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PM ACC 12/31/2018
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Chemical from Brookhaven Lab May Have Spread to Residential Wells
Dec 31, 2018 | Newsday
By David M. Schwartz
Contamination from a firefighting foam has been found at Brookhaven National Laboratory, raising concerns from an advisory group that a soon-to-be-regulated chemical has spread off-site to private residential wells. -
Hudson Valley Year In Review 2018 Part Two
Dec 31, 2018 | WAMC Northeast Public Radio
By Allison Dunne
A controversial, heated campaign in New York’s 19th congressional district was the talk of the town in 2018. And environmental sagas, including over Newburgh’s PFOS water contamination, continued. -
Miners Cut Back in Largest U.S. Coal Region
Dec 31, 2018 | Wall Street Journal
By Micah Maidenberg
Miners in the nation’s largest coal-producing region are leaving more of the fossil fuel in the ground as prices fall for alternatives, including natural gas, and demand erodes from power-generation customers. -
Opinion: Fracking Hub Could Harm Our Water
Dec 31, 2018 | Cincinnati.com
By Kelsey Stratman
This November, while most of us were focused on election results, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a report to Congress on "the feasibility of establishing an ethane storage and distribution hub in the United States." -
EPA Says Air Permit Policy Shift Not National Rule Subject To Judicial Review
Dec 31, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
EPA is fighting environmentalists' claim that a landmark decision on a Utah coal-fired power plant's Clean Air Act permit represents a broader unlawful reversal of the agency's policy on issuing “Title V” permits... -
2018: A Year of Stalled Progress and Unprecedented Ambition on Climate
Dec 31, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Daniel Cohan
In tangible terms, 2018 marked a setback for American efforts to combat climate change. Carbon dioxide emissions rebounded by 3 percent after three straight years of declines.
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Chemical from Brookhaven Lab May Have Spread to Residential Wells
Dec 31, 2018 | Newsday
By David M. Schwartz
Contamination from a firefighting foam has been found at Brookhaven National Laboratory, raising concerns from an advisory group that a soon-to-be-regulated chemical has spread off-site to private residential wells.
The lab's community advisory council urged BNL to test 97 properties in East Yaphank south of the lab for per- and polyfuoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of artificially made chemicals that includes perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS). The chemical, which was in firefighting foams used at the lab from the 1960s until 2008, is expected to be regulated next year by New York State, officials said.
In a Nov. 8 letter, the council wrote that it "is concerned about members of the public utilizing private wells that live south of the Laboratory and may be adversely impacted by PFAS contamination," according to the letter from the 26-member advisory council, made up of civic board representatives, scientists and environmentalists, to lab director Doon Gibbs. "The members of the CAC [community advisory council] are hopeful that the practice of prioritizing public health, environmental and groundwater protection will continue and that BNL will test all private wells contained in the 97 additional properties."
Brookhaven National Lab officials said last week they had not decided whether to test the wells outside the lab, south of the Long Island Expressway, and was working with local, state and federal regulators. BNL is a research institution funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy, with almost 3,000 employees and 4,000 visiting researchers studying physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and applied science.
Brookhaven has continued to drill wells on the 5,265-acre lab grounds in Upton to see how far the contamination has spread. The chemical has been detected at the highest levels around its current and former fire stations, and in three of five drinking water supply wells.
"We recognize how important this issue is. We’re trying to move forward as quickly as we can, working with the regulators," Jason Remien, manager of the lab's environmental protection division, said Wednesday.
Officials from the state DEC and Department of Health said in a joint statement they were evaluating the need to test the wells "as part of their comprehensive investigation of contamination."
The Suffolk County Department of Health Services had requested private well testing for about 97 properties, in an area that stretches south from the lab to Sunrise Highway, according to a PowerPoint presentation given to the advisory council in October.
