[P2P-F] Fwd: The Energy 202: No 'unanimity' on Green New Deal, says key House Democrat

[Michel Bauwens]

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From: Other News <news at other-net.info>
Date: Tue, Feb 12, 2019 at 8:53 PM
Subject: The Energy 202: No 'unanimity' on Green New Deal, says key House
Democrat
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*The Energy 202: No 'unanimity' on Green New Deal, says key House Democrat*

*By  Dino Grandoni / PowerPost*

February 12, 2019 - A pair of prominent Democrats on Thursday released a
sweeping and long-awaited measure outlining what they are calling a “Green
New Deal.” Invoking President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s years-long effort to
drag the country out of the Great Depression, they are calling for nothing
short of a top-to-bottom renovation of the U.S. economy in order to halt
man-made climate change.
Their measure was greeted rapturously by climate activists eager to stop
what they see as a looming threat. Immediately, it had the backing of four
Democratic senators who have launched bids for the 2020 presidential
nomination.
It is still early days for the Green New Deal. But fault lines within the
Democratic caucus were already visible before the end of the day, with some
members urging caution about setting vague and, at times,
impossible-to-achieve goals to only fall short.
And perhaps most importantly, the plan has yet to get the formal backing of
one crucial Democrat: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
"It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive,”
Pelosi told Politico on Wednesday. “The green dream or whatever they call
it, nobody knows what it is, but they’re for it right?”
“There’s not unanimity,” said Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who backs the
Green New Deal proposal and chairs the House Natural Resources Committee.
“I’m sure there’s colleagues that feel that should have been more
prescriptive than it is. And I’m sure there’s colleagues that feel that
we’re providing an issue to the other side.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), whose star only seems to be rising
in the Democratic Party, and Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who led the
Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming when he was in
the House, introduced the measure, a nonbinding resolution, that they say
opens the debate on how to craft tangible legislation on an idea that until
now essentially served as a campaign slogan.
Markey and Ocasio-Cortez are calling for the United States to reduce net
greenhouse gas emissions to zero within 10 years and eliminate
climate-warming pollution from the transportation sector “as much as is
technologically possible."
And they want to do so while checking off a number of other progressive
goals, like increasing access to housing, health care and education for
what they call “frontline” communities, or Americans who are low-income,
indigenous and people of color.
The proposal advanced by the Democrats is still vague, perhaps in a bid to
garner broad support -- Ocasio-Cortez and Markey attracted roughly 60 House
members and nine senators as initial co-sponsors. Endorsements from Sens.
Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)
and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), each of whom are running for president,
signal the Green New Deal will be an ongoing issue in the 2020 election.
Many observers saw Pelosi’s “green dream” comment as dismissive. Before the
end of the day, the satirical newspaper The Onion published a story
headlined: “Nancy Pelosi Signals Support For Environmental Causes By
Placing Green New Deal Directly Into Recycling Bin.”
But proponents of the proposal embraced Pelosi’s language. "I think it is a
green dream,” Ocasio-Cortez said at a press conference rolling out the
Green New Deal. “I don’t consider that to be a dismissive term. I think
it’s a great term.”
And the speaker was more welcoming of the proposal at her own press
conference Thursday morning. “I haven’t seen it," Pelosi said, “but I do
know that it’s enthusiastic and we welcome all the enthusiasms that are out
there.”
Still, Pelosi is charting her own course on climate change with her power
as speaker. On that same morning, Pelosi named the Democratic lawmakers who
will serve on a new select committee on climate change.
She eschewed a request that committee members be required not to take
fossil-fuel money. Green New Deal proponents also wanted the committee to
embrace that term, but Pelosi ended up naming the committee the "House
Select Committee on the Climate Crisis."
"The energy industry is complicated," said select committee member and
Democratic freshman Rep. Sean Casten (Ill.). He has not endorsed the Green
New Deal yet, but of it he added: "The aspiration's beautiful, right? I
want to live in a world that has has green jobs. I want to live in a world
that has an equitable distribution of resources."
Other Democrats expressed more skepticism about slashing carbon emissions
that quickly. “I’m not sure a 10-year goal for carbon-free electricity is
