ENERGY AND CLIMATE DEBATE

After a busy week with Yom Kippur and visits from Pope Francis and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Congress is focusing this week on finalizing a continuing resolution and preparing for new House Republican leadership in the wake of Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) retirement announcement.

While in D.C. last week, Pope Francis addressed a joint session of Congress Thursday morning during which he delivered a strong climate message. He also met with President Obama, and made an address from the White House, applauding the Administration’s clean air efforts and discussing the moral imperative to be good environmental stewards, before traveling to New York to speak to the United Nations. He urged global leaders to negotiate an effective climate agreement in Paris at the end of the year and said that failure to protect the environment could threaten the existence of the human species, as the two are so tightly tied together. He reiterated many of the themes of Laudato Si, calling on humans to protect “our common house” by aggressively addressing climate change, which is key to lifting citizens around the world out of poverty.

The White House hosted a state dinner last Friday on behalf of Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Presidents Obama and Jinping and their respective officials met ahead of the official visit to discuss items of interest and concern between the two countries, including cybersecurity and climate change. For more information on the climate outcomes of those meetings, see the Administration section below.

The Obama Administration will continue its climate theme through the end of the year as it prepares for the international climate negotiations in Paris this November and December and seeks an ambitious global climate agreement. There will be a series of events held in Washington the rest of the month and next to call for the United States to demonstrate climate leadership, including a White House offshore wind event September 28, an HFC event October 15, and a corporate voluntary climate commitment event October 19, as well as a State Department sustainability event in late October.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon brought together 40 heads of state September 27 to discuss climate change on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The meeting offered a rare opportunity for world leaders to get together to take stock of progress and encourage more haste toward a global climate agreement in Paris at the end of the year. Pope Francis addressed the UN General Assembly in New York September 25, including making the moral argument for combatting climate change. A broader group of representatives from about 190 countries met September 25-27 at UN headquarters in New York to formally adopt a new sustainable development agenda that covers social, economic, and environmental issues, and businesses met September 24 to discuss how they can support those global goals. Other meetings continue as nations march toward the Paris climate negotiations, including the next Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Turkey November 15-16, though the focus there will more likely be on economic and global security issues than on the Paris climate negotiations. International finance ministers will meet October 9-11 in Peru for World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings, and could discuss climate finance, one of the agreement’s biggest sticking points, then. Discussions about the progress of the United Nations plan to create a $100 billion green climate fund will be addressed at an International Monetary Fund meeting in Lima October 9. There is also a growing consensus regarding the need for an ambitious long-term goal, which may translate into a 2050 goal, but may also include an end of the century target. Climate negotiators from the 16 top-emitting nations as well as the European Union will also meet September 29-30 in New York for the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate. Additionally, the G20 energy ministers meeting will take place in Istanbul October 1-2. The final Paris preparatory talks run October 19-23 in Bonn, with negotiators hoping to have the text nailed down by then, and the negotiations themselves will take place November 30-December 11 in Paris.

India is one of the last major emitters to submit its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in advance of the end of the year climate negotiations in Paris. With pledges due this week, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said last week that she expects the nation to unveil its pledge in the next few days. President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed climate change during their conversation at this weekend’s United Nations meeting in New York, and the president noted that he is encouraged by Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to the critical need to address climate change.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) announced September 25 that he would not only resign from his leadership position, but also retire from Congress entirely at the end of October. The move nearly guarantees that Congress will finalize a clean continuing resolution (H.R. 719) this week, avoiding the government shutdown that many had increasingly feared likely. The measure would fund the government through December 11, making way for a larger budget fight at the end of the year, or potentially at least another round of continuing resolutions.

Additionally, though the last few weeks it has looked like an end of the year package might be just out of reach, with the debt limit and other issues such as spending authority for the Highway Trust Fund needing attention soon, there may be another opportunity to bring together a broad end of the year package. Energy issues most likely to obtain Congressional attention this year include TSCA reform and a tax extenders package, with the production tax credit and a tweak of the investment tax credit receiving top billing in the energy category. It remains to be seen what, if any, larger tax effort can be accomplished, as House Ways and Means Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) hopes to make some of the tax extenders permanent and let others remain expired indefinitely. Should Congress take that route, Senate Democrats would look for trade offs in the form of making some renewable energy tax credits permanent or at least providing them with long phaseouts or otherwise tweaking them. The Senate Finance Committee approved in late July a two-year package (S. 1946) of all the tax provisions, extending one year retroactively as needed. Senate Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said recently that it is up to Senate Majority Leader McConnell to fit tax extenders into the packed fall legislative schedule, and it is not likely to be on the calendar until closer to the end of the year, despite broad business community outreach encouraging renewal as soon as possible. The House Ways and Means Committee approved September 17 a package of bills that would permanently renew several of the tax extenders, including bonus depreciation, teacher deduction, restaurant depreciation rules, Subpart F exemption, and look-through treatment of Controlled Foreign Corporations.