"It is the position of Suffolk County Department of Health Services that due to the detection of PFAS in groundwater on BNL property above the EPA health advisory level, the U.S. Department of Energy should pay for PFAS testing in private wells down-gradient of BNL," according to a statement from health department spokeswoman Grace Kelly-McGovern.
Private wells are not regularly tested or treated, and are generally shallower than those drilled by public water providers, meaning health officials fear they're more susceptible to pollution. The number of private wells on Long Island is unknown, though water officials estimate up to 40,000 homes are on private wells.
The group of chemicals at issue increasingly have become a concern among regulators and environmentalists. Health effects include liver damage, decreased fertility, developmental delays in fetuses and children, and is considered a possible carcinogen, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The detection of PFOS in groundwater prompted the state to add Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach and a Suffolk County fire-training center in Yaphank to the state Superfund list because of contaminated water supplies. The chemicals have shown up in private wells in nearby Wainscott, as well as in public wells in Hampton Bays.
A state panel this month recommended a drinking water standard of 10 parts per trillion for PFOS and a related chemical PFOA, used in manufacturing, which would be the most protective drinking water standards in the nation. The state health commissioner is expected to set a standard next year.
Historical photos included in the lab's presentation to the advisory group show firefighting foam spilling onto the ground during training exercises in 1966 and a demonstration of a fire suppression system in 1970.
Testing wells installed near the lab's current firehouse found levels of PFOA and PFOS up to 12,400 parts per trillion, and at 5,370 parts per trillion at the lab's former firehouse, according to a statement from lab spokesman Pete Genzer. Those two sites were believed to be the "primary locations" where firefighting foam was used during training.
The Suffolk Department of Health Services tested drinking water supply wells in 2017 as part of a national program to collect data on emerging contaminants of concern to the public. The detection at BNL previously had not been reported.
The contamination has been found at three of the five drinking water supply wells at BNL; two at levels of up to 27 parts per trillion, and one at up to 70.4 parts per trillion, though Remien said he believes there was a quality assurance problem with the highest sample, from June 2018. Other samples were below 70 parts per trillion, which is the current EPA health advisory level for PFOS.
One supply well is no longer used, and the lab is re-establishing carbon filtration on the other two wells, Genzer said in a statement. Tests of treated drinking water at the lab are less than 3 parts per trillion, he said.
Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment and a member of the CAC, said BNL shouldn't delay testing the private wells.
"To be a good neighbor, they should just test the wells," she said. "It is an ethical obligation of BNL to test their neighbors' wells for contamination they may have caused."
Legis. Al Krupski (D-Copiague), whose district includes the lab, said he believes BNL is evaluating other potential sources of contamination.
"I think they have to do their due diligence, and I have confidence they will. They have addressed environmental concerns in the past," he said.
Raymond Keenan, representative for Affiliated Brookhaven Civic Organizations, said, "I don’t have a feeling they’re sitting on this, but it’s a bureaucracy. They have to go through their motions."
Mike Giacomaro, president of the East Yaphank Civic Association, said most of the homes in the area have been offered hookups to public water supplied by the Suffolk County Water Authority because of pollution passed from BNL, including tritium in the groundwater.
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/broohaven-lab-contamination-1.25118134
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Hudson Valley Year In Review 2018 Part Two
Dec 31, 2018 | WAMC Northeast Public Radio
By Allison Dunne
A controversial, heated campaign in New York’s 19th congressional district was the talk of the town in 2018. And environmental sagas, including over Newburgh’s PFOS water contamination, continued. But there was plenty else grabbing attention in the region. WAMC’s Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Allison Dunne looks back.
In July, a number of environmental and civic groups sent a letter urging the New York State Department of Health and the Drinking Water Quality Council to establish so-called maximum contaminant levels, or MCLs for three chemicals, including PFOA and PFOS. A council meeting in October came and went without recommendations, though with a plan to deliver them by the end of the year.
