Overnight Energy: Obama officials push climate talks forward

by Timothy Cama and Devin Henry - 12/07/15 5:31 PM ET

LET’S MAKE A DEAL: Officials are entering their final week negotiating a climate change accord in Paris and a slate of Americans are there to make the Obama administration’s case for a landmark deal.

Secretary of State John Kerry, though, downplayed the importance Monday of a climate change agreement with legally binding emissions reduction targets.

{mosads}Kerry said that an accord without binding reductions, like what many world leaders want out of Paris, would be enough for the private sector to get the needed reductions.

“I don’t frankly look to government to solve this problem over the course of the next few years. It’s not going to happen,” Kerry said. “I look to the private sector.”

Negotiators released a draft version of a final deal over the weekend, setting off a dash to the finish line before — or even after — the United Nations climate conference ends on Dec. 11.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz laid out the American wish list for a final climate deal on Monday, saying it should include mechanisms to verify progress on carbon reduction targets and ways to renew climate goals in the future.

“We are looking for verifiable approaches for accounting for progress. We’ve been very clear that we would like to see a regular review period,” he said.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy is also in Paris for a few days, and on Monday she defended the long-term legality and effectiveness of the power plant rules that make up the cornerstone of Obama’s climate pledge.

Republicans, meanwhile, looked to downplay progress on the climate deal.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee who is among Obama’s toughest climate critics, said the lack of Republican support for a climate strategy will prevent negotiators from coming to a far-reaching deal.

“Without the support of Congress, the president would be limited to making a nonbonding political commitment with no means of enforcement or accountability or longevity,” Inhofe said.

“Past COPs have revealed that these meetings are not meant to produce anything substantive and I promise you that COP21 will follow suit. Nothing’s going to happen.”

Read more about Kerry here, Moniz here and Inhofe here.

KEPT IN THE GROUND, FOR NOW: Greens are claiming victory Monday after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) canceled an oil and natural gas lease sale scheduled for Thursday.

Drilling rights for the nine parcels in Arkansas and Michigan will now happen in March.

But activists pushing the “keep it in the ground” strategy for fossil fuels say their protests were a success.

“Keeping fossil fuels in the ground has quickly become the new standard for climate leadership,” said Jason Kowalski, policy director at 350.org. “The Obama administration clearly recognized that it couldn’t present itself as a climate leader in Paris if it was peddling fossil fuels at home.”

“If the administration can’t handle the optics of auctioning fossil fuels while negotiating a climate deal in Paris, it shouldn’t be auctioning off fossil fuels at all,” said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity.

The move from BLM followed another lease sale cancellation in November in Utah, which the agency acknowledged at the time was due to unusually high engagement by stakeholders.

ON TAP TUESDAY I: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a presidential candidate, will chair a Senate Commerce Committee subpanel hearing on “promoting open inquiry” in the debate over climate change science. The panel will hear from various climate change experts, most of whom are skeptical of the human role in global warming.

ON TAP TUESDAY II: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will host a hearing on a bill to prepare the National Park Service for its centennial celebration next year. Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis will testify, along with representatives of groups that partner with the agency.

Rest of Tuesday’s agenda …

A House Natural Resources subcommittee will hold a hearing on royalty payments for energy production on federal land.

Reps. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) will speak at a National Journal event on the future of the electric grid.

The United Nations climate change conference continues in Paris.

AROUND THE WEB:

Beijing officials announced the first-ever “red alert” for severe smog on Monday, the New York Times reports.

At least seven people are dead and 23 missing after an offshore oil rig exploded off the coast of Azerbaijan, the Associated Press reports.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed at $37.65 a barrel Monday, the lowest price in seven years, Reuters reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Monday’s stories …

-Study: Carbon emission growth to stall in 2015
-Inhofe doubts climate conference will produce big deal
-Kerry says he’s looking to the private sector to ‘solve’ climate change
-Obama energy chief lays out wish list for final Paris deal
-UN head warns of ‘climate catastrophe’ without Paris deal
-Sanders: Energy industry ‘hell-bent’ on climate change apathy
-Sanders: Climate change poses ‘major’ national security threat
-Trump pledges to repeal estate tax
-Sean Penn calls for action on forest preservation
-Climate draft deal reached at Paris conference
-Wind, solar credits on the chopping block?