Climate Day
EPA to announce historic carbon cap regs this morning. NYT: "Gina McCarthy, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will outline the regulations, issued under the Clean Air Act, at the agency’s Washington headquarters at 10:30 a.m. The speech will be webcast at epa.gov."
Rules aim for 30% cut in emissions. AP: "The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday will roll out a plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30 percent by 2030 ... a step that the administration hopes will get other countries to act when negotiations on a new international treaty resume next year."
But baseline is from near-peak emissions. Politico: "The relatively early baseline year, 2005, was an item on the industry’s wish list. Many green groups had pushed for the reductions to be calculated from lower-pollution years like 2010 or 2012."
The Hill adds: "On the other hand, using a more recent baseline would effectively reward states that have not made significant carbon cuts in recent years."
Rules designed to give states flexibility. Politico: "The sprawling rule will include different interim and final pollution goals for various states and regions, several sources said Sunday night, and EPA will require states to cut their 'carbon intensity' – tons of carbon per megawatt of electricity, not simply overall tons of carbon. States are expected to be able to choose from a menu of options for complying, with possible choices including joining regional cap-and-trade networks ... The president’s message to lawmakers was that 'industry can do this,' the source said, adding that Obama cited past examples — acid rain regulations and cars’ fuel-efficiency standards — where naysayers’ predictions of economic ruin had fallen flat. 'So he was making very much the innovation case and the anti-doom-and-gloom case.'"
Michael Bloomberg endorses: "Less than a week before the 2012 election, I endorsed President Barack Obama for one main reason: his commitment to confronting climate change with bold new initiatives ... [today] he is expected to make good on that promise ... Other countries have been waiting for the U.S. to lead by example, and tomorrow's action will make it harder for them to remain on the sidelines."
"Obama's Carbon Rules Can Boost The Economy" argues Bloomberg's Tom Zeller Jr.: "While some jobs will almost certainly be lost if companies decide that it's not worth it to outfit their aging coal plants with new pollution-control technologies, those losses will almost certainly be offset by the creation of new jobs elsewhere, as the new regulations drive investment in cleaner technologies, efficiency upgrades and other areas. A recent analysis from the Natural Resources Defense Council estimated that new greenhouse gas limits on power plants could reduce electric bills for U.S. households and businesses by as much as $37.4 billion by 2020, and create more than 274,000 jobs."
Regs may unleash private investment to solve climate change. NYT: "...some experts said his new plan may at least send a signal to private capital that now is the time to get involved in trying to solve the energy challenge. 'Once the rules are in place, then the engineers really are unleashed on the question of, oh, what’s the cheapest way to do this?' said Kevin Kennedy, director of the United States Climate Initiative at the World Resources Institute, a think tank. 'American engineers are pretty good at this sort of thing.'"
Conservative state lawmakers move to fight rule. AP: "It remains to be seen whether new measures passed by the states will amount to mere political symbolism or actually temper what's expected to be an aggressive federal effort to reduce the country's reliance on coal. But either way, states likely will play a pivotal role, because federal clean air laws leave it up to each state to come up its own plan for complying with the emission guidelines ... Without waiting to see Obama's proposal, the governors of Kansas, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia signed laws directing their environmental agencies to develop their own carbon emission plans that consider the costs of compliance at individual power plants. Similar measures recently passed in Missouri and are pending in the Louisiana and Ohio legislatures."
Bernie Takes Lead in VA Reform
Sen. Bernie Sanders introduces VA reform bill. W. Post: "Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday proposed a broad bill aimed at addressing the underlying problems behind the inappropriate scheduling practices, in addition to giving the VA greater authority to remove executives for poor performance. The legislation would also allow veterans to use non-VA medical centers when they cannot obtain timely appointments at VA clinics. Patients would be permitted to use community health centers, military hospitals and private doctors in such situations ... The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing on Thursday to discuss Sanders’s bill."
"VA moves Bernie Sanders from stage left to center stage" reports Politico: "... Bernie Sanders now is tasked with leading Democrats through a sensitive political dilemma that’s putting their party on the defensive ... [He] signaled his VA bill would move in the direction sought by Democrats: Expand access to health care within the VA system even as the GOP pushes to instead let veterans see private doctors ... To help head off GOP criticism after blocking the House bill aimed at making it easier to fire or demote senior-level VA officials, Sanders said he wants to strike a compromise with Republicans to hold bad actors accountable."
Breakfast Sides
Eno Center for Transportation's Joshua Schank urges highway trust fund fix in NYT oped: "No other developed nation relies so heavily on user fees like the gas tax. While other countries typically have much higher gas taxes, they do not dedicate these revenues to transportation. Instead, they use general revenues. So should America ... Your commute is unlikely to improve until we pay for and invest in transportation as if it’s the 21st century."
The right has been denying income inequality for decades, notes NYT's Paul Krugman: "... nothing much has changed. Not only do the usual suspects continue to deny the obvious, but they keep rolling out the same discredited arguments: Inequality isn’t really rising; O.K., it’s rising, but it doesn’t matter because we have so much social mobility; anyway, it’s a good thing, and anyone who suggests that it’s a problem is a Marxist."
