WRAP UP

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
10/4/13

IN CONGRESS

Republican leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee called on the heads of five government agencies to brief committee staff on recent changes to the Obama Administration’s internal social cost of carbon (SCC) estimates. In a letter to the heads of the Departments of Energy, Agriculture, Commerce, Treasury and the Environmental Protection Agency last week, the committee leaders also asked about the extent of each agency’s participation in the working group that oversaw the changes, which were quietly tucked into DOE microwave oven efficiency standards earlier this spring. “The implications of quantifying future impacts raises serious questions about how federal agencies are developing these estimates to advance rulemaking,” the GOP committee leaders, which included Chairman Fred Upton (Mich.) and subcommittee Chairmen Ed Whitfield (Ky.) and Tim Murphy (Pa.), wrote in the letter. Republicans and groups representing high-emitting industries have banded together in recent months to oppose the SCC changes on the grounds that the government did not release the standards—which calculate the future social and economic costs associated with emitting a tonne of carbon—for public comment before releasing them. The House passed a bill last month that would bar EPA from using the SCC estimates until Congress reviews the issue.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is set to vote on Elizabeth Robinson’s nomination to be Under Secretary of Energy for Management and Performance next week. The Committee scheduled a business meeting for Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. to vote on the nomination. Robinson breezed through her confirmation hearing before the panel last month. The Under Secretary position, created as part of a DOE reorganization announced in July, oversees the Department’s offices of Environmental Management and Legacy Management, as well as several other support offices. Robinson currently serves as NASA’s Chief Financial Officer, and has also previously held positions at the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office, among others.

IN EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency said it plans to hold 11 public listening sessions over the next several weeks to solicit input about upcoming carbon emissions standards for existing power plants. The agency said the meetings would be held in various cities across the country between Oct. 15 and Nov. 7. “The feedback from these 11 public listening sessions will play an important role in helping EPA develop smart, cost-effective guidelines that reflect the latest and best information available,” EPA said. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy announced that the agency was kicking off the stakeholder outreach projects late last month while unveiling similar emissions standards for future power plants. In remarks in recent weeks, she has indicated that such standards would be substantially different from the new source standards and that EPA guidance would not mandate the use of carbon capture and storage technology. Under the President’s climate plan, EPA is required to propose the standards in June 2014 and finalize them a year later.

IN DOE

The Department of Energy issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement earlier this week soliciting universities, national labs, nonprofits and others to apply to host a new batch of Energy Frontier Research Centers. The Sept. 30 FOA announced a proposed $100 million in Fiscal Year 2014 funding for a second round of EFRCs, which were first created in 2009 as a way to lay the scientific groundwork for advances in renewable energy, energy efficiency, CCS, electricity storage and transmission and other types of energy. The first batch of 46 EFRCs was funded with five-year grants beginning in 2009. DOE said both former EFRCs and new partnerships could apply for the five-year awards, which will average $2-$4 million annually for each center. “This funding will help fuel innovative solutions as we move toward next generation energy systems,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a Sept. 30 statement. Mandatory Letters of Intent are due by Nov. 13, according to the notice, and full applications must be submitted by Jan. 9, 2014.