EnviroPolitics Blog

Without approval, Trump official publishes papers questioning seriousness of climate change

Papers bearing the presidential seal appear on climate contrarian websites but were not authorized

By Andrew Freedman and Jason Samenow, Washington Post

Controversial papers questioning the seriousness of climate change led by David Legates, a senior official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration appointed by President Trump, have been published online without White House approval.

The papers, which were published on nongovernment websites, bear the imprint of the Executive Office of the President and state they were copyrighted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). But they were disavowed.

“These papers were not created at the direction of The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy nor were they cleared or approved by OSTP leadership,” OSTP spokeswoman Kristina Baum said in an email Monday night.

Reached by phone Tuesday, she added that “OSTP has no intention to formalize these,” and said that they are being dealt with internally.

The papers make controversial and disputed claims about climate science, including that human-caused global warming “involves a large measure of faith” and that computer models are “too small and slow” to produce meaningful climate simulations.

Legates did not reply to requests for comment regarding why the papers were published bearing the seal of the Executive Office of the President when they were not approved.

“These misguided and thoroughly erroneous screeds would not have been issued by any body with a shred of scientific integrity,” wrote John Holdren, who was the OSTP director under President Obama. “It is not enough for an offense of this magnitude to be disavowed by an OSTP spokesperson. It should be forcefully denounced by the OSTP Director, Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier.”

Holdren also called for Legates to be fired.

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Jim Kennedy to chair New Jersey’s Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee

Assemblyman Jim Kennedy Elevated from Vice-chair to Chair of the Environment Panel

NJ Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin announced Friday that Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee vice chair, James Kennedy will take over as chair of the committee effective immediately.

Assemblyman Kennedy succeeds former Assemblywoman Nancy Pinkin as chair of the panel. Pinkin recently left the Legislature after being elected Middlesex County Clerk in November.

“I’ve known Assemblyman Kennedy for many years and I know him to be a passionate advocate for the environment. He has proven that time and again during his tenure as vice-chair of the Environment Committee,” said Coughlin (D-Middlesex). “I look forward to working with the Assemblyman to help craft meaningful bills to address climate change, clean energy and more. I know he will be a strong leader on environmental issues across-the-board.”

During his time in the Legislature, Kennedy has helped spearhead efforts to address open space preservation, renewable energy, natural resource restoration, eliminating combined sewer overflows, clean air and more. Kennedy is currently working to increase access to electric vehicle charging stations and to improve recycling efforts throughout New Jersey.

“I am honored that Speaker Coughlin has selected me as chair of the Assembly Environment Committee,” said Kennedy (D-Middlesex, Somerset, Union). “New Jersey is confronting many environmental issues that must be addressed. As chairman, I pledge to be a tireless fighter on behalf of the State’s nine million residents and a staunch defender of the environment so that clean air and clean water are preserved for the generations to come.”

Kennedy has been a member of the New Jersey General Assembly since 2016. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee and is a member of the Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee.

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Ørsted Joins Efforts To Develop Offshore-Wind-to-Green-Hydrogen Tech

The Oyster project will look to answer some of the design and engineering questions posed by offshore hydrogen production. (Credit: Siemens Gamesa)

[Editor’s note: Ørsted is the Danish company that is developing the Ocean Wind energy wind farm some 15 miles off the coast of southern New Jersey. Construction is planned to start in the early 2020’s, with the wind farm operational in 2024. The New Jersey project will utilize conventional wind-energy technology not like what is described below]

BY JOHN PARNELL, greentechmedia

Global offshore wind developer Ørsted has become the latest major player to pursue off-grid green hydrogen, a technology that could expand capacity for converting offshore wind power to zero-carbon energy.

The Danish firm is collaborating with ITM Power, Siemens Gamesa and Element Energy on the Oyster project. The consortium was awarded a €5 million grant by the European Commission on Friday.

Oyster is developing a desalination and electrolysis system that is fully “marinized,” that is, modified for marine use. The stated aim is to make green hydrogen cost-competitive as a replacement fuel for methane (which is the largest component of natural gas).

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ITM Power CEO Graham Cooley told GTM that the first challenge was integrating the power electronics of the electrolyzer and a wind turbine, and the second was to harden it to be able to stand up to the conditions it will have to withstand at sea.

