Overnight Energy: Officials close in on new global emissions deal

NEW DEAL IN SIGHT: Environmental Protection Agenda Administrator Gina McCarthy is in Vienna this week to work on an international deal limiting the use of a refrigerant and powerful greenhouse gas.

During a Thursday press conference, McCarthy said negotiators are closing in a deal to limit the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

{mosads}HFCs, used in air conditioning and refrigeration, have climate change potential far greater than that of carbon dioxide. Officials say an agreement to reduce the use of HFCs would help prevent 0.5 degrees Celsius of warming around the globe by 2100.

Cutting a deal reducing the use of the chemical around the world is one of McCarthy’s largest remaining goals this year.

“We are seeing all countries coming into this meeting with an incredibly positive and collaborative energy level,” McCarthy said Thursday. “There is no country that appears to be standing on the sideline in this discussion.”

An HFC deal, she said, could come as early as this weekend, but if not in Vienna, officials are confident one will emerge by the end of the year.

Read more here.

SENATORS STUMP FOR BIODIESEL: Forty senators signed onto a Thursday letter asking the Obama administration to increase the biodiesel blending mandate for 2018.

The senators, led by Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), argue that the biodiesel volume the EPA proposed is less than the industry’s production capacity.

“The EPA’s 2018 proposal calls for just 100 million gallons in growth over the 2017 volume,” the bipartisan group of senators wrote Thursday to the EPA. “This does not capture the full potential of the biodiesel and renewable diesel industries in our states and should be strengthened to at least 2.5 billion gallons, an increase of 400 million gallons.”

The EPA proposed in May to require that refiners of traditional diesel blend 2 billion gallons of biodiesel into their supplies in 2017 and 2.1 billion gallons in 2018.

Read more here.

GAO HITS INTERIOR ON METHANE ACCOUNTING: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) wants the Interior Department to do more to measure methane emissions on federal land.

A Thursday report from Congress’s watchdog found numerous problems and inconsistencies with the way the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) counts methane emissions from oil and natural gas drilling.

“As a result of these limitations, Interior may not have a consistent accounting of natural gas emissions from onshore federal leases, and does not have the information it needs to reasonably ensure it is minimizing waste on these leases,” the report said.

Drillers rarely provided all of the information they should have when applying to vent or flare natural gas, and BLM offices routinely applied different standards to royalty charges.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, used the report to back up his case for the BLM’s proposed venting and flaring rule, which it expects to fix many of the problems identified.

Read more here.

ON TAP FRIDAY: Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto meets with President Obama. The Embassy of Mexico on Thursday said the meeting will focus on “climate change, energy, regional cooperation and border issues.”

AROUND THE WEB:

Operators of Montana’s Colstrip power plant, which recently said it would shut down two of its coal-fired units, have now agreed to stop pooling coal ash by 2019, the Billings Gazette reports.

Mexico is banning certain fishing practices in a section of the Gulf of California to protect an endangered porpoise, the Associated Press reports.

Weekend warning: Heat indexes will climb into the triple digits for Washington and the East Coast between Friday and Monday. The Capital Weather Gang has the forecast.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Thursday’s stories…

-GAO says feds should strengthen federal-land methane accounting
-Study: Earth on pace for hottest year on record
-40 senators seek higher biodiesel mandate
-House Republican pushes Obama to veto GMO labeling law
-Green group highlights 10 chemicals for EPA regulation
-EPA chief: US, negotiators nearing new emissions deal

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