By Eric Wolff
11/17/15 10:00 AM EST
With help from Alex Guillén, Darius Dixon, and Kalina Oroschakoff
SENATE TO TAKE UP CLEAN POWER PLAN CHALLENGE TODAY: The Senate is set to vote as soon as this evening to overturn EPA's carbon rules for power plants. President Obama would protect the Clean Power Plan by vetoing the Congressional Review Act resolutions of disapproval. But their expected passage lets Republicans send the world a message: When you talk to Obama at the climate talks in Paris, know he does not have the backing of Congress for the centerpiece of his climate change agenda. “These regulations make it clearer than ever that the President and his Administration have gone too far, and that Congress should act to stop this regulatory assault,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement last night.
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The resolutions cannot be filibustered, and should secure the majority they need in the Senate. Democrats Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Manchin, who often side with fossil fuel industries against EPA regulation, already are on board. Their votes could make up for moderate Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte and Susan Collins, who are not expected to support the resolutions. Sen. Mark Kirk, another moderate who is facing pressure from green groups ahead of his re-election next year, has suggested he likely will support the resolution. Debate is expected to begin at 11 a.m. on a CRA resolution targeting EPA's rule for existing power plants, one of two aimed at the Clean Power Plan. A second resolution to overturn the rule for new plants is also expected to come up as soon as today.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to advance companion CRA resolutions tomorrow, but they are not scheduled to come to the floor until sometime after the climate talks start Nov. 30.
Democrats are urging Republicans to back away from the resolution. Sens. Tom Carper, Ben Cardin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Brian Schatz and Ed Markey are holding a press conference today at 9:30 a.m. to ask Republicans to stop trying to roll back the Clean Power Plan. "Republicans, encouraged by Big Oil and special interests, plan on gutting the regulations without an alternative plan to address climate change and continue to deny this problem all together," the Democratic press release said. A coalition of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, 350.org, and the League of Conservation Voters sent a letter to Senators yesterday asking them not to vote for the resolutions. Leaders from Voces Verde, a Latino environmental group associated with the NRDC, sent a separate letter to members of the Senate yesterday asking for opposition to the resolutions.
WELCOME TO TUESDAY! I'm your host Eric Wolff, and NHL scoring is down again, which is a drag, but I hear Patrick Roy has an idea: Make the goal nets bigger and goalie equipment smaller. If it's good enough for a man who used to talk to the goal posts, it's good enough for ME! If you've got suggestions for increasing the scoring in hockey, or better yet, energy tips, quips, or comments, send them to ewolff@politico.com, or follow us on Twitter @ericwolff, @Morning_Energy, and @POLITICOPro.
PARIS IS ALREADY HOSTING ENERGY BIGWIGS FOR IEA MEETING: Amid the fallout of last week's Paris attacks, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will chair a ministerial meeting of the International Energy Agency in Paris today and tomorrow. Ministers from the 29 member countries, and Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa and Thailand are meeting. One news item to look out for: Mexico has asked to join the agency. “This ... opens the door to greater engagement across Latin America. It is a key step towards our objective of building a truly global international energy organization,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said. The terror attacks had briefly called into the question whether the meeting would go ahead. For Irish energy minister Alex White “The decision to go ahead ... offers an opportunity to demonstrate our solidarity with France.”
PARIS: NUCLEAR POWER SUPPORTERS WANT AN ENTRÉE TO THE DEAL: The nuclear power industry has been working since last year to build international alliances in preparation for the upcoming climate talks. A 2001 deal struck in the aftermath of the 1997 Kyoto Agreement excluded nuclear power from receiving international financing, despite producing power with no carbon emissions. This time around, as Darius Dixon reports, the industry wants to be part of the solution — or at the very least, to not be excluded. And it's getting some backing from the Obama administration: "We move forward to Paris with a technology-neutral approach,” Paul Bodnar, the National Security Council senior director for energy and climate change, said at a White House nuclear summit recently. “Nuclear power really has a comparative advantage over other forms of baseload power generation.”
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GORE WON'T ENDORSE IN DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY: Climate crusader and former vice president Al Gore will stay out of the Democratic presidential primary, POLITICO Agenda's Darren Samuelsohn reports: "Gore’s reticence, his friends and allies say, is in part to maximize his own leverage on fighting climate change. But his repeated demurrals also reflect a complicated relationship with his former boss’s wife that dates back more than two decades. While Gore and Hillary Clinton may not be enemies, they’re not exactly close friends, either. 'They have a lot of history. More than the average bear,' said one Democratic source close to Gore."
HIGHWAYS GET TWO-WEEK REPRIEVE: The House extended current policy for the Highway Trust Fund last night by voice vote, giving lawmakers till Dec. 4 to work out the last details. The Senate is expected to do the same later this week.