A modified electrolyzer will be put through its paces in simulated offshore conditions.

“The other important aspect of it is water. […] If you’re offshore, you’ll be using desalinated seawater,” said Cooley. “So it is about combining all those things together. It’s the integration of the electrolyzer with the wind turbine, planning the ability to install offshore, and the use of seawater as the main source of water for the electrolyzer.”

Cooley points out that oil rigs have been using desalination equipment at sea for decades and have survived everything the North Sea can throw at them in the process.

Design work on Oyster will begin now, with the project running through 2024.

Pilots plan to answer islanded green hydrogen’s big questions

Plans to use offshore wind power and on-site electrolyzers to pump hydrogen instead of power back to shore are garnering more interest, with German utility RWE leading the most ambitious project, its 10 GW AquaVentus proposal, which has buy-in from Shell, Vestas, Siemens Energy and fellow utility Vattenfall. AquaVentus will start with pilot and demo phases before deploying in 2-gigawatt tranches and hitting 10 GW by 2035.

Pilot projects like Oyster will help to answer some of the remaining key questions around the concept. These include sizing electrolyzers to maximize utilization, a key factor in the cost of producing green hydrogen, when offshore wind capacity factors max out at around the 50 percent mark.

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Electric vehicle station bill gets charged up in New Jersey Senate

By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor

TRENTON – In an effort to make charging electric vehicles more accessible, the State Senate today passed legislation sponsored by Senators Bob Smith and Kip Bateman that would facilitate the development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The bill, S3223, would provide that electric vehicle charging infrastructure is an inherently beneficial use of land pursuant to the “Municipal Land Use Law” and therefore would only require minor site plan approval. “Inherently beneficial” uses provide value to communities because they fundamentally serve the public good. Examples include hospitals, schools, childcare centers, and wind and solar energy facilities.

“Electric vehicle charging has proven to be inherently beneficial since it benefits the public good and promotes the general welfare of a community,” said Senator Smith (D-Middlesex / Somerset). “As a state, we have a goal to have 330,000 registered electric cars in New Jersey by 2025, and in order to achieve this goal, we must act now and begin developing more vehicle charging stations.”

Bateman agreed, saying: “If we’re going to get more electric cars on the road, we’re going to need easier and more convenient access to charging stations. It’s as simple as that. This measure will help the critical charging infrastructure keep pace.”

The bill was released from the Senate by a vote of 32-0.

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Pelosi: House will move on impeachment of Trump if Pence doesn’t meet a deadline to remove him

By John Wagner, Paulina Firozi and Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post
Jan. 11, 2021 at 12:26 p.m. EST

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday that the House will move forward with impeaching President Trump for a second time if Vice President Pence does not seek to remove him under the 25th Amendment within 24 hours of passage of a House resolution expected Tuesday.

Her threat came shortly after House Democrats formally introduced an article of impeachment against Trump, charging him with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the takeover of the U.S. Capitol last week by a violent pro-Trump mob. The House could vote as early as Wednesday.

Related political news stories:
William Burns Is Biden’s Choice for C.I.A. Director (New York Times)
Capitol Riot Puts More Scrutiny on Big Tech (Wall Street Journal)
Stripped of Twitter, Trump Faces a New Challenge (New York Times)
Biden Faces No-Win Choice: Play Avenger or Conciliator? (WSJ)
These Businesses and Institutions Are Cutting Ties With Trump (NYT)

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Canada wants the U.S. to exclude it from the list of countries hit with solar import tariffs

By Derick Lila, pvbuzz

In a series of statements by Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade — Canada has requested consultations with the U.S. to be excluded from the list of countries hit with tariffs on the import of solar cells and modules.

“Canada is a trusted partner of the U.S. with long-established cross-border supply chains that enhance North American competitiveness,” the Minister said in the statement. “Canada has requested consultations with the U.S. on its continued tariffs on solar products, as first steps in the CUSMA dispute settlement process.”

The U.S. had imposed Section 201 tariffs on imports from Canada in 2018.

Since its introduction, the tariffs have caused an 82 percent decrease in Canada’s solar products export to the U.S.

According to Ng, the tariffs are unwarranted and clearly violate the provisions and the spirit of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

With a new progressive President due to take office later this month, there is a greater chance these tariffs on imported solar cells and modules may be lifted within the first 100 days.

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