From Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light (http://www.paipl.org):
In this note you will find highlights from the late August 2017 PA IPL climate policy briefing call, beginning with opportunities for action and witness. Our monthly updates are intended to build our knowledge base so that we can more quickly understand emerging issues and questions. The next call will be held on September 28th 12:30-1:30. New people may sign up by contacting Cricket Hunter.
In this update:
– take action
– federal policy updates
– Pennsylvania policy update
– upcoming events
– closing meditation
TAKE ACTION
Federal action opportunities
Now, while our lawmakers are still engaged in budget negotiations, is an excellent time to contact them to remind them that budgets are moral documents that declare our priorities. (Senators; Congressman) All of our elected officials (from the President on down) have indicated that clean air and clean water are important, and there are a number of pieces of budget legislation that are related to those concerns.
Ask your elected leaders: as pollution limits are rolled back, and budget cuts force massive staffing cuts, how are they proposing to protect the shared resources that make this planet livable: our air, water, and atmosphere? Then wait for an answer. You might gently remind them that, as a country, we tried a market-forces-only approach in the 1950s and 60s, when rivers caught fire, and the protective upper ozone layer frayed. Help them clearly understand that that is not what you want for your future, nor for the futures of babies and youth in your life.
Another worthy conversation: how will our recent experiences with Harvey and Irma impact the way their offices approach infrastructure guidelines, federal flood insurance, and energy decision-making? Ask, listen, follow up/refocus!
Our legislators are back at work in DC and Harrisburg, but we have a list of upcoming “state work periods” for our Federal legislators — now is a great time to request a Town Hall meeting for the next recess. Thanks to Chelsea Jackson, we have this toolkit to make preparing easier, Feel free to contact Chelsea to ask for help, practice, or figure out where to submit a Letter
to the Editor.
Already already-vetted, already-finalized fuel economy targets for Cars and Light Trucks (commonly called “CAFE standards — Corporate Average Fuel Economy) are up for mid-term review, and are being considered for rollback. Car manufacturers helped craft them. Any citizen may comment. Comments may focus on personal experience, conviction, health data, or technical data. We encourage people to include their faith perspective.
Use the Comment Now button to submit testimony to the EPA about keeping agreed-upon fuel economy targets in place. Deadline October 4. (Direct link to the comment form in case the button doesn’t show on your device. Include this docket number: EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0827-6325.)
State action opportunities
Contact your State Representative if you are concerned that the new state budget includes riders which will damage the environment and threaten our health and safety. Urge your Representative to remove the harmful riders that threaten environmental oversight, health, and environmental justice via riders attached to Senate and House budget bills. Read a clear rundown of some of the concerns here.
FEDERAL UPDATE SUMMARY
PRESIDENT & ADMINISTRATION
The charter for the 15-person Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment— which included academics, local officials, and corporate representatives expired in August. On Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) informed the commettee’s chair that the agency would not renew the panel.
There is concern that Administration officials may reject or heavily edit the National Climate Science Special Report, which may be less symbolic, but could be far more damaging than exiting the Paris Accords
An Executive Order “streamlining” infrastructure permitting was released. A key provision of the order rolls back federal flood standards to Jimmy Carter’s 9177 Flood Management standard. Importantly, it does not prevent states or municipalities from using higher standards, creating an important opportunity for state- and local-level conversations, particularly in light of the storms of the last two weeks.
The rolled-back Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (EO 2015) only applied to infrastructure, and did not regulate private development. That standard gave 3 options:
– use the best available climat echange science
-require that standard projects (roads, railways) be built two feet above the national 100-year flood elevation standard, with critical buildings (hospitals) built three feet higher.
-require infrastructure to be built to at least the 500-year flood plain
Flood plain managers are among those that have expressed concern, and the R-Street institute (a “free market think tank”) called the Obama measure a “common-sense measure to prevent taxpayer money from being sunk into projects threatened by flooding.” (That and more here.)
It is also worth noting that the order seems to contradict itself. Items a-e in Section 2’s “It is the policy of the Federal Government to” list are things on which we can all agree.
The energy industry is hedging their bets against a more level-headed future approach to pollution of our shared air and atmosphere by asking Administrator Pruitt to take actions that will finalize a weak CO2 emissions rule, and cement it in such a way that it cannot be made more stringent in the future. Specifically, they are asking Administrator Pruitt to “acknowledge that once [EPA] has promulgated emission guidelines for a source category, the Clean Air Act does not give the Agency authority to revisit those guidelines and make it more stringent.”
Want more? Try this linky article about the energy industry’s delay-and-weaken tactics article with court precendents laid out, or read a more direct, less linky article from E&E news.
The President formally told the United Nations that he wanted to withdraw from the Paris Accord. The White house memo acknowledged that the process of formal withdrawal couldn’t begin until 2019, and said the United States would continue to cut emissions and abide by the provisions. It also stated that this was because of legal liability concerns (under international law, this appears erroneous). Another change: the administration language changed from “renegotiation” to “re-engagement” which some see as potentially positive. More at E&E News.
