[TheClimate.Vote] December 22, 2020 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*December 22, 2020*/

[Covid meets Climate in Congress]*
**Climate Change Legislation Included in Coronavirus Relief Deal*
The legislation calls for cutting the use of powerful planet-warming 
chemicals common in air-conditioners and refrigerators.
By Coral Davenport - Dec. 21, 2020
WASHINGTON — In the waning days of the 116th Congress, lawmakers have 
authorized $35 billion in spending on wind, solar and other clean power 
sources while curtailing the use of a potent planet-warming chemical 
used in air-conditioners and refrigerators.

Both measures, backed by some of the Senate’s most powerful Republicans, 
were attached to the huge government spending and coronavirus relief 
package that is expected to head to President Trump’s desk early this 
week, effectively creating the first significant climate change law 
since at least 2009.

They amount to a rare party rebuke to Mr. Trump on the issue of global 
warming, after he spent the past four years mocking and systematically 
rolling back every major climate change rule. The comity may also signal 
that while President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is unlikely to secure his 
full climate plan, he may be able to make some progress in curbing 
global warming.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, called the 
effort “the single biggest victory in the fight against climate change 
to pass this body in a decade.”...
Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming and a leading opponent of 
most climate change policies, also celebrated: “This agreement protects 
both American consumers and American businesses,” he said. “We can have 
clean air without damaging our economy.”

Advocates for climate change policy said passage of the climate measures 
— especially the limits on refrigerants — could signal to the rest of 
the world that the United States is ready to rejoin the global effort to 
slow the warming of the planet. The coolant phase-down would be one of 
the most significant federal policies ever taken to cut greenhouse gas 
emissions, according to an analysis by the Rhodium Group, a research and 
consulting firm.

By 2035, the law would help avoid the equivalent of 949 million tons of 
carbon dioxide, the group estimated, which is similar in scope to the 
extra expected emissions from Mr. Trump’s climate policy rollbacks on 
vehicle pollution and methane from oil and gas operations.

Mr. Biden has pledged to enact the most ambitious climate change agenda 
by a president. On his Inauguration Day he is expected to formally 
rejoin the Paris agreement, the 2015 pact under which nearly every 
country agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Trump formally 
withdrew the United States from the agreement in November. Mr. Biden has 
also pledged to host a global climate summit in Washington within the 
first 100 days of his administration.

The bill to cut planet-warming refrigerants “is the most important 
thing, along with rejoining Paris, that they can show in the first 100 
days,” said Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute of Governance and 
Sustainable Development, a research organization. “This is one of the 
first exhibits of success.”...
The new legislation would require the nation’s chemical manufacturers to 
phase down the production and use of coolants called hydrofluorocarbons, 
or HFCs. They are a small percentage of greenhouse gases in the 
atmosphere, compared with carbon dioxide from the fossil fuels that 
power vehicles, electric plants and factories, but they have 1,000 times 
the heat-trapping potency of carbon dioxide.

In a 2016 accord signed in Kigali, Rwanda, in the last days of the Obama 
administration, 197 nations agreed to phase out HFCs in favor of 
alternatives that are less dangerous to the climate. The Kigali 
agreement was an amendment to the Montreal Protocol, the landmark 1987 
treaty designed to close the hole in the ozone layer.

Once the Kigali amendment is implemented by all nations, scientists say 
it would stave off an increase of atmospheric temperatures of nearly one 
degree Fahrenheit. That would be a major step toward averting an 
atmospheric temperature increase of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the point at 
which many experts think the world will be locked into a future of 
rising sea levels, severe droughts and flooding, widespread food and 
water shortages, and more powerful hurricanes. But the Trump 
administration never ratified the Kigali pact, and instead has proposed 
to roll back federal regulations curbing the use of HFCs in the United 
States.

Now, Mr. Trump is about to sign a bill that will require the United 
States to follow the terms of the Kigali agreement, which requires 
companies to phase down production and consumption of HFCs to about 15 
percent of 2012 levels by 2036. The phase-down will be administered by 
the Environmental Protection Agency.

The chief U.S. negotiators of the Kigali amendment were John Kerry, the 
former secretary of state, and Gina McCarthy, the former E.P.A. 
administrator, both of whom have been appointed to be Mr. Biden’s top 
White House climate advisers.

