DC Hill update: the looming ACES vote

This is only the second week Congress is back in session, and already we're seeing swift movement toward the House floor vote for ACES. House leadership has encouraged other committees to move the climate bill at breakneck pace, in hopes of getting a vote before the July 4th recess in two weeks. Meanwhile, a number of progressive and almost all environmental groups have been working to strengthen the bill in a few key areas, a strategy which is not entirely conducive to passing a bill as soon as possible.

House Climate Vote on ACES

Here's the general timing for the bill's progress in the House:

• 6/19 - Markup goal for secondary committees of jurisdiction (if they have markups at all). Once markups are done (or deals are made), Chairman Waxman will release a managers amendment (an edited bill) with more changes (good and bad).
  
  
• 6/22 - Chairman Waxman's goal for floor debate to begin. Once floor debate begins, we'll know more about how the floor amendment process will work. Our strengthening asks can be incorporated into the manager's amendment, or floor amendments.
  
  
• 6/26 - last day before July 4th recess

An Agriculture Committee mark-up on ACES is unlikely; Chairman Peterson (D-Minn.) is likely to strike a deal with Waxman over indirect land use, renewable biomass definition, and offset availability. These changes will likely weaken the bill. One top complaint is that committee members are unwilling to accept EPA jurisdiction over the offset program, instead seeking to maximize USDA authority.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reports "good progress" in efforts to resolve outstanding issues with committee leadership, Chairman Peterson (D-Minn.) was unwilling to release details. More on the Ag Committee from Grist.

Like the Ag Committee, a Ways and Means mark-up is also unlikely; Chairman Rangel (D-NY) is likely to strike a deal with Chairman Waxman rather than hold a formal markup. These changes will likely be minor, and will potentially improve the bill. Leadership from many other committees will be weighing in with Waxman to get their interests into the manager's amendment as well.

Chairman Waxman's manager's amendment won't be public until he gets buy-in from all the committee chairs, and possibly swing members. The full House is more progressive than the Energy and Commerce Committee, so the bill could potentially be improved in the manager's amendment. However, based on comments made by Energy and Commerce swings, and Chairman Waxman himself, it seems unlikely that Waxman will allow any major changes that upset deals made by members of his committee, like Rep Boucher (D-VA) and Rep. Dingell (D-MI).

Senate Climate Action

On June 11th, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chair of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, said that her committee will have a bill marked up by August recess. The Senate legislation will be based on ACES, but is likely to include tougher short-term targets for capping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. “You might see a little bit of a stronger bill come out of our committee,” said Boxer, “You’ll see some refinements and changes and tweaks.” However, the Senate as a whole is extremely tough territory for a climate bill.

Meanwhile, the Energy and Natural Resources committee has gained enough votes to pass Chairman Jeff Bingaman's (D-NM) 15% by 2021 RES. In mark-up, all nuclear and carbon capture and sequestration projects were excluded from the baseline, and several bids to strengthen the standard were defeated. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is planning to introduce an amendment on the Senate floor to raise the standard to 25% by 2025. Bipartisan support will be necessary to compensate for lost Democratic votes (Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), and potentially Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.)

President Obama's EPA addresses mountaintop removal coal mining

EPA has introduced a plan to curb federal permitting for mountaintop coal mining. In the next 30 days, EPA will revisit a 1983 stream buffer zone rule, and develop tougher permit standards to limit authorization of mining debris discharge into water. Environmentalists are dismissing the plan as inadequate, contending that little is being done to improve present standards. More on mountaintop removal from Grist.

Questions? Contact me at jason@1sky.org.