Overnight Energy: Cars unlikely to hit Obama’s fuel efficiency goal

REMEMBER 54.5?: Automakers are unlikely to reach the 54.5-mile-per-gallon vehicle efficiency goal that President Obama has boasted about for years, a new federal report finds.

The Monday report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) says that when formulating the rules in 2012, regulators did not foresee the long-term low oil prices of the last two years.

{mosads}Those prices have spurred consumers to buy more big vehicles like SUVs and pickup trucks than the Obama administration had predicted, pushing average efficiency downward.

Speaking with reporters about the projections, Obama administration officials stressed that despite the high profile of the 54.5 figure, it was never a standard in and of itself.

“[The 54.5 figure] isn’t a standard, never was a standard and isn’t a standard now. [It] is what we predicted, in 2012, the fleet-wide average could get to, based on assumptions that were live back then about the mix of the fleet,” a senior administration official said.

“That depended a lot on a variety of factors, including gasoline prices,” the official said. “We’re recognizing the fact that gasoline prices are lower now.”

Automakers were glad to see the administration recognize the problem with the 2012 regulation.

“The midterm review of the 2022–2025 light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards is a critical reality check to reexamine the initial assumptions and their impact on the feasibility of the national program,” Global Automakers, which represents companies based outside the United States, said in a statement.

“As we continue to work with the agencies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we must ensure that the standards take into account what consumers are likely to buy,” the group added.

Read more here.

NORTH DAKOTA SUES OVER METHANE RULE: North Dakota is the first state to challenge new federal standards on methane emissions at oil and gas plants.

In a filing in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, the state said it considers the new rule “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with law.”

The EPA published the new methane rule in the Federal Register in June. It’s part of an Obama administration strategy to reduce methane emissions at oil and gas facilities, something drillers have resisted, citing their own voluntary work on methane reduction.  

North Dakota stands to be particularly affected by the EPA’s rules: The state has seen a natural gas boom, with its production growing from nearly 63 billion cubic feet of gas in 2006 to almost 582 billion cubic feet in 2015.

Read more here.

GOP SPLIT ON CLIMATE FUND: Republicans are divided over the future of a major international climate change program.

The House last week adopted an amendment to block the Obama administration from providing support to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a program to send money from rich nations to developing countries looking to counter the impacts of climate change.

The Senate, however, has a bill that would not only allow the administration to fund the program, but authorize a $500 million injection into it next year.

A Republican sponsor of the Senate provision noted there is an uphill fight to convince the bulk of the party to back the climate fund. But the House and Senate’s divergent paths expose a difference of opinion within the GOP over how to assist the world in adapting to climate change.

“I negotiated with the White House, which wanted $750 million, which I thought was far too high, and they agreed to lower the amount to $500 million to secure my support,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said.

She acknowledged Republican support for the measure is weak and that the administration may need to press congressional negotiators hard on including the GCF in future spending packages.

“Whether this is an issue that the administration reaches a compromise on, I just don’t know,” she said. “It certainly matters to the administration.”

Read more here.

MCCARTHY TO VIENNA FOR CLIMATE MEETING: EPA head Gina McCarthy is heading to Vienna this week for a meeting of the parties of the Montreal Protocol.

McCarthy will lead the delegation, which “will promote U.S. climate and environmental goals,” Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said in a Monday statement.

The Montreal Protocol was reached in the 1980s with the goal of reducing emissions of substances harmful to the ozone layer.

Some of those substances were replaced with hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), but HFCs are greenhouse gases. So the Obama administration and other governments are trying to add an HFC phase-down to the pact.

ON TAP TUESDAY I: Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) addresses the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. The theme of the evening is “Make America Work Again,” meaning we’re likely to hear about energy production during the event. Check TheHill.com for more.

ON TAP TUESDAY II: The Washington Post will host an event on Republican energy policy at the GOP convention. Participants include Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, along with Karen Harbert, the president of the Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, and ClearPath Founder Jay Faison.

AROUND THE WEB:

In South Africa, Bill Gates repeated his call for an “energy miracle” across the continent, Tech Insider reports.

Research has linked hydraulic fracturing to asthma attacks across Pennsylvania, USA Today reports.  

The Chesapeake Bay’s oxygen levels are expected to hit their second-highest level in three decades this year, The Baltimore Sun reports.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out stories from Monday and this weekend…

— Refiners to spend $425M to settle pollution charges
— Car efficiency unlikely to reach Obama’s goal, feds say
— North Dakota sues over new methane rule
— DOE pushing wine chiller efficiency rules
— Canada to implement national carbon price
— GOP divided over $500M for climate fund

Please send tips and comments to Timothy Cama, tcama@digital-release.thehill.com; and Devin Henry, dhenry@digital-release.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @Timothy_Cama, @dhenry, @thehill