Tamar Hallerman and Lindsay Kalter
GHG Monitor
3/22/13
IN CONGRESS
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee reported Sally Jewell’s nomination for Interior Secretary this week on a 19-3 vote. The vote came March 21, six weeks after President Obama nominated the chief executive of outdoor equipment retailer Recreational Equipment Inc. to lead the Department of Interior. Jewell won early support from a diverse group of stakeholders including environmentalists and some energy producers given her experience in the oil industry and personal outdoor conservation efforts. However, Jewell’s candidacy hit a snag after the Committee’s Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) threatened to hold the nomination until the Interior Department agreed to reexamine a preliminary decision not to allow a road to be built through Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Murkowski and other supporters said the road is needed to connect the remote village King Cove to an all-weather airport to access emergency medical services. But in the hours before the vote on Jewell’s nomination this week, Murkowski said DOI agreed to reassess the King Cove decision. Jewell’s nomination now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to hold a confirmation hearing to consider the Obama Administration’s pick for Energy Secretary, Ernest Moniz, in early April. The hearing is set to be held on April 9 beginning at 10 a.m. Moniz is currently a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as director of the MIT Energy Initiative. He would replace Steven Chu, who has voiced his intent to not serve as Secretary of Energy in President Obama’s second term, though Chu did say he would stay on at DOE until a successor is confirmed. Moniz will likely be questioned about his previous support of natural gas, nuclear and carbon capture and storage, which has unsettled some environmentalists.
IN THE STATES
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said this week that the city will eliminate its use of coal for electricity by 2025. The announcement came after the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) voted to negotiate with Salt River Project (SRP) on the Navajo Generating Station, a 477 MW coal plant. The negotiations will move toward an agreement that would end the city’s use of coal-fired power from the plant by the end of 2015. SRP has been negotiating with LADWP to purchase the utility’s 21 percent stake in the power plant, which requires upgrades under Environmental Protection Agency regulations. “The era of coal is over. Today we affirm our commitment to make Los Angeles a cleaner, greener, more sustainable city," said Mayor Villaraigosa in a press release. "By divesting from coal and investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency, we reduce our carbon footprint and set a precedent for the national power market." Former Vice President Al Gore Al Gore will visit Los Angeles this week to tout the city’s coal-free plan. “Mayor Villaraigosa’s decision to end Los Angeles’ reliance on dirty coal and guide the city to a more sustainable future is a bold step on the path towards solving the climate crisis,” Gore said in a statement.
IN THE INDUSTRY
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) filed a lawsuit Friday in federal appeals court challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s tighter restrictions on fine particulate matter, according to The Hill. Issued in December, EPA’s rule tightens the standard for annual soot exposure from 15 micrograms per cubic meter to 12. The rule gives communities until the end of the decade to reduce fine particulate emissions, which will prevent some industries from expanding their operations. Manufacturing entities and lawmakers have called the regulations a potential detriment to the economy, possibly leading to job losses. The tighter regulation of soot exposure, which comes from sources including wood-burning and diesel vehicles, came at the heels of a 2009 U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that mandated EPA to rewrite its 1997 standards. According to The Hill, NAM must submit a statement of issues by April 17.
ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT
The Edinburgh-based Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage and the Korean Carbon Capture and Sequestration R&D Center signed a memorandum of understanding to develop “cutting-edge technologies for reducing CO2 emissions from power generation and industry.” The two research groups announced the three-year MOU earlier this week and said it would push for joint research, knowledge sharing and training opportunities for CCS between the United Kingdom and South Korea. SCCS said this is the second time the two countries have collaborated on CCS. In late 2011, researchers from the University of Edinburgh and Yonsei University started a three-year joint project to design an advanced coal gasification process, SCCS said.
