Weekley Climate Change Policy Update - April 13, 2009

Article by Kyle Danish, Shelley Fidler, Kevin

Gallagher, Megan Ceronsky and Tomás

Carbonell

To receive the Weekly Update via email, visit our Sign

Up/Subscribe page

http://www.vnf.com/news-signup.html

Commentary

This week provides news that officials from the Obama

Administration are reaching out to Democratic Senators comprising

the moderate "Gang of 16." It is perhaps not a

coincidence that there is also news this week that the President

continues to make small steps away from his absolute 100%-auction

position on distributing allowances . . . The Bonn international

negotiating sessions closed, as expected, without a major

breakthrough. However, negotiators continue to discuss formulations

by which key developing countries could adopt some pathway to

emission limits . . . Rep. Doyle of Pennsylvania, a key moderate

Democrat on the Subcommittee on Energy & Environment, predicts

that deliberations on the Waxman-Markey bill will focus on

renewable electricity standards, emission targets, and allowance

allocation . . . State officials from California and the RGGI

states assert that they are OK with the Waxman-Markey draft's

preemption provisions.

Executive Branch

Administration Negotiating Allowance Allocations With

Congressional Leadership. The White House has engaged

Congressional leaders in a discussion of how emission allowances

should be allocated in a cap-and-trade program, a critical issue

left unaddressed in the Waxman-Markey draft climate legislation

released last week. Joe Aldy, an aide in the Executive Office of

the President, stated that using allowance revenues to assist

"vulnerable households and communities and businesses"

was a Presidential priority in these negotiations. Aldy also noted

that the White House had "reached out" over the last few

weeks to the moderate Senate Democrats known as the "Gang of

16," whose votes would be crucial in overcoming an anticipated

Republican filibuster of climate legislation. Separately, White

House science advisor John Holdren indicated that President Obama

would consider compromising on his original proposal to fully

auction all allowances under a cap-and-trade program.

President Says Developed Countries Must Lead on Climate

Change. During a town hall meeting in Strasbourg, France,

President Obama said that "the effects of climate change are

now in plain sight" and that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

are "slowly killing our planet." Although the President

urged major countries including China and India to "do

more" to curb GHG emissions, he emphasized that developed

countries such as the United States have the responsibility to take

the lead. The President said: "You cannot expect poor

countries, or relatively poor countries, to be partners with us on

climate change if we are not taking the lead, given that our carbon

footprint is many times more than theirs per capita."

Administration Nominations and Appointments.

President Obama nominated Charles Hurley, the CEO of Mothers

Against Drunk Driving, to serve as Administrator of the National

Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the agency that sets

Federal fuel economy standards. An automobile safety advocate,

Hurley once held a position at the Insurance Institute for Highway

Safety, an organization that has opposed higher fuel economy

standards. The White House also announced that it would nominate

Peter Rogoff, a 22-year veteran of the Senate Appropriations

Committee staff, to serve as Administrator of the Federal Transit

Administration. Rogoff was Staff Director of the Transportation,

Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Committee for fourteen

years. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar appointed Ned Farquhar, a

former advisor on energy and environmental issues to New Mexico

Gov. Bill Richardson, to the post of Deputy Assistant Secretary for

Land and Minerals Management. Farquhar, whose new position does not

require Senate confirmation, will oversee the Bureau of Land

Management, Minerals Management Service, and Office of Surface

Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. Lastly, Martha Johnson will be

nominated to lead the General Services Administration, where she

will oversee the expenditure of approximately $4.8 billion in

stimulus funds designated for improving the energy efficiency of

Federal buildings and the motor vehicle fleet.

Interior Department and FERC Execute Offshore Leasing

Agreement. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)

and the Department of Interior have signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MOU) settling a long-standing jurisdictional dispute

over responsibility for siting and licensing renewable energy

projects on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the United States.

The new arrangement will give the Minerals Management Service (MMS)

exclusive jurisdiction over wind and solar generation projects, and

associated transmission facilities, located on the OCS. The MMS

will also administer necessary property rights (leases, easements,

and rights-of-way) for wave, tidal, and ocean thermal energy

projects, but leave the environmental review and licensing of those

projects to FERC. FERC and MMS will both have authority to inspect

offshore wave, tidal, and ocean thermal facilities for compliance

with lease and license conditions. The agreement is expected to

resolve administrative uncertainty and delays that have posed a key

obstacle to offshore renewable energy development. The MOU can be

accessed at...