Named
Nov 7, 2016 | Street Insider
OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (NYSE: OMN) announced that it is moving forward with its CEO succession process, and Kevin M. McMullen is stepping down as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, and as a member of the Board of Directors, effective December 1, 2016, to pursue other interests. -
Canada Proposes Microbeads Ban
Nov 7, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Canada has proposed prohibiting the manufacture, import or sale of personal care products containing plastic microbeads. -
Clinton Infrastructure Plan Aimed to Soothe Unions After KXL
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's team used a $275 billion pitch to upgrade the nation's aging electric grid, roads, bridges and water systems as a lever for coaxing endorsements and softening relationships with trade unions still smarting from the Obama administration's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, according to hacked emails. -
Clean Power Plan's Fate Hangs in the Balance
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Interactive
By Emily Holden
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump couldn't have more opposing views on what to do with the Obama administration's climate standards for power plants. -
5 Yuge Ways Trump and Clinton Differ on Climate, Energy
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Evan Lehmann
The focus on bigotry and email secrecy in the presidential race is eclipsing distinct differences in the candidates' views on energy and climate change, two intertwined issues that affect everyone from families and the military to manufacturers and farmers. -
WikiLeaks: Clinton Camp Flagged Potential Issues with 'Clean Energy Challenge'
Nov 7, 2016 | Politico Pro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
Hillary Clinton's advisers outlined political and financing pitfalls that could face her proposed $60 billion "Clean Energy Challenge" competition in a memo released by WikiLeaks today. -
Overcoming Initial Hesitation, EPA Floats Final ESPS Model Trading Rules
Nov 7, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Abby Smith
EPA has sent the draft final version of the model trading rules for its power plant greenhouse gas rule to the White House for interagency review, signaling the agency hopes to issue the rules before the end of the administration and is confident such an action is consistent with a high court stay on the underlying rule. -
New EPA Methane Rules Spell Disaster for American Economy
Nov 7, 2016 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Jeff Stier
More than a dozen states have now filed lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency over its new regulations on methane emissions. -
In Legal Settlement, Tribe to Lead Fracking Oversight
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
An American Indian tribe in Colorado will be the primary overseer of hydraulic fracturing on its lands, according to a settlement reached with the federal government Friday. -
Pipeline Restarts After Alabama Explosion
Nov 7, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
A pipeline that exploded in Alabama last week, killing a worker, has reopened. -
Ala. Line Restarts, 6 Days After Fatal Explosion
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Soraghan
Colonial Pipeline Co. officials announced yesterday that they have restarted their damaged line, clearing the way for fuel deliveries to begin on the Eastern Seaboard. -
Ala. Explosion Triggers Federal Review
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
A pipeline explosion in Alabama last week that killed one person and seriously injured four others is now under federal investigation and fueling concerns about accidents in other parts of the country. -
Railroads Provide Survival Lessons for Struggling Energy Companies
Nov 4, 2016 | Fuel Fix - Blog
By Ryan Handy
As some energy companies lose their grip on monopolies and can no longer rely on customers to help finance their survival, one Columbia University researcher says they could learn from the near-disappearance and resurgence of another historic American monopoly: railroads. -
Why the Marrakech Climate Talks Matter
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Jean Chemnick
A U.N. climate gathering that kicks off today in Marrakech, Morocco, isn't drawing a fraction of the attention the world paid to last year's Paris climate talks. -
EPA Sends Haze Reg Changes to White House for Review
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Following a flood of public feedback, U.S. EPA has sent the final slate of proposed changes to its regional haze regulations to the White House Office of Management and Budget for a standard review.
Industry and Association News
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Environment News
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(ACC Mentioned) Omnova Solutions Names New CEO
Nov 7, 2016 | Plastics News
By Rachel Abbey McCafferty
Omnova Solutions Inc. will soon have a new CEO.
The Beachwood, Ohio-based specialty chemicals and polymer company on Nov. 7 announced in a news release that Kevin McMullen, 56, will step down as chairman, CEO and president, effective Dec. 1. He also will leave the company's board of directors at that time.
Omnova has selected Anne Noonan, 53, to succeed McMullen as president and CEO, also effective Dec. 1. She will join the board of directors, but the release stated the company has decided to split the chairman and CEO roles. William Seelbach, 68, has been elected Omnova's independent, non-executive chairman, a role he will assume on Dec. 1.
Noonan is currently president of Omnova's Performance Chemicals business. She joined the company in 2014. Prior to that, the release noted that she served as senior vice president and president of Chemtura Corp.'s Industrial Engineered Products business segment. Overall, she worked for Chemtura and its predecessor, Great Lakes Chemical Corp., for 27 years. She has been member of CF Industries' board of directors and the American Chemistry Council's board of directors since 2015.
Under Noonan's leadership, the Performance Chemicals business has seen "significantly improved financial results" and cost reductions, the release stated. The business has also built the foundation "to accelerate specialty growth with accomplished market-specialized talent and a reinvigorated innovation pipeline."
"We are confident Anne will continue to drive enhanced value for shareholders. Anne is an accomplished executive with deep knowledge of the chemicals industry and Omnova," said Michael Merriman, presiding director of the board, in the release. "She has a proven record of transformational change and improving performance through her leadership, customer focus, and emphasis on value creation. We are pleased she has agreed to lead Omnova, and we look forward to the contributions she will make to the Company and the Board."
The release credits McMullen with growing the company globally and adding technology to "enhance its position as a value-added solutions provider." He has been CEO since 2000 and said in the release that he is leaving now to "pursue other interests."
http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20161107/NEWS/161109892/omnova-solutions-names-new-ceo
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(ACC Mentioned) Omnova Solutions (OMN) CEO McMullen to Step Down; Successor Named
Nov 7, 2016 | Street Insider
OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (NYSE: OMN) announced that it is moving forward with its CEO succession process, and Kevin M. McMullen is stepping down as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, and as a member of the Board of Directors, effective December 1, 2016, to pursue other interests. In over 16 years leading the Company, McMullen succeeded in repositioning OMNOVA as a leader in specialty chemicals and engineered surfaces including aggressive portfolio actions highlighted by theacquisition of Eliokem International. OMNOVA has experienced significant positive momentum with adjusted earnings per share up nearly 60% year-to-date through the third quarter, following 29% growth for the full year 2015. He is enthused about his future and proud of the Company's progress under his leadership.