There may be another possibility for positive forward movement on the PTC and other clean energy tax issues, should Congress decide to move forward with lifting the crude oil export ban. The House Rules Committee will take up the lower chamber’s version of the legislation this week, as Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the front runner to replace Speaker Boehner, delayed until next week a full House vote. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said last week that Democrats in the upper chamber would be willing to entertain a deal with their Republican counterparts to end the crude oil export ban if it does not negatively impact consumers or businesses, and if they can come to an agreement on clean energy tax credits and an energy efficiency resource standard.

The night before the scheduled September 17 mark-up of broad House energy legislation, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton (R-MI) pulled the measure (H.R. 8) from the committee’s agenda, saying that the committee needed more time to discuss the legislation before marking it up. Representative Upton, who will be required to step down from his chairmanship soon due to term limits, is seeking ways to make the measure more broadly appealing on a bipartisan level. The committee will consider it this week. The Senate will return to its own broad bipartisan energy legislation in 2016. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the measure this summer, sending the bill to the floor for wider consideration that may include handfuls of amendments. If broad bipartisan energy legislation does not advance in the near future, the upper chamber may also turn to the energy efficiency package from Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

Marking the occasion of Pope Francis’ visit, Senate Democrats led by Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Al Franken (D-MN), Ed Markey (D-MA), and others unveiled September 22 a broad Democratic vision for a clean energy future. The American Energy Innovation Act of 2015 includes six titles to address the need for new jobs, updated infrastructure, and technological innovation. The measure gives consumers better access to their electricity data; creates a federal Energy Efficiency Resource Standard; supports smart building research and development; invests in energy storage; integrates clean energy onto the grid; improves grid security and helps manage electricity demand; implements recommendations from the Department of Energy’s Quadrennial Energy Review to improve resilience of the domestic electric grid, natural gas distribution, and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; reduces greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to all passenger vehicles and a third of domestic homes and secures CO2 reduction targets from other nations; triples funding for basic energy science and technology research to maintain global leadership and invest in next generation clean technologies for international export; doubles cybersecurity research investments and develops and designates the Department of Energy as the sector-specific lead for energy; prepares a new generation of skilled workers for the 21^st century workforce through job training and a model energy workforce curriculum; permanently reauthorizes and fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund; offers technical assistance to small and medium manufacturers to implement smart manufacturing technologies and expand the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program to include trucks; and invests in clean energy technologies and repeals fossil fuel subsidies.

CONGRESS

Climate Negotiations Approach
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker (R-TN) sent Secretary of State John Kerry a letter September 22 asking for details on how the United States intends to approach international negotiations on climate change at the end of the year in Paris and whether the final product will be a formal treaty requiring Senate approval.

Ozone Communications Sought
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee sent letters September 24 to White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy requesting that they provide by October 8 all documented communication between administration officials and with outside groups about the agency’s final ozone standard decision as well as make various officials available for transcribed interviews. The Office of Management and Budget is reviewing the final rule on whether to retain the current standards of 75 parts per billion or revise them to between 65 ppb and 70 ppb. The agency is under an October 1 court-ordered deadline to make a final decision.

RAPID Act
The House passed the RAPID Act (H.R. 348) September 25 to streamline environmental permitting requirements and prohibit governmental agencies from considering the social cost of carbon during the construction permit application process. The White House issued a statement of administration policy the previous week threatening to veto the measure should it come to President Obama’s desk, finding that the measure would encourage litigation by requiring agencies to rush their environmental impact reviews.

House on Crude Oil Exports
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power voted September 10 to lift the 40-year-old crude oil export ban (H.R. 702), and momentum is building in both the lower and upper chamber for lifting the ban, with some Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), expressing a willingness to discuss it, particularly given an appealing trade off, including potentially making permanent some tax extenders such as the production tax credit, or tweaking or expanding others. The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the legislation September 17. The House Rules Committee will take up the measure this week. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) delayed the full House vote that was planned for this week until next week.

