The Obama administration’s heavy hitters on energy and the environment are expected to hint at the administration’s plans for its last two years when they hit the stage Monday at a major meeting of local and city governments in Washington.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz; EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy; and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell are teaming up for a panel where they will likely pitch the administration’s “all-of-the above” energy strategy. The address to the National League of Cities conference at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel is expected to downplay concerns over the potential risks to economic growth that critics say would stem from new climate change rules.
They are also expected to highlight many of the programs that cities enjoy, such as grants that promote renewable fuels and energy development.
The panel, slated for late afternoon, begins a set of policy discussions at the League’s 50th annual Congressional City Conference this week. The meeting is a forum for city governments to lobby Congress and the administration on an array of policy priorities.
On the energy front, Energy Secretary Moniz is expected to play up the energy department’s Clean Cities program that spends federal funds, along with local dollars, to push the development of renewable fuels infrastructure and electric cars.
Electric cars have been a policy priority for the White House in recent years, although Moniz has said recently that the president’s goal of deploying 1 million electric vehicles on the road by this year will not happen.
Moniz may have to walk a fine line in discussing the EPA’s climate rules for new and existing power plants. In recent budget hearings on the Hill, Moniz has said the rules are feasible and would not eliminate new coal plants from the energy mix, adding that new coal plants can meet EPA’s technology and emission control standards today. But GOP critics say the rules are impossible to achieve and must be pared back.
The Energy Department budget says it supports the administration’s all-of-the-above energy policy, but Republicans and some Democrats proposing to spend three times as much on renewables as on fossil energy resources in its 2016 budget request.
During appearances on Capitol Hill and at state forums, Moniz has also touted a new program to provide grants for reliability studies to help states plan for EPA implementation of the rules.
The climate rules have become a lightning rod in policy discussions at nearly all levels of government.
Industry and many state governments see the rules as interfering with the reliable flow of electricity while potentially driving up the cost of energy. Such effects could harm low-income families struggling to pay for heating and electricity.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will address the conference alongside Moniz, and will likely reiterate talking points she has given on the Hill and at other venues that the rules offer flexibility to states that will allow them to meet the goals of containing emissions without rolling blackouts and high energy prices critics have warned about.
It is unclear if she will make any new announcements, but it is clear that cities — where less wealthy residents are likely bear the brunt of potential cost increases —want to be included in talks on the impact of EPA’s rules.
According to the NLC, its main priority is to ensure that cities are consulted and play a role in national plans to fight pollution and reduce carbon dioxide. The group also wants the EPA to listen to cities impacted by air quality challenges. City governments want sufficient time to make the changes necessary to meet the EPA’s national air quality standards.
Industry groups have said the agency’s proposed changes to national air quality standards would be nearly impossible to meet and would place an enormous economic strain on the country.
Nevertheless, the NLC says it supports renewable energy and fuels, and local politicians are hungry for federal funding supports.
Also addressing the NLC alongside Moniz and McCarthy will be Interior Secretary Sally Jewel. The Departments of Interior and Energy have teamed up in recent years to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) from fossil fuels by increasing the use of alternative fuels for government-owned vehicles at national parks.
National parks are key draws for commerce in a variety of cities, including the District of Columbia.