U.S. AIRLINES MIDDLE OF TRANSATLANTIC PACK ON EMISSIONS, REPORT SAYS: U.S. airlines generally lag behind their European counterparts in fuel efficiency, according to a study out today from the nonprofit International Council on Clean Transportation. Among carriers performing North America-Europe flights, the best-performing U.S. carrier, Delta, was right at the average of carriers. The most efficient airline was Norwegian Air Shuttle, and the top eight airlines were all European or Canadian. The worst performer was British Airways. ICCT notes that first class and business seats make up an outside portion of greenhouse gas emissions. The group also warns that global aviation emissions will triple by 2050 without intervention. The International Civil Aviation Organization is planning to set standards next year, though environmentalists fear the measure won’t be strong enough.
BISHOP TO BLM: WE HAVE A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE (WITH INDUSTRY): Rep. Rob Bishop says in a letter going to BLM today that the bureau's efforts to revise some rules governing oil and gas royalties on public lands have not included enough input from industry. BLM held one public hearing in Washington, D.C. Bishop, speaking as Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, would like to see BLM host additional hearings at each of the bureau's 12 state offices before finalizing its rules.
TURNING UP THE PRESSURE ON LWCF: The Land and Water Conservation Fund, the expired program used to purchase land located within national parks, found itself some new champions today. The Evangelical Environmental Network will buy ads on Christian radio and on religious programming on Pandora to support Reps. Paul Cook,Dan Newhouse,Rob Wittman, and Ryan Zinke, all members of the House Committee on Natural Resources, who back the LWCF. Also today, a group of 50 venture capitalists are running a half-page ad in the Wall Street Journal backing the fund. The House Natural Resources Committee will discuss legislation to reauthorize and revise the fund at a hearing tomorrow.
GET UP, STAND UP, SPEAK UP: D.C. utility regulators are preparing to get an earful today about what the public thinks of Exelon and Pepco Holdings’ latest effort to push their merger through its only remaining hurdle. ME readers know that the D.C. Public Service Commission rejected the multibillion dollar merger proposal in August, only to later accept the utilities’ request to reopen the failed application to consider a settlement reached with several District officials. The DC PSC largely approved the companies’ expedited timetable to take testimony and hold hearings but regulators added a "community hearing,” which starts at 10 a.m. The session is scheduled to run until 7 p.m., with a one-hour lunch break. Then the commission will do it all over again tomorrow. Critics of the deal plan to come out in force, protesting the merger itself as well as to continue pushing for an investigation into whether a $25 million Pepco stadium sponsorship deal played into Mayor Muriel Bowser’s decision to switch sides and back the merger (Bowser has denied any connection between the two issues). The meeting will be in the Commission hearing room at 325 G Street, N.W.
NRC'S POST-FUKUSHIMA UPDATE: The leaders of the NRC are getting a status report today on safety regulations put in place after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, and the bulk of the staff presentation lays out their strategy for dealing with so-called Tier 2 and Tier 3 recommendations. NRC leadership gets these briefings roughly every six months. In a proposal sent to the commission last month, NRC staff say it will cost $130,000 to resolve and close nearly a dozen of these open recommendations. The plan calls for four recommendations to be closed now while the rest, such as whether to expand the application of hardened vents to more reactor designs, are slated for completion either in May or December 2016. The briefing starts at 9 a.m. at NRC headquarters and will be webcast.
WILLIAM RUCKELSHAUS, ONCE AND FUTURE EPA CHIEF, TO RECEIVE MEDAL OF FREEDOM: Imagine running the EPA not once, but twice. William Ruckelshaus originated the role of EPA Administrator, building the new agency from the ground up startling 1970 in service to President Richard Nixon. He would leave for other roles in government, eventually leading to his resignation in the Saturday Night Massacre. In 1983, with the EPA reeling under scandals related to management of the Superfund program, Ruckelshaus came back to the EPA at the behest of President Ronald Reagan, where he restored some public faith in the agency. The Medal of Freedom is the U.S. highest civilian honor. Ruckelshaus will receive the honor at a White House ceremony next week. Other recipients this year include Yogi Berra, Shirley Chisholm, Emilio and Gloria Estefan, Willie Mays and Barbara Mikulski.
READING LIST: "The Big Corn Sellout: How National Politics and Ethanol Mandates Are Hurting California’s Economy," by The Center for Regulatory Solutions
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QUICK HITS
— Enbridge cuts 5% of workforce, CBC News: http://bit.ly/1NAlWrb
— Plan to Close Nuclear Plant in Upstate New York Rattles Its Neighbors, NYT: http://nyti.ms/1S0qvyC
— Stanford students begin 'indefinite' sit-in over fossil fuel divestment, The Guardian: http://bit.ly/1lsalDX
— It's easy to buy "green power." Making a difference is a little harder, Vox: http://bit.ly/1PKJzln
— Blankenship defense rests without calling witnesses, Charleston Gazette: http://bit.ly/1WVWDtT
THAT'S ALL FOR ME!
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