The Department of Energy commissioned a grid reliability study that appears to have been requested with the goal of determining that the “intermittent” electricity generation (wind and solar) are a stability or reliability threat. The leaked version of the report prepared by Department staff included the opposite conclusion “The power system is mre reliable today due to better planning, market discipline, and better operating rules and standards: The leaked report went on to conclude that “significantly higher levels of renewable energy can be integrated without any compromise of system reliability.
It appears that the leaked language was largely removed. Baseload coal generated coal is decreasing, and the report makes it clear that that decrease is almost entirely driven by cheap prices for natural gas.
Further reading:
– the official report; for a quick read of the ‘what now’ spin, go straight to chapter “7 Policy Recommendations” on p. 126.
– an explanatory article from the newsletter Utility Dive.
Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commissioner Robert Powelson was approved as a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). This means that FERC has a quorum and can again make decisions to approve pipelines (in 30 years, FERC has only turned down 2 permits). This is bad news for the proliferation of pipelines in Pennsylvania. It also opens an appointment on the Public Utility Commission here in Pennsylvania (see State Updates, below)
The rollback attempt for fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks (CAFE standards) —EPA and National Highway Safety Transportation Board (NHSTB)— is detailed in Federal Action Opportunities, above. Comments are due by October 5.
This backgrounder from one of our partners in the US Climate Action Network may help you feel anchored as you prepare your comments. Officially, the EPA is seeking comments about
– the appropriateness of the standards for model years 2022-25
– the appropriateness of GHG standards for model year 2021
– reconsideration of Jan 2017 mid-term Evaluation final Determination (2021)
COURTS
The two-for-one (dissolve two regulations if you introduce one new one) Executive Order is now in court. As written, this executive order considers costs to industry of any proposed regulation, but not benefits to industry or society of that same regulation. The decision is expected in weeks. Read more about the court case and the order. Read the original Executive Order.
A federal court told the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) that it has to enforce an Obama Administration methane pollution rule while it tries to roll it back. Public comment on delayed implementation of the rule was due August 9th. PA IPL (and PA IPL members) submitted comments.
In an exciting ruling about the 500-mile Sabal Trail pipeline (gas to the Southeast), a federal appeals court ruled (2 to 1) that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) failed to fully consider the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from burning the fuel that would flow through the Southeast Market Pipelines Project, which the commission approved in 2016, and it has ordered FERC to re-do its environmental review of the project. The project is already pumping fracked gas from the Marcellus-Utica shale basins.
This ruling gives weight to arguments that, under the National Environmental Policy Act (the law governing all environmental reviews of federal decisions), analyses must consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
Read more in The Hill orInside Climate News.
FEDERAL LEGISLATURE
The budget ends on September 30, so there is a great deal of pressure on appropriations bills, which have enormous implications in all areas, including climate change, environmental justice, and clean energy. Legislative offices may continue to point otu how much better their bills are than the White House’s proposed budge was, but energy concerns (efficiency, research, and rewnewables) and environmental regulation (the EPA, including enforcement) likely budget numbers are still facing enormous cuts. See Federal Action Opportunities, above, for more, and seriously consider making calls to your legislators, Letters to the Editor of your local paper, or Opinion pieces to your local paper, all before September 30.
On the call we alluded to a Very Exciting New Bill focused on a fast and fair transition that we were hearing might be introduced as soon as the next day. The OFF Act (Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act) has finally been introduced! Read the bill or the official summary, and check for your legislators here. Read Representative Gabbard’s press release about it here. We are particularly excited that enviornmental justice appears specifically, and in more than one place in the text of the bill. We are also excited about real attention to energy transition. Are you really interested in learning more about energy transition? We’re hearing great things about this book.
The House Climate Solutions Caucus currently stands at 26 D/R pairs of Representatives (52 Representatives total). Pennsylvania Congressmen who are members of the caucus are Rep. Costello, Rep. Meehan, Rep. Fitzpatrick, and Rep. Cartwright. It is good to ask them about what they’re working on, and how the Caucus is meaningful or helpful to them. We want to urge this group to think creatively and boldly.
Climate Solutions Caucus members have actively proposed legislation, all of which is currently in committee.
– HR 2326, the Climate Solutions Commission Act
– HR 2830, concerning methane leakage in infrastructure
– HR 2858, the SUPER Act, concerning short-term high-intensity climate pollutants
Of these, we are particularly interested in HR 2858, (nicknamed the SUPER Act) that deals with very powerful, short-lived climate pollutants. This group of climate pollutants are estimated to account for nearly half of the human-caused climate change we are now seeing. Slashing these emissions could have a large climate impact, and reductions will have a more localized and immediate impact on the health of impacted communities, and even on crop yields.
Although the Senate version of the Regulatory Accountability Act is missing some of the most concerning provisions of the House version, we remain concerned that S.951
requires proposed regulations to be evaluated in light of purely financial costs to companies, without considering either costs or benefits to citizens and communities, such as the impact of clean air, clean water, and a healthy atmosphere on our public health, or our national security.
