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Allen, Kara[Kara.Allen@mail.house.gov]Allen, KaraFri 3/21/2014 2:07:37 PMSEEC Daily Clips 3.21.14

Sustainable Energy EnvironmentCoalition

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Top news stories:

The White House plans to press ahead with more executive actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions inthe coming weeks, including a government-wide strategy aimed at cutting methane emissions,according to top Obama advisers.

The EU s 28 chiefs plan to ask the European Commission, the bloc s executive arm, to outline withinthree months ways to diversify energy sources away from Russia, which is the main supplier of gas andoil to Europe. The crisis in Ukraine, a transit country for Russian energy consumed by the EU is set todominate a two-day meeting of prime ministers and presidents in the European Council.

Under pressure from shareholders, Exxon Mobil the energy giant that built a fortune in fossil fuels, hasagreed to show how it plans to cope with the risks posed to its holdings by potential limits ongreenhouse gas emissions.

The fiscal 2 15 proposal would provide 24.3 million to help states prepare for the climate rule -

offering 19.8 million in Clean Air Act grants for writing implementation plans and 4.5 million forgreenhouse gas permitting including the collection of emissions data.

Energy news:

API has counted 205 representatives who have either signed letters or co-sponsored legislation to

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reduce the amount of renewable fuels that refiners must blend or repeal the mandate altogether, saidBob Greco, downstream group director at API.

You might expect the biggest lease owner in Canada's oil sands, or tar sands, to be one of theinternational oil giants, like Exxon Mobil or Royal Dutch Shell. But that isn't the case. The biggest leaseholder in the northern Alberta oil sands is a subsidiary of Koch Industries, the privately-ownedcornerstone of the fortune of conservative Koch brothers Charles and David.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), the chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will lead ahearing next week about the implications of exporting natural gas for jobs and international relations.

Federal judges wrestled today with a series of complex challenges to a major Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission order aimed at increasing regional coordination in transmission grid planning.

If a wind turbine pops up in your backyard - even if you live in a booming urban area - it won't affectthe value of your home that much, a new report has found.

There was an era when putting solar panels on your roof was a t ime- and money-sucking hassle on parwith remodeling your kitchen. But the cost of going solar has been dropping fast. The late st signal of theindustry's move into the mainstream came last week, when Oakland-based SolarCity announced itwould begin to sell sol ar systems out of Best Buy, alongside big-screen TVs and digital cameras.

British scientists at the National Physical Laboratory this week created organic photovoltaics, which notonly sound delicious but perform better in diffuse light. According to PSFK, they're 13 percent efficientwhen it's overcast, compared to 10 percent when it's sunny.

The cost of ultra efficient LED lamps will more than halve by the end of the decade, and their efficiencyalmost double, the US Department of Energy said on Wednesday.

To help wave and tidal energy take off, the Department of Energy (DOE) is turning to computer codersfor help. Unlike hydropower, there are hundreds of potentially viable technologies in this emergingindustry - that captures energy from waves, tides and currents in rivers and oceans - which have to beevaluated on their technical and economic viability.

In its final strategy, the California Public Utilities Commission CPUC) sticks to preferred resources toprovide much of the electricity to the Los Angeles/ San Diego area: energy efficiency technologies suchas demand response, upgrades to the grid, energy storage and renewable energy.

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Gov. Paul LePage used a meeting of clean-tech business leaders on Thursday to attack Maine's greenenergy policies that he said bear responsibility for the loss of manufacturing jobs in the state.

To power his plans for Japan's economic revival, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could soon return his nationto nuclear power for the first time since the Fukushima accident three years ago. But before he can, hewill need the consent of the remote towns like this one that host Japan's idled nuclear plants.

Climate news:

The group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has had a strong voice in efforts to shapePresident Obama's climate change agenda, sent the Environmental Protection Agency a proposal that itcontends will lead to cuts of 470 million to 700 million tons of carbon pollution per year in 2020, theequivalent of emissions from 95 million to 130 million automobiles.