McMullen will be succeeded by Anne P. Noonan as OMNOVA's President and Chief Executive Officer, effective December 1, 2016. Ms. Noonan will also be appointed to the Company's Board of Directors. In connection with this leadership transition, the Board of Directors has determined to separate the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer roles, electing William R. Seelbach as the Company's independent, non-executive Chairman, also effective December 1, 2016.
Michael J. Merriman, the Presiding Director of the OMNOVA Board of Directors, commented, "Kevin is a high-integrity leader with strong strategic and business acumen. We are thankful for Kevin's many years of leadership and his dedicated service to OMNOVA, both as Chief Executive Officer and as Chairman. He has consistently been aggressive in assessing the market and competitive environment, and taking the necessary actions to make the Company better. He leaves an organization with a well-designed growth strategy and strong leadership team in place. On behalf of the entire OMNOVA Board and the Company, I want to express our gratitude for a job well done and wish Kevin only the best. He will be missed."
McMullen's initiatives over the years ensured OMNOVA's prominence and profitability despite many market-based challenges. A predominately U.S.-based company when he took charge, McMullen led OMNOVA's transformation into a global enterprise. Today, OMNOVA products are sold in over 90 countries around the world, supported by manufacturing and technology centers on three continents. He drove initiatives to dramatically expand the breadth of OMNOVA's technology to significantly enhance its position as a value-added solutions provider. McMullen, 56, joined the Company in 1996 as President of its Decorative and Building Products unit. He took over as Chief Executive Officer of the Company in 2000 and became Chairman of the Board in 2001. Prior to OMNOVA, McMullen worked for GE and McKinsey & Co.
"I feel really good about where OMNOVA is today as a company," McMullen said. "Our specialty businesses are poised for above-market growth, our balance sheet has improved significantly, and we just completed a far-reaching strategic planning process that highlighted many exciting long-term opportunities. The Company is well-positioned to deliver significant long-term shareholder value." He added, "We have a strong and committed team – I will truly miss the people. But I'm relatively young and I want to pursue other interests. I think now is the time to pursue them."
Noonan, 53, is currently the President of OMNOVA's Performance Chemicals business. Under her leadership, the segment has significantly improved financial results. These results were accomplished through aggressive implementation of a manufacturing footprint alignment and business model restructuring, delivering cost reductions in excess of $10 million per year while establishing a cost competitive "blueprint" for future specialty growth. Additionally, through a focus on innovation and commercial excellence, a foundation has been established to accelerate specialty growth with accomplished market-specialized talent and a reinvigorated innovation pipeline.
"We are confident Anne will continue to drive enhanced value for shareholders. Anne is an accomplished executive with deep knowledge of the chemicals industry and OMNOVA," Merriman said. "She has a proven record of transformational change and improving performance through her leadership, customer focus, and emphasis on value creation. We are pleased she has agreed to lead OMNOVA, and we look forward to the contributions she will make to the Company and the Board."
Noonan brings nearly 30 years of experience in the chemicals industry. Prior to joining OMNOVA in 2014, Noonan served as Senior Vice President and President of Chemtura Corporation's Industrial Engineered Products business segment with over $1 billion in revenues. During her 27 years with Chemtura and its predecessor, Great Lakes Chemical Corporation, Noonan served in roles of increasing responsibility in mergers & acquisitions, strategic business development, marketing, sales, and technology. She began her career as an Analytical Research Chemist with McNeil Specialty Chemicals Company and Squibb-Linson, Co. She earned her M.S. in organometallic chemistry and her B.S. Honors degree in chemistry from University College Dublin, Ireland. Since 2015, Noonan has been a member of the Board of Directors of CF Industries (NYSE: CF), as well as the Board of Directors of the American Chemistry Council.
Noonan said, "I am excited to have the opportunity to lead OMNOVA and look forward to working with this dedicated, talented team to position the Company as a premier global, innovative specialty solutions provider. Kevin has provided a solid foundation to build upon, developing and leading an organization that is committed to its customers, employees, communities and shareholders."
William R. Seelbach, 68, will succeed McMullen as OMNOVA's Chairman. Seelbach has been a non-executive member of OMNOVA's Board of Directors since 2002. Seelbach is a Senior Advisor with the Riverside Company, the world's largest private equity firm focused on investing in companies at the smaller end of the middle market, and a Senior Managing Director of Headwaters SC, a consulting firm for privately owned businesses. Previously, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ohio Aerospace Institute, a technology-focused research organization, from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he was the President of Brush Engineered Materials, Inc., now known as Materion Corporation, a manufacturer of high performance engineered materials, and held various executive roles with Brush Wellman, Inc. from 1998 to 2002. Seelbach was also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Inverness Partners, a limited liability company engaged in acquiring and operating Midwestern manufacturing companies, and a Partner with McKinsey & Co.
http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Omnova+Solutions+(OMN)+CEO+McMullen+to+Step+Down%3B+Successor+Named/12214433.html
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Canada Proposes Microbeads Ban
Nov 7, 2016 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
Canada has proposed prohibiting the manufacture, import or sale of personal care products containing plastic microbeads.
The proposed Regulations cover products such as scrubs, bath products, facial cleansers, and toothpastes. Non-prescription drugs and natural health products are also included.
The government aims to ban the manufacture or import of toiletries containing plastic microbeads from 1 January 2018. A sales prohibition would take effect from 1 July 2018.
Manufacturing and import bans on non-prescriptions drugs and natural health products containing plastic microbeads would take effect from 1 July 2018. Their sale would be prohibited from 1 July 2019.
The proposal does not call for reports or for product testing. But it does include the laboratory testing standards to be used to determine the presence of plastic microbeads, for compliance verification and other purposes.
The proposal comes after the government's addition of plastic microbeads ≤ 5mm in size to schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Cepa) – the country's list of toxic substances – earlier this year.
Plastic microbeads have been shown to accumulate in waterways. They are cause for concern as they may absorb environmental pollutants and transfer them into the food chain when aquatic organisms mistake them for food.
Canada agreed its definition of a microbead after much disagreement over the size and makeup of microplastics to be covered. After encouragement from numerous NGOs and citizens, the government determined to include biodegradable plastics in the ban, citing insufficient evidence of the substances' biodegradability in real-world applications.
The agreed definition aligns with that included in the US's Microbead-Free Waters Act, signed into law at the beginning of the year. This was signed after nine states passed local bans.
In December 2014, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden jointly called for a ban on microplastics in personal care products. And Denmark's environment and food minister called on the European Commission to introduce a Europe-wide ban earlier this year.
MPs in the UK have also called for a ban, despite some industry views that voluntary action would be preferable.