December 19, the council voted to recommend an MCL of 10 parts per trillion for PFOA as well as for PFOS, emerging contaminants found in Hoosick Falls and Newburgh, respectively. The council also voted to recommend an MCL of 1 part per billion for 1,4-Dioxane. Liz Moran is environmental policy director with the New York Public Interest Research Group.
“So while I have to recognize that this is a national standard that is being set today by New York state, we have to make sure and go forth in good faith to lower these levels down the road,” Moran said.
In August, Newburgh officials followed through with their notice of intent sue from earlier in the year and filed suit against a number of parties concerning PFOS contamination found in the city’s water supply — Washington Lake – in 2015. Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey:
“We want to hold people accountable for what has happened to the city residents of Newburgh,” said Harvey.
Turning to politics, the race in New York’s swing 19th congressional district saw Republicans targeting the short-lived rap career of Democrat Antonio Delgado, igniting headlines accusing the GOP and its freshman incumbent John Faso of racism. Attack ads calling out the rap lyrics spread across the airwaves and one local station, Radio Woodstock WDST, pulled advertisements from the National Republican Congressional Committee that attacked Delgado.
On September 7, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the opening of the eastbound span of the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, the replacement Tappan Zee. Cuomo aimed some of his remarks at President Donald Trump.
“Mr. President, stop your quest to build a wall and start building bridges,” Cuomo said.
But there was a setback just hours after the ceremony, when a piece of the remaining Tappan Zee Bridge structure was in danger of falling and impacting the second span of the new bridge. The bridge’s second span opened few days later, but not before it became fodder for Cuomo’s opponents in the campaign for governor.
Also in September, Marist College and Health Quest announced they were partnering to create The Marist Health Quest School of Medicine, at the Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie.
Hudson Valley residents Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham law professor and 2016 19th District congressional candidate, along with 18th District Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney lost the Democratic primary for state attorney general. Maloney returned to campaign for his House seat. Republican candidate James O’Donnell repeatedly criticized Maloney for running in September’s primary for AG. Regardless, Maloney handily won re-election.
In October, former Vice President Joe Biden visited Kingston to stump for Delgado in the 19th. It was part of Biden’s effort to turn out votes for Democratic candidates across the country.
“This is about the character of the nation,” Biden said.
Meantime, polls were showing the race between Delgado and Faso was neck and neck. On November 6, voters elected Delgado among a number of Democrats who will take control of the House.
“This is a new day for New York 19,” said Delgado.
One week later, senior level officials from the Department of Defense were in Newburgh, where they held their first public forum on PFOS water contamination since the crisis took hold in 2015. Robert McMahon is assistant secretary of defense for sustainment. He’d been on the job three weeks before touching down in Newburgh to listen to the community’s concerns.
“Many of the questions that we heard today we expected to hear. The concern and the frustration we expected to hear,” McMahon said.
And in mid-December came word that DoD had committed to implementing an interim, remedial measure at a major source of PFOS contamination — outfalls at Stewart Air National Guard Base, at Recreation Pond.
Also in December, the state Department of Environmental Conservation released a study indicating that General Electric’s Hudson River PCB cleanup should not be deemed complete by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Outgoing DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos:
“This job’s not done and there’s more contamination than we all would have expected when we embarked upon this many years ago,” Seggos said.
GE spokesman Mark Behan:
“Dredging clearly is working, and the data demonstrate that,” Behan said.
A spokeswoman says EPA will render a decision in early 2019.
https://www.wamc.org/post/hudson-valley-year-review-2018-part-two
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Miners Cut Back in Largest U.S. Coal Region
Dec 31, 2018 | Wall Street Journal
By Micah Maidenberg
Miners in the nation’s largest coal-producing region are leaving more of the fossil fuel in the ground as prices fall for alternatives, including natural gas, and demand erodes from power-generation customers.
Coal production from the Powder River Basin, an arid region spread over parts of Wyoming and Montana that produces about 40% of all U.S. coal, has declined by one-third between 2008 and 2017. It is expected to continue to drop in 2019. That has prompted many mining companies in the region to cut staff or benefits, reduce their exposure to the basin or leave it entirely.