realistic,” said Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses
with the Democrats, adding that he had yet to read the draft. “And I used
to be in the renewable power business," he added, referring to his time as
a wind-energy executive.
King isn’t alone. As the price of wind and solar energy falls due to
technological advances, the share of U.S. electricity from renewable
sources has grown precipitously to 17 percent in 2017. But few experts
think that figure can get to 100 percent anytime soon.
“The idea of an all renewable energy economy by 2030 is just unrealistic,”
said Ernest Moniz, Barack Obama’s energy secretary. “And putting forward
unrealistic goals in my view may impede our progress if it starts to leave
behind key constituencies."
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), the ranking member on the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee said he had not read the plan yet. “They never
shared it with us until today... I just want to bring everybody together.
We have to all settle on the same set of facts."
It’s unclear how Democrats plan to proceed. Green New Deal backers envision
a series of bills and subsequent programs — similar to the New Deal — that
will be taken up by multiple committees and passed over a number of years.
Already in the House, the resolution has the backing of Jim McGovern
(D-Mass.), the head of the Rules Committee, and Grijalva, its Natural
Resources chief.
But other committee heads, like Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone,
Jr. (D-N.J.), who spoke in soaring terms just the day before about
addressing climate change during a House hearing on the subject, stopped
short of a full endorsement.
“When it comes to combating climate change, all options need to be on the
table," he said. “Yesterday, we had our first hearing on climate change,
and that will be the first of many. This plan will be part of our
discussion.”
Ocasio-Cortez and Markey sought to walk a fine line with their proposal in
order to win as much support of it as possible.
To court labor groups, for example, court labor groups, which often worry
about the effect environmental regulations have on job numbers, the
proposal guarantees every American a high-paying job.
It also does not include an outright ban on fossil fuels, which some close
to the bill see as a concession to moderates. Some environmental activists
defend that decision, saying the investments in green energy would make the
ban unnecessary.
“The fossil fuel industry will not transition willingly and on its own to
life-sustaining, renewable practices, because it is determined to trash our
planet for its profit no matter the cost,” said Janet Redman, head of
Greenpeace USA.
The plan also does not explicitly exclude some major forms of low-emissions
electricity as some observers worried it would — mainly, nuclear energy and
hydropower.
“It is an incredibly smart decision to embrace all carbon free technologies
that can help us reach our emissions goals,” said Lindsey Walter, an energy
policy adviser at the center-left think tank Third Way.
Mike DeBonis, Jeff Stein and Paulina Firozi contributed reporting.
More on the select climate committee: In addition to Sean Casten, the new
members will be Democratic Reps. Kathy Castor (Fla.), who will chair the
committee, Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.), Julia Brownley
(Calif.), Jared Huffman (Calif.), Mike Levin (Calif.), A. Donald McEachin
(Va.) and Joe Neguse (Colo.). Republicans have yet to name their members.
Notably missing from the list is Ocasio-Cortez: But she stressed at a news
conference it was "not a snub" since she declined to join it. “I will not
allow our caucus to be divided up by silly notions of whatever narrative.
We are in this together, we are 100 percent in this together,” she said.
About those new climate committee members: The nine Democrats on the
committee received a combined total of $198,000 in donations from the
fossil fuel industry’s political action committees during the midterm
elections, HuffPost reports, citing data from the Center for Responsive
Politics. Luján received the most of the group, at $117,000 from oil, gas,
mining, and utility PACs, which made up 6 percent of the donations he
raised. Levin, who has since signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge,
received $1,500 from a trade group that lobbies for highway gas stations.
Neguse received $1,000, but a spokeswoman for the congressman said he
turned down that donation, and said Neguse plans to take the no fossil fuel
pledge, per the report.
— Remembering John Dingell: John D. Dingell Jr., the longest-serving member
of Congress in U.S. history, died at his home in Dearborn, Mich. at the age
of 92, The Post's Emma Brown writes.  A member of the House from 1955 to
2015, the Democrat chaired the Energy and Commerce Committee several times.
He used to define the jurisdiction of the committee by pointing to a
photograph of Earth taken from space. Dingell co-wrote the Endangered
Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. He also “became one of
