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COAL COMMUNITIES RISK FISCAL COLLAPSE: Coal reliant communities across the U.S. are failing to account for the harm inflicted on their finances by the decline of coal, a problem that stands to get worse if the federal government ever passes a significant policy to combat carbon emissions.
The decline of coal production in the U.S. puts 26 coal-mining dependent counties in 10 states across Appalachia and the Powder River Basin out west at severe economic risk, according to a new report Monday by Columbia University and the Brookings Institution.
For example, in one highlighted community, Mingo County, West Virginia, coal mining employed over 1,400 people at the end of 2011, but fewer than 500 at the end of 2016.
Countywide employment fell from 8,513 to 4,878 over the same period, highlighting the spillover impact of reduced coal activity.
Coal-related revenue funds a third of some of these counties’ budgets, and the loss of it threatens their ability to fund school systems, support other public services, and issue and serve debt.
“It’s pretty hard to wrap your head around all the different ways coal-mining communities’ finances are dependent on the industry,” Noah Kaufman, an economist at Columbia who co-authored the report, told me in an interview. “It can be 30, 40, or 50% of revenue tied to the coal industry. That means public services and school systems are funded on the backs of the coal industry.”
Local communities fail to ‘raise the flag’: Municipalities are “at best uneven and at worst misleading” in their characterizations of climate change-related risks, the Columbia report says, leaving coal-dependent communities unprepared to plan for the diversification of their economies.
“A lot of these communities are selling the idea the industry is something between not going away and coming back,” Kaufman said. “It might be third parties like the federal government who need to raise the flag.”
The picture for coal is bad, without or without a climate policy: Coal production in the U.S. fell by one-third between 2007 and 2017. However, just a “moderately stringent” federal climate policy could create “existential risks” for the coal industry, with potential declines in production of around 75% in the 2020s, the paper found.
Communities can take steps on their own to plan for this decline by diversifying their economy and being more transparent about their vulnerability, such as by publishing more detailed budget data that reveal how dependent they are on coal.
But federal policymakers should help local communities, Kaufman and his co-authors advise, by bringing more attention to the importance of risk disclosure from the loss of coal. Counties also lack the financial ability to invest in serious economic development programs, meaning the federal government, if it were to pass legislation like a carbon tax, should use some of the proceeds to help out.
“It doesn’t seem like a lot of these places are even moving in that direction,” Kaufman said. “They are already in this downward spiral and don’t have a lot of money they can devote to diversification.”
2020 Democrats propose help: Some Democratic presidential candidates, including Jay Inslee, Joe Biden, Beto O’Rourke, and Elizabeth Warren, have emphasized helping coal-dependent communities as part of their plans to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, proposing guarantees for health insurance and pension benefits, as well as funds for career training.
Warren, a Massachusetts senator, recently introduced a bill requiring public companies to disclose information about their exposure to climate change-related risks.
But none have focused on the failure of local communities to do their part in realizing they have a problem.
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AFTER ONE-YEAR SPIKE, CARBON EMISSIONS TO FALL DUE TO COAL DECLINE: U.S. carbon emissions from energy production will fall in 2019 after spiking last year, mostly because of a continued decrease in coal consumption.
Emissions will decline 2.2% in 2019, after rising 2.7% in 2018, according to a report Monday morning from the Energy Information Administration.
EIA projects that carbon emissions from coal will decrease by 169 million metric tons in 2019, the largest decrease in emissions from coal since 2015. However, carbon emissions from natural gas will increase this year by 53 million metric tons as gas continues to replace coal as the most used electricity source. The increase in carbon emissions from gas is more than offset by declines in emissions from coal — gas emits half the amount of carbon as coal.
CLIMATE HAWKS FEAR TOM STEYER’S PRESIDENTIAL RUN COULD BACKFIRE: Environmentalists are not enthusiastic about California billionaire Tom Steyer’s late entrance into the presidential race and worry his campaign could backfire.
“Eh. There’s no clamor for him to run,” said R.L. Miller, founder of the liberal voter mobilization group Climate Hawks Vote and the head of the California Democratic Party’s environmental caucus. “I don’t know how he’d find a lane,” Miller told me.
Steyer’s campaign could blunt momentum generated by candidates, such as Inslee, who have elevated climate change as a priority in the primary elections by proposing detailed policies to curb it.
“A lot of people will be skeptical of a message of ‘I have a lot of money’ as a reason to vote for him, and merely saying you care about the climate isn’t enough,” Brett Hartl, chief political strategist of the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, told me.
Environmentalists say Steyer would be better served spending the $100 million in personal money he has pegged for his campaign to outside activities, such as helping other presidential candidates or advocating for policy at the state and local level.
“It’s an absolute mistake for him to jump in,” said one climate change policy activist who insisted on anonymity given Steyer’s influence. “He’s doing it for the wrong reasons. There has been the strongest climate narrative in any presidential race. His support would be best placed behind the movement, not throwing $100 million to a presidential run focused on him.”
Read more of my report here.
