Overnight Energy: Obama integrates climate change into national security planning

CLIMATE CHANGE AS NATIONAL SECURITY: President Obama is tasking 20 federal agencies with writing new plans to integrate climate change strategies into national security planning.

Obama signed a directive on Wednesday telling the offices to develop a “federal climate and national security working group” to “identify the U.S. national security priorities related to climate change and national security, and develop methods to share climate science and intelligence information to inform national security policies and plans,” the White House said.

{mosads}The group of agencies — which cover both climate and national security offices — has 90 days to write the new plans.

Obama and members of his administration have long called climate change a national security threat. Republicans object to that classification, and have rejected Democrats’ calls to treat climate change as a long-term threat on the same level of international terrorism, for example.

But the administration also rolled out a report from the National Intelligence Council to make its point on Wednesday, noting climate change’s potential threat to military installations, impact on emergency response efforts and role as a catalyst for future refugee crises.

“This is a very significant step and one that I think is a culmination of an elevation of the intersection between national security and climate change,” Brian Deese, Obama’s senior climate adviser, told reporters.

Read more here.

SENATE FINANCE PASSES MINERS’ PENSION BILL: The Senate Finance Committee passed a bill Wednesday to rescue the main multi-employer pension plan for coal miners.

The panel voted 18-8 to send the Miners Protection Act to the Senate floor for consideration, with the hopes of saving the United Mine Workers of America’s (UMWA) pension program from potential insolvency by year’s end.

Supporters of the bipartisan bill said it fulfills promises that the federal government has made to coal miners for decades.

But some Republicans warned that the bill would set a dangerous precedent in which Congress would be expected to bail out the more than 1,000 multi-employer pension plans at risk of insolvency.

“Today, tens of thousands of mine workers and their families, including so many widows, are in serious danger of losing that lifeline, losing that security,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the top Democrat on the Finance Committee.

“These are hard-working people who come from communities where broken promises, bad policies and bankruptcies have hit like one wrecking ball after another for decades,” he said. “Congress, in my view, has an obligation to step in and make good on the promise that America made back in 1946.”

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) said the real problem is the anti-coal policies of the Obama administration.

“The bill helps only some of the thousands of miners who are hurting because of the administration’s war on fossil fuels. They’d rather have their jobs back,” he said.

Read more here.

STUDY: METHANE RULE WILL CREATE JOBS: An Obama administration rule limiting methane emissions at new oil and gas drilling sites could create up to 50,000 jobs over a decade, according to a new study.

A BlueGreen Alliance report due out Thursday concludes that the rule, released by the EPA earlier this year, will be a boon for the drilling industry, manufacturers and other sectors involved in oil and gas production.

The report — available here on Thursday morning — says the jobs created by the rule will be high-paying, and credits the rule with also addressing climate change.

“We have always said that building a thriving and fair economy means that we are creating good jobs and protecting the environment at the same time,” BlueGreen Alliance Executive Director Kim Glas said in a statement.

“Methane standards for new and modified sources are a perfect example of how fighting climate change can also create and secure quality jobs across the country.”

The Environmental Protection Agency released the methane limits earlier this year. The oil industry opposes the rule, saying it is doing enough work to reduce emissions on its own and that new standards could interfere with operations going forward.

REPUBLICANS TAKE AIM AT CLIMATE GUIDANCE, SCIENCE: House Republicans on Wednesday hammered a new Obama administration request for federal agencies to consider climate change impacts in environmental reviews of proposed projects.

“For [the Council on Environmental Quality], it appears advancing a questionable agenda at all costs is more important than ensuring that the law and science and sound economic reasoning are going to be honored,” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said during a Wednesday hearing.

Democrats and CEQ Managing Director Christy Goldfuss defended the guidance, which came out in August, as important for tackling climate change, which Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) called the “mother of all environmental issues.”

They also had to defend climate change science itself from skeptical Republicans, who questioned it more aggressively than usual on Wednesday.

“As a holder of a degree in Agriculture, a Bachelor of Science, I’m glad to hear that we’re concerned about the production of CO2. All the plants I’ve ever grown love CO2,” Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) said.

He asked Goldfuss: “What percentage of climate change or CO2 is caused by man-made actions?”

“We’re going to have a difference of opinion on this,” Goldfuss said. “We know, and what I know, is what our scientists tell us, which is that climate change is happening now and that humans are contributing.”

LaMalfa asked, “which group of scientists?”

“The vast majority,” Goldfuss replied.

Read more here.

TRUMP TO TALK ENERGY IN PITTSBURGH: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is planning to speak at a natural gas conference in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Trump is expected to speak about his energy policy, with a particular focus on natural gas and hydraulic fracturing.

The event, known as Shale Insight, is being hosted by the Marcellus Shale Coalition and the oil and gas associations of Ohio and West Virginia.

ON TAP THURSDAY I: The Christian Coalition of America and the Young Conservatives for Energy Reform will host the Conservative Clean Energy Summit. It will include speeches by numerous Republican lawmakers such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Rep. Chris Gibson (N.Y.), along with energy association leaders.

ON TAP THURSDAY II: Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee will host an event on the Dakota Access Pipeline. Dave Archambault II, the Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which is suing over the project, will participate.

Rest of Thursday’s agenda …

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the federal fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for cars. Lawmakers will hear from representatives of the EPA, the Transportation Department, stakeholder groups and experts.

Murkowski and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) will be among the speakers at the Alliance to Save Energy’s “Great Energy Efficiency Day.”

The House Natural Resources Committee will vote on five bills, including Chairman Rob Bishop’s (R-Utah) Utah Public Lands Initiative.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on 21 bills.

AROUND THE WEB:

A fire at a power plant in Puerto Rico shut down electricity service on the entire island Wednesday, WSVN News reports.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has nominated Patrick McDonnell, the acting head of the Department of Environmental Protection, to fill the role formally, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

The head of Alaska’s oil and gas agency is resigning amid a feud with major producers in the state, the Alaska Dispatch news reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Wednesday’s stories …

-Lawmakers unveil bill to boost natural gas truck sales
-Panel votes to extend nuclear power tax credit
-Obama inserts climate change into national security strategy
-Feds float bumblebee protections
-Senate panel approves pension rescue for coal miners
-House Republicans slam new Obama climate review
-Paris climate deal moves closer to taking force

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