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January 15, 2018
A growing number of oil and gas companies are beginning to integrate offshore wind energy development into their portfolios, including projects in the United States. Image courtesy of UK Department of Energy and Climate Change via flickr.com.
Governors and legislators of both parties have expressed criticism and dismay over the Trump administration's exemption of Florida from offshore oil drilling. Florida is the sole state to be exempted from the new policy, just four days after it was first announced. Critics cite the political nature of the January 9 move, given that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke flew to Florida afterward for a public appearance with presumptive Senate candidate and current Governor Rick Scott (R). In 2010, Scott expressed support for offshore drilling, but walked back that support after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. To gain the same drilling exemption, other states may turn to the Administrative Procedure Act, which prevents agencies from acting in an "arbitrary and capricious manner." Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said, "Virginia’s governor (and governor-elect) have made this same request [as Florida], but we have not received the same commitment." Twenty-two senators from 12 states, as well as the Republican governor of South Carolina, have also requested drilling exemptions.
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Politico, Reuters
A Treasury Department memo issued on January 8 indicated that the agency's Office of Environment and Energy would be eliminated and its work reassigned to the international development section. The Trump administration had previously renamed it the Office of Energy and Infrastructure. Secretary Henry Paulson had established the office to handle environmental finance issues in the Bush administration. The now defunct office represented the United States at board meetings for the Green Climate Fund and at the Group of 20 finance minister summits. The office also handled aspects of bilateral cooperation with China and was a leader on the Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee Program. Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, global director of WRI's Sustainable Finance Center, said, "There is the risk that we might retain the day-to-day, basic functions of government, but that we lose the additional element that really allows the U.S. to shape the rules and the processes." Martinez-Diaz cautioned the reorganization could cause "an erosion of leadership" on environmental finance at Treasury.
E&E News
On January 9, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced plans for a state-wide carbon tax. The proposal would set a $20 per ton price on carbon emissions, with the price rising 3.5 percent annually above the rate of inflation. The plan would be implemented in the 2020 budget year, with projected revenue of $726 million generated in the first year and a total of $3.3 billion in revenue over the initial four year period. According to analysis from the governor's office, residential natural gas prices would rise 10 percent, gasoline prices would rise 6-9 percent, and electricity costs could increase by 4-5 percent by 2020. The tax would be placed on businesses that use fossil fuels, with some exemptions such as aircraft and agricultural fuels. Utilities would be allowed to invest in emission reduction projects in exchange for tax credits. Republican legislators are strongly opposed to a carbon tax, while Democrats have different opinions on its implementation and how to spend revenue. British Columbia implemented its own carbon tax in 2008, which is now priced at $30 Canadian per ton.
Seattle Times
In February 2016, the most powerful cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere devastated the islands that make up the country of Fiji. Cyclone Winston destroyed more than 30,000 homes and displaced more than 150,000 people. Persistent rain brought by the storm caused flooding, landslides, and soil erosion. These impacts hit the country's farmers particularly hard. Farmer Adi Alesi Nacoba saw all of her crops wiped out that year. Over a six-month period, she rebuilt her business using climate-resilient methods learned from a United Nations Women Markets for Change program. The adaptations included crop diversification and staggered planting to better ensure crop survival. Terraced plots have also helped to protect crops from wind and flooding. In addition to reserving seeds, farmers have also begun to rely on banks to protect their savings. Sandra Bernklau with Fiji's UN Women office said, "I know that a lot of women farmers are saving more. They're much more conscious of having some money in the bank when things go wrong."
NPR
The City of New York is suing to hold the energy industry accountable for its contributions to anthropogenic climate change. BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, and Shell were all named in the suit. New York's effort will follow the example of recent cases in California, as well as past legal challenges against producers of cigarettes, asbestos, and lead paint. The city is building its argument on the legal tenants of "public" and "private nuisance," which address illegal impacts on a community's welfare or its land. Representatives for Chevron and Exxon have expressed strong resistance to the case. New York City attempted to use federal public nuisance law against companies operating fossil fuel-fired power plants in 2011, but the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that federal law grants the EPA (not city and state governments) regulatory power over greenhouse gas pollutants. New York City also announced it would be divesting $5 billion in fossil fuel assets from its five pension funds, which are valued at $189 billion overall.
