Overnight Energy: Republicans threaten UN climate agency’s funding

UN AGENCY FUNDING AT RISK OVER PALESTINE: Senate Republicans are arguing that the United States needs to stop providing funding to the United Nations’ climate change agency.

In a Monday letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, the senators asked that the State Department immediately stop funding the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), following last month’s decision to admit Palestine as a member.

{mosads}The Palestine admission, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and others argue, triggers a 1994 law that prohibits funding for any UN agency that admits as a member a country whose sovereignty is not internationally recognized.

“We request that you ensure that no disbursements of U.S. funds are made to the UNFCCC and its related entities after March 17, 2016,” the Republicans wrote, citing the date of Palestine’s membership. “We believe that your failure to do so will constitute a violation of current law.”

Barrasso and his colleagues are frequent critics of the UNFCCC and the Green Climate Fund, whose funding, they argue, is also threatened by the 1994 law.

If the GOP is successful, the UNFCCC wouldn’t get the $10 million it has annually received from the United States in recent years, nor the $750 million President Obama has requested for 2017.

Read more here.

OBAMA LINKS CONGESTION RULE TO CLIMATE: The Obama administration is considering mandating that states and regional governments consider greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles when they make transportation-planning decisions.

It’s part of the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Monday proposal for a rule that would require certain reporting and tracking for highway congestion, and the pollution it causes.

If the rule goes through, greens hope it could push states and regional governments to move away from highway planning that causes climate change and toward transportation options that are better for the planet.

Read more here.

ON TAP TUESDAY I: The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on recent changes to how the Fish and Wildlife Service designates critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act. FWS Director Dan Ashe will testify, along with various stakeholder representatives.

ON TAP TUESDAY II: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hear from Gina McCarthy, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, about her agency’s budget request for fiscal year 2017.

Rest of Tuesday’s schedule…

The House Appropriations Committee will consider and vote on its 2017 funding bill for energy and water development, along with other tasks.

The House Homeland Security Committee’s subpanel on transportation will hold a hearing on the security of the nation’s pipelines. Witnesses will represent the Transportation Security Administration, the Congressional Research Service and two industry groups.

The House Natural Resources Committee’s energy and minerals subcommittee will hold a hearing on a bill to change leasing rules in the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania.

AROUND THE WEB:

An Italian referendum aimed at reducing offshore oil and natural gas drilling failed to reach a quorum, Reuters reports.

Greenpeace activists put gas masks on numerous statues in London to protest the city’s air quality, the Guardian reports.

Fertilizer similar to what exploded three years ago at a chemical plant in West, Texas, is still being stored near some homes and schools, the Dallas Morning News reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Monday’s stories…

– DOT unveils proposal to tackle traffic congestion

– GOP targets UN climate agency funding over Palestine

– House members urge consideration of anti-energy tax measures

– Industry groups endorse ozone bill

– Ovens facing new efficiency standards

– Oil prices fall after OPEC deal fails

– Week ahead: Senate to take up energy reform, spending bills

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