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In Rare Bipartisan Bill, U.S. Senators Tackle Climate Change via Agriculture

by Valerie Volcovici (Reuters/Yahoo!) U.S. senators on Thursday introduced a bipartisan bill that would direct the Agriculture Department to help farmers, ranchers and landowners use carbon dioxide-absorbing practices to generate carbon credits, a rare collaboration on climate change.

The proposed Growing Climate Solutions Act directs the USDA to create a program that would help the agriculture sector gain access to revenue from greenhouse gas offset credit markets.

The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Senators Mike Braun of Indiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.

The bill would establish USDA-certified protocols for farmers, ranch and forest owners seeking to develop projects that can generate offset credits under existing programs. It would offer a new revenue stream for farmers, ranchers and land owners suffering from the economic impacts of global trade tensions and the coronavirus.

Landowners and farmers can generate credits and earn money for activities ranging from reforestation to sequestering carbon in soil to capturing methane from livestock.

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Demand for credits is expected to grow when airlines are required to purchase offsets to comply with the industry’s Carbon Offset Reduction Scheme (CORSIA), which will begin in 2021. READ MORE

The DNC’s Climate Push

by Kelsey Tamborrino (Politico’s Morning Energy) The new 12-person DNC panel stacked with progressive climate activists is calling on Biden to back a plan to spend up to $16 trillion to speed the country away from fossil fuels, Zack reports for Pros.

The plan from the DNC Council on the Environment and Climate Crisis and provided to POLITICO ahead of its release today calls for the U.S. to spend $10 trillion to $16 trillion over the next decade to tackle climate change; ban fracking; deny new federal permits for fossil fuel infrastructure projects like pipelines; eliminate gas-fired heat and other fossil fuels in new buildings by 2025; and set vehicle fuel standards at levels so stringent they would halt the sale of new gasoline- or diesel-powered cars by 2030.

The proposal is designed to pressure the partyand its presumptive presidential nominee to take an aggressive stance on climate change. But it would also offer President Donald Trump multiple openings to link Biden, whose own climate platform calls for spending $2 trillion, to the Democrats’ progressive and environmental wings.

“Trump’s going to call Biden a lefty no matter what, right?” said Michelle Deatrick, who led the panel and was a surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders during the primaries. “So let’s energize our base, let’s energize the middle. Let’s do what’s right because the planet is at stake.” READ MORE

Inside the House’s Infrastructure Bill

by Kelsey Tamborrino (Politico’s Morning Energy) The House Transportation Committee’s five-year surface transportation bill — expected to be unveiled later this week — will include a hefty focus on climate mitigation, as House leadership had previously promised. The major themes of the $494 billion bill are state of good repair, safety and climate mitigation and resiliency, Pro’s Tanya Snyder reports.

The Transportation Department would be directed to establish a new performance measure on greenhouse gas emissions that states will need to report on. The highest-achieving states would be given added flexibility for how they’ll use funds from a new $8.4 billion carbon reduction apportionment program, while low-performing states would be required to shift additional money into the program. An apportionment program for resiliency would be funded at $6.3 billion.

The bill also includes a $1.8 billion investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure. It will be formally introduced Thursday during a pro forma session. READ MORE

HOUSE DEMOCRATS UNVEIL CLIMATE-FRIENDLY TRANSPORTATION BILL: (Politico’s Morning Energy)

Excerpt from Politico’s Morning Energy: HOUSE DEMOCRATS UNVEIL CLIMATE-FRIENDLY TRANSPORTATION BILL: Democrats on the House Transportation Committee released their $494 billion, five-year surface transportation bill on Wednesday, prompting scorn from their Republican colleagues who say they were shut out of the process, Pro’s Tanya Snyder reports. That might ultimately mean the bill’s climate provisions will be watered down once it hits conference.

Ranking members Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) and Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) said in a statement they “stood at the ready to work all year” since releasing their infrastructure principles in January, but “were not given the opportunity to address any of our priorities in this legislation,” which they said contained “numerous new green mandates and extreme progressive goals.”

Under Democrats’ bill, the Transportation Department would be required to establish a new greenhouse gas emissions performance measure. It also includes $8.35 billion for fiscal years 2022-25 for a new apportioned program to support carbon pollution reduction, and creates another program ($6.25 billion for the same period) to fund resilience and emergency evacuation needs. Another $350 million per year would go toward discretionary grants for electric vehicle charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure.

But as Tanya reports for Pros, Republicans trounced the bill’s “extreme” climate focus. The Senate’s bill, S. 2302 (116), led by Environment and Public Works Chair John Barrasso and which the EPW panel approved unanimously, contains a climate title that includes money for EV charging infrastructure and several climate resiliency provisions, but the House bill goes much further. “House Democrats’ love affair with red tape and the Green New Deal is getting in the way of getting America back to work,” Barrasso said.

On a call with reporters Wednesday, House Transportation Chair Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) defended his work, saying there was “very little room to work with the Republican staff” on the bill’s climate elements, which he said were “crucial.” He also hinted that since Democrats are aligned on the importance of combating climate change, GOP support probably won’t be needed for the bill to pass the House, which he said plans to vote on the bill July 1. READ MORE

JUTC to Introduce Biodiesel Project and Electric Buses

(Jamaica Information Service) The Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) intends to introduce a biodiesel project and electric buses this year as