And last month, South Korea proposed a microbeads ban in cosmetics from July 2017. Taiwan launched a consultation on similar proposals in August.
Comments on Canada's proposal may be submitted to the environment minister within 75 days of its publication in the Gazette.
The country's environment and health departments say they will continue to work with domestic and international partners – including the UN and the OECD – to address the broader issue of microplastics, including other sources of microbeads.
https://chemicalwatch.com/50813/canada-proposes-microbeads-ban
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Clinton Infrastructure Plan Aimed to Soothe Unions After KXL
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's team used a $275 billion pitch to upgrade the nation's aging electric grid, roads, bridges and water systems as a lever for coaxing endorsements and softening relationships with trade unions still smarting from the Obama administration's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, according to hacked emails.
Messages stolen from political strategist John Podesta's account and released by WikiLeaks show top Clinton aides gauging how different labor unions would respond to her coming out against KXL, and saw the five-year infrastructure proposal as an olive branch.
"One thing that will be helpful: Detailed infrastructure policy roll out soon," Nikki Budzinski, director of labor outreach for Hillary for America, wrote on Sept. 9, 2015.
"I would really like to use this to push these guys and also their members on the ground," she wrote. "Help on this would be appreciated. I know policy is working on it, but a time frame would be very helpful to know."
Clinton unveiled her infrastructure blueprint last fall and vowed to send Congress legislation within her first 100 days in office.
The plan has been a central part of her campaign, with Clinton calling the need to harden the country's energy system to the effects of climate change and to revamp crumbling water and transportation systems a "national emergency." Her Republican rival, Donald Trump, has pitched a $1 trillion infrastructure plan.
The leaked emails — which neither Podesta nor the Clinton campaign has corroborated — have provided the public with an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at how the Clinton team grappled with KXL after announcing her opposition in September 2015 (Greenwire, Nov. 2). President Obama formally rejected the oil pipeline last November.
In her email, Budzinski said Clinton had met with North America's Building Trades Unions earlier that day, and KXL was a major topic.
"After the meeting there was a lot of talk about appreciation for her willingness to be candid and up front with them on a difficult issue like KXL," Budzinski wrote. "We are on track for other trades endorsements in the coming weeks."
Several other endorsements were also in play, including from the United Association, which represents plumbers, pipefitters and welders. Union leader William Hite has been active in the pro-Clinton political action committee Priorities USA.
"The Plumbers for reference are already on the Priorities board. They are the only union that proactively called me after the meeting to follow up on Keystone. They want to endorse Monday but don't want to do that immediately after our Keystone statement," Budzinski wrote.
"UA is one of the four unions impacted by a Keystone decision," she wrote. "They will likely give a little breathing room between our KXL statement and their endorsement but they are on board."
Coal leasing vs. KXL
Other emails reveal the Clinton camp's critique of national grass-roots environmental campaigns' being so focused on a single issue like the Keystone XL fight.
In one June 2, 2015, email, Podesta acknowledged deep-pocketed liberal donor Herb Sandler's exasperation with the Obama administration's announcing a resource management plan envisioning leasing of more than 10 billion tons of coal over the next two decades in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming (Greenwire, May 29, 2015).
"I understand the competing forces, but in the end I simply don't get it," wrote Sandler, whose foundation supports the Clintons. "What am I missing? Coal-for God's sake!!"
Podesta replied: "I think this is a stupid decision and it comes as a surprise, but there is a corollary to the 'Keystone Principle'—if the environmental community spends all its time and energy on one battle, they can win the battle and lose the war."
Many environmental groups spent years clamoring for coal leasing reform that would address concerns about climate ramifications from burning federal coal, but Podesta said the issue never garnered the lobbying fervor KXL did.
"During my year in the White House," Podesta continued, "I heard 5000 times more about the pipeline than coal leasing. ... Maybe this is unfair and there was a lot of activity going on in the field, but it never rose to active lobbying of the White House."
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/11/07/stories/1060045370
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Clean Power Plan's Fate Hangs in the Balance
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Interactive
By Emily Holden
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump couldn't have more opposing views on what to do with the Obama administration's climate standards for power plants.
Clinton would advance the rule and could perhaps seek to deepen its emissions cuts with incentive programs or throughout implementation. Trump has said he would rescind the standards and also try to exit international pledges to curb greenhouse gas emissions (ClimateWire, Oct. 26). Both would face legal challenges along the way.
The regulation also faces a more immediate hurdle. A federal court is reviewing whether it's legal, and likely won't make a decision until next year. After that, the Supreme Court could take up the case, possibly pushing a final decision to 2018.
A Supreme Court nominee by Clinton or Trump could be the deciding vote on the case. Before Justice Antonin Scalia's death, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to halt the rule, suggesting the remaining judges on the bench might split on the matter. For more information on the legal challenges, click here.
In any case, power-sector carbon emissions will continue to decline, especially if natural gas prices stay low and renewable power technology costs continue to drop. Policies from many states, priorities from top corporations and some existing federal programs that Trump likely would not alter will further drive those reductions.
Stay tuned for more coverage today and tomorrow about how each candidate would handle energy and environment issues.
On Wednesday, the law firm Bracewell LLP will hold a postelection webinar on how the outcome of the race will affect the business community.
In case you missed it:
EPA sent its updated model carbon trading rules to the White House for review (E&ENews PM, Nov. 4).
The mining industry claims U.S. EPA exaggerated the amount of coal generation that would retire in the absence of the Clean Power Plan (Greenwire, Nov. 1).
Pennsylvania is still looking at carbon-cutting options (EnergyWire, Oct. 31).
Minnesota's compliance with the rule depends on neighbors (ClimateWire, Nov. 1).
New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte is touting her support for the rule in her race against Democratic challenger Gov. Maggie Hassan (Greenwire, Oct. 28).
http://www.eenews.net/interactive/clean_power_plan/column_posts/1060045336
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5 Yuge Ways Trump and Clinton Differ on Climate, Energy
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Evan Lehmann
The focus on bigotry and email secrecy in the presidential race is eclipsing distinct differences in the candidates' views on energy and climate change, two intertwined issues that affect everyone from families and the military to manufacturers and farmers.
On one hand, Republican Donald Trump is promising to alter the nation's course on greenhouse gas emissions by withdrawing from the global Paris Agreement and terminating the Clean Power Plan, which requires the electricity sector to cut emissions 32 percent in 13 years.
