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BIDEN LOOKS TO FARMLAND TO CUT EMISSIONS: Presidential candidate Joe Biden released a “plan for rural America” Tuesday that devotes considerable attention to combating carbon emissions from the agriculture sector, encouraging farmers to participate in the fight against climate change.
The focus on rural America is good politics for Biden, who is seeking to win over blue collar voters in swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio, and succeed in Iowa, the first voting state and a dominant wind producer.
It is also smart climate policy, Democratic advocates say.
The agriculture sector represents 9% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, but is often neglected by policymakers compared to the larger-emitting electricity and transportation sectors.
“As a political matter, engaging rural america in the low carbon economy is a brilliant strategy,” Paul Bledsoe, a former climate change adviser to President Bill Clinton, told me. Bledsoe was also a special assistant to former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in the Clinton administration, where he worked on agricultural issues.
Biden, who is leading in the polls, pledges to “ensure our agricultural sector is the first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions.”
That target is consistent with his broader climate change plan released earlier this summer that seeks to have the U.S. obtain 100% of its energy from clean sources, and achieve net-zero emissions, no later than 2050 — a timeline consistent with goals sought by the United Nations as necessary to avoid the worst harms of climate change.
Storing carbon in soil: Biden’s rural America plan heavily focuses on supporting research into developing emissions-cutting techniques such as soil carbon sequestration, in which carbon is removed from the atmosphere and stored in soil.
“Soil is the next frontier for storing carbon,” Biden says in the plan.
To incentivize soil carbon sequestration, Biden proposes allowing corporations, individuals and other polluters to participate in carbon trading markets. Those entities could offset their emissions by paying into the Conservation Stewardship Program for farmers who sequester carbon. That voluntary program provides financial assistance to farmers who implement conservation techniques.
“The Biden team is capitalizing on the revenue streams farmers can tap into with emissions reductions,” Bledsoe said. “The revenue opportunities related to climate change are really just emerging in the farm economy and Iowa is on the cutting edge.”
A focus on new biofuels: Biden also seeks to invest in research to develop the “next generation” of biofuels.
Like many environmentalists, he wants to see the government move to cleaner and more sustainable second-generation biofuels that don’t tax farm land as much as corn ethanol does. He specifically references boosting research into cellulosic biofuels, which are derived from crop waste and not corn.
“Doubling down on these liquid fuels of the future will not only make value-added agriculture a key part of the solution to climate change – reducing emissions in planes, ships, and other forms of transportation – but will also create quality jobs across rural America,” the Biden plan says.
The ‘rural America’ plan also includes investments in wind and solar development, and green infrastructure to provide rural regions access to markets.
How Biden plan stacks up: To be sure, Biden is not the first Democratic presidential contender to promote emissions-cutting in agriculture. South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke each spoke of supporting sequestration of carbon in soil in the first Democratic debates. The progressive group Data for Progress, which is grading candidates’ climate change platforms, has given high marks to Biden and O’Rourke, along with Michael Bennet, Tulsi Gabbard, and Jay Inslee, for their devotion to sustainable farming and carbon storage in soil.
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TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BOOTING 84% OF BLM’S STAFF OUT OF DC NEXT YEAR: The Trump administration is shifting most of the Bureau of Land Management’s personnel in its Washington, D.C. headquarters out west by the end of next year.
Joe Balash, assistant secretary of the Interior Department, sent a 17-page letter to lawmakers on Tuesday outlining the reorganization. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt confirmed the plans in a statement, saying moving staff to western states, where most federal lands are located, “is not only a better management system, it is beneficial to the interest of the American public in these communities, cities, counties, and states.”
Over 80% of the agency’s D.C. staff will be relocated to further west to states such as Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.
Twenty-seven management positions will be moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, to build a second agency headquarters. Dozens of other employees will begin reporting to state managers instead of officials in Washington, D.C.
BLM employees pushed back against the plan in a briefing given by department heads on Tuesday, according to the Washington Post. Several employees raised questions on the impact on families that have other ties to the Washington area, such as a spouse with another career.
While Republican lawmakers in western states complimented the move, Democrats criticized the plan.
