With the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett on October 26, the Supreme Court that will review a Fourth Circuit decision affirming the remand of Baltimore City’s ongoing climate suit is significantly more conservative than the Supreme Court that granted certiorari just a few weeks prior.[1]
Justice Barrett, a self-proclaimed textualist and a prior clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, is expected to give strong preference to the plain language meaning of federal statutes, regardless of the policy ramifications. This will likely favor Petitioners, whose certiorari petition relied on a plain language reading of the relevant federal statute.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell listens as Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) speaks during a news conference after the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon. | Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Senator John Barrasso, R-WY, announced his intent Wednesday to become the top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, leaving behind his post as the chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Provided Republicans maintain their majority, Barrasso will chair the committee in the next Congress, replacing Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is term-limited.
“Wyoming has been representedon the Senate Energy Committee continuously since 1899. Former Wyoming Senators Wallop, Hansen, O’Mahoney and Kendrick all led the committee at some time over the last century,” Barrasso said in a statement. “It will be an honor to continue this tradition of Wyoming leadership.”
As Pro’s Anthony Adragna reports, the move will put lawmakers from the two leading coal-producing states atop the powerful Energy panel, presenting a potential barrier for any aggressive legislation to enact President-elect Joe Biden’s climate change policies. Ranking Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s state of West Virginia is second only to Barrasso’s in coal production, and both lawmakers have defended the fuel that has seen its demand slump sharply over the past decade as the power sector moved to cleaner, cheaper energy sources.
Barrasso has been a strong supporter of nuclear power and uranium mining, as well as carbon capture and sequestration technology, and observers don’t expect the committee’s agenda to be wildly different than under Murkowski.
“The whole space of energy innovation is so bipartisan,” said Rich Powell, executive director of ClearPath, a group that advocates for conservative clean energy policies. “It’s hard for me to imagine a whole different set of outcomes from that committee. I don’t expect a revolutionary change there.”
Keep in mind: Barrasso will remain in Senate Republican leadership next Congress as conference chair. That could put him in prime position to secure floor time for any legislation the committee produces.
“There are opportunities for Sen. Barrasso to be a partner on important parts of the clean energy agenda in 2021,” said Josh Freed, senior vice president for climate and energy at think tank Third Way. “We’re going to have to see how creative and open-minded he is.
“What’s happening at EPW? Barrasso’s move opens up the top slot for Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who is next in line. In addition to advancing what’s expected to be a hefty infrastructure package, several people said they expected Capito would work on legislation addressing PFAS contamination, a major issue in her state, and providing funding to clean up former mines.
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From The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
While the global recycling community continues to face challenges due to global recycling markets and rising program costs, New Jersey’s recycling leaders are pursuing innovative techniques and strategies to further reduce the waste stream.
Among the 2020 honorees of the DEP’s annual recycling awards are a business that recycles food waste from its cafeterias and plastics from its laboratories; a municipality that recycles 75 percent of its waste, including polystyrene; a university with a comprehensive recycling and reuse program; and an 11 year-old boy who started a successful battery recycling program.
The Department of Environmental Protection will recognize Merck & Co., Inc. in Kenilworth, Union County, Middletown Township in Monmouth County, Princeton University in Princeton, Mercer County, and Sri Nihal Tammana of Edison, Middlesex County among 10 businesses, organizations and individuals during a Thursday, Nov. 19 virtual awards ceremony being held in conjunction with an Association of New Jersey Recyclers educational webinar.
Register for the webinar and ceremony at www.anjr.com.
“I commend the award winners for their innovative efforts to promote recycling and educate their communities about the importance of diverting waste,” DEP Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe said. “New Jersey has been a national leader in recycling for many years, thanks in part to the types of initiatives we see from our recycling award winners and those who follow their excellent examples. Their work helps protect our environment by keeping communities clean and reducing the impacts of climate change.”
BUCHANAN, N.Y. (AP) — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s staff have approved the sale of the Indian Point nuclear power plant north of New York City to a New Jersey company for dismantling, despite petitions from state and local officials to hold public hearings before taking action.
The five-member NRC said Monday that it expects to issue an order next Monday allowing the plant’s owner, Entergy Corp., to transfer its license to Holtec Decommissioning International, which plans to demolish the plant by the end of 2033 at a projected cost of $2.3 billion.
The staff also approved Holtec’s request to use part of a $2.1 billion trust fund set aside for decommissioning to manage spent nuclear fuel stored in dozens of steel-and-concrete canisters that will remain on the site. New York Attorney General Letitia James has called the Holtec deal “very risky,” questioning Holtec’s financing and experience.
Georgia voters recently approved a constitutional amendment directing the state legislature to dedicate tax or fee revenue levied for a specific purpose to only be spent on those given purposes. This could have notable implications by redirecting more funding to hazardous waste clean up, landfill management and recycling and waste reduction programs.
Since 2009, only $56 million of the $154 million collected for the state’s Hazardous Waste Trust Fund has been used for intended purposes. Meanwhile, the Solid Waste Trust Fund collected $73 million and saw $22 million go to intended uses. This is according to Georgia Recycling Economic Development Partners, which backed the amendment.
Some area recycling professionals believe the newly bolstered funding could help prioritize more than $1 million per year for a range of recycling initiatives in a state that was limited by budget cuts years ago. This could include research, a new staff position, educational resources and local program grants.
This is welcome news for regional recycling professionals at a time when funding has been limited, but it still doesn’t mean funding collected will automatically and perpetually be spent only on intended activities. The amendment still requires the state legislature to pass another bill confirming each trust fund will continue. Once passed, the fund (and fees levied to fill it) will expire after 10 years.
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President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr’s aggressive approach to climate change includes undoing years of President Trump’s regulatory rollbacks at agencies like the E.P.A.Credit…Christie Hemm Klok for The New York Times
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., eager to elevate climate change issues throughout his administration, is already drafting orders to reduce planet-warming pollution and seeking nominees who will embed climate policy not only in environmental agencies but in departments from Defense to Treasury to Transportation.
Top candidates for senior cabinet posts, such as Michèle Flournoy for defense secretary and Lael Brainard for Treasury, have long supported aggressive policies to curb climate change. Mr. Biden’s inner circle routinely asks “is the person climate-ambitious?” of candidates even for lower profile positions like the White House budget and regulatory offices, according to a person advising the transition.
Transition team members have been instructed to identify policies that can improve pollution levels in Black and Latino communities. And one of Mr. Biden’s early executive orders is expected to require that every federal agency, department and program prepare to address climate change.
“We have to re-establish American leadership globally on climate change, and re-establishing global leadership is going to require getting our house in order domestically,” said Ernest Moniz, a former energy secretary and adviser to Mr. Biden’s campaign.
Interviews with more than two dozen advisers and members of Mr. Biden’s transition team reveal an incoming administration acutely aware of the challenges ahead, with a narrowly divided Congress and the outsized expectations that some voters have for action on climate change after four years of regulatory rollbacks and presidential hostility.
“There’s no doubt that Covid is the issue of the moment which has to be addressed right out of the box,” Mr. Moniz said. “But we’re going to see climate addressed right out of the box as well.”
