Washington Post
Nov. 14, 2018
A protest in front of Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) may be a preview of a coming tug-of-war between competing parts of the Democratic coalition as the party readies to retake the House in January. Democrats, new and old, will be debating exactly what they should do with their newfound power to address climate change — and other issues like health care — at a time when Republicans still control the Senate and the White House.
The Democratic House majority will have to decide how best to highlight the climate issue with hearings and probes into the Trump administration's rollback of Obama-era environmental rules meant to address global warming.
But the party's progressives, while acknowledging the realities of Trump's Washington, are agitating for even more aggressive legislation. Among the Sunrise Movement's demands is the creation of a select committee on climate change to spearhead legislation taking the entire nation to 100 percent renewable energy within 10 years while rapidly decarbonizing manufacturing, agriculture and other sectors of the U.S. economy.
More...
Washington Examiner
Nov. 15, 2018
Members of both parties see opportunities in a divided Congress next year for bipartisan action on clean energy development, even if comprehensive legislation meant to combat climate change remains far away.
“My goal is to have a demonstrative body of work to reduce carbon emissions, and not just do messaging bills,” Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told the Washington Examiner. “We have significant opportunities to pass legislation that would help bring down carbon emissions on a bipartisan basis.”
Democrats are eyeing a potential infrastructure package, which President Trump has also emphasized, as a key vehicle to achieve progress on clean energy.
Welch, along with Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., who is expected to lead the Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on environment, outlined provisions they would support in an infrastructure bill.
In particular, they would favor: improving energy efficiency in publicly funded projects; modernizing the electricity grid to accommodate the use of more wind and solar; rebuilding transmission and distribution lines to make them more resilient to severe weather events and wildfires; accelerating the deployment of electric vehicle charging stations; and providing incentives for localities to purchase electric buses.
More…
Law360
Nov. 14, 2018
Congress should act to restore lapsed tax incentives for energy-efficient properties and homes, 41 organizations said in a Wednesday letter to lawmakers.
The groups urged Congress to renew a nonbusiness energy-efficient materials credit, a tax deduction for certain commercial buildings and the energy-efficient home credit as part of the package of so-called tax extenders.
The letter, whose signatories include the Alliance to Save Energy, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute and DuPont, also urged lawmakers to update the language on some provisions to reflect technological advances. Congress should also consider making the incentives permanent to create greater stability and certainty in the industry, the letter said.
Bloomberg Environment
Nov. 8, 2018
Democrats will likely grill the Environmental Protection Agency next year on its implementation of the primary U.S. chemicals law.
Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), will seek the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce’s Environment Subcommittee, which has primary jurisdiction over the Toxic Substances Control Act, a committee aide told Bloomberg Environment Nov. 7.
If elected, Tonko plans to hold a TSCA oversight hearing early next year, the aide said.
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Windpower Engineering & Development
Nov. 9, 2018
The U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross
announced
the appointment of 39 members to the Department’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (REEEAC).
Initially established in 2010, and most recently renewed in June 2018, the REEEAC is composed of senior private sector representatives that provide advice to the Secretary of Commerce on the development and administration of programs and policies to expand the export competitiveness of U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency products and services.
More...
NEW IN CONGRESS
Sponsor: Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA)
Latest Action: Approved;
Reported by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
H. Rept. 115-1028
, Part I.
This bill directs the President to establish the Interagency Council on Extreme Weather
Resilience
, Preparedness, and Risk Identification and Management (council), which shall: (1) establish government-wide goals for extreme weather
resilience
, preparedness, and risk identification and management (EWR); (2) develop, recommend, coordinate, and track implementation of priority interagency federal government actions related to EWR; (3) provide recommendations to the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Department of Homeland Security on how agencies should develop or update agency extreme weather plans, remove barriers to state and local EWR in agency regulations, guidance, and policy, and avoid duplication among federal activities; (4) issue guidance to agencies on developing agency extreme weather plans and agency regulations, guidance, and policies to remove barriers to state and local EWR; and (5) publish biannually an inventory of all regional agency offices, centers, and programs that assist with EWR at the state or local level.
Sponsor: Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Latest Action: Reported to Senate by Co
mmittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. With written
report No. 115-348
.
S. 3265 requires the Secretary of Commerce to undertake certain activities to support waterfront community revitalization and resiliency, and for other purposes.
AGENCY ACTION
Dept. of Energy
Nov. 15, 2018
On October 12, 2018, the Department of Energy (DOE) received a petition from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) asking DOE to initiate notice-and-comment rulemaking to develop a new, unified test procedure for residential furnaces which would replace the three currently required performance metrics (
i.e.,
annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE), fan efficiency ratio (FER), and standby mode/off mode energy consumption (P
W,SB
and P
W,OFF
)) with a single new metric (AFUE2). As the petition acknowledges, a combined metric would necessitate a translation of the existing energy conservation standards applicable to residential furnaces using an appropriate crosswalk. Through this announcement, DOE seeks comment on the petition, as well as any data or information that could be used in DOE's determination whether to proceed with the petition.
Dept. of Energy
Nov. 13, 2018
The Department of Energy (DOE), pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995), intends to extend for three years, an information collection request with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The information collection request, Historic Preservation for Energy Efficiency Programs, was initially approved on December 1, 2010 under OMB Control No. 1910-5155 and expired on September 30, 2015. The reinstatement will allow DOE to continue data collection on the status of the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), the State Energy Program (SEP), and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program
.
The Washington Word will not publish next week. We'll be back Nov. 26. Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!
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