On the other, Democrat Hillary Clinton promises to exceed President Obama's commitment to cut carbon dioxide levels by up to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. The former secretary of State supports an ambitious acceleration of renewable energy, for which funding is likely dependent on an acrimonious Republican Congress.
In the following sections, E&E News looks at five key topics that helped shape the 2016 presidential race.
Climate science
Clinton almost always tells her crowds that climate change is "real." That might seem overly obvious to Washington wonks and too modest for professional environmentalists. But there's a reason for it. It's simple and safe. Voters like the idea of tackling global warming more than the plans to actually do it.
There's polling on that. Voters also like candidates who say it's real more than candidates who say it isn't.
"This is happening, this is a problem, and I see the federal government's role in addressing it," is how Jon Krosnick, a political science professor at Stanford University, describes a likable message.
Enter Trump.
He's rejected the science and even cussed it out. That might be attractive to his ardent supporters, but some Republican strategists worry that it puts a target on the Republican Party.
"So Obama's talking about all of this with the global warming and the — a lot of it's a hoax, it's a hoax," Trump said at a rally in December. "I mean, it's a moneymaking industry, OK? It's a hoax, a lot of it."
Sure enough, Clinton and her team constantly hit Trump for being a "denier." That can expose the candidate, and his party, to more harmful interpretations about his grasp on science. Vice President Joe Biden said last week that the GOP doesn't believe in gravity.
Trump has other concerns about science. He told a crowd in South Carolina that the Earth's ozone layer isn't threatened by aerosols — as long as you're inside when you use hair spray.
"But it's sealed, it's beautiful," Trump said of his New York City apartment. "I don't think anything gets out. And I'm not supposed to be using hair spray. But think of it."
Renewable energy
Clinton is staking her climate credentials on clean energy.
She passed on bigger and more efficient policies, like a carbon tax, and settled on an aggressive renewable goal of installing a half-billion solar panels within 10 years. She also promises to boost renewable energy generation tenfold on public lands and waters.
Altogether, the campaign says, renewables will provide 33 percent of the nation's electricity by 2027. That's enough to power every home. The United States is already on track to make about 25 percent of its power from clean sources by that time, if the Clean Power Plan survives legal challenges.
The pathway to Clinton's goal is treacherous. She depends on a $60 billion Clean Energy Challenge to reward states for exceeding their requirements under the Clean Power Plan. That relies on two things: funding from an inhospitable Congress and the survival of the Clean Power Plan.
Andrew Wheeler, a Republican energy strategist, says the plan is high on aspiration and low on details.
"It's more of a sound bite than a policy," he said.
Trump, meanwhile, calls himself an environmentalist who supports an "everything" energy strategy. But he has repeatedly called solar and wind too expensive, unsightly and damaging to birds (ClimateWire, Oct. 27).
"Unfortunately, it's not working on large scale. It's just not working," Trump said last month. "Solar is very, very expensive. Wind is very, very expensive, and it only works when it's windy."
He added: "And it kills all the birds. I don't know if you know that. ... Thousands of birds are lying on the ground. And the eagle. You know, certain parts of California — they've killed so many eagles. You know, they put you in jail if you kill an eagle. And yet these windmills [kill] them by the hundreds."
Renewable advocates disagree with Trump on price. They say cost trends of wind and solar are improving. On birds, Trump hits a nerve. Some conservationists flinch at the idea of a feathered friend being hit by a massive turbine blade. And thousands do die every year. But he exaggerates his point about eagles.
About 100 die annually.
Carbon pricing
Trump seemed eager to use this against Clinton, but he rolled it out just once.
The business tycoon accused his opponent of supporting "a price on carbon," pointing to a section in the Democratic platform that was included to appease supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) (ClimateWire, Sept. 23).
"That's just political-speak for a massive new tax on coal and shale production, a tax on American consumers, and very unfair to our country," Trump said recently in Pittsburgh.
Turns out Trump wasn't that far off.
Clinton supported a cap-and-trade program when seeking the Democratic nomination in 2008, and hacked emails released by WikiLeaks suggest she considered campaigning on a greenhouse gas "fee" this time around.
That would have cut deeper into the nation's emissions, made her stand out against Obama's looming climate profile, and attracted withering attacks from Republicans. In the end, she went with an easier, and more modest, approach based on renewable energy.
John Podesta, her campaign chairman, summed up his team's polling on a carbon tax by saying it "sucks."
Clinton's tempered climate platform attracted criticism from her liberal base in the primary. But Paul Bledsoe, who worked on climate issues under President Bill Clinton, says it was the right choice.
"There's no point in advocating a politically risky policy that has no chance of being enacted once you become president," he said. "It doesn't make any sense. You end up painting a target on the back of a policy."
Adaptation
This took center stage when Hurricane Matthew crashed into the southeastern United States six weeks ago.
Clinton joined Al Gore, her husband's vice president, on a stage in Miami on Oct. 11 to drive climate change onto the news cycle. Their target was millennials, who account for 26 percent of Florida's registered voters.
"Now, some will say, 'You know, we've always had hurricanes. They've always been destructive,'" Clinton said. "And that's true. But Hurricane Matthew was likely more destructive because of climate change."
She warned of intensifying flooding and rapidly growing financial exposure from bigger storm surges and sea-level rise.
But there's always the risk of overemphasizing the role humans have on specific disasters. She and Gore both did that when they pointed to warmer ocean temperatures as a man-made influence on Matthew.
Scientists said it was actually caused by El Niño.
Trump hasn't talked openly about adaptation. But he might have referred to it coincidentally.
Recently, he has talked about canceling U.S. funding for the United Nations and applying it to build roads and invest in the Everglades. He seems to be referring to the United Nations' Green Climate Fund, which is a massive global adaptation program. Nations aspire to put 100 billion public and private dollars into that annually, but so far, the United States has provided about $500 million.
Even some Republican policy wonks say Trump has exaggerated the U.S. commitment to the fund.
"It's just not true," said one Republican energy adviser.
Still, Trump signaled support for protecting some environmentally rich places. That could have some adaptive features.
Coal
This is Trump's rallying call.
Throughout his campaign, he's promised to reopen shuttered coal mines in hard-hit places like West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Never mind that it's not going to happen. It crystallized his persona as a get-'er-done candidate and gave hope to financially suffering voters (ClimateWire, May 10).
And it came at just the right time: at the opening of the general election race, when he was desperately in need of unifying momentum.
"We're gonna put the miners back to work," Trump said in May. "We're gonna put the miners back to work. We're gonna get those mines open."
