In Between Times 4-13-2023
EarthX is next week!, 80% increase in carbon storage, A bipartisan pollution fee?, The tragedy and possible rebirth of the Colorado River
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EVENT!
JOIN US NEXT WEEK IN DALLAS! The EARTHX LEADERSHIP CIRCLE SUMMIT
With Van Jones
April 21-22, 2023
EarthX at Fair Park
Dallas, Texas
At the Leadership Circle Summit, you will roll up sleeves and work shoulder-to-shoulder with citizens, NGOs, corporate leaders, scientists, and donors across the partisan divide - not to just listen, but to actively help plan how to unite Americans for pragmatic climate solutions that work.
CNN host Van Jones will lead our circle in person as we share how we can work together to achieve breakthrough climate solutions, by applying lessons he learned to pass “impossible” criminal justice reform backed by progressives and conservatives and signed into law by President Trump.
You will be surprised to meet the unexpected allies already working quietly together to stop climate change. You won’t just hear their stories - you will be at the table to hear, discuss, and improve a positive strategy that we will deploy to break the gridlock and lead to bipartisan climate solutions.
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IEA Report: 80% increase in carbon storage capacity
Carbon capture is a technology in its infancy, but one that is maturing quickly. 2023 will prove to be a boom year for pulling carbon directly from the atmosphere. If investors continue to see positive results, with costs coming down and capacity increasing, this boom is very likely to continue for the foreseeable future, especially as the US government and and other governments around the world have incentivized carbon capture.
(From Carbon Herald)
The dramatic increase in projects and final investment decisions made throughout last year is a clear sign of stronger confidence in the emerging carbon industry and a wider acceptance of the pressing need to limit CO2 emissions in order to mitigate climate change.
In part, the positive shift is driven by policy incentives directed specifically towards carbon capture, most notably the Inflation Reduction Act in the US, but also similar incentives seen in Canada, the United Kingdom and other parts of the world.
Another factor, as the report shows, is the rising price of carbon in both compliance and voluntary carbon markets.
Click here for the article.
How does carbon capture work?
In wake of EU carbon border adjustment mechanism GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy plans legislation that would impose a “foreign pollution fee”
This is a clear opportunity for bipartisan movement on carbon issues. Broadly speaking Dems see climate as the primary driver here, while some in the GOP see Cassidy’s “fee” as a way to make things more fair for American businesses.
American firms are among the cleanest in the world but they must compete against producers of products abroad that do not adhere to such high standards. The Europeans are in the same boat and so recently began the implementation of a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) that penalizes products that are imported into the EU using (more) carbon intensive methods. Leaders in the US Senate have taken note.
(From RollCall)
Greg Bertelsen, CEO of the Climate Leadership Council, an advocacy group that supports carbon pricing, said the origins of Republicans’ interest in carbon border adjustment tools typically stems from economic or trade reasons, while the climate upside is secondary.
For Democrats in Congress, it’s often the reverse. No matter the topic that piqued other members’ interest, the climate reduction benefits align with their agenda, Bertelsen said by phone.
“There's not perfect overlap at this very moment,” Bertelsen said. “I think the next step in this, we'll see probably partisan approaches, Republican approaches and Democratic approaches, and then we'll see whether there's overlap.”
Regardless, this issue seems to have reasonably broad bipartisan interest. Whether such legislation can weather the scrutiny of the World Trade Organization is an open question but one that will begin to be answered by the Europeans as their CBAM comes online and is (likely) challenged in the WTO.
Click here for the article.
How does U.S. electricity generation change over one week?
The Problem With Everything-Bagel Liberalism
Your editor must admit that he often finds Ezra Kline mildly annoying. He’s an excellent writer but how he expresses his positions can be irksome. But that is a personal issue and Kline’s recent piece in The New York Times is quite good and very worth a read.
Especially if one is interested in getting anything done.
One of the points we often make in this space is that for a greener future things like transmission lines and all sorts of pipelines are going to have to go in. New types of power plants will have to be built. But right now our current regulatory regime makes these things very difficult. Projects that should take 2 years stretch into 10 years as lawyers file suits and endless environmental impact studies are commissioned with the ultimate goal of scuttling project X or Y. It’s hard to get anything done. The confirmed progressive Mr. Kline recognizes the problem also.
Good. That’s progress.
(From The New York Times)
Government is rarely a singular entity that wants one thing. Different factions and officials and regulations and processes push in different directions. Tahanan succeeded because it had the support of city and state officials who streamlined zoning and cut deals to make it possible. But it needed gobs of private money to avoid triggering an avalanche of well-meaning rules and standards that slow public projects in San Francisco — and nationally.
You might assume that when faced with a problem of overriding public importance, government would use its awesome might to sweep away the obstacles that stand in its way. But too often, it does the opposite. It adds goals — many of them laudable — and in doing so, adds obstacles, expenses and delays. If it can get it all done, then it has done much more. But sometimes it tries to accomplish so much within a single project or policy that it ends up failing to accomplish anything at all.
I’ve come to think of this as the problem of everything-bagel liberalism.
Click here for the article.
Washington Post: “Governing by Fox News”?
LA, Las Vegas, could see big water cuts in the effort to revive the Colorado River
There was a time, believe it or not, when the Colorado actually flowed to the ocean. It was only a few decades ago that the Colorado delta was green and productive. It’s not now largely because its water is diverted to the large urban centers of California, the American Southwest, and the cities and agricultural areas of northwest Mexico. A series of US/Mexican water treaties, followed by multiple damming projects slowed the mighty Colorado to a trickle, now rarely ever reaching the Sea of Cortez as it did only a few decades ago.
Now there is a serious effort to restore the river. But it will be a painful process. No one wants to give up the water they’ve come to rely on.
(From CNN)
…while the extent of the water cuts is the same in the two main scenarios, the difference lies in who would bear the brunt of the cuts.
In one, major Western cities – including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix – would take the vast majority of the water cuts if Lake Mead levels were to plummet further, because these cities have a lower priority claim to the water, compared to farmers and Native tribes…
…The other scenario examines what would happen if the water cuts are spread equally among cities, farmers and tribes alike – an option that some high-priority water users have warned could result in a prolonged, high-stakes court battle between states and the federal government.