Even in a Biden administration, it is not certain whether the United 
States will ratify the Kigali pact, because to do so would require a 
two-thirds majority vote in the Senate. But the new law would put the 
United States in compliance, regardless....
“This provides the green light for Kigali to go into action,” said Frank 
V. Maisano, a principal at the law firm Bracewell, which represents 
chemical companies.

American chemical companies have actually been among the strongest 
supporters of the Kigali pact and the HFC bill, because most already 
manufacture the more climate-friendly HFC replacements and a phaseout 
would put them at a competitive advantage over manufacturers of the 
older technology.

Stephen Yurek, the chief executive of the Air-Conditioning, Heating and 
Refrigeration Institute, an industry group, was in Kigali four years ago 
to push for the deal. He has spent the past two years lobbying lawmakers 
on Capitol Hill to enact it into law.

“U.S. companies are already the leaders with the technology that has 
been developed to replace the less environmentally-friendly 
refrigerants,” he said. “This bill is a victory for the manufacturers of 
all these products — not just the refrigerants; the equipment and 
component manufacturers,” he said.

Mr. Yurek said his industry has also worried that at least eight states 
have passed laws of their own requiring HFC reductions and creating a 
patchwork of rules, “which makes it harder for manufacturers.”

The push by industry brought along Senate Republicans, at least 16 of 
whom signed on as sponsors to the legislation, which was jointly written 
by Senator Thomas Carper of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate 
Environment and Public Works Committee, and Senator John Kennedy, 
Republican of Louisiana. Mr. Kennedy’s state is home to hundreds of 
chemical manufacturing facilities; he framed the bill as a job creator 
for those companies...
“To create thousands of jobs, save billions of dollars and safeguard the 
environment, we must invest in alternatives to HFCs,” he said.

Environmental groups have chosen to read big things into that Republican 
support, though it may not materialize around bills roundly opposed by 
other industries, especially oil and gas companies.

“Voters want action on climate, and even some Republicans want action on 
climate, and the Republicans leading on this HFC deal are starting to 
understand that,” said Matthew Davis, legislative director for the 
League of Conservation Voters.

In addition to the HFC bill, the larger package included a bipartisan 
renewable energy bill, co-sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, 
and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, the chairwoman and ranking 
Democrat of the Senate Energy Committee.

The bill would not appropriate any new government spending, but it would 
authorize $35 billion in existing government funding to be spent on 
clean energy programs over the next five years, including $1 billion for 
energy storage technology that could serve as batteries for wind and 
solar power, $1.5 billion for demonstration projects for new solar 
technology, $2.1 billion for advanced nuclear energy technology and $450 
million for technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The bill would also direct federal agencies to update the government 
programs that oversee renewable energy spending.

“Some of these will be the first updates to these programs since the 
iPhone was first in use,” said Josh Freed, an energy policy analyst with 
Third Way, a center-left research organization. “It’s critically 
important because energy systems looked a lot different 10 years ago. 
There were almost no EVs on the road, very little solar panels on roofs, 
Tesla didn’t exist.”...
For all the celebratory language, climate change will likely remain a 
partisan land mine. Mr. Yurek, the lobbyist for the coolant industry, 
said that he was hesitant to even use the word “climate” when talking 
about the bill, for fear that Mr. Trump would veto any legislation that 
is seen as boosting Mr. Biden’s agenda.

“We didn't want to give him any excuse to not sign it,” Mr. Yurek said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/climate/climate-change-stimulus.html

- -

[Check for the tax credits]
*Year-end deal includes major energy, environment wins*
Geof Koss, Jeremy Dillon and Emma Dumain, E&E News reporters Published: 
Monday, December 21, 2020
While negotiators largely sidelined energy issues during months of 
stalled talks on COVID-19 relief, a number of significant energy and 
environmental provisions will hitch a ride on the year-end agreement set 
to pass today.

House and Senate leaders yesterday announced they had reached a deal on 
a $1.4 trillion fiscal 2021 spending omnibus, pandemic relief 
legislation and a number of major items that will ride along. Final text 
had yet to be released by publication time.

"At long last, we have the bipartisan breakthrough the country has 
needed," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said from the 
floor yesterday.

The deal moved swiftly once negotiators agreed to compromise language to 
wind down certain Federal Reserve lending programs established by the 
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. An impasse over the 
issue lasted days.

In a statement released last night after the deal was announced, House 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer 
(D-N.Y.) highlighted a number of climate-related provisions.

