Obama Could Unveil Climate Strategy with Clean Air Act Tie Soon

Potential regulatory tools under the Clean Air Act--beyond the greenhouse gas rules--could accelerate development and deployment of potentially game-changing clean air and energy technologies to reduce emissions in the nation's key industrial sectors.
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The Obama administration could soon make an announcement detailing plans to address climate change, even in the face of continuing political barriers to progress on the issue. Unnamed administration officials pointed to July for the rollout, while an Administration aide was more vague.

"In the coming weeks and months, you can expect to hear more from the president on this issue," White House environment and energy adviser Heather Zichal said at an environmental forum June 11. Though timing and details are still in flux, Zichal said the plan will expand on the administration's efforts to permit more renewable energy on public land and to promote energy efficiency. A central part of the administration's approach to deal with climate change, Zichal noted, would be to use the authority given to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address greenhouse gases from power plants under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA missed an April deadline to release final rules to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants under the act and has shared no details about its plan for the rules since. Speculation about the public release of a climate strategy did delay the filing of a lawsuit against the EPA for that missed deadline; filers pledged to "wait to see" if Obama releases a plan in the coming weeks.

If the plan includes final rules for new fossil fuel-fired power plants, known as the new source performance standard, those rules will prompt a Clean Air Act provision--section 111 (d)--requiring the EPA and state governments to regulate greenhouse gases from existing fossil fuel-fired power plants. The White House has signaled that new rules securing reductions from existing power plants are likely to be part of its strategy. A new report by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy outlines some of the key considerations that are likely to arise if energy efficiency is included as an option for states needing to secure reductions from existing sources. It explores how incorporation of energy efficiency into past state air quality programs can inform federal and state environmental regulators as they evaluate these section 111(d) issues.

A second analysis by the Nicholas Institute identifies how potential regulatory tools under the Clean Air Act--beyond the greenhouse gas rules--could accelerate development and deployment of potentially game-changing clean air and energy technologies to reduce emissions in the nation's key industrial sectors.

Holding Pattern Continues for McCarthy

The timing of Obama's climate plan could complicate the nomination of Gina McCarthy, Obama's pick to replace former administrator Lisa Jackson as head of the EPA. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced last month that McCarthy's nomination would be delayed until July.

The Senate Environment and Public Works panel backed McCarthy a month ago in a party line vote. The nomination remains in a holding pattern as a result of continued opposition by Republicans and urgings to release data the EPA uses to design air pollution regulations.

U.S. Tax Code Has Minimal Effect on Carbon Dioxide, Other GHG Emissions

Current federal tax provisions have minimal net effect on greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report from the National Academies of Science. The report, which evaluates how key elements of the current tax code affect the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, finds that several existing tax subsidies have unexpected effects, and others yield little reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per dollar of revenue loss (subscription).

Climate Commitment Renewed at G8 Summit

While the crisis in Syria and the economic downturn pushed climate change out of the spotlight at the G8 Summit, it was highlighted in a communiqué released following the close of the talks. G8 leaders dedicated a page to climate change--noting that it is "one of the foremost challenges for our future economic growth and well-being."

The statement acknowledges "grave concern" the leaders have regarding failure to make deep emissions cuts and includes support for UNFCCC's efforts to deliver a new global treaty to curb greenhouse gases in 2015 with a more ambitious framework than is currently in place.

"We remain strongly committed to addressing the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly by 2020 and to pursue our low-carbon path afterwards, with a view to doing our part to limit effectively the increase in global temperature below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, consistent with science," the statement reads. "We also note with grave concern the gap between current country pledges and what is needed, and will work towards increasing mitigation ambition in the period to 2020."

The Climate Post offers a rundown of the week in climate and energy news. It is produced each Thursday by Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

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