Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
12/18/2015
Riders and funding limitations threatened for inclusion in the fiscal year 2016 omnibus funding bill appear to have fallen by the wayside as the bill was approved by both houses of Congress Friday. Riders that would have undone or withheld funding for implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon emissions standards for existing and new coal-fired power plants are not included in the bill. Also absent is language barring the administration from contributing to the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund.
The administration largely sees the exclusion of these measures as a win, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest suggested at a news briefing Wednesday morning following the release of the text of the bill. “I was asked on at least one occasion last month if the administration would accept a rider cutting funding for our efforts to fight climate change. We didn’t,” he said, noting that the administration feels it has had “success” in the budget negotiations.
The administration has been adamant that it would veto measures that would overturn or impede implementation of the EPA’s carbon standards, which were finalized in early August. The regulations, the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), which essentially mandates the use of carbon capture and storage technology on all new-build coal-fired power plants, and the Clean Power Plan (CPP), which requires states to develop action plans to meet federally set carbon emissions reduction goals, are at the heart of the administration’s Climate Action Plan.
These regulations have already been the aim of two Congressional Review Act resolutions of disapproval, which are currently awaiting presidential veto, and several lawsuits filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals D.C. Circuit.
However, the administration did have to make a concession or two to avoid the addition of these riders, Earnest said. For example, the omnibus lifts a four-decade ban on crude-oil exports. “That is something that we did not support. And, you know, frankly, we still don’t support it,” Earnest said, again noting the absence of the carbon regulation riders. “So when you take a look at the entire package, I think the country can feel good about how this budget reflects the priorities that the president has laid out when it comes to transitioning to the low-carbon economy of the future.”
The Union of Concerned Scientists praised the absence of riders on Wednesday. “We’re relieved that this omnibus funding bill was not loaded with unnecessary and divisive policy riders. We worked tirelessly to oppose riders that would hurt America’s scientific enterprise, and that would interfere with science-based laws that protect our health and safety,” Andrew A. Rosenberg, director of the organization’s Center for Science and Democracy, said in a release.
Also absent from the text is language related to the Green Climate Fund, a U.N. funding mechanism intended to support climate mitigation efforts in the developing world. The U.S. has pledged to contribute a total of $3 billion to the fund, $500 million of which was requested in the fiscal 2016 appropriations cycle.
While the omnibus does not include that funding, it does not appear to stop the administration from finding the money elsewhere, Earnest said. “What I can tell you is that based on what we have reviewed so far, there are no restrictions in our ability to make good on the president’s promise to contribute to the Green Climate Fund.”
In the larger bill, EPA funding has remained flat at $8.1 billion, equal to the fiscal year 2015 funding level but lower than fiscal year 2010. In addition, the bill continues to hold EPA staffing levels at the lowest level since 1989.
Energy Department Coal Programs Get Boost
The omnibus hikes funding, however, for the Department of Energy’s coal programs. The bill includes $632 million for research and development for coal, natural gas, oil, and other fossil energy technologies, including carbon capture and storage. This is a $61 million increase from fiscal 2015 enacted levels and $72 million above the president’s request.
Of the $632 million, $101 million is earmarked for carbon capture R&D, $250,000 of which is assigned to direct air capture research and development. Unlike previous funding agreements, the omnibus does not further break down this funding into research and development for pre or post-combustion technologies. Carbon storage research and development is funded at $106 million. Carbon storage funding is further broken down to $11.5 million for advanced storage research and development; $10 million for carbon use and reuse; $8.5 million for carbon sequestration science; and $66 million for storage infrastructure. All coal research programs are funded higher than fiscal 2015 enacted levels.