Trump also got some help from Clinton.
At a CNN town hall event in March, Clinton was explaining how she would put $30 billion into transition programs for people in the coal industry. The plan calls for investments in education and training, health services and housing, and carbon capture and sequestration.
Instead, she provided her opponents with one of the most harmful sound bites in the course of the election.
"I'm the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity — using clean, renewable energy as the key — into coal country, because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right?" Clinton said.
For a time, Trump repeated it as often as his promise to build a wall.
To some, it encapsulates the race's focus on optics over policy.
"She's trying to grapple with reality," said Bledsoe, the Clinton supporter. "He's indulging in wish fulfillment."
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/11/07/stories/1060045349
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WikiLeaks: Clinton Camp Flagged Potential Issues with 'Clean Energy Challenge'
Nov 7, 2016 | Politico Pro - Whiteboard
By Elana Schor
Hillary Clinton's advisers outlined political and financing pitfalls that could face her proposed $60 billion "Clean Energy Challenge" competition in a memo released by WikiLeaks today.
Three of Clinton's chief energy advisers, Trevor Houser, Pete Ogden and Ben Kobren, wrote the memo in March 2015, weeks before she formally pitched the competition, which is designed to encourage states and localities to go beyond the emissions-reductions targets in the Obama administration's EPA power-plant regulations. But the trio warned that Clinton could face blowback if participating states decide to use the program to replace coal-fired generation with natural gas-fired power.
"This would create political challenges within the environmental community if the government is seen as subsidizing fracking," Houser, Ogden, and Kobren wrote. They suggested strengthening current "air and water safeguards" on oil and gas development as a way to mitigate any political downside.
The trio also underscored Clinton's future difficulty finding a way to pay for the challenge by identifying a handful of pathways to raise money — one of which, a "defined, multi-year" winding down of tax credits for wind and solar power, became law in a different format as part of December's government funding package.
Among the other options to pay for the competition, Clinton's aides wrote, are a repeal of oil and gas industry tax benefits that has previously failed in Congress and an increase in royalties from fossil-fuel extraction on public lands. That mechanism, they warned in the memo, "would likely raise relatively limited revenue."
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard
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Overcoming Initial Hesitation, EPA Floats Final ESPS Model Trading Rules
Nov 7, 2016 | Inside EPA
By Abby Smith
EPA has sent the draft final version of the model trading rules for its power plant greenhouse gas rule to the White House for interagency review, signaling the agency hopes to issue the rules before the end of the administration and is confident such an action is consistent with a high court stay on the underlying rule.
The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) received the model trading rules Nov. 3, meaning the final version of the rules could be released as soon as early next year -- as OMB reviews typically take 90 days.
The move from EPA comes after initial hedging from top agency officials on whether it would move to finalize the trading rules while the broader power plant existing source performance standards (ESPS) rule is stayed by the Supreme Court pending resolution of legal challenges.
“At this point we still have not made a decision given the pendency of the stay [about] what our next step is going to be -- whether we're going to move from proposal to final rule, or whether we're going to devise some other less formal instrument to move the ball forward in terms of the issues that were raised [in comments on] the model trading rule,” EPA's Joe Goffman said in July.
However, EPA's move to finalize the model trading rules signals the agency overcame initial hesitations and is sufficiently confident the action will stand up to critics, who charge any action to develop rules related to the ESPS is in violation of the stay.
This includes EPA's work on the proposed Clean Energy Incentive Program. The agency released a supplemental design proposal for the incentive program in June, and took comment on that measure through Nov. 1.
The model trading rules, which EPA proposed alongside the final ESPS last year, serve to offer presumptively approvable trading options for states to incorporate in their own compliance plans. EPA proposed model rules for both the rate-based and mass-based compliance pathways.
In addition, the trading rules could offer further information on and help to clarify several outstanding issues related to compliance.
Emissions Leakage
One such issue, for example, is emissions leakage. EPA under the ESPS generally requires states that use mass-based compliance approaches to take steps to prevent leakage of emissions from existing plants to new facilities, particularly new natural gas plants that are not subject to the rule's requirements.
The agency's preferred method to address leakage is through an approach called the new source complement, by which a state would include new sources under a slightly higher emissions cap to account for the additional emissions.
But since EPA cannot require states under a federal plan to do so, it also proposed an alternative approach -- updating output-based allocation with allowance set-asides -- which many analysts and environmentalists have charged is ineffective.
That alternative approach also drew significant opposition from agency critics, with commenters charging that EPA's approach is unlawful and the output-based set-asides are unnecessary and create a burdensome compliance process.
“We got plenty of comment on that,” Goffman told a July conference. “We have been the beneficiaries of a lot of analysis and information from the public sector and private sector parties, and clearly we will make some decisions at some point about how to respond to those in the wake of the proposal that was issued last summer and the already-existing and complete comment record that we've got from January.”
Should the final model trading rules complete review early next year, it is likely their release could coincide with a court ruling on the fate of the broader ESPS from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The full D.C. Circuit court heard oral arguments in the case Sept. 27, and observers expect a decision early next year.
http://insideepa.com/daily-news/overcoming-initial-hesitation-epa-floats-final-esps-model-trading-rules
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New EPA Methane Rules Spell Disaster for American Economy
Nov 7, 2016 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Jeff Stier
More than a dozen states have now filed lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency over its new regulations on methane emissions.
Court rulings against the Obama administration will likely start rolling in soon. The regulations are based on dubious data and driven more by politics than science. They would devastate the economy and the environment.
We simply can't let a federal power play bring the American energy revolution to a halt.
Last year, the EPA reported that, since 2005, net methane emissions from natural gas infrastructure had fallen 38 percent, while total methane emissions from natural gas had dropped 11 percent.
This year, however, the EPA claims methane emissions from the oil and gas industry are one-third higher than previously thought. And that overall methane emissions from natural gas have dropped only 0.68 percent since 2005. That's quite a turnaround. What happened?
The agency says it now has better data to determine methane emissions, but this new methane methodology is highly suspect, not only because of the administration's political objective here, but because of the methodology.
The latest figures are based on older sources developed in the 1990s, and much of the EPA's "new data" is extrapolated from some of the largest methane emitters, which inflates the current measurements.
The EPA is now using the cooked-up data to justify imposing much tighter limits on methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure -- at a hefty price. According to the EPA itself, the regulations will cost $530 million by 2025.
Other studies have found that the annual price tag to comply with these regulations could hit $800 million. National Economic Research Associates has concluded that, by 2020, the regulations could be three times more expensive than the EPA projects.