Senate on Crude Oil Exports
The Senate Banking Committee will mark up legislation (S. 1372) October 1 to lift the 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports. The measure, from Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is separate from another bill (S. 1312) that would lift the prohibition that the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved in July. The Banking Committee has jurisdiction over export controls and foreign trade promotion. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) indicated during a National Journal crude oil export event September 15 that he does not anticipate reaching a deal pairing the lifting of the ban with extending tax clean energy tax incentives. He said that such a deal would have to include a permanent or at least long-term extension of the production tax credit and investment tax credit, a national renewable electricity standard, and continued increases in fuel efficiency mandates for cars and trucks, none of which are very likely in a Republican Congress.

Legislation Introduced
Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced legislation (S. 2072) September 24 to address concerns that more stringent ozone standards would be difficult to implement by requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program under which the Administrator shall defer the designation of an area as a nonattainment area for purposes of the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard if the area achieves and maintains certain standards under a voluntary early action compact plan.

Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced legislation (S. 2076) September 24 to establish a task force to review policies and measures to promote, and to develop best practices for, reduction of short-lived, super pollutant, climate pollutants.

Upcoming Hearings
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing September 29 to consider the Environmental Protection Agency’s air rules, including the Clean Power Plan and the ozone rules, and their economic impacts. Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation Janet McCabe will testify.

The Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security will hold a hearing September 29 on pipeline safety.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife will hold a hearing September 30 to consider the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waters of the United States rule.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will markup the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act (H.R. 8) September 30. The bill was originally scheduled for committee consideration September 17 but was delayed over amendment disagreements.

The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing September 30 on state authority and energy development. Governors Gary Herbert (R-UT), Dennis Daugaard (R-SD), Matt Mead (R-WY), and Steve Bullock (D-MT) will testify.

The Senate Banking Committee will mark up October 1 the crude oil export ban.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy will hold a hearing October 1 to consider the transportation of nuclear materials.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing October 6 to consider issues related to the energy security and modernization of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

ADMINISTRATION

Gas Flaring, Venting
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget September 18 a proposed rule to reduce gas waste in oil and gas operations on federal and Indian lands. The office will review the rule.

Indonesian Climate Talks
The White House announced September 21 that President Obama will host Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the White House in late October to discuss a range of bilateral issues, including climate change, energy, defense, trade and investment, and maritime cooperation.

Rolling Stone Interview
Rolling Stone posted September 23 an interview with President Obama in which he said that the United States has made modest progress on climate change, but that much remains to be accomplished. He said that he is cautiously optimistic that the world will reach a basic international climate agreement at the end of the year in Paris. He also said that fracking risks can be minimized, and faulted Republican obstructionism in Congress’ failure to pass cap and trade legislation.

US-China Climate Pact
The United States and China outlined a strategy September 25 for an international agreement on climate change while each nation committed to new measures for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. China committed to starting a national emissions trading system to reduce GHG emissions and made a $3.1 billion commitment to help poorer countries move away from fossil fuels, and the two countries together announced changes intended to favor cleaner electricity, agreed to limiting public infrastructure project financing for projects around the world that feature high pollution and emissions, committed to implementing fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty vehicles by 2019, and reaffirmed their 2014 commitments, among other things. Presidents Obama and Xi Jinping used the Chinese premier’s official state visit to the White House to encourage successful climate negotiations at the end of the year in Paris.

Obama to UN
Addressing the United Nations in New York September 28, President Obama called on world leaders to, among other things, reach an ambitious international climate agreement at the end of the year in Paris. The previous day, in addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Summit, he, like Pope Francis, linked poverty with climate change.

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

US-India Energy Summit
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Joint Secretary Tarun Kapoor headlined the sixth U.S.-Indian Energy Partnership Summit September 21. Secretary Moniz highlighted the progress made between the U.S.-India in advancing clean energy technologies and integrating renewable energy resources in India. Secretary Kapoor announced plans to install 175 GW of clean energy by 2022.

Tribal Energy Funding
Speaking at the 2015 National Tribal Energy Summit September 24, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said that he will keep working with Congress to fund an $11 million Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program and increase funding by $6 million for the Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs.

QTR Talk
During a talk about the agency’s second Quadrennial Technology Review at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology September 24, Under Secretary for Science and Energy Lynn Orr said that the energy system of the near future will include small electric grids and modular nuclear reactors that are connected to a flexible power grid.

DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR

Offshore Wind Auction
The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced September 23 that it will auction November 9 344,833 acres off the coast of New Jersey for the development of offshore wind power. The area could support 3,400 MW of commercial wind generation. The wind energy area off the New Jersey coast would be the fifth competitive lease sale for renewable energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf and will be auctioned as two leases. The bureau has awarded already nine commercial wind leases, including seven through auctions, collecting $14.5 million for 700,000 acres in federal waters off the coasts of Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Virginia, and has identified 13 companies as qualified to participate in the upcoming sale.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Methane Rule Concerns
American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard said September 22 that inefficient and duplicative federal regulations could significantly harm job growth in the fossil fuel industry, and expressed concern that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management are not coordinating their methane reduction efforts. The Environmental Protection Agency began hearings the following day in Denver and Dallas on proposed regulations to reduce methane emissions from new oil and natural gas facilities. The agency will hold another hearing in Pittsburgh September 29.

Emissions Trading
International Emissions Trading Association President Dirk Forrister said September 24 that the Clean Power Plan may prompt 13 states in the western United States and 15 states in the Midwest to allow companies to undertake emissions trading programs via state and regional greenhouse gas trading markets. Members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative are also discussing ways to expand their program to assist with compliance.

Demand Response Remanded
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit remanded September 24 at the request of the Environmental Protection Agency the 50-hour engine exemption to the agency. The exemption will remain in place for the time being.

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

Clark on CPP
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Commissioner Tony Clark said September 22 that he is less concerned about the Clean Power Plan’s impact on grid reliability than he is about the possibility that it will lead to higher electricity rates, especially in certain parts of the country such as the Upper Midwest.

INTERNATIONAL

Carbon Pricing
CDP released data September 20 finding that the number of companies that assign an internal carbon price has tripled over the past year. The same day, the World Bank found that the number of existing or planned government carbon pricing schemes has almost doubled over the past three years; the bank and the United Nations had issued a call for carbon pricing the year before at the New York climate change summit.

Financing Commitments
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Secretary General Angel Gurria said September 21 that wealthy nations could fund their climate financing commitments for developing countries by ending fossil fuel subsidies that many of them still have in their budgets. He introduced a report the same day finding that fossil fuel subsidies peaked in 2011 in the world’s major economies, but that they still account for between $160 billion and $200 billion a year. Group of 20 leaders agreed in 2009 to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.

Green Aluminum
United Company Rusel’s deputy chief executive officer Oleg Mukhamedshin said September 21 that the largest aluminum producers are discussing introducing a green trademark for the lightweight metal that could be sold at a premium and could encourage carbon footprint reductions. As the industry’s customers, including car manufacturers, work to become more environmentally friendly, cleaner components are an important factor in the process as well.

EU Vehicular Emissions
The European Commission confirmed September 22 that it will not propose until 2016 or 2017 a European Union measure on CO2 emissions for trucks and other heavy duty vehicles. The measure was originally scheduled to be published this year. Transport & Environment published a briefing paper on heavy duty vehicle emissions the previous day, finding that they represent 30 percent of GHG emissions from transport in the bloc and five percent of total EU emissions.

INDC Contributions
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said September 22 that despite the fact that India, Brazil, and other developing nations have not yet released their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, they will not fundamentally alter the need for much more significant future global action on climate. National pledges that are already public cover about 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but pending plans from India, Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa are unlikely to raise the global total above 80 percent. 

Indian INDC Forthcoming
Natural Resources Defense Council India Initiative director Anjali Jaiswal said September 22 that India is likely to commit to reducing its carbon intensity between 40 and 45 percent from 2005 levels, about doubling its carbon intensity pledge from the 2009 Copenhagen climate talks, in its forthcoming Intended Nationally Determined Contribution in advance of the end of the year climate negotiations in Paris. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said last week that she expects the country to take a significant step forward on solar and wind energy by pledging to make renewable sources account for 40 percent if its energy mix by 2030. Pledges are due no later than October 1.

Indonesian INDC
Indonesia pledged September 24 to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 29 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 on its own and to reduce emissions by another 12 percent with international technical and financial support.

Brazilian INDC
Brazil pledged September 27 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 43 percent by 2030, but said that it will include reductions from past efforts against deforestation to help reach the target.

Commitments Surpass Three Degrees
Climate Interactive released an analysis September 28 finding that global temperatures would increase by as much as 3.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, based on the domestic climate change pledges made thus far in anticipation of the end of the year climate negotiations in Paris. Climate scientists have urged negotiators to work out an agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, but the target is proving elusive.

$8.8 Billion in UK Climate Assistance
United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron pledged September 28 to increase climate aid by half in an effort to break the deadlock on one of the most difficult issues dividing developed and enveloping countries as they work to address climate change through the end of the year climate negotiations in Paris. Britain will direct $8.8 billion from its overseas-aid budget to its International Climate Fund through March 2021 and will work to leverage nearly as much in private financing to complement the effort.