"The agreement includes sweeping clean energy reforms, R&D enhancements, 
efficiency incentives, and extends clean energy tax credits to create 
hundreds of thousands of jobs across the clean economy," they wrote.

"The package also phases out superpollutant HFCs, positioning the U.S. 
to lead the world in avoiding up to 0.5 degree Celsius of global 
warming," they said.

*Energy taxes*
On taxes, the deal would delay the phaseout schedule for the renewable 
and investment tax credits, with the PTC extended for one year and the 
ITC extended for two.

The discrepancy between the two crucial incentives stems from the fact 
the PTC received a one-year extension under a 2019 tax deal that did not 
include the ITC. Additionally, the deal would make waste-heat-to-power 
technology eligible for the ITC.

It would extend key efficiency breaks through 2021, while making 
permanent the 179D commercial building tax deduction for efficiency 
improvements.

It would provide five years for offshore wind, and two additional years 
for the Section 45Q carbon capture incentive.

While direct payments were widely sought for many incentives to account 
for frozen tax equity markets, they did not make the cut.

Extended through 2025 would be the excise tax of 9 cents per barrel of 
crude oil that finances the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

The agreement would also extend through the end of the 2021 excise taxes 
that fund the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. The government charges 
$1.10 per ton of coal removed from underground facilities and 55 cents 
per ton of coal removed from surface mines.

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) lauded the 
end-of-year agreement struck with the leaders of the tax-writing panels 
in both chambers.

"I hope these extensions serve as a bridge to the comprehensive reform 
desperately needed to end our dependence on Big Oil and ensure that 
green jobs are good jobs," Wyden said in a statement. "I plan to keep at 
it until America kicks its carbon habit once and for all."

*Energy bill, pipelines*
The package includes nearly $35.2 billion in research and development 
spending authorizations over the next decade in a clean energy 
innovation bill.

Led by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources, the House Energy and 
Commerce, and the House Science, Space and Technology committees, the 
legislation marks a culmination of nearly two years of work and a 
capstone to Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski's ENR Committee 
chairmanship.

With directions for increased spending and the demonstration of a number 
of new technologies needed to help combat climate change — including 
energy storage, carbon capture, direct air capture and advanced nuclear, 
among others — the bill marks the first major overhaul to the nation's 
energy policies in over a decade (E&E Daily, Dec. 15).

The spending and pandemic package also contain a five year 
reauthorization of the Transportation Department's Pipeline and 
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which had lapsed over a year 
ago and been subject to partisan sniping.

The inclusion appears to be based heavily on the Senate's bipartisan 
bill, S. 2299, that passed in August following a breakthrough after 
Senate Republicans relented and let Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) attach 
requirements for operators to use the latest technology for methane leak 
detection and prevention, among other methane-related provisions (E&E 
Daily, Aug. 7).

Democrats have focused on PHMSA methane monitoring as they look to 
better address the climate effects of fossil fuel infrastructure. 
Methane is a greenhouse gas 26 times as potent as carbon dioxide.

The PHMSA reauthorization originally introduced by House Democrats was 
much more ambitious on methane and climate. Republicans in both chambers 
said it was a nonstarter (E&E Daily, Jan. 8).
*
**HFCs*
The compromise deal includes legislation to phase down the use of HFCs, 
a potent class of greenhouse gases used in air conditioners and 
refrigerators.

It would be one of the most significant climate bills Congress has 
passed in years. The HFC bill could help avoid half a degree Celsius in 
global warming, as part of a larger international phase down agreement 
struck in 2016.

The measure, which would phase down HFCs 85% over 15 years, derailed 
Senate consideration of the energy bill earlier this year, but leaders 
on the Environment and Public Works Committee struck a deal in 
September, which ultimately cleared it for addition to the omnibus (E&E 
Daily, Sept. 11).

*WRDA*
Included in the final omnibus bill is language from the "Water Resources 
Development Act of 2020," S. 1811, which passed the House earlier this 
month.

The compromise legislation, among other things, would authorize a record 
number of Army Corps of Engineers projects (E&E Daily, Dec. 7).

Senate appropriators had objected to language authorizing $10 billion in 
spending from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.

It appears the final bill addresses those concerns while "unlocking the 
Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund," according to a Democratic press release.

*'RESTART Act'*
Included in the final stimulus agreement was language that would have 
allowed nonprofits organized as 501(c)(6) organizations to qualify for 
loans through a fund structured similarly to the Paycheck Protection 
Program.

