New Weekly Update from the Northeast-Midwest Institute (November 30)

W E E K L Y U P D A T E November 30, 2020

In this Week's Issue:

Senate Releases FY21 Appropriations Bills

Michigan Acts to Shut Down Line 5 Pipeline in Great Lakes

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Congress Returns for Final Weeks of 2020

This week Congress returns to resume and finish its lame duck session which will conclude the 116^th Congress. Key items remaining on the agenda include legislation wrapping up the fiscal year 2021 spending cycle and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Additionally, Congress could also consider COVID-19 relief legislation, however it seems more likely that a larger relief bill will have to wait until the start of the 117^th Congress.

The Senate is set to reconvene today and begin considering judicial nominations, while the House is scheduled to return for votes on Wednesday. The House will begin deciding on several key committee chairs for the new Congress, including a new Appropriations chair, with the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee set to begin hearing from potential candidates.

While the lame duck session is scheduled to go through Friday, December 11, if Congress can finish the FY2021 appropriations bills (likely through a large omnibus bill) and the NDAA, it could adjourn earlier than that for the remainder of the year.

House To Consider Great Lakes Mapping Bill

The House of Representatives is scheduled to take up S. 1342, a bill that would update the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps in the Great Lakes.

The bi-partisan legislation sponsored by Senators Gary C. Peters (D-MI) and Todd Young (R-IN), and in the House by Representatives Dan Kildee (MI-05), Bill Huizenga (MI-02), Debbie Dingell (MI-12) and David Joyce (OH-14), would require the Great Lakes Region Environmental Sensitivity Index maps to be updated for the first time in over two decades, joining maps for the East coast, West coast, and Gulf coast that have been updated more recently. It would additionally require periodic Great Lakes mapping updates.

New ESI maps will provide more accurate assessments of coastal resources that are at risk of damage from an emergency or a natural disaster. The maps are vital to disaster planning and recovery, research, and restoration efforts. The bill was passed in the Senate by unanimous consent on November 16, and will be considered by the House on December 2 under the Suspension of the Rules Calendar, which is typically reserved for non-controversial bills.

Senate Agriculture Committee To Hold Hearing on Wednesday

The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will hold a full committee hearing on agricultural research and the security of the United States food supply this Wednesday, December 2, at 2:30 p.m.

Attendees at the hearing will include Amy France of National Sorghum Producers, Marienthal, Kansas; Dan Glickman, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute in Washington D.C.; Dr. Stephen Higgs, Biosecurity Research Institute and Associate Vice President for Research at Kansas State University; and Dr. Steven Rosenzweig. Senior Agricultural Scientist for General Mills, Golden Valley, Minnesota.

The hearing will be in G50 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., and can be viewed virtually here:

House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Amtrak Issues

A hearing before the House subcommittee for Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials and Amtrak on November 18 heard testimony from Amtrak and the Association of American Railroads (AAR). The hearing was chaired by Representative Peter DeFazio.

Mr. Stephen Gardner, Amtrak's Senior Executive Vice President, represented Amtrak's perspective regarding the lower priority given to passenger rail transit vis-à-vis freight across the United States. The issue that Amtrak brought to the subcommittee consisted of their company constantly running into delays and other issues due to freight trains having priority over the passenger railway system. Amtrak argued that they should have equal priority with freight in the railway system. Amtrak also argued that it desperately needs to regain customers because COVID-19 has caused it to suffer major financial losses since March.

CESA Presents Webinar on Carbon Tax as a Strategy for Achieving 100% Clean Energy

The Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) hosted a webinar on Wednesday, November 18, on "Should a Carbon Tax Be Part of the Strategy for Achieving 100% Clean Energy?" CESA is a national, nonprofit coalition of public agencies and organizations working towards the advancement of clean energy practices.

Warren Leon, Executive Director of Clean Energy States Alliance, was the moderator of the webinar that included Gilbert Metcalf, the John DiBiaggio Professor of Citizenship and Public Service and Professor of Economics at Tufts University. Metcalf explained why economists believe a carbon tax is an efficient mechanism for addressing climate change and how it can contribute to economic growth while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The best strategy for a cost-effective way to reduce emissions, Metcalf stated, is by means of regulation, with the least expensive way to reduce emissions by a given amount being the regulation of businesses. But he noted that there are political risks that come with regulation. An alternate option that he cited is to employ subsidies for clean energy since subsidies lower the overall energy price and price emissions. Metcalf explained that a popular approach to developing a carbon tax is called intensity standards, where "policies mandate a certain minimum percentage of a given input combine a subsidy on the favored input and a tax on the disfavored input."

There are different strategies and plans that can achieve 100% clean energy but each route comes with a cost. Some key factors that will go into the development of this carbon tax. Metcalf explained, are that there will need to be major investments in "storage technologies, new zero-carbon technologies, climate resilience investments, regulations for hard to tax sectors, and bringing down barriers to interstate transmission lines and other network barriers".

Metcalf also noted that the Biden administration is expected to move aggressively to address climate change. Carbon pricing does have some bipartisan support, but the longer the country waits, the more expensive it will be to decarbonize the economy and achieve 100% clean energy goals.

To listen to the recording of this webinar, click here.

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