Spring is finally - finally - here. That word is music to the ears of those in the eastern United Stateswho are ready to thaw out from the frigid winter. But that thaw could bring flooding to parts of theMidwest and the northern Plains, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in itsofficial spring outlook, released Thursday.

While most scientists believe the burning of fossil fuels is to blame for climate change, the U S

Department of Energy's top coal official suggested March 19 that a new era of fossil energyabundance could actually help the world combat the problem.

Australia's environment minister announced Tuesday that farmers could start applying for payments forsoil carbon storage in July. The government considers the replenishment of carbon in soil to be one ofthe cheapest and best ways of reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions - although federalscientists recently concluded that it could only provide low levels of greenhouse gas abatement.

The state's new draft Hazard Mitigation Plan, which the New Jersey Office of Emergency Managementreleased on March 11, includes a section on climate change impacts. It notes that the state has seen anincrease in average annual temperatures of 1.2 degrees Fahrenheit (above the baseline average

between 1970 and 2000), and anticipates that the average annual temperature in the state will increaseof 3 to 5 degrees above that baseline by 2050.

Climate change may be stunting fish growth, a new study has said. Fish sizes in the North Sea haveshrunk dramatically, and scientists believe warmer ocean temperatures and less oxygenated watercould be the causes.

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For the rare person who already lives car-free in a city such as San Francisco, a cab ride or car rentalmight actually increase their carbon footprint. But the vast majority of American households do owncars. For any city as a whole, more car-sharing and cab apps will actually mean less driving and lowercarbon emissions.

Americans for Prosperity - the group backed by David H. and Charles G. Koch that has been pouringmillions of dollars into competitive Senate races to the rising alarm of Democrats - was also among thepolitically active groups on the ground in this month s special House election on Florida's Gulf Coast.

Environment Health news:

BP Pie (BP/)'s bids for its first new U.S. offshore leases in two years aren t expected to add any barrels ofproduction until the middle of the next decade.

Environmental regulators in North Carolina have cited the country s largest energy company fordumping millions of gallons of wastewater from coal ash ponds into a public waterway. The companycould face 2. 75 million in fines if the allegations are confirmed.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. APC) officials urged BP Pie (BP/) to drill deeper into the Gulf of Mexico wellthat caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history even after BP warned that doing so would beunsafe.

Of the 48 poorest countries, eight were among the top 10 in assistance received over the last six years,which isn t enough, said Barbara Frost, chief executive officer of the London-based organization. About768 million people worldwide don t have safe water to drink and 2.5 billion of Earth s 7 billion lackproper sanitation.

The head of a federal agency that investigates health problems linked to toxic-waste sites has steppeddown after a clash with former Marines who believe their families were harmed by poisoned drinkingwater at Camp Lejeune.

After countless marches, arrests, Congressional votes, and editorials, the five-and-a-half year battle overthe controversial Keystone X pipeline is nearing its end. If a recent ruling in Nebraska doesn t delay thedecision further, America could find out as soon as this spring whether or not the pipeline, which hasbecome a focal point in America's environmental movement, will be built.

According to a new Oceana report, United States fisheries discard about 17 percent to 22 percent of

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everything they catch every year. That amounts to a whopping 2 billion pounds of annual by-catch -injured and dead fish and other marine animals unintentionally caught by fishermen and then thrownoverboard. This includes endangered creatures like whales and sharks as well as commercially viablefish that may have been too young or too damaged to bring to port.

Earlier this week with the city shrouded in unusually toxic smog Paris tried a tactic unheard-of in U S

cities to at least temporarily clear the air. It announced plans to ban tens of thousands of cars from citystreets - the even-numbered license plates on Monday the odds on Tuesday.

A former Environmental Protection Agency official who pleaded guilty last year to bilking the agency ledefforts to write major air quality regulations according to a report released Thursday by SenateRepublicans.

A Colorado proposal to commission a new study about the health effects of drilling on the Front Range

sparked strong emotions Thursday in its first legislative hearing.