Bloomberg, Associated Press
A new report by the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative documents the systematic removal, alteration, or diminishment of climate change information on federal websites by the Trump administration. The report found a "significant loss of public access to information about climate change" and cautioned the mass removal of such information could "serve to obfuscate the subject and inject doubt regarding the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and that it is caused by human activity." Hundreds of EPA websites dealing with climate change and related state and local programs have been removed, in addition to websites for the Departments of State, Energy, and Interior. Although raw government climate data is still present online, it has been made less accessible and more difficult to locate. The report's authors note that the removal or clouding of information on major policies, such as the Clean Power Plan, could "undermine … notice-and-comment rulemaking" and prove detrimental to public engagement within the regulatory review process.
New York Times, Report
Despite a concerted effort by the Trump administration to expand the development of oil and natural gas resources in the United States, the energy industry's actual response has been fairly tepid. A March 2017 executive order was issued with the goal of slashing "regulatory burdens" and increasing the scale of federal oil and gas lease auctions. However, activity has been limited beyond a few specific lease sales in regions such as Wyoming and New Mexico. For instance, a December auction in Alaska's North Slope saw only seven of 900 parcels receive any bids at all. The highest bid from that auction was $14.99 per acre, versus hundreds or thousands of dollars per acre elsewhere. This trend has played out in other auctions across the country, with industry experts citing America's lessened demand for oil and the high cost of drilling public lands with uncertain production prospects. According to a spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management, the agency is "required to hold auctions by regulation," regardless of the current industry response.
LA Times
The growing demand for offshore wind projects, combined with the steady transition of major markets away from gasoline, has led oil and gas companies to begin diversifying their portfolios. Major fossil fuel extraction companies are applying their experience constructing and maintaining offshore drilling rigs toward the development of offshore wind turbines. Senior vice president at Statoil, Stephen Bull, said, "We see a similar supply chain and skill set and can grow within this area." The Norwegian company is developing a floating wind farm off the coast of Scotland and has leased 80,000 acres off New York's coast for wind energy. Meanwhile, Ørsted (formerly DONG Energy) is investigating wind development near Massachusetts and New Jersey. Offshore wind accounts for 17.6 gigawatts of generating capacity worldwide, with most of that concentrated in Europe. The U.S. market has been slower to develop and currently has just one wind farm operating off the coast of Rhode Island. Analysts hope that the involvement of oil and gas companies in the U.S. wind market could jumpstart projects and mirror Europe's growth.
InsideClimate News
According to a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), China is on track to become the leading nation in international renewable energy investment. The report states, "As battery storage and electric vehicles technologies pick up momentum, China is setting itself up to dominate these sectors globally over the next several decades of this century." China's "One Belt One Road" policy has been a major economic driver, including $8 billion in solar equipment exports since it began. China also moved past the United States and Germany as the leading exporter of environmental goods and services. The report found that China has been leapfrogging other nations in securing supplies of lithium, nickel, and cobalt – essential elements in battery and electric vehicle manufacturing. Under the Paris Agreement, China committed to peak its emissions by 2030 and generate 20 percent of its electricity from renewable or nuclear energy sources within that timeframe.
Guardian
On January 7, Sydney, Australia experienced its hottest day since 1939, with temperatures reaching 117 degrees Fahrenheit. Searing summer heat waves have led to a 10 percent increase in ambulance calls and deaths. While humans are typically able to seek shelter from the heat, many animals are unable to adapt quickly enough. Specialists have sought to deliver relief to at-risk animals, but hundreds of flying fox bats have died so far due to a lack of shade, with the death toll expected to accumulate in the thousands. The fruit-eating bats are key pollinators and seed dispersers and are one of four types of vulnerable bat species that populate Australia's east coast. A 2014 heat wave in Queensland saw 100,000 bats perish. At the time, bat ecologist Micaela Jemison wrote, “This is of great concern to scientists not only due to the increased risk of these 'die off' events, but also for the long term impact it will have on the recovery of several of these already threatened species."
Washington Post
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