These costs would will undoubtedly be passed on to consumers in the form of higher energy bills and more expensive consumer products -- depleting the serious energy savings consumers recently have been enjoying along the way. Surging domestic energy production boosted the disposable income of the average American household by $1,337 last year, and saved consumers an average of $550 at the gas pump.
What's more, the new rules are sure to hamstring one of the American economy's precious few sources of job growth: natural gas. Between 2005 and 2012, the U.S. lost over 378,000 jobs across all sectors. During the same period, energy production created more than 293,000 jobs.
Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," and horizontal drilling, which produce most of America's natural gas, support 2.1 million jobs -- a figure expected to nearly double by 2025. The new methane standards would crush job growth by impeding new oil and gas projects.
Ironically, the new methane rules will hurt the environment. As of last year, natural gas-fired power plants tied coal-powered plants as America's biggest sources of electricity production.
Because gas-fired energy plants produce 50 percent less carbon dioxide than coal plants, natural gas infrastructure growth has played a key role in reducing carbon emissions.
The oil and gas industry has been very effective at reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The industry has invested $90 billion in zero or low-carbon energy technologies since 2000 -- almost as much as the federal government has spent on clean energy.
Finally, it's worth asking where exactly the EPA's legal authority to exert such tremendous control over the economy comes from. Congress has passed no law requiring the EPA to clamp down on methane emissions.
"This is yet another example of unlawful federal overreach," noted West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. "The rules are a solution in search of a problem and ignore the industry's success in voluntarily reducing methane emissions from these sources to a 30-year low."
Unaccountable federal bureaucrats shouldn't be allowed to raise energy prices or kill American jobs, period. Especially not when their agenda is political, not scientific.
Jeff Stier is a Senior Fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C., and heads its Risk Analysis Division.
https://origin-nyi.thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/304358-new-epa-methane-rules-spell-disaster-for-american-economy
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In Legal Settlement, Tribe to Lead Fracking Oversight
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
An American Indian tribe in Colorado will be the primary overseer of hydraulic fracturing on its lands, according to a settlement reached with the federal government Friday.
The Southern Ute Tribe sued the Obama administration over its fracking rule last year, arguing that it violated tribal sovereignty by improperly lumping in tribal lands with public lands for new requirements that address well construction, wastewater management and chemical disclosure for fracked wells.
But while separate, high-profile litigation over the rule has been moving through federal courts and left the rule's fate uncertain, the Southern Utes have quietly engaged in negotiations with the administration for more than a year.
The outcome: a settlement that gives the Southern Utes a leading role in fracking oversight on its land but does not answer the fundamental question of whether the Bureau of Land Management had authority to apply the rule to tribal lands in the first place.
"The Tribe's position has been that its rules supersede the BLM's rule and apply without the BLM's approval," BLM, the Justice Department and the tribe said in a joint announcement last week. "Without resolving that issue, the settlement agreement recognizes that the Southern Ute's revised regulations meet or exceed the objectives of the BLM's rule, and govern hydraulic fracturing operations on Southern Ute lands."
The settlement invokes a variance provision from the fracking rule that allows state or tribal rules to apply when they are more stringent than the federal requirements. The Southern Utes updated their tribal oil and gas regulations after BLM's rule was unveiled last year.
"Once we had the chance to sit across the table from each other in meaningful discussion, we recognized that we shared many of the same goals, including the exercise of sovereignty by the Tribe over Southern Ute lands," tribal Chairman Clement Frost said in a statement. "We are glad that we have resolved this dispute in a government-to-government manner."
The tribe and BLM developed a memorandum of agreement that outlines how the two jurisdictions will cooperate to administer the vast oil and gas resources around the tribe's land in southwestern Colorado.
Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Janice Schneider and DOJ Environment and Natural Resources Division chief John Cruden touted the settlement as a reflection of greater collaboration between tribes and the federal government.
"This agreement is a positive step forward in the cooperative management of oil and gas resources on tribal lands, one which recognizes the Southern Ute Tribe's capacity to regulate hydraulic fracturing as an exercise of sovereignty," Cruden said in a statement.
The two sides will now submit the settlement to the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
Separate litigation
It's unclear whether the settlement will have any effect on the separate, ongoing legal struggle between the federal government and industry groups, several states and the Ute Indian Tribe of Utah.
Those challengers won their case at a federal district court earlier this year, and the fracking rule was thrown out. That decision is now on appeal at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (EnergyWire, June 22).
Though the Utes are a sister tribe to the Southern Utes, their approach to litigation over the rule has been vastly different. Leaders of the Utah tribe have said they have no interest in a settlement with BLM because they want to resolve the broader legal question of whether BLM can establish fracking regulations for tribal lands (EnergyWire, July 11).
"The Tribe would not criticize what the Southern Utes are doing — good for them if they have reached a settlement which works for them," Ute attorney Jeffrey Rasmussen said in an email. "But as relates to the Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservations, it would not be a model."
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/11/07/stories/1060045334
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Pipeline Restarts After Alabama Explosion
Nov 7, 2016 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
A pipeline that exploded in Alabama last week, killing a worker, has reopened.
Colonial Pipeline Company announced it restarted its Line 1 pipeline on Sunday, after repairing the segment in Shelby County, Ala. that caught fire and exploded on Oct. 31.
The company said it would take several days for the pipeline to deliver fuel at its pre-explosion levels. Fuel in the pipeline — which delivers refined oil from Houston to various points in the eastern United States — will reach its end point in New Jersey by Wednesday, the company estimates.
The pipeline explosion killed one contracted worker at the site, and sent nine others to the hospital. As of Saturday, the company said, four of those workers were still recovering from their injuries.
The company said it has taken water and sediment samples near were the blast site, and they “have shown no impact from the event.”
Last week’s blast raised concerns among Democrats on Capitol Hill, who said the explosion — paired with other issues within Colonial Pipeline’s system — requires a federal Department of Transportation investigation.
Colonial has said it’s cooperating with probes into the incident.
http://www.thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/304689-pipeline-restarts-after-alabama-explosion
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Ala. Line Restarts, 6 Days After Fatal Explosion
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Energywire
By Mike Soraghan
Colonial Pipeline Co. officials announced yesterday that they have restarted their damaged line, clearing the way for fuel deliveries to begin on the Eastern Seaboard.
"Subsequent to today's successful restart, it is expected to take several days for the fuel delivery supply chain to return to normal," the company said in a statement.
