Climate Politics

Salazar taps Clinton's deputy secretary as his own, and other Interior news

Clinton-era deputy interior secretary David Hayes has been tapped to reprise that role in the Obama administration, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced on Thursday. Hayes led Obama's transition efforts for the Interior Department as well as the EPA, USDA, and the Energy Department.

Hayes is a partner at the law firm and lobby shop Latham & Watkins, where he is the "global chair" of the Environment, Land & Resources Department. From that post, he lobbied on behalf of Sempra Energy in 2006.

He is currently a senior fellow at the World Wildlife Fund, a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, and vice chair of the board at American Rivers. Hayes has also served as chair of the board of the Environmental Law Institute.

In other Interior news, Salazar met with department employees on Thursday to talk about his plans for the agency. "We will ensure Interior Department decisions are based on sound science and the public interest and not special interests," he said.

Sen. Corker criticizes USCAP climate plan

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) has circulated a letter critical of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (see here) [PDF]:

It appears their blueprint promotes many of the same problematic provisions that have plagued cap-and-trade bills in the past.

Duh! He writes:

I believe that we should auction a vast majority -- if not all -- of the allowances and send 100 percent of those revenues back to consumers

Well, I'd probably send 60 percent to 80 percent back, at least at first, rising eventually to 80 percent to 90 percent. No need to give money back to the Warren Buffets, whereas you do need some money, at least in the first decade, for heavily impacted industries, worker transition, cleantech R&D, and the like.

I am also opposed to the inclusion of international and domestic offsets as proposed by various cap-and-trade proponents and last year's legislation. Such provisions compromise the strength of the market system and call into question the integrity of emission reductions. Offsets are created when projects or activities reduce emissions from a source not regulated under a cap-and-trade program (e.g. capturing methane from a landfill). The use of offset projects is another big problem with the EU system that we should avoid. There are serious questions about the integrity of many of these projects, and it is difficult to determine whether these projects would have occurred anyway, regardless of the project developers' incentive to make money off their reductions. A workable cap-and-trade system must be simple and direct. International and domestic offsets with complicated diminish the effectiveness of such a program.

Can't argue with that! Nor is this new stuff from him (see here) -- so I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he isn't saying this as a way to set up the bill for failure or at least for him to vote against the final bill, which will inevitably have some rip-offsets.

Greenwire printed that letter in its article on "Pelosi sees cap-and-trade floor debate this year" ($ub. req'd, reprinted below). I think it would be a mistake to have the House floor debate prematurely since we can almost certainly get a stronger bill next year -- but only if the Administration does the necessary foundation-building this year (see here -- Parts 2 and 3 will elaborate on this next week).

Pelosi does leave open the possibility of a floor vote at the end of the year, before Copenhagen, which may be the best compromise, since the House can probably pass a stronger bill than the Senate:

Barrasso reportedly abandons opposition to Jackson appointment

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) has consented to forward movement on the confirmation of Lisa Jackson, Obama's nominee for EPA administrator, a spokesperson for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee tells Grist. The Senate is now likely to confirm Jackson this evening.

"It's our understanding that she has cleared any objections and she should be able to be confirmed later today," said the spokesperson. "It should not be a further problem."

Barrasso had been holding up the process over concerns that White House energy and climate adviser Carol Browner might interfere with the EPA's work. Barrasso has now spoken with about Browner about her role in the new administration, according to the committee spokesperson, and apparently his concerns have been resolved.

UPDATE: TPM is reporting that it may be some other Senate Republican holding up the confirmation, not Barrasso or climate change skeptic James Inhofe (R-Okla.). We're keeping an eye on Senate action to see what transpires tonight.

House speaker now says she wants a climate bill passed by December

Backtracking on comments made earlier this month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) now says she intends to schedule a vote on a climate bill before December, when world leaders are slated to meet in Copenhagen to hammer out a successor to the Kyoto climate pact.

Speaking to Bay Area reporters on Wednesday, Pelosi said she intends to have a cap-and-trade bill passed before the U.N.-sponsored summit, according to a report in today's San Francisco Chronicle. The legislation, she said, would help bring in funds to support other green initiatives.