This was a major ask from the outdoors recreation industry, which 
represents trade associations that have suffered debilitating revenue 
losses with the pandemic-related cancellations of trade shows and 
conferences.

While the original coronavirus relief package that created the PPP 
specifically allowed 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits and churches to 
apply for loans, 501(c)(6) groups were exempt from participating.

Bipartisan legislation from Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Michael Bennet 
(D-Colo.) — the "Reviving the Economy Sustainably Towards a Recovery in 
2020 (RESTART) Act," S. 3814 — would have established a loan program 
open to a broader pool of applicants, including trade groups.

Sources said at one point there was a "real chance" that this language 
would make it into the next phase of coronavirus relief legislation, 
with Young telling E&E News in October that Treasury Secretary Steve 
Mnuchin liked the concept (E&E Daily, Oct. 22).

While a Senate aide confirmed to E&E News late last night that the full 
"RESTART Act" had not ultimately made it into the more narrow 
coronavirus stimulus compromise bill, language benefitting trade 
associations was included.

*Transportation, biofuels*
The deal also includes:

    $284.5 billion for the PPP.
    Unemployment insurance extensions at $300 per week through March 14,
    2021.
    $600 direct payments to individuals, $1,200 to married couples and
    $600 for child dependents.
    $45 billion for transportation, including $14 billion for struggling
    transit agencies.
    $13 billion in agricultural assistance, with discretionary authority
    provided to the Agriculture secretary to support biofuels producers.
    Reporters Nick Sobczyk and Hannah Northey contributed.

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063721189



[innovation video]
*Hydrogen energy storage in AMMONIA: Fantastic future or fossil fuel scam?*
Dec 20, 2020
Just Have a Think
Hydrogen energy storage in ammonia is not something that would be 
instinctively obvious to most of us, but the folks in the energy 
industry are apparently getting quite excited about the concept. It's a 
far safer, easier and more energy dense way to transport hydrogen around 
the world and could be the final cog in the gears of a true hydrogen 
economy of the future. But some warn that it could actually be a 
smokescreen enabling the fossil fuel industry to continue burning huge 
quantities of natural gas and maintain their vice-like grip on the 
global energy market.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y_2Z_VwFNc

Web site for transcript 
https://www.justhaveathink.com/hydrogen-energy-storage-in-ammonia/



[big money]
*Climate Change Is the New Fed Mandate*
Officially, Congress sets the Fed's priorities but the Fed has 
independence on how to carry out its mandates. Unofficially, the Fed 
just adopted its own new mandate.
The Evolution of an Idea

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond explains the Evolution of an Idea.

Since 1977, the Federal Reserve has operated under a mandate from 
Congress to "promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable 
prices, and moderate long term interest rates" — what is now commonly 
referred to as the Fed's "dual mandate." The idea that the Fed should 
pursue multiple goals can be traced back to at least the 1940s, however, 
with shifting emphasis on which objective should be paramount.

That snip is from 2011 and matches what the Fed has said over the years.

I do not believe I see the words "climate change" anywhere in the "dual 
mandate".

Fed Joins Climate Change Network

Despite climate change being no part of the Fed's mandate the Fed Joins 
Climate Network, to Applause From the Left.

The Fed’s board in Washington voted unanimously to become a member of 
the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial 
System.

“The public will expect that we do figure out what are the implications 
of climate change for financial stability, and that we do put policies 
in place,” Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said this month at a Senate 
hearing. “The broad response to climate change on the part of society 
really needs to be set by elected representatives — that’s you. We see 
implications of climate change for the job that you’ve given us, and 
that’s what we’re working on.”

Greening of the Fed

"We see implications of climate change for the job that you’ve given us, 
and that’s what we’re working on," said Powell.

Excuse me for asking but when did Congress add climate change to the 
Fed's list of mandates?

Given the Fed has blown three economic bubbles in succession, has never 
spotted a recession in advance, and is totally clueless about price 
stability, perhaps it ought to stick to monetary policy.