The explosion last Monday in Shelby County, Ala., killed one worker and injured several others. The company said the explosion was related to a leak on the same pipeline in September (Greenwire, Nov. 4).
The blast has raised concerns about aging oil and gas infrastructure across the United States. About 40 percent of all gasoline supplied to the Eastern Seaboard runs through the pipe.
The explosion was the most serious in a long line of mishaps on the pipeline, which was put in service in 1963. The pipeline has had 183 reports of problems since 2005, according to federal records.
But at least until a spill on the major fuels artery in September, none was deemed serious by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and none involved injuries or fatalities. Company officials said most of the incidents occurred at facilities — with 10 percent occurring along the pipeline right of way (EnergyWire, Nov. 3).
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2016/11/07/stories/1060045342
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Ala. Explosion Triggers Federal Review
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Hannah Northey
A pipeline explosion in Alabama last week that killed one person and seriously injured four others is now under federal investigation and fueling concerns about accidents in other parts of the country.
The National Transportation Safety Board last week opened an investigation into an explosion along the Colonial pipeline in Shelby County, Ala., which the operator said was related to a leak on the same pipeline in September (Greenwire, Nov. 4).
A team of five federal investigators arrived at the accident site Thursday and are expected to be on site for several days conducting interviews, documenting the site and surrounding area, and collecting physical evidence, according to a news release. NTSB is also coordinating closely with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
After the accident, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) urged Norman Bay, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to halt permitting of a separate natural gas pipeline in his home state.
Lynch cited PHMSA statistics showing more than 220 pipeline incidents this year and urged FERC to delay permitting and construction of gas pipelines in Weymouth and West Roxbury, Mass., until the federal investigation is complete and all safety measures have been adopted.
Lynch argued that FERC is reviewing the Algonquin Incremental Market pipeline project, which would intersect more populated areas, as well as an active quarry blast zone. Yet another proposed gas pipeline would run through a neighborhood within a half-mile of almost 1,000 households, he said.
An accident on par with what occurred in Alabama, he said, would have been "exponentially worse had it occurred in a densely populated urban or suburban neighborhood."
FERC did not provide a comment when asked about the letter. The agency has a policy of responding directly to members of Congress, according to a spokeswoman for FERC.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/11/07/stories/1060045382
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Railroads Provide Survival Lessons for Struggling Energy Companies
Nov 4, 2016 | Fuel Fix - Blog
By Ryan Handy
As some energy companies lose their grip on monopolies and can no longer rely on customers to help finance their survival, one Columbia University researcher says they could learn from the near-disappearance and resurgence of another historic American monopoly: railroads.
A.J. Goulding, president of the consulting firm London Economics International, thinks that American utility companies need to brace themselves for the end of dominant energy providers and a world where customers have more choices when it comes to energy and how much they pay for it. In short, Goulding, who favors a free-market approach to utilities, thinks Texas offers a glimpse of the future, with some big adjustments.
“Where we are today is trying to figure out how do we continue to have a viable electric utility sector in a more dynamic environment,” said Goulding, whose report was published by Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “Most utility executives have never lived in a world where they could not raise prices. What’s clearly happening is the electric utility industry, like telecommunications, like railroads, is no longer a natural monopoly.”
Railroads were once faced with the same dilemma. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, railway monopoly was killing them. Trains across the country had been allowed to decay. Big rail companies were going bankrupt and others were shrinking. Goulding thinks the industry’s rates had been too heavily regulated and, as a result, some rail companies could no longer make money. Then, a few things happened: rail companies began to consolidate, they abandoned passenger services and the federal government stepped in to save a collection of bankrupt northeastern railway companies.
The result, Goulding says, was a new industry that a focused on what it did best: transporting.
Just as new technology took over the rail and telecommunications industry, new technology will transform how Americans get their power. There was a time when utilities could simply raise their rates to get the money they need to finance acquiring new power plants, Goulding said. Today, that is harder to do–particularly when customers have more options, including going off-grid, to chose from.
“When individual customers also have the ability to leave the system, it will require the executives to rethink their approach to the business,” he said.
That means utilities will have to relinquish monopolies and learn to operate in a competitive market with falling prices. Even Texas’ model is still has work to do, Goulding thinks, since energy transmission for much of the state is still managed by monopolies.
The bottom line, though: railroads didn’t go away and utilities won’t either. Instead, Goulding’s report says they will just have to become more basic.
“In many ways, railroad survival relied on them remaining boring.” he wrote. “No matter how exciting the idea is of running a fleet of electric vehicles— or exploring large-scale storage or pursuing a host of other technological innovations—utilities are primarily good at just one thing: moving large volumes of electricity over long distances. Focusing on this business—and building on it—is what will assure the long-term viability of existing utilities.”
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/11/04/railroads-provide-survival-lessons-for-struggling-energy-companies/
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Why the Marrakech Climate Talks Matter
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Climatewire
By Jean Chemnick
A U.N. climate gathering that kicks off today in Marrakech, Morocco, isn't drawing a fraction of the attention the world paid to last year's Paris climate talks.
But global diplomats insist that while the crowds may be smaller and the event may attract fewer celebrities, the next two weeks of negotiations will be key to ensuring the Paris Agreement truly takes shape.
"Paris was a historic moment because it was a signing of an agreement after 20 years of negotiations," said Aziz Mekouar, Morocco's ambassador of multilateral negotiations, in a recent E&E News interview. "Marrakech will be historic because it will be the beginning of the implementation of the Paris Agreement. It's the entry into force of the Paris Agreement."
Secretary of State John Kerry will attend to mark the last U.N. climate meeting of the Obama administration. But while last year's summit outside the French capital drew more than 150 heads of state — including President Obama — and more than 50,000 participants, this year is markedly less frenetic. Organizers say fewer than 50 heads of state and 30,000 participants will attend.
The gathering in the former imperial city may not even produce a formal agreement named for it, U.S. Climate Envoy Jonathan Pershing said, though he noted that that would be unusual, because conference hosts generally want to put their stamp on a lasting document to commemorate their role.
Still, the agenda in Marrakech will be chock-full of tasks and initiatives, prompting one observer to call it a "smorgasbord" Conference of the Parties (COP) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change — a feast of miscellaneous, often unrelated pieces rather than one unified objective.
First order of business: Delay decisionmaking
The summit begins just days after the Paris Agreement's entry into force. Just 10 months after agreeing to the deal, a total of 97 countries responsible for nearly 70 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions formally became parties to the agreement, which sets the goal of keeping warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial levels.