"I believe we have to because we see that as a source of revenue," she said. "Cap-and-trade is there for a reason. You cap and you trade so you can pay for some of these investments in energy independence and renewables."

The collective environmental movement nearly had a melt down a few weeks ago when Pelosi said that while she has the votes to pass a climate bill in the House, it might not happen in 2009.

"I'm not sure this year, because I don't know if we'll be ready," Pelosi said in a press conference on Jan. 6. "We won't go before we're ready."

Henry Waxman (D-Calif), whose Energy and Commerce Committee is likely to lead any House action on climate legislation, said last week that he intends to have a climate bill ready by Memorial Day.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso delays confirmation of EPA chief

Senate confirmation of President Barack Obama's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson, has been delayed, and it's not clear when we might see movement.

No senators are publicly questioning Jackson's qualifications, but Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy.) has raised concerns that Obama's climate and energy adviser, Carol Browner, might exert too much control over the EPA. Browner's position is a new one that doesn't require Senate confirmation.

Barrasso's spokesperson tells the Washington Wire blog that the senator asked for Jackson's name to be taken off a list of cabinet nominees slated for expedited consideration. Barrasso wants more time to review confirmation-hearing transcripts and Jackson's written answers to questions the senator posed.

Democrats had wanted to wrap up this confirmation swiftly, so they skipped a vote in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and tried to get a full Senate vote. On Thursday afternoon, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) moved on the Senate floor to unanimously confirm both Jackson and Nancy Sutley, the nominee to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality, but Senate Republicans objected.

Last week, at Jackson's confirmation hearing before the Environment and Public Works Committee, Barrasso asked, "Who will ultimately make final EPA decisions?"

Gore to bring climate message to Senate next Wednesday

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) promised last week that his first hearing as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would be on climate change. Today he announced that the key witness at that hearing, to be held on Jan. 28, will be the environmental policy lobby's mega-star -- the one and only Al Gore:

"My friend and former Senate colleague Al Gore is one of this nation's leading authorities on the subject of climate change, and we are honored that he has agreed to appear before the Committee," Kerry said in a statement.

"Al Gore has been sounding the alarm on climate change for over three decades, and he understands the urgent need for American engagement and leadership on this issue. America must act decisively in order for the nations of the world to reach agreement on a climate change treaty at the December 2009 meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark. The timeline is short for us to respond to the threat of climate change, and this hearing will examine what America must do to lead the world in crafting a truly global solution."

Transportation Secretary appointee LaHood appears before Senate panel

Former Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), Obama's pick for Secretary of Transportation, on Wednesday didn't reveal much about how he will handle his new job when he appeared before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, but he did make the explicit connection between transportation issues and climate change and sustainability.

"We must acknowledge the new reality of climate change. This has implications in all areas," LaHood told the senators. "The inner-city, rail and mass-transit funding in the economic recovery plan are a part of the equation, but only a part."

LaHood said there will be four focus areas for his work: safety, the economy, sustainability and livability. Transportation programs should be designed to create jobs and improve the lives and safety of citizens he said, and there must be an eye toward the long-term needs of the country.

"Sustainability must permeate all we do, from highways and transit to aviation and ports. President Obama is committed to this principle, and so am I," he said.

LaHood said that raising automobile fuel efficiency standards will be "one way for us to really overcome some of the pollution that exists around the country." Tighter standards, he said, should "be a part of the overall plan here to eliminate pollution, the greening of America, and getting the American car manufacturers in the game here with the reality that they need to be producing American cars that get much better standards."

Asked about his support for Amtrak, LaHood pledged to work with Congress to implement the funding bill that approved last year. "I think it's the way forward to get us as comprehensive as we can an Amtrak system in this country," said LaHood. "During my 14 years in Congress, in the House, I had been a strong supporter of Amtrak. It's the lifeblood for many, many communities around the country, and I will work with all of you to implement the Amtrak bill. I think it's a good bill."

He was also asked for his ideas on how to replenish the Highway Trust Fund, which was has been nearly depleted as a spike in gas prices through much of 2008 prompted Americans to drive less. He mentioned putting tolls on new highways and new lanes, and on bridges, as possible solutions, and said that relying on a gas tax will not be enough.