STATE UPDATE SUMMARY
PIPELINES
Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl ruled that the property of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ and other holdout landownders who live in the path of the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline is condemned, and may be seized by Oklahoma-based corporation Williams. Atlantic Sunrise is a nearly 200-mile, $3 billion natural gas pipeline through 10 counties in Pennsyvania. When the ruling was made, Williams still required three state-level environmental permits before construction could officially begin. Hearings for one of those permits happened in Lancaster County in August. PA IPL Board member Bill Lochstet testified. Soon after our call, the PA DEP has approved.
The Adorers of the Blood of Christ have invoked free exercise of religion as protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The PA DEP has not given a deadline for its decision.
Judge Jeffrey Schmehl’s offices are in Reading, PA. Contact us if you are interested in being a prayerful presence.
Members of Lancaster Against Pipelines and the sisters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ would love to see their outdoor chapel in continuous use. We would be happy to put you in contact with them if you are able to use their outdoor interfaith chapel space for your faithful gatherings of all sorts.
Fiscal Code bills are now in front of the House
Governor Wolf and Senate Republicans collaborated on a fiscal deal that includes a teeny tiny severance tax, and privatizes and time-limits environmental permit review. As people who breathe, drink, and count on our atmosphere, there is a lot more to be concerned about in HB 542 (tax code), HB 118 (administrative code), and HB 453 (fiscal code). Learn more in a clear and reasoned rundown of the lowlights here, where there is also a link to the PA Council of Churches sign-on letter.
The former head of the PA Utility Commission Rob Powelson has been tapped for FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), so there is an opening at the PUC. Nominees for this position must be Republicans or Independents at this time (commission balance rules). The Governor makes the nomination. We are sure there is more than one good candidate, but we know that Chris Ross, from Chester County, has experience working in bipartisan groups to get the 2004 Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards passed (and we hear that he has solar panels on his own roof!). He is an obvious candidate for a short list. We urge the Governor
to seek candidates committed to 21st century clean, renewable-energy leadership.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- September 14 Environmental Rights Amendment Forum, Philadelphia, celebrating Article 1, Section 27 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Franklin Kury, Esq., the author of the amendment, was the first recipient of PA IPL’s Visionary Award.
- September 21-24 Social Justice Through Economic Resistance at Pendle Hill (Quaker retreat and conference center) Wallingford.
- October 6-8 The Work that Reconnects: Take Part in the Healing of our World at Pendle Hill (Quaker retreat and conference center, with Lynne Iser and Rabbi Mordechai Liebling) Wallingford.
- October 14th, Bryn Mawr —or—October 15th, Pittsburgh, PA IPL’s Interfaith Moral Climate Advocacy Workshops, which both new and experienced advocates have found engaging and helpful. Join us for the first time, or be one of our return participants.
- October 29th 1:30-5:30 PA IPL’s 2017 statewide annual conference, Gratitude, Lament, and Rewnewal: Walking Faithfully in a Time of Climate Disruption, State College.
CLOSING MEDITATION
We close each Policy Update call with a meditation or prayer; this one was offered by Chelsea Jackson.
This past week the eclipse brought the people of our country together, and many who watched described it as an awesome, emotional, and even frightening experience. What many of them experienced was the jolt that happens when you lose something that’s been taken for granted, when you encounter something contradictory to everything you’ve known. The sun was going to come back, the scientists knew it, onlookers knew it, but the change still demanded their attention, it still gave them pause, still reminded them to look up and remember the vastness of the cosmos and Creation.
The earth is like that. It is vast, and intricate, full of rushing water, a delicate atmosphere and animals of all shapes and sizes, and in this vastness the earth reminds us how small we are, and yet how much power we have, how much damage we can do if we aren’t careful. The earth we know is changing, and unlike the eclipse, this change can go unnoticed for a while, but sooner or later we’re going to have to take notice. We’re going to have to give the earth our attention and find ways to live in a world that humans have often taken for granted.
And so may the prayer below encourage us to look up and out, and give our attention to an earth that we rely on, and an earth that is relying on us.
Wondrous Creator, whose presence permeates the cosmos,
whose imprint is found throughout all of Creation
grant us hearts of wisdom,
that we may have the discipline to know our limits and the earth’s needs.
Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Bring healing to our lives, our communities and our world,
that we may protect your Creation and not prey on it;
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Move our hands to service,
that we may serve the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
those deemed precious in your eyes.
Teach us to discover the inherent worth of each living thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature.
May we be a people who look up and out at the beauty, power and intricacy of the earth,
and even in the darkest of times, may we hold on to faith,
and continue the journey toward your infinite light.
(Prayer from Laudato Si’, Pope Francis, 2015, adapted by Chelsea Jackson)
Downloadable Laudato Si study by Rabbi Daniel Swartz, including Pope Francis’ version of this prayer is available at paipl.org
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