Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

October 12, 2009

Steven L. Hoch
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

Studies of the Week

British Fliers Turn Their Collective Nose Up At GHG Reductions
I’d rather drink tea. Thank you very much chap.

A study from Loughborough University found fewer than one in five people are trying to reduce the number of flights they take for environmental reasons. The “Propensity to Fly” study also reveals the vast majority of the British public would rather cut energy use at home than go without flying for a year. Asked what increase in air fares would deter them from flying short-haul, nearly four in five (79%) said a £50 ($80) rise would make them fly less often.

Green Roofs Save On Carbon Overheads
Who paid for this study and why?

A Michigan State University study examined 12 existing green roofs and grew their own Sedum-covered roof. They found that the roofs absorbed up to 375 grams per square meter over the two years of their study. If a city the size of Detroit, Michigan, with around a million inhabitants, were to switch to green roofs, it would remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as taking 10,000 mid-sized SUVs and trucks off the road for a year. There’s a catch, though: starting a garden on the roof won’t immediately lower your carbon footprint. Greening conventional roofs requires special materials, which come at a carbon cost. It takes seven years for the roof to offset the carbon used for its building materials and become truly carbon negative.

The Feds Make (Lame) Excuses

Agencies Want Flexibility to Set GHG Targets
What a crock of bureaucracy!

President Obama issued an Executive Order to lower the government’s carbon footprint. But instead of doing it, it turns out many agencies opposed the order because the agencies lacked data on their current emissions levels. Because the federal government is the nation’s largest energy consumer and occupies nearly 500,000 buildings, operates more than 600,000 vehicles, employs more than 1.8 million civilians, and purchases more than $500 billion per year in goods and services, the agencies said there was not way to reduce emissions before they would know their baseline emissions levels, says one federal source.

Biofuels

EPA’s Regulations Re Biofuels Uncertain, Causing Frustration
There is no “home on the range”.

EPA’s plan to use “uncertainty bands” to describe a range of possible GHG footprints of biofuels, rather than a single number, is raising frustration among petroleum refiners who fear it will hamper their ability to meet blending mandates under the agency’s renewable fuels standard (RFS). Industry says that the more uncertainty they put in the program, the less likely it is that certain biofuels will pass muster. Under the 2007 energy law, Congress set a volumetric fuel standard that vastly increased the amount of biofuels that must be blended. Lawmakers also mandated that in order to qualify for credit under the RFS, biofuels had to be at least 20 percent less GHG intensive over their entire lifecycle than conventional petroleum, taking into account both direct and indirect impacts. However, lawmakers also exempted existing corn ethanol facilities from the GHG requirement.

EPA Fears Ethanol Waiver Approval Will Boost GHG Emissions
Why all the discussion? As long as we stick with the uncertainty bands, there won’t be enough. Problem solved!

EPA officials fear that approving a pending ethanol industry request to increase the amount of ethanol allowed in gasoline up to 15 percent (E15) will result in higher GHG emissions. But the air act prevents the agency from considering increases in GHG emissions as a factor in whether to approve or deny a waiver request. The statute limits EPA to only considering whether a new fuel blend will harm emissions control devices, and requires a decision with 270 days of receiving a request to waive the existing fuel blend limits that prohibit the sale of ethanol blends above E10. EPA faces tremendous political pressure to approve the waiver sought by Growth Energy to allow blends of up to E15 in gasoline, including from President Obama, who has stated his support for expanding biofuels and reducing dependence on foreign oil.

Karnack the Magnificent Couldn’t Do Better

Browner: No GHG Law In 2009
Kept in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagner’s porch…..

Carol Browner, President Obama’s climate and energy czar, has said Congress will not pass comprehensive climate legislation this year, likely the most direct statement from the White House on the chances for final passage of a bill in 2009. Browner has stated: “Obviously, we’d like to be through the process, but that’s not going to happen. I think we would all agree the likelihood that you’d have a bill signed by the president on comprehensive energy by the time we go in December is not likely.”

Agriculture

EPA Urges California to Seek GHG Cuts From Agriculture Industry
Agriculture, the new environmental demon. I’ll take my eggs scrambled, easy on the carbon please.

EPA Region IX officials are urging California to overhaul in farming practices to significantly lower GHG emissions. The EPA is concerned that farming operations should be more fully scrutinized in the 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy California’s draft adaptation plan. But agriculture groups are strongly challenging provisions already contained in the draft and likely would vigorously protest the further additions being recommended by the EPA officials and environmentalists. Also, the industry representatives oppose dozens of sections of the report that recommend farmers take actions to reduce GHG emissions, saying these are “mitigation measures” that have no place in a climate change adaptation report.

Climate bill to have 'negligible' farm impact – report
If this is true, why is the agriculture industry all upset?

The climate bill passed by the House this summer will have a "negligible" impact on U.S. farming income, taking a toll far less than that of climate change, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) said in a report released yesterday. The EWG report says cost increases from the climate bill would be "so small they would be lost in the background noise" of farm income fluctuations due to changes in yield, commodity prices and input costs.

Developing Nations

Developing Countries Say Wealthy Nations ‘Conspiring’ to Shift Responsibility for Climate Change
If we screwed it up so badly, why would you want to copy us? Isn’t this a GLOBAL issue?

Developing countries Oct. 5 accused wealthy nations of plotting a “conspiracy” against them, arguing that plans in discussion at the latest round of United Nations-sponsored climate change talks are designed to shift too much responsibility for the changing climate to the developing world. In an impromptu briefing from members of the Group of 77 countries and China, the group reiterated its opposition to any kind of binding commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from poor countries and countries with economies in transition. About a dozen senior delegates from countries in the Group of 77 developing nations walked out of United Nations-sponsored climate change negotiations Oct. 7, protesting proposals that would require all countries to take on binding commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to contribute to a fund aimed at helping the poorest nations to adapt to the changing climate.

How best to reduce carbon

EPA struggles to define best carbon-reducing technologies
Let’s get ready to rumble!!!!!!!

The Clean Air Act permits for new industrial facilities that release more than 25,000 tons of emissions a year would require what's termed "best available control technology" (BACT) to limit their greenhouse gas releases. But with carbon capture and sequestration still years from commercial viability, how BACT will be defined is up in the air. There's no add-on, magic technology widget thingy that controls CO2," said David Bookbinder, the Sierra Club's chief climate counsel. Ultimately, experts agreed, the agency's first pass will be fought in the courts.