Countdown To Climate Rules
Upcoming climate regs may spark global response. NYT: "President Obama is expected to announce on Monday an Environmental Protection Agency regulation to cut carbon pollution from the nation’s fleet of 600 coal-fired power plants, in a speech that government analysts in Beijing, Brussels and beyond will scrutinize to determine how serious the president is ... China has demanded that the United States, as the world’s historically largest polluter, go first. Chinese policy experts say that Mr. Obama’s regulation could end that standoff ..."
TNR's Jonathan Cohn previews what may be in the new climate rules: "The EPA regulation will basically give the states a target for emission reductions, and then a deadline by which that state’s emissions must meet the target. But the states today produce carbon at very different levels ... Will EPA mandate that all states reach a fixed level of emissions, or that each state reduce existing emissions by a fixed amount [and] how long will states have to comply? ... A system-wide approach would include attempts to reduce the demand for electricity, by helping homeowners and businesses to improve their energy efficiency ... [But a] strategy that limited states ... could produce more limited gains—and would likely mean steeper increases in energy prices ... Allowing the states to meet targets with system-wide reforms, [energy industry representatives] say, would exceed the authority that the Clean Air Act gives the federal government."
Global carbon pollution breaks record. The Hill: "The World Meteorological Organization warned Monday that levels of carbon dioxide topped 400 parts per million in the northern hemisphere in April, a landmark event it says highlights the growing peril of climate change ... Global carbon levels have been rising since before the industrial revolution, when they were about 278 parts per million. The amount of the gas in the atmosphere has been rising by about 2 parts per million each year over the last decade."
"Non-Hydro Renewables Pass Hydropower In United States" reports CleanTechnica: "...non-hydro renewables outproduced hydropower for the first time in March 2014. Also, for the first time, wind contributed 5% of the nation’s electricity ... [But i]mpressive as the renewable sector’s growth is, these numbers still pale beside those of the fossil fuel sector."
Sen. Mary Landrieu touts energy committee chairmanship to beat back GOP challenger. W. Post: "Everywhere she goes, Landrieu reminds voters that she has it — the clout to 'deliver for Louisiana,' the clout to take on Obama and get the Keystone XL oil pipeline built ... no small thing for a poor state that pins its economic future to the booming oil and gas industry ... Landrieu’s advocacy of domestic drilling has won her plaudits from business leaders who say they would otherwise back Republicans. The oil and gas sector has given her campaign $547,286 this cycle — more than to any other senator except John Cornyn (R-Tex.)..."
House-Senate Friction On Tax Break Bill
House GOP, Senate Dems disagree on making tax breaks temporary or permanent. The Hill: "GOP tax writers are hesitant to weigh in on the broader fight over amendments and floor procedure that is stalling the Senate legislation to restore the more than 50 tax breaks commonly known as extenders. But they do believe that quick action in the Senate opens up the chance for a conference committee before November's election, increasing their odds of permanent extensions ... But [they] also acknowledge they face an uphill battle getting Democratic leaders like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to agree to a conference committee ... If the debate spills into November and December, Republicans acknowledge that it will be easier for leaders in both parties just to sign off on the short-term extensions in the Senate bill."
Ohioans angry at Speaker over stalled jobless aid. Cincinnati Enquirer: "Russ Holton, a 45-year-old from Mason who lost his job last year, said he watched in frustration as Congress quickly passed a $1 billion aid package for Ukraine but continued to let the unemployment extension languish. 'I’m like, "What about the American people?" ... I can’t wrap my head around the mentality there.' ... From January through April, 62,644 people in Ohio have lost their unemployment compensation ... [In April,] 27,000 Ohioans stopped looking for work or otherwise left the labor force so they were no listed as unemployed."
Though Reid breaking gridlock on judges. The Hill: "The Senate confirmed 22 of Obama’s court picks, including five appellate court nominees, in the work period that began on April 28 and ended Thursday ... At the start of Obama’s first term, 10 of the nation’s 13 circuit courts had a majority of judges appointed by Republican presidents ... Currently, nine circuit courts have a majority of Democratic-appointed judges ... 'There are now 67 vacancies. We haven’t been that low for five years. That tells us that the nuclear option’s detonation in November has allowed the Democrats to confirm many more nominees than they have been [doing],' said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond’s law school..."