“We’ve seen in the last few years, especially with the amount of gas coming online and fuel switching, that’s biting into our customer base,” said Travis Deti, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association. “That remains a concern for the future.”
The Powder River Basin is expected to produce 338 million tons of coal in 2018, but that total is projected to fall to 329 million tons in 2019, according to a December report from Seaport Global analyst Mark Levin. Coal analyst John Hanou, of Hanou Energy Consulting LLC, expects a weaker performance and is predicting Powder River Basin production will drop to 315 million tons in 2019.
The drop in demand is expected despite the Trump administration’s efforts to boost the coal industry by easing regulations. President Trump had made assisting miners a centerpiece of his 2016 presidential campaign, and this past August declared the industry was back.
Companies in 2017 extracted about 334 million tons of coal in the basin, where excavators scrape coal from rich seams in walls of earth. That was the second-lowest level in about two decades, though up from 314 million tons in 2016, according to federal data.
Cloud Peak Energy Inc., the third-largest producer in the basin, said in November it is considering a sale as a result of declines in the coal market. Cost-saving moves for Cloud Peak, formed nearly a decade ago after being spun off from miner Rio Tinto PLC, have included ending a medical plan for retirees and seeking a buyer for its former main office in Gillette, Wyo. Shares in Cloud Peak, which are trading around 40 cents each, have plunged more than 90% in 2018.
In 2017, Contura Energy Inc. exited the region, selling two mines to Blackjewel LLC, a closely held venture led by a Virginia-based mining executive.
Peabody Energy Corp. , the region’s largest miner, has sought to relinquish Powder River Basin acreage, a move that moderates its exposure to the market for thermal coal, used in power plants. It recently bought a mine in Alabama that offers metallurgical coal, a type used in steelmaking.
The region remains a core area for Peabody, as it offers coal that is among the most competitive with natural gas, a spokesman for the company said. But the miner has focused the vast majority of its investments on seaborne metallurgical-coal resources, he said. The spokesman described the relinquishment as trivial.
The basin’s weakened status reflects the success of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which uses a mixture of sand, water and chemicals to fracture underground rock formations and release the oil and gas trapped inside. Fracking has opened up new supplies of cleaner-burning natural gas and helped push prices lower. Utility operators, which are among the industry’s largest customers, are increasingly opting to fire up plants with lower carbon-emitting sources of energy than coal.
Between 2007 and 2017, the number of coal-fired generators in the U.S. fell 36% to 941, according to the Energy Information Administration. The decline removed about 55 gigawatts of coal-generated power from the U.S. market, roughly enough electricity to power 46 million homes annually.
New natural-gas-fired power plants are expected to help offset the decline in coal-fired electric-generating capacity.
“I don’t think any utility in North America is going to consider building coal as a new venture,” said Todd Williams, a partner at energy consulting firm ScottMadden.
Powder River Basin mines face another challenge: Although they are highly productive and cost less than rivals to operate, geography prevents the coal from being transported economically to port terminals on the Eastern Seaboard for export. Also, shipping the coal to the Gulf Coast isn’t as efficient as sending it out from facilities in California, according to analysts and the National Coal Coalition. U.S. producers with thermal mines closer to eastern and southern ports, such as Arch Coal Inc., have been able to lift results by selling coal abroad.
There is also limited port capacity to send thermal coal abroad from the West Coast in the U.S. and Canada, and proposals for new export terminals in Longview, Wash., and Oakland, Calif., have faced political opposition and legal challenges.
In the short term, rising prices for natural gas could make coal from the Powder River Basin more competitive. Thermal-coal stockpiles at utilities have also fallen, generating a potential buying cycle, and analysts expect fewer coal-powered facilities to close in 2019 than in 2018.
“Nothing has hit us as hard as the last few years, just with the closing of the power plants,” said Stacey Moeller, a 59-year-old shovel operator for Peabody currently on short-term leave from the company.