"We need to think about these things differently than just the gasoline tax," said LaHood. "We know that Amtrak ridership is still way up even though gasoline prices have come down. We know, in places like Chicago, that people are still using a lot of mass transit even though gasoline prices have come down."

"People are still going to drive, but the resources to pay for it, through the Trust Fund, is a dinosaur, if you'll excuse the expression," continued LaHood. "It was developed when Eisenhower and the Congress came up with the idea of developing an interstate system. We've come far afield of that now."

What the Obama presidency means

For several days I've been pondering how to write something interesting or insightful about Obama and What It All Means -- something that hasn't been written a hundred other places. (The internets are choked with Obama-related profundity right now.)

In the end, though, profundity is not what's needed. Obama did plenty of that on the trail, and the very fact of his ascension to office speaks for itself.

Instead, what's called for is some bluntness. The Obama presidency is in a political vise grip, squeezed between two facts:

1. The dire situation described by the fourth IPCC report is, by all indications, an underestimate. We are careening toward catastrophe, and to avoid it we'll likely have to virtually eliminate U.S. carbon emissions by 2050, while also engineering a whole range of difficult international agreements. If we don't, it's not exaggerating to say that unprecedented human misery will result, potentially putting at risk the very preconditions of human civilization.


2. There is nothing close to the public or political support necessary to pass the kind of sweeping policies necessary to eliminate America's emissions. The U.S. political class, to say nothing of the public, is nowhere near understanding or internalizing the implications of fact No. 1. By and large climate change is still viewed as a nagging, marginal, far-off problem to be addressed to the extent (and only to the extent) that it doesn't cause any economic dislocation.

This is just another way of rephrasing Gore's famous warning that the politically possible falls well short of what's necessary. The politically possible has moved forward considerably with Obama taking office, Pelosi running the House, Waxman running the Energy Committee, Markey running the Energy Subcommittee, and competent professionals in charge of executive branch agencies. But it is still far, far short. Even many people in the green world don't really get the existential urgency involved.

Over the next four/eight years, Obama (with help from many others) will bridge that gap, and we'll have a shot at a prosperous green future. Or he won't, and our children and grandchildren will inherit a world filled with unthinkable suffering.

That's it.

Obama halts Bush's final rules

In one of his first acts, President Barack Obama, through his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, "ordered a halt to all pending federal regulations until the new White House team conducts a legal and policy review of the last-minute Bush administration rules," E&E Daily reports ($ub. req'd).

It also turns out that Congress, with simply majorities, can toss any rule within 60 legislative days -- and that goes as far back as "May or June 2008."

Regulation junkies -- you know who you are -- can read Emanuel's memo here [PDF].

Reports E&E Daily:

Rahm Emanuel's memo could lead to the reversal of dozens of energy and environmental measures advanced in Bush's waning days, including standards addressing mountaintop mining, air pollution permits, logging in the West, an exemption for factory farms from Superfund reporting requirements and endangered species.

The story concludes with background and more details:

State leaders urge Obama administration to act quickly on emissions waiver

Top California officials are already lobbying the Obama administration to approve the state's aggressive emissions program, a lobbying effort that began even as the president's pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency has yet to receive Senate confirmation.

California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols today sent a letter to EPA Administrator-designate Lisa Jackson pleading the state's case to move forward with its tailpipe emissions rules. The Bush administration in December 2007 turned down the request, and ever since then California's leaders (and officials from 13 other states that also want to pursue standards tougher than the federal rules) have been pleading their case. The plan is aimed at achieving a 30 percent reduction in vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions by 2016.

"We feel strongly that under its new leadership, EPA will recognize that the decision made by the former administrator to deny California the waiver to enforce our clean car law was flawed, factually and legally, in fundamental ways," said Nichols in her letter [PDF].

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) also sent a letter today on the subject, addressing his to President Obama.

"Your administration has a unique opportunity to both support the pioneering leadership of these states and move America toward global leadership on addressing climate change," wrote Schwarzenegger. "I ask that you direct the U.S. EPA to act promptly and favorably on California's reconsideration request so that we may continue the critical work of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and their impact on global climate change."

In her confirmation hearing last week, Jackson said she would reconsider their request. Obama promised on the campaign trail to urge approval of the waiver.