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March 30, 2015
On March 19, EESI Executive Director Carol Werner spoke on CBC News' show The Exchange with Amanda Lang, covering the President's new executive order reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the federal government. Click here to watch Carol's interview.
On March 23, House Republicans announced a bill that would delay the execution of Obama’s Clean Power Plan until all court challenges to the new carbon emission regulations are completed. Titled “The Ratepayer Protection Act of 2015,” the bill would allow governors to block state compliance plans or federally imposed compliance plans if they decide the Clean Power Plan would “significantly” increase electricity rates or decrease grid reliability in their state. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY), lead sponsor of the bill and Chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Energy and Power Subcommittee, said, “This rule is particularly controversial. It’s unprecedented in the power that they’re trying to grab here from the states, and they’re significantly changing the way they are looking at compliance with these [carbon dioxide] regulations in each state.” The House will hold a hearing for the bill, which has not yet been introduced, on April 14.
For more information see:
The Hill, Draft Bill, Energy and Commerce
At an event at the Council on Foreign Relations on March 23, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) discussed his views and those of the GOP regarding to climate change. Graham stated that he thinks the Republican party needs to have an internal debate about climate change, before they can engage in bipartisan conversations about solutions. Graham added, “The problem is Al Gore’s turned this thing into religion . . . climate change is not a religious problem for me, it’s an economic, it is an environmental problem.” Graham noted that among Republicans, conviction about climate change is “all over the board,” and there is a common idea that solutions to climate change will destroy the economy. He has previously said climate change is real, and humans have contributed to it substantially.
Huffington Post, Council on Foreign Relations
On March 23, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) wrote to President Obama expressing disapproval over his recent hire of Megan Ceronsky. Cheronsky was hired January 2015 as a senior advisor to the President in the White House’s energy and climate change office, and was previously employed as a lawyer for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). In her position with EDF, Cheronsky advised the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its draft regulation of carbon emissions from power plants. In his letter, Inhofe objected to the hiring, saying, “It appears highly inappropriate to have Ms. Ceronsky serve in any capacity interacting with EPA or otherwise involved in the development of these rules, considering her prior legal representation and advocacy on behalf of EDF before EPA on these very same matters.”
The Hill, Letter
Twenty-six European mayors assembled in Paris on March 26 to discuss addressing climate change on a local level. They pledged to reduce emissions in their communities by investing in clean energy and energy efficiency. The leaders wrote, “[The] time has now come for European capitals and metropolises to pool our efforts to tackle climate change. This requires a closer dialogue between cities through a more regular exchange of expertise and good practices.” To achieve their goals, the mayors will focus on three policy issues: transportation, buildings, and energy supply.
The Guardian, Text of Agreement
In an interview with The Guardian published March 24, Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, states that climate change denial is a “blind” and immoral stance. “I really hope to motivate average Episcopalians to see the severity of this issue, the morality of this issue,” Bishop Jefferts Schori told The Guardian. The Episcopalian church hosted a webcast on March 24 to kick off a month-long campaign to raise awareness and encourage church members to reduce their personal carbon footprints and lobby government and corporations to take action on climate change.
In related news, on March 23, the Global Catholic Climate Movement launched a petition asking world leaders to take action in climate change, aiming to display “a strong Catholic voice” before climate change talks in Paris later this year.
The Guardian, The Christian Science Monitor, National Catholic Reporter
On March 25, the European Union’s (EU) emissions trading system (ETS) saw the price of carbon allowances rise to 7.29 euros after European governments agreed to find a market solution to the current oversupply and undervaluation of carbon permits. The new fix would create a reserve where carbon allowances could be added or removed from the market in order to keep carbon prices within an ideal range. “The decision takes away a large chunk of the concern that the legislative changes will be held up for a long time,” said Louis Redshaw, whose company buys and sells carbon permits for other organizations.
Bloomberg News
On March 23, The Lancelot Infectious Diseases journal published a study finding that effects of climate change such as increased temperatures and greater rainfall could make conditions more favorable to disease-carrying mosquitos in the United Kingdom (UK). The study, by Public Health England’s emergency response department, uses models to suggest that if temperatures in the UK increase by a few degrees Celsius, seasonal activity of mosquitoes, parasites and ticks may also rise. Greater pest activity could lead to more transmission of vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever, West Nile virus, malaria, and chikungunya to the UK by midcentury. While the report recognized that climate change is not the only cause of increasing vector-borne disease, they said, “There is little doubt that climate change will affect vector-borne disease risk.”
BBC, The Independent, Study
On March 23, a study published in Nature Climate Change connected changes in ocean circulation patterns to climate change. It found that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has weakened, or slowed down, potentially due to additional freshwater in the north Atlantic from the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet. Stefan Rahmstorf, lead author of the study and researcher for the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, stated, “We have detected strong evidence that the global conveyor has indeed been weakening in the past hundred years, particularly since 1970.” Researchers created an index of the AMOC over hundreds of years, determining that the AMOC is weaker than it has been in the last 1,100 years.
Phys.org, Vox, Study
On March 25, a study published in Nature Climate Change examined the different ways that media platforms portrayed recent major reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Scientists found ten different frames in climate change coverage: Settled Science, Political or Ideological Struggle, Role of Science, Uncertain Science, Disaster, Security, Morality and Ethics, Opportunity, Economics and Health. Of these, the first five were most frequently deployed by media, while the latter were rarely used. Lead-researcher Dr. Saffron O’Neill of the University of Exeter stated, “We know that some of these frames are more engaging for audiences than others: for example, the Opportunity or Health frames . . . But these kinds of frames are little used in newspaper coverage, on TV, or on Twitter.”
Phys.org, Study
On March 25, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science (ARCCSS) released a report finding climate change has increased the frequency of large thunderstorms in the tropics. Dr. Jackson Tan, lead author from ARCCSS, stated, “What we are seeing is more big and organized storms and fewer small and disorganized storms.” These large storms occur roughly five percent of the time but provide over 50 percent of precipitation in tropical regions.
Phys Org, Nature
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1. Most Countries Unlikely To Submit Emissions Reductions Plans by UN Deadline
2. World Meteorological Day Celebrates Theme, “Climate Knowledge for Climate Action”
3. Arctic Sea Ice Yearly Maximum is Lowest Since 1978
4. Florida DEP Employee Put on Leave For Discussing Climate Change in Conference Call
1. How Can the Federal Government Help Prepare Local Communities for Natural Disasters?
Wednesday, April 1 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
485 Russell Senate Office Building
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing examining the recommendations of the White House State, Local and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience. The bipartisan Task Force of 26 governors, mayors, tribal leaders, and other officials spent a year compiling recommendations on how the federal government could help local communities be more resilient to climate change impacts. From an initial 500 ideas, the Task Force produced a report of 35 concrete recommendations for tools, training, funding and services the Federal Government can provide to help the nation’s communities increase their resilience. Even without taking into account the effects of climate change, making communities more resilient saves lives—and saves money in the long run.
Please RSVP to expedite check-in here.
2. EPA’s Clean Power Plan: Will it Work and Will it Be Upheld?
Wednesday, April 8 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
B-318 Rayburn House Office Building Independence Avenue SW and South Capitol Street
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing examining key policy and legal issues associated with the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rules to limit carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing power plants, which account for 38.7 percent of domestic carbon emissions. According to the EPA, its proposed Clean Power Plan (CPP) would lead to a 30 percent cut in carbon emissions from the power sector by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. How will these cuts be implemented? And will the CPP hold up in court?
Authors: Rachael Shook, Samuel Beirne and Caitlin Madera
Editor: Laura Small
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