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TRUMP UNVEILS NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT OVERHAUL: The Trump administration unveiled long-awaited proposed reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act on Thursday, in what could be its most significant deregulatory action.
NEPA “affects nearly every decision made by the federal government that affects the environment,” Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said at a White House address with President Trump, other administration officials, and industry stakeholders. “It will be the most significant deregulatory proposal you will implement.”
Trump, a real estate developer in his private life, has taken a hands-on approach with the administration’s new proposed rules to quicken federal approval of highways, bridges, energy projects, and other infrastructure, updating NEPA for the first time in 40 years.
He notably never mentioned pipelines, oil and gas leases, or other energy projects in his address, despite criticism from environmentalists and Democrats who say his real intent is to encourage more fossil fuel development while limiting consideration of climate change in permitting reviews.
“Critical infrastructure projects are tied up and bogged down by an outrageously burdensome federal approval process,” Trump said. “We are going to have very strong regulation but it’s going to go quickly.”
His administration’s proposed updates to regulations governing NEPA seek to limit reviews to two years — “ideally less than that,” Trump said — compared to an average of four-and-a-half now, while making it more difficult for environmentalists and others to challenge projects in court.
The administration also proposes to allow agencies to consider fewer alternatives for the path of a project so that options considered are “technically and economically feasible.” The changes would exempt projects from NEPA reviews that require little federal funding or involvement.
The climate change angle: Most critically for environmental advocates, the proposal does not require agencies to measure the “cumulative” environmental impacts of actions.
The Trump administration wants to narrow the definition of environmental effects, so agencies focus less on long-term, i.e. cumulative, impacts such as climate change and more on immediate, tangible factors that closely relate to a proposed project.
Changing the metrics could reverse a recent trend of courts citing climate change in blocking projects.
However, Mary Neumayr, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, told Josh in an exclusive interview that the Trump administration proposal “does not exclude greenhouse gas emissions” from being considered in reviews.
“We want to ensure agencies are focused on the most significant environmental impacts,” she said.
Read more of Josh’s full coverage here.
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‘INDUSTRY IS WRONG’: Congressman John Shimkus of Illinois, a Republican leader on the Energy and Commerce Committee, likely won’t be supporting bipartisan legislation to address greenhouse gas refrigerants.
The committee will hear testimony next week on the bipartisan bill, introduced Tuesday by Democrat Paul Tonko of New York and Republican Pete Olson of Texas. The legislation would target emissions of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, refrigerant chemicals that are potent greenhouse gases.
Shimkus’ opposition comes despite near-unanimous support for the legislation from appliance manufacturers and chemical makers and an already strong bipartisan backing, more than 30 co-sponsors, for the Senate companion bill.
“Without the proposed law, American businesses are left in an uncertain position in a highly competitive global market for next generation fluorocarbon technologies,” said Kevin Fay, director of the industry group Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy.
Why Shimkus doesn’t like it: The bill would ensure industry is able to implement a global HFC deal struck during the Obama administration. Shimkus said he doesn’t think that international agreement is needed.
“I think they’re trying to, again, cover their rear ends,” Shimkus said of companies backing the bill. “It’s a big sector, too, so we’re always also concerned about the smaller individual companies and entities that may not be able to have the full force of the mighty large corporate perspective.”
An industry-backed study in 2018 said phasing down HFCs, as the bill would do, could create 33,000 new manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
2019 BY THE CLIMATE NUMBERS: Massive flooding, particularly in the Midwest, was the extreme weather event with the biggest impact in 2019, according to new climate data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Flooding in Missouri, Arkansas, and the Mississippi River basin alone cost $20 billion, nearly half of the U.S. total disaster costs last year, NOAA said in a news release Wednesday. 2019 was also the second-wettest year since 1973.
Alaska also broke a record: 2019 was the hottest year on record for the state, with temperatures more than 6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS’ BIG CLIMATE PLAN: It’s a comprehensive framework they say will get to a 100% clean economy by 2050, and they’re confident they can build consensus around it.
That consensus might not include their Republican colleagues, though. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone of New Jersey told reporters Wednesday he wouldn’t be waiting for Republicans to try to move the plan or pieces of it. And House Republican committee leaders told reporters they hadn’t even seen the plan yet.
“We would love to have Republicans, but it’s hard when there’s so many climate deniers,” Pallone said during a news conference.
What’s in the plan: The framework includes building on or retooling existing federal and state authorities to deal with climate change. For example, it would set up a program, directed by the Environmental Protection Agency, through which states would submit plans to reach a 100% clean economy, similar to state plans for national air quality standards.
More on what’s in the plan, which Democrats say is the basis for a discussion draft bill they’re releasing later this month, in Abby’s story from Wednesday.
SUNRISE CHOOSES BERNIE: The youth climate movement demanding a Green New Deal thinks Bernie Sanders is the guy to make it happen.
The Sunrise Movement announced it is backing Sanders with a tweet Thursday. In a longer statement, the group says their endorsement comes after a six-week long consideration process, during which they determined Sanders would provide “the best political terrain” to enact a Green New Deal. The movement also praised Sanders’ “consistency” on climate change across his political career.
Runner-up: Sunrise stressed their endorsement for Sanders wasn’t an “indictment” on other candidates — a line that was directed in large part to Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Sanders’ progressive rival.
Warren received 17.4% of the movement’s vote for an endorsement, the group said. Nonetheless, Sunrise has also been critical of Warren in recent weeks, particularly for her pledge to support the new NAFTA trade deal.
DOE CHALLENGES ITSELF ON ENERGY STORAGE: The Energy Department wants to hold itself accountable for boosting “next-generation” energy storage technologies, announcing an initiative Wednesday to accelerate their deployment.
The Energy Storage Grand Challenge aims to mix R&D funding opportunities, prizes, partnerships, and other programs in order to meet a suite of goals by 2030.
DOE wants to strengthen U.S. manufacturing and supply chain for storage technologies, reducing dependence on foreign sources for critical minerals.
It also looks to accelerate technology transfer to speed up the process of moving from research to system design to use in the private sector. And it aims to bolster workforce training to “meet the needs of the 21st century electric grid and energy storage value chain.”
The Rundown
Wall Street Journal Proposed Maine power-line project clears key hurdle
Reuters Divergent paths: Oil, natural gas going different directions
New York Times Op-ed: We can’t slow climate change without energy companies
Financial Times BlackRock joins climate action group after ‘greenwash’ criticism
Calendar
TUESDAY | JAN. 14
10:30 a.m. 2322 Rayburn. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee holds a hearing entitled, “Promoting American Innovation and Jobs: Legislation to Phase Down Hydrofluorocarbons.”