Younger co-workers need to think about alternative plans, she said. “It’s a great job, but if you don’t have a market for your production, you’re not going to last.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/miners-cut-back-in-largest-u-s-coal-region-11546264800
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Opinion: Fracking Hub Could Harm Our Water
Dec 31, 2018 | Cincinnati.com
By Kelsey Stratman
This November, while most of us were focused on election results, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a report to Congress on "the feasibility of establishing an ethane storage and distribution hub in the United States." The proposed "hub," referred to by its acronym ASTH, would include "hundreds of miles of pipelines, fracked gas processing facilities, and underground storage of petrochemicals and fracked gas liquids… [stretching] along the Ohio-West Virginia border from Pennsylvania to Kentucky along the Ohio River." The report has been accepted, and Congress has given the go-ahead to begin work on this massive infrastructure project.
Why should Cincinnatians care about this? The Ohio River, which constitutes one of the "spokes" of the proposed hub, provides the region with 88 percent of its drinking water. Fracking produces massive quantities of radioactive waste water which may well make its way into our river. And legal protections that have prevented companies from dumping waste into the river for over four decades have recently been repealed.
That means Cincinnati drinking water may soon be subject to pollutants leftover from natural gas extraction.Buy Photo
Other people have reported on the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission's (ORSANCO) decreasing standards for Ohio River water quality. The Ohio River is a notoriously polluted body of water, and has been for a long time. But the Appalachian Storage and Trading Hub poses a new threat in its scale.
But wait! You say, "What about the jobs, the potential economic benefit to the region?"
Well, there’s not a lot of data on what jobs would be created from this. While the ASTH’s backers boast that over 100,000 jobs will be created, other sources claim that number is closer to 1,000. Regardless, with more and more heavy industrial jobs being automated, this number is likely to decrease – not increase – over the years.
Even if the numbers weren’t questionable, the jobs created by this plan, which would drastically and irreversibly change the landscape of hundreds of miles of the Ohio River, have a shelf life of 54 years maximum – the projected amount of time we have until ethane runs out.
The report defines the term "hub" in its use to describe the storage and processing of petrochemicals, and provides a market analysis purporting economic benefits to the region. What it does not include is any analysis of the potential environmental impact. It also does not discuss the negative health effects of fracking, which can include respiratory problems in adults and developmental problems for infants among other concerns.
Those who stand to benefit from ASTH – Chinese investment corporations, oil companies and Parsons, the construction company recently chosen for development – likely know that this economic development will be short-lived. They likely know the environmental impact, and the impact on the health of those living in the region, will last forever.
But Cincinnatians don’t have a choice whether or not this will impact us. This is our drinking water at stake here.
It has been difficult to find much factual information on this, and what I have found paints a daunting picture. It seems there are multiple regulatory bodies at work here, including the EPAs and state legislatures of multiple states, including Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The current political climate does not lend itself to environmental protections. According to Dr. James O’Reilly, a University of Cincinnati professor who testified against the ASTH this summer, there is unfortunately not much Ohioans can legally do about the ASTH. West Virginia now has control over the section of the Ohio River on their border, and can now put whatever they want into it regardless of where the river flows.
There may not be much we can do to stop the ASTH from being created. What we can do, however, is spread the word that this is happening. We need to ensure that everyone in our community knows what our current government is allowing to happen to our ecosystem and is aware of the potential risks. We can’t let any spill or toxic water dump go unnoticed.
In addition to continuing to monitor the ASTH situation, we also must decide what is important to us as a community because the Ohio government has played a part in allowing this to happen. Do we care more about lining the pockets of oil giants, or protecting our environment? And will we continue to accept the extractive economic practices, which have repressed our Appalachian neighbors for centuries, indefinitely?