conservationists’ prime enemies for his fierce opposition to tightening
fuel-efficiency standards,” Brown writes — so much so that in 2008,
environmental advocate Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) successfully challenged
the Detriot-area representative for the Energy and Commerce chairmanship
and called him “a determined opponent on clean air, climate change and
energy issues.”
— Trump speaks with California governor after threat to cut off fire aid:
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times and other regional newspapers,
the president was asked whether he still believes the government should
restrict federal aid to California over its forest management. Trump didn't
explicitly repeat his threat, the Times reports. “I told my people, I said
we cannot continue to spend billions of dollars, billions and billions of
dollars,” he said, adding: “Forest fires are totally preventable. They
shouldn’t happen.” He described a call with Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) that
followed a tweet last month in which he ordered the Federal Emergency
Management Agency to “send no more money” unless “they get their act
together.” “He was very respectful as to my point of view,” Trump said
about Newsom. “I think he agrees with me. I respect the fact that he
called.”
— New seismic activity in ANWR paused for winter: Interior Department
officials said this week no new seismic testing will occur in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge this winter after questions emerged about how the
surveys would affect local polar pear populations and tundra conditions,
E&E News reports.
The decision was announced at a public meeting in Kaktovik, Alaska. “This
week's disclosure came at a time when regulators are seeking public
comments on Interior's draft environmental impact statement for drilling in
the coastal plain,” per the report. “Interior's decision not to allow
seismic surveys this winter means no new data will be gathered on the
1.6-million-acre coastal plain until the ground refreezes next winter.”
— Another day, another set of rules rolled back: The Trump administration
proposed exempting some lightbulbs from energy efficiency standards,
rolling back Obama-era rules increasing the number of lightbulbs required
to meet the standards set set to take effect next year. “The proposal would
remove three-way bulbs, candle-shaped bulbs used in chandeliers, reflector
bulbs used in recessed lighting, and others from having to comply with the
new efficiency standards,” Reuters reports.
The Energy 202 wrote in August about a document published and later deleted
from the Energy Department’s website signaling the change.
— PG&E’s wildfire woes: The state’s largest utility says it will shut off
power to more areas of service in California during high-risk conditions to
try to prevent deadly wildfires. The plan, which PG&E filed with state
regulators this week, includes expanding tree clearing, strengthening
equipment inspection and installing more weather stations to spot fire risk
early, the Wall Street Journal reports.
— Venezuela watch: As a result of the U.S. sanctions imposed on Venezuelan
oil, there are 21 tankers with 9.6 million barrels of oil that have been
stranded off the U.S. Gulf Coast. “Some buyers had purchased the cargoes
ahead of U.S. sanctions imposed last week, using the vessels as floating
storage,” Reuters reports. “Others weighed how to pay under new rules,
according to traders, shippers and data from Refinitiv Eikon.”
— How climate change is making hurricanes strengthen faster: New research
suggests climate change has made hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean
“considerably worse,” The Post's Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis report. A
trend of rapid intensification — where storms quickly strengthen from
Category 1 to Category 4 or 5 — has emerged in recent years. “Natural
variability cannot explain the magnitude of the observed upward trend,” the
researchers wrote in the study published in Nature Communications. “Rapid
intensification is exceedingly dangerous because people, they’re not warned
adequately, they’re not prepared, many of them don’t evacuate,” Jim Kossin,
study author and a hurricane expert with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, told The Post.
— Heading to Key West soon? Make sure to pack the right sunscreen. The Key
West City Commission voted 6 to 1 this week to ban sunscreens with
oxybenzone and octinoxate, two chemicals shown to harm coral reefs, The
Post’s Lindsey Bever reports.
After Hawaii became the first state to pass a similar ban, Key West voted
to ban the sale of these products in the city starting in January 2021.
Mayor Teri Johnston said she hopes tourists will follow the ban, too. “I
hope it will make consumers more aware and responsible for their actions,”
she told The Post in an interview. She wants people to “flip over their
sunscreens and look at the ingredients and make wise choices for themselves
and their families.”


*By  Dino Grandoni / PowerPost*



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