Overnight Energy: New security restrictions for Paris climate talks

by Timothy Cama and Devin Henry - 11/16/15 6:02 PM ET

NO RALLIES NEAR PARIS CLIMATE MEETING: French leaders have decided that they’ll still host the United Nations climate pact negotiations in Paris starting Nov. 30, but with some big restrictions.

Specifically, any rallies, concerts or other gatherings are being banned as part of the strict new security regime in the wake of Friday’s terrorist attacks around Paris that killed 129 people, Reuters reports.

“A series of demonstrations planned will not take place and it will be reduced to the negotiations,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said. “A lot of concerts and festivities will be canceled.”

{mosads}Valls added that to cancel the meeting would be “abdicating to the terrorists,” and that many world leaders gathered Monday in Turkey for the Group of 20 meeting asked that the climate talks go on.

At that Turkey meeting, UN head Ban Ki-moon urged heads of state and government to go “much farther and much faster” with their plans to fight climate change.

“The only way to bridge the remaining gaps is for you yourself to engage, with a clear grasp of what is at stake, and give the necessary instructions to your negotiators,” Ban said of the climate contributions that more than 150 countries have submitted in advance of the pact. “Success in Paris truly rests in your hands.”

Read more here and here.

EPA BEGINS PROMOTING BIOMASS: The Environmental Protection Agency this week is promoting biomass, or energy from plant matter, as a way for states to comply with its climate rule for power plants.

In a Monday blog post, EPA assistant administrator Janet McCabe said that the Clean Power Plan “creates a pathway for states to use biomass as part of their plans to meet their emission reduction guidelines, and we expect many states to include biomass as a component in their state plans.”

“The president’s Climate Action Plan and a range of the administration’s policies recognize that America’s forests and other lands must continue to play an essential role in mitigating the effects of carbon pollution,” McCabe wrote.

“Biomass derived from land that is managed under programs that ensure the long-term maintenance of healthy forests can serve as an integral part of a broader forestry-based climate strategy, so the CPP expressly includes bioenergy as an option for states and utilities in CPP compliance.”

Separately, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy visited New Hampshire on Monday to promote biomass fuel with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).

Middleton, N.H., the town the pair visited, “saved $1 million on their energy bill – about 40 percent – by using their own biomass as fuel,” McCarthy tweeted. “Saved 61 jobs and helped create others, too.”

The agency will hold a public workshop next year to discuss ways for states to integrate biomass into their Clean Power Plan compliance proposals.

GROUPS TELL MARYLAND TO BAN FRACKING: More than 70 groups are asking Maryland lawmakers to permanently ban hydraulic fracturing in the state.

The Maryland Legislature instituted a two-and-a-half year fracking moratorium in May, a measure that also required the state to write new standards regulating the practice.

But environmental and public health groups said Monday that the ban should be extended permanently, citing fracking’s potential health risks and its impact on water supplies and climate change.

“It is impossible to ignore the mounting evidence showing that fracking poses severe health threats,” Thomas Meyer, Maryland Organizer at Food and Water Watch, said in a statement.

The coalition calling for a permanent fracking ban includes Food and Water Watch, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters and others.

Maryland was the second state to ban fracking this year, after New York. The Legislature approved the law earlier with veto-proof margins in the House and Senate. It took effect after Gov. Larry Hogan (R) decided not to veto the bill.

TUESDAY IN THE HILL: Coal’s place in the 2016 presidential race so far has been decidedly more muted than other recent elections. Find out why and what that means Tuesday in The Hill.

ON TAP TUESDAY I: The House Energy and Commerce Committee will begin marking up Congressional Review Act resolutions against President Obama’s climate rules for power plants. The panel will deliver opening statements on Tuesday night and vote on the resolutions on Wednesday.

ON TAP TUESDAY II: Cynthia Giles, the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at the Environmental Protection Agency, will speak at an Environmental Law Institute event.

Rest of Tuesday’s agenda …

The Senate Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on wildfire preparations.

AROUND THE WEB:

Iowa officials began debating a pipeline project that would carry Bakken crude oil through the state, the Des Moines Register reports.

The defense team for former coal executive Don Blankenship rested Monday without calling any witnesses, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports.

California officials might extend the state’s current water use restrictions even after the drought ends, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Monday’s stories …

-Greens push senators to oppose power plant resolutions
-Volkswagen apologizes for emission scandal in full page ad
-Oil group: Regulators are ignoring impact of natural gas on emissions
-Groups press feds to overhaul GMO regulations
-France to ban rallies near Paris climate talks
-UN chief urges ‘faster’ action on climate change
-Week ahead: UN climate talks under scrutiny
-Sanders doubles down: Climate change causes terrorism
-Sanders: Climate change still greatest threat to national security
-Paris climate talks to move forward despite attacks; Obama to attend