TRUMP DECLINES TO IMPOSE IMPORT LIMITS ON URANIUM, IN BOON FOR NUCLEAR UTILITIES: President Trump rejected the recommendations of his advisers and declined Friday to impose strict limits on uranium imports that the nuclear power industry relies on.
Utilities such as Exelon and First Energy, companies with large nuclear power plant fleets, had opposed the potential tariffs, saying electricity prices would rise if the administration imposed quotas on nuclear fuel imports.
“Quotas on uranium imports would have a crippling impact on the economic health of the U.S. nuclear fleet,” the Nuclear Energy Institute said in a statement.
Trump’s decision to go against his protectionist instincts shows his loyalty to the beleaguered nuclear power industry, which his Energy Department has supported and tried to help revive amid pressure from competition from natural gas and renewables.
Trump finds a middle ground: But Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had advised Trump to impose the import quotas due to his finding that relying on imports for 93% of the uranium used in U.S. power plants — mostly from Canada, Australia, Russia, and Kazakhstan — represents a national security threat. Trump disagreed. He said he would create a working group to come up with ways other than import quotas to increase domestic nuclear fuel production.
The two U.S. uranium mining companies, Ur-Energy and Energy Fuels, that requested the Trump administration look into import tariffs complained about the president’s decision, while expressing hope for the working group.
“The entire front end of the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle is under siege,” the companies said in a statement. “Our two companies will stand ready to support the working group as it conducts its study.”
ALMOST 100K PEOPLE WITHOUT POWER FROM TROPICAL STORM BARRY: About 99,000 customers were without power as of Sunday night because of Tropical Storm Barry, with most outages in Louisiana.
The Edison Electric Institute, a trade group representing U.S. utilities, said power companies had restored electricity to more than 200,000 customers since the storm began.
But the group warned that flooding can create access issues to making repairs, which may result in “longer than usual” power restoration times.
While Tropical Storm Barry — downgraded from a hurricane — is losing strength as it moves north, it continues to bring “life-threatening” flooding, storm surge, and the risk of tornadoes to portions of the Mississippi Valley, EEI said in its statement.
UTILITY STILL IN THE DARK ABOUT WHAT CAUSED MASSIVE NYC BLACKOUT: Con Edison remains in the dark as to why a significant portion of Manhattan’s West Side was without power for much of Saturday night.
“We will be conducting a diligent and vigorous investigation to determine the root cause of the incident,” the company said in a statement Sunday.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York demanded the Energy Department help investigate the power failure, and suggested it could have been prevented with investments to bolster grid resilience.
HOUSE APPROVES PFAS PROVISIONS ALONGSIDE DEFENSE POLICY BILL: The House passed its annual defense policy bill Friday while adopting a number of provisions to combat toxic chemicals known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, that have contaminated U.S. water supplies.
Democrats passed the National Defense Authorization Act along party lines — 220 to 197 — with Republicans opposing the legislation and the White House threatening to veto it, partially over the PFAS measures.
One amendment adopted with the bill forces the Defense Department to phase out the use of PFAS in firefighting foam by 2025. Another requires the Government Accountability Office to review the Pentagon’s response to PFAS contamination at military bases.
A third amendment designates PFAS as a hazardous substance under the Superfund law.
“Today’s vote marks a turning point, with Congress actively pursuing plans to help combat the ballooning PFAS contamination crisis that is impacting military bases and nearby communities throughout the country,” said Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs for the Environmental Working Group.
The House still must be reconcile its bill with the Senate version that was approved on a bipartisan basis.
The Rundown
New York Times EPA plans to curtail the ability of communities to oppose pollution permits
Washington Post EPA to allow use of pesticide considered ‘very highly toxic’ to bees
Reuters Climate activists disrupt British cities with ‘summer uprising’
CNBC Scotland just produced enough wind energy to power all its homes twice over
Calendar
TUESDAY | July 16
8:30 a.m., St. Regis Hotel, 923 16th Street NW. The U.S. Nuclear Industry Council (USNIC) holds the 2019 New Nuclear Capital Summit, with the theme “Markets and Financing for Advanced Nuclear Energy,” July 16-17.
9:15 a.m., 923 16th Street NW. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, delivers keynote remarks at the USNIC summit, followed by Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Rita Baranwal.
10 a.m., 1616 Rhode Island Avenue NW. The Center for Strategic and International Studies holds a discussion on “Progress Toward Global Energy Transitions,” focusing on new International Energy Association (IEA) technology analysis.
1 p.m., Webinar. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission holds a webinar on the decommissioning of the Three Mile Island 1 nuclear power plant in Londonderry, Pa.
WEDNESDAY | July 17
10 a.m., 406 Dirksen. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee holds a hearing entitled, “Electric Battery Production and Waste: Opportunities and Challenges.”
THURSDAY | July 18
8:45 a.m., 1616 Rhode Island Avenue NW. The Center for Strategic and International Studies holds a conference on “Energy Investment and Infrastructure in Asia.” Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo. and Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Frank Fannon address the event.
10 a.m., 366 Dirksen. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing to examine opportunities to increase water storage and conservation through rehabilitation and development of water supply infrastructure, and to receive testimony on a number of bills.