“This administration has been handing over public lands to fossil fuel companies at record speed, and this move is part of that agenda,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona.
TRUMP’S FOSSIL FUEL LEASES ON FEDERAL LANDS ACCELERATE EMISSIONS: The development of oil and gas leases issued by the Trump administration on federal lands could produce carbon emissions ranging from 854 million and 4.7 billion metric tons.
That projection, released Tuesday by The Wilderness Society, includes emissions resulting from extraction and end use of the fossil fuels. The emissions range does not include methane, a short-lived potent greenhouse gas that is the main component of natural gas.
If methane were included, emissions from the development of oil and gas leases on federal lands could be as high as 5.2 billion metric tons.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has offered close to 378 million acres of public lands and waters for oil and gas leasing from January 2017 through April 2019, more acreage than any other administration in history, the Wilderness Society said.
Currently, nearly a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from energy production on federal lands. A number of Democratic presidential candidates have proposed banning the issuance of new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY TO ALLOW LESS EFFICIENT DISHWASHERS: Energy Secretary Rick Perry approved a petition from the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute to create a new class of less efficient dishwashers.
The Energy Department published the action Wednesday in the Federal Register. It is expected to be challenged in court by advocacy groups arguing the agency is not fulfilling the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which established an energy conservation program for consumer products.
The agency has also weakened efficiency rules on specialty lightbulbs, furnaces and other appliances.
“It’s outrageous to see the Trump Administration rewarding elitist right-wing think tanks by granting their energy efficiency rollback petitions,” said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey. “This announcement penalizes both the innovators giving us better, more efficient appliances and the consumers who use them.”
SUPREME COURT JUSTICE STEVENS REMEMBERED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL LEGACY: Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who died late Tuesday at the age of 99, was remembered for his environmental law legacy.
Stevens, a liberal, wrote the 5-4 decision in the 2007 case Massachusetts v. EPA giving the Environmental Protection Agency the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. He also delivered the majority opinion in the 1984 case Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which created the precedent that courts defer to executive branch agencies in deciding how to interpret ambiguous statutes. This gives more leeway to agencies like the EPA for writing regulations to reduce carbon emissions.
“Justice John Paul Stevens was one of the great environmental heroes of the last century,” said Inslee, the presidential candidate and governor of Washington. “His decisions formed the bedrock of America’s environmental laws, and his impact on the environment will be felt for generations to come.”
FERC APPROVES EXPANSION OF LNG FACILITY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved late Tuesday the expansion of an existing liquified natural gas facility in Mississippi.
The approval for the Gulf LNG facility by a 3-1 vote was FERC’s fifth approval of an LNG export facility this year, as the agency has responded to a backlog of applications.
“This is big news for the US & our allies,” said FERC Chairman Neal Chatterjee, a Republican, in a Twitter post. “Today’s approval of #GulfLNG is significant for the economy & America’s geopolitical interests.”
Democratic Commissioner Richard Glick opposed the Gulf LNG expansion, arguing like he has in rejecting previous LNG permits that FERC is failing to thoroughly address the climate change effects of approving export facilities. Cheryl LaFleur, a Democrat retiring next month, sided with Republicans in approving the permit, despite her reservations about the commission’s review of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Rundown
Wall Street Journal US lobbies oil buyers and producers to secure Gulf against Iranian threat
Associated Press Nuclear commission considers fewer inspections
Los Angeles Times Los Angeles is finally ditching coal — and replacing it with another polluting fuel
Bloomberg ConEd sheds some light on why NYC was thrown into darkness
Calendar
WEDNESDAY | July 17
10 a.m., 406 Dirksen. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee holds a hearing entitled, “Electric Battery Production and Waste: Opportunities and Challenges.”
THURSDAY | July 18
8:45 a.m., 1616 Rhode Island Avenue NW. The Center for Strategic and International Studies holds a conference on “Energy Investment and Infrastructure in Asia.” Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo. and Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Frank Fannon address the event.
10 a.m., 366 Dirksen. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing to examine opportunities to increase water storage and conservation through rehabilitation and development of water supply infrastructure, and to receive testimony on a number of bills.