But after the champagne comes the work.
"This is a moment to celebrate," wrote U.N. Climate Chief Patricia Espinosa and COP President Salaheddine Mezouar, the Moroccan foreign affairs minister, in a post on Climate Home. "It is also a moment to look ahead with sober assessment and renewed will over the task ahead."
One of the first tasks in Marrakech will be for negotiators to give themselves more time to finish their homework. Because the deal is coming online so much sooner than expected, its entry into force triggers more than 20 decisions the framers assumed would be ready in 2020.
"Well, parties aren't ready to adopt those decisions," noted Elliot Diringer, executive vice president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. "They haven't had enough time to negotiate them."
So the governing body for the Paris Agreement will open on Nov. 15 and then suspend, leaving decisions until a later date to give more countries a chance to join the deal. The current consensus is that a de-facto deadline of 2018 will be set when decisions will be made dealing with the agreement's mandatory transparency provisions, its five-year cycle for reviewing old pledges and offering new ones, and a host of other accounting and compliance issues.
Even with the two-year extension, Pershing said, "we're on a very rapid timetable."
"It will take a lot of that time," he said. "There's going to be a great deal of intense work that has to happen to deliver this."
U.S. to release long-term net-zero-emissions strategy
But while it isn't an inflection point in the process, Marrakech will be busy.
In addition to the formal negotiations, the summit will act as a backdrop for a host of new initiatives aimed at helping countries deliver on their climate goals, giving them access to resources that have already been committed and preparing them to make better use of those funds.
"There's a lot of money in the world, and the thing is to know exactly where it is and how to attract it," said Mekouar, "which is why capacity building is important."
Germany, Morocco, the World Resources Institute and others will roll out a massive new database to track funding sources and initiatives in an effort to help countries implement their targets.
Laurence Tubiana, France's climate ambassador, said helping countries turn their climate goals into investment plans would help deliver the objectives of Paris.
"If we delay the green investment in transport, in power, in human management, we lock many, many countries into high-carbon activities," she said. "It's really the decisions that will be taken in the next 10 years, which are really decisive for whatever chance we have to get below 2 degrees [Celsius] and not beyond that."
The Paris Agreement calls on countries to put forward plans for how they will contribute to a net-zero-emissions world in the second half of this country. The United States, Canada and Mexico plan to release their long-term strategies in the second week of the conference.
"It's very important to have governments consider seriously what does it take to get there, to have a national development economic pathway compatible with this objective," said Tubiana.
But the rich-country focus on making smarter use of existing resources rather than large-scale new commitments is unlikely to be universally popular.
Mekouar said he doesn't expect rich countries to bring new pledges of climate aid to Marrakech, but poor countries have demanded substantially more financial help to shore up their global warming defenses.
"All the momentum towards speedy ratification is great, but everything could come to a grinding halt if we don't make real progress on finance," Harjeet Singh of ActionAid said in an email.
When 'boring' is a good thing
Marrakech's sprawling agenda — it also will play host to events exploring global energy, agriculture, the role of private finance, ocean health and cities — makes it harder to evaluate the summit's success.
Organizers say it is important to preserve the "Paris spirit" — the shared responsibility that finally enabled a decision to be reached after decades of ups and downs.
"Anytime you have an agreement, there's the risk that parties will come back with very divergent interpretations of what was agreed," said Diringer. Good progress in Marrakech would mean that cooperation continues into the implementation phase.
Paul Bodnar, the former National Security Council climate change lead, said the fact that this year's conference is likely to be relatively "boring" is actually an achievement.
"One hope in the lead-up to Paris was that a global agreement would do for climate politics what the Montreal Protocol did for ozone politics — create a lasting framework that transitions the issue into implementation," said Bodnar, who is now a senior fellow at the Rocky Mountain Institute.
"The intensity of political mobilization around climate in the last few years — as a top three issue for world leaders in all their meetings — just isn't sustainable over the long term. So it's actually good that the Marrakech COP is getting down to brass tacks," he said.
But Bodnar added that political leaders would need to remain engaged enough to offer new, more ambitious targets in future years — something bureaucrats couldn't do on their own.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2016/11/07/stories/1060045345
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EPA Sends Haze Reg Changes to White House for Review
Nov 7, 2016 | E&E Greenwire
By Sean Reilly
Following a flood of public feedback, U.S. EPA has sent the final slate of proposed changes to its regional haze regulations to the White House Office of Management and Budget for a standard review.
OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs received the draft Saturday, according to the Reginfo.gov site.
Although EPA had once hoped to wrap up work on the package by last month, that schedule has apparently been slowed by the close scrutiny the proposed changes have received from both industry and conservation groups.
Dating to 1999 in its current form, the haze program is geared toward returning visibility at 156 large national parks and wildlife refuges — including such iconic settings as the Grand Canyon — to natural conditions by 2064.
Even under that expansive timetable, however, the program has been beset by contention and litigation.
In July, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals slapped a stay on EPA's plan that would require seven coal-fired plants in Texas to install or upgrade sulfur dioxide scrubbers. Legal proceedings in that case are now on hold while the state and federal regulators try to hammer out a settlement.
Late last month, Utah asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a similar freeze on a separate EPA plan imposing new nitrogen oxides controls on two coal-fired power plants owned by PacifiCorp (E&ENews PM, Oct. 28). The Oregon-based power producer has also requested a stay; the court has not yet ruled on those requests.
Under the initial draft of the proposed changes to the haze program, signed by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in April, states would get another three years — from 2018 to 2021 — to rework the next round of implementation plans with the goal of better meshing haze reduction work with implementation of the Clean Power Plan and other air quality initiatives (Greenwire, April 26).
EPA is also seeking to bring National Park Service employees and other federal lands managers into the consultation process earlier and to require states to address situations where park visibility is clouded by either a single pollution source or a small number of such sources.
Advocacy groups on both sides have found aspects to criticize. While environmental organizations applaud the idea of prodding states to crack down on individual pollution sources, they object to the proposed three-year delay for submission of state implementation plans.
That extension has the backing of the National Association of Manufacturers and other industry groups that question whether EPA is seeking to hold states responsible for "background" pollution outside their control.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (R) and seven other Republican attorneys general have also accused EPA of seeking to force a political agenda on states (Greenwire, Aug. 15).
The proposal received almost 188,000 comments, according to the Regulations.gov site, most of them resulting from petition drives and email campaigns led by the National Parks Conservation Association and other environmental groups.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2016/11/07/stories/1060045383
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