Then again, if the Fed were to abandon monetary policy and just let the 
free market work, that could be an adequate tradeoff for letting the Fed 
pontificate on climate change.
Mish
https://www.thestreet.com/mishtalk/economics/climate-change-is-the-new-fed-mandate



[NASA]*
* *Earth Minute Videos*
NASA isn't all about interplanetary exploration; in fact, the agency 
spends much of its time studying our home planet. This fun whiteboard 
animation series explains Earth science to the science-curious. 
(Download some of these videos with Spanish subtitles here.)
https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resource_center/earthminute


[CNBC video on funding climate denial]
*Why Climate Change Denial Still Exists In The U.S.*
Dec 20, 2020
CNBC
1.96M subscribers
Despite overwhelming scientific evidence, some American politicians 
continue to deny that climate change exists, while others question the 
severity of its impact. But public opinion is shifting, and today even 
oil and gas companies publicly admit that climate change demands action. 
So why does climate denialism continue to influence U.S. politics? 
Here's a look into who is funding the movement, and why denial is mainly 
a U.S. problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1rxv1yPQrc


[The Barents Observer}
*In Putin's 5-hour long press conference was not a single word about 
climate change or Arctic*
The President did not get any questions about the vast region of such 
major importance for the country...
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/climate-crisis/2020/12/putins-5-hour-long-press-conference-was-not-single-word-about-climate-change


[Thought exercise]
*‘The Pandemic Is a Prisoner’s Dilemma Game’*
Using game theory, researchers modeled two ways of prioritizing 
vaccinations, to see which saved more lives.
- -
By Siobhan Roberts - Dec. 20, 2020
Madhur Anand, an ecologist, and her husband, Chris Bauch, a mathematical 
biologist, were optimally situated during the spring lockdown, working 
from home in Guelph, Ontario, to watch the pandemic play out — and to 
discuss patterns of behavior, within their community and beyond, as we 
all tried to keep safe and carry on.

Their offices at home are separated only by a wall, rather than a 
45-minute drive. Dr. Anand is the director of the new Guelph Institute 
for Environmental Research at the University of Guelph, and Dr. Bauch 
runs a lab at the University of Waterloo. The couple’s collaborative 
research usually focuses on the interplay between human behavior and 
environment systems — for instance, with pollution, deforestation and 
climate change. Whereas those dynamics unfold slowly, the pandemic 
provided an acute example of rapid change.

“Societal change is not the kind of thing you can easily experiment 
with,” Dr. Anand said. “But here we were in the middle of a huge social 
experiment.”...
- -
The origins of game theory can be found in the 1944 book “Theory of 
Games and Economic Behavior,” by the mathematician John von Neumann and 
the economist Oskar Morgenstern. The applications range from evolution 
to psychology to computer science; there’s even a book called “The Game 
Theorist’s Guide to Parenting.”...
more at - 
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/health/virus-vaccine-game-theory.html



[media opinion, off topic, but on point - we are in the vanguard]
JACQUÉ PALMER
*The rise of the plain-text email newsletter*
- -
Little black (and white) email
Less is always more. Modern designs are impersonal and they signal 
transactional relationships — especially after the holiday onslaught of 
retail emails we’ll all be drowning in soon enough.

Redefine your relationship with your subscriber via the more simple and 
intimate: plain text. Plain text is where it’s at, my friends. And if 
you insist on an image, go ahead and add a simple header to that email — 
but that’s it. Use your good old print-days typography and layout skills 
to weave a story via email...
https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/12/the-rise-of-the-plain-text-email-newsletter/


/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------/

/Archive of Daily Global Warming News 
<https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/2017-October/date.html> 
/
https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote

/To receive daily mailings - click to Subscribe 
<mailto:subscribe at theClimate.Vote?subject=Click%20SEND%20to%20process%20your%20request> 
to news digest./

*** Privacy and Security:*This mailing is text-only.  It does not carry 
images or attachments which may originate from remote servers.  A 
text-only message can provide greater privacy to the receiver and sender.
By regulation, the .VOTE top-level domain must be used for democratic 
and election purposes and cannot be used for commercial purposes. 
Messages have no tracking software.
To subscribe, email: contact at theclimate.vote 
<mailto:contact at theclimate.vote> with subject subscribe, To Unsubscribe, 
subject: unsubscribe
Also you may subscribe/unsubscribe at 
https://pairlist10.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/theclimate.vote
Links and headlines assembled and curated by Richard Pauli for 
http://TheClimate.Vote <http://TheClimate.Vote/> delivering succinct 
information for citizens and responsible governments of all levels. List 
membership is confidential and records are scrupulously restricted to 
this mailing list.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist10.pair.net/pipermail/theclimate.vote/attachments/20201222/d072adf1/attachment.html>