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2018/12/31/opinion-fracking-hub-could-harm-our-water/2342112002/
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EPA Says Air Permit Policy Shift Not National Rule Subject To Judicial Review
Dec 31, 2018 | Inside EPA
By Stuart Parker
EPA is fighting environmentalists' claim that a landmark decision on a Utah coal-fired power plant's Clean Air Act permit represents a broader unlawful reversal of the agency's policy on issuing “Title V” permits, arguing in a new legal brief that the Utah permit decision is not a “nationally applicable” rulemaking eligible for judicial review.
In the brief, filed Dec. 21 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, EPA says its decision on the preconstruction permit for Pacificorp's Hunter Power Plant in Utah applies only to that facility, and therefore applies only “locally or regionally” rather than nationally. The agency argues the correct venue for the suit is in the 10th Circuit that includes Utah, where environmentalists have a parallel case over the permit pending.
Environmentalists are challenging the permit and EPA's decision to reject their petition asking them to deny issuance of the permit. They claim the decision unlawfully reverses national air permitting policy by excluding consideration of underlying permit conditions in assessing the merits of Title V air permits.
But EPA argues the decision on Hunter was case-specific, saying “[t]he fact that EPA interpreted its regulations and the Act differently in this adjudication than in certain prior adjudications, and explained the reasons for its revised interpretation as a basis for denying Sierra Club’s petition on the Hunter permit, does not make EPA’s action nationally applicable. Nothing in EPA’s Order or explanation imposes legal obligations in future proceedings on States, sources, or on EPA itself,” the brief says, referring to the agency's order rejecting the petition.
In addition, when then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt made the Oct. 16, 2017, decision to uphold the permit he did not find it was a policy shift of “nationwide scope or effect” subject to D.C. Circuit review, the brief says. That court typically hears challenges to agency regulations that have national implications, whereas EPA is arguing that a single permit decision affecting one plant in Utah cannot have such an effect.
Even if the D.C. Circuit agrees with environmentalists that the permit decision does represent an agency policy shift with national impact, the agency says its decision should be upheld. In the event that “the Court reviews the Hunter Order, Sierra Club’s procedural challenge should be rejected. EPA’s explanation of its interpretation in the Hunter Order is not a legislative rule requiring notice-and-comment procedures.”
EPA says environmentalists should have pursued action against permitting decisions they disagreed with in state court. “Protection against incorrectly issued preconstruction permits is provided by Utah’s notice-and-comment process and the availability of judicial review in State court of Utah’s preconstruction permit decision.”
Permit Decision
The agency's decision changed its approach for reviewing petitions for objection to Title V permits, restricting the grounds for granting a petition to exclude the content of underlying air permits, or decisions over whether such underlying permits are required in the first place.
Title V permits are “umbrella” permits containing all permit terms applicable to a pollution source, including underlying permits such as “nonattainment” new source review (NSR) permits or the similar prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permits. Nonattainment NSR permits are required for new or modified major air pollution sources in areas violating national ambient air quality standards, while PSD applies in attainment areas.
Sierra Club’s 2016 petition sought an objection to the 2016 Title V permit because the group claims the state originally issued the plant a “minor source” air permit rather than the required major source PSD permit that would have mandated extensive review and possibly tougher pollution controls. The underlying PSD permit decision dates to 1997.
EPA’s refusal to consider whether the appropriate PSD permit is included in the Title V document constitutes a shift from Obama-era practice, when the agency did sometimes consider such issues.
But the agency in its brief says that Title V permit petitions cannot “serve as a vehicle for a collateral challenge to reevaluate and second-guess the substance of Utah’s” original PSD permit decision.