Banks on Climate Negotiations
Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Citi, and Morgan Stanley called September 28 for the world’s governments to negotiate a strong global climate agreement at the end of the year negotiations in Paris. The group said that recognizing the cost of carbon is important to provide market certainty, accelerate innovation, drive clean energy innovation, and create jobs.

STATES

WA Carbon Cap
Washington Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon said September 21 that state businesses emitting more than 100,000 MT CO2e a year will be required to cap their carbon emissions. The caps would cover about 35 facilities and account for roughly 60 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

NYC Solar Doubles
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced September 21 that solar power installations in the city have more than doubled since the end of 2013. The city has a goal of reducing emissions 80 percent from 2005 levels by 2050.

CA Low-Carbon Fuel Standard
The California Air Resources Board readopted September 25 the state’s low carbon fuel standard to comply with a court ruling that found the initial rulemaking procedurally flawed. The vote preserved the program’s basic framework, which the petroleum and ethanol industries have sought to derail since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) ordered it in 2007, and requires transportation fuels to be 10 percent less carbon intensive in 2020 than they were in 2010.

SUSTAINABILITY

Net-Zero Commitments
Unilever Plc, Virgin Group, Broad Group, Econet, and Natura pledged September 22 to zero out greenhouse gas emissions from their operations by 2050 in an effort to encourage other businesses to do the same. The group of chief executive officers, called the B Team, urged governments to adopt net-zero targets as they negotiate a global climate deal in Paris at the end of the year.

RE100
Almost three dozen companies have taken the 100 percent renewable electricity pledge since RE100 launched the initiative during last year’s Climate Week in New York. Wal-Mart, Goldman Sachs, Nike, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, and Procter & Gamble are some of the companies that have promised to pursue cleaner power sources. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, and others announced their pledges September 23.

Vehicular Carbon Intensity
Coke and Pepsi committed September 28 to reduce the carbon intensity of their vehicle fleets as part of an agreement with the Sierra Club and ForestEthics. The companies will report data on the carbon intensity of their fuel use and invest in more alternative fuel vehicles. They will also research the origins of their fuels in an effort to avoid using gasoline derived from tar sands oil.

MISCELLANEOUS

Fossil Fuel Divestment
Arabella Advisors released a report September 22 finding that portfolio managers have pledged to direct $2.6 trillion in investments away from fossil fuels in an effort to prevent the most negative impacts of climate change, a 50-fold increase from last year’s cumulative total.

Clinton and Bush on Energy
Hillary Clinton announced September 23 her North American Infrastructure Improvements Plan; the strategy calls for improving pipeline safety, crude by rail safety, and grid security, including via a North American Climate Compact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve clean energy technology and availability. She expressed her opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline the previous day, finally ending years of declining to take a stand on the issue because of her role in the Obama administration. Jeb Bush also unveiled his plans for government regulations last week, saying that he would target much of President Obama’s climate agenda, including repealing the Clean Power Plan, the Waters of the United States rule, and the coal ash disposal rule if elected president. He will unveil his energy agenda this week.

Acoustic Energy
Boeing announced September 24 that it wants to harness the intensity of the noise generated at airports by planes by converting it into electricity that the airport could use to power operations. The design would line runways with thousands of acoustic wave collectors to collect and focus the vibrations of planes’ take offs and landings, which would then be converted into air flow, powering turbines that generates electricity. A substation would then collect and transmit the energy to its ultimate source.

Batteries’ Power Sales Impact
Moody’s Investors Service published a report September 24 finding that batteries that allow large energy users to reduce their reliance on the most expensive electricity threaten to substantially damage sales for United States independent power producers and utilities, posing credit challenges.

Clean Energy Credit Status Symbols
University of California, Berkeley Professor Lucas Davis told a National Bureau of Economic Research conference September 24 that most clean energy investment tax credits, about $18 billion worth since 2006, have gone to high income taxpayers. He said that solar panels, hybrid and electric vehicles, home weatherization, and other green purchases are increasingly status symbols.

Vehicular Carbon Intensity
Kristen Soltis Anderson, Whit Ayres, and Glen Bolger, GOP pollster heavyweights, released the results of a national survey September 28 finding that 72 percent of Republicans support hastening clean energy’s development. The poll also found that 73 percent of registered voters, including 56 percent of Republicans, think that the climate is changing and that human activity is contributing to that change. Nine percent of Republicans said that the climate is not changing.