“EPA lawfully and reasonably declined to reexamine the substance of each incorporated preconstruction permit or other applicable requirements included in Hunter’s Title V permit renewal, except to ensure as the Act specifically requires that the permit included adequate monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting,” the agency says. Although this approach marks a departure from prior agency practice, “it represents a return to EPA’s original view of how Title V works,” consistent with the Clean Air Act and EPA regulations, the brief says.
https://insideepa.com/daily-news/navy-ig-pursuing-limited-investigation-shipyard-cleanup-contractor
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2018: A Year of Stalled Progress and Unprecedented Ambition on Climate
Dec 31, 2018 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Daniel Cohan
In tangible terms, 2018 marked a setback for American efforts to combat climate change. Carbon dioxide emissions rebounded by 3 percent after three straight years of declines. But in the realm of ideas, 2018 was a year when pioneers at the federal, state and corporate levels announced unprecedented ambitions for future goals, and technologies emerged to make those goals more attainable.
First, the bad news. Tariffs on photovoltaic panels, steel and aluminum, slowed the construction of new solar and wind farms. That left natural gas to pick up the slack from this year’s near-record retirements of coal power plants. A colder winter and hotter summer than 2017 drove up demand for natural gas heating and electricity. Meanwhile, oil use rose as Americans drove a record number of miles and bought record amounts of goods. Beyond this year’s uptick, Trump administration proposals to weaken efficiency standards for everything from vehicles to light bulbs to power plants could boost emissions for years to come.
Despite this uptick in emissions, proposals for future targets reached record ambition in 2018. Most notable at the federal level is the Green New Deal, brought to prominence when Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and young climate activists staged a sit-in in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office in November. They are demanding the creation of a new select committee in the House to craft legislation for a Green New Deal, and claim the backing of 43 members of Congress so far.
At this point, it’s unclear what such legislation would entail, but the level of ambition could be stunning. The first attempt to turn Green New Deal rhetoric into concrete policy targets came from Greg Carlock and Emily Mangan of the progressive group Data for Progress. Their report calls for 100 percent zero-emission vehicles by 2030, 100 percent clean electricity by 2035, and a carbon-free energy sector by 2050. As Carlock tells me, “It was meant to be a visionary document, to start the conversation that says what is needed in clean and renewable energy, and to say what does this actually mean, what do we actually need.”
The prospects for a Green New Deal passing in a Republican-led Senate and earning a President Trump signature are nil. But by pushing the boundaries of a progressive solution to climate change, a Green New Deal could make market-based solutions like a carbon tax more palatable to conservatives as a centrist alternative.
At the state level, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation in September for the his state to reach 100 percent clean electricity by 2045. That same week, he issued an executive order for the state to achieve carbon neutrality not just for electricity but economy-wide by that same year. While that order is non-binding, it sets a context for motivating future legislation. Also this year, the District of Columbia set a 100 percent renewable electricity mandate for 2035, and nine northeast states announced their intentions to jointly tackle transportation emissions.
Corporations announced stunning ambitions for cutting their own carbon emissions. Perhaps the most surprising announcement came from shipping giant Maersk, which is aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050 even though shipping is one of the most difficult sectors to control. Meanwhile, the number of major corporations pledging via RE100 to use 100 percent renewable electricity reached 158. Just this month, Xcel Energy became the first major U.S. utility to commit to generate only carbon-free electricity by 2050.
Technology breakthroughs announced this year could make ambitious targets a bit less daunting to achieve. Solar power, wind power, battery storage and electric vehiclesall continued to improve in performance and cost. In Texas, NET Power announced that it had reached a major milestone toward capturing emissions from natural gas. Scientists from Carbon Engineering reported that their technology for capturing carbon dioxide from the air could be less costly than previously thought. Further developments in carbon capture technology could be spurred by a little-noticed budget provision tucked into a February budget bill, which provides tax credits for sequestering carbon.
Where does all of this leave us for 2019 and beyond? In the short term, emissions will keep wobbling with the weather in the absence of aggressive climate policies, as coal plants close but vehicle travel grows. Longer term, what remains to be seen is whether future leaders in Congress, states and corporations can begin turning some of this year’s unprecedented ambitions into reality.
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/423282-2018-a-year-of-stalled-progress-and-unprecedented-ambition-on
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