Overnight Energy: Clinton picks up key green endorsement
THE ‘C’ STANDS FOR CLINTON: The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund endorsed Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid on Monday.
The green group — one of the most prolific environmental advocacy groups in the United States — praised her “proven history of leadership, strong environmental record and a campaign committed to building a clean energy future.”
“When it comes to fighting the climate crisis, the stakes couldn’t be higher — and we are confident that Hillary Clinton is the right person for the job,” Gene Karpinski, the group’s president, said in a statement Monday morning.
{mosads}Clinton and LCV leadership appeared together in New Hampshire later Monday, with Clinton highlighting her long-held platform pledge to expand renewable energy and solar power in the United States.
She said she would try to expand on the climate work President Obama has done in office, including blocking more oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and working with states and other countries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Climate policy, she said, “will always be a high priority of mine. Because after all, I think we have to use every tool we have. There is no Planet B, this is it.”
LCV is one of the top green groups supporting political candidates around the country, and it’s well known for its scorecard of lawmakers’ environmental voting records.
Clinton’s score is 82 percent. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), her top rival in the Democratic presidential race, has a score of 95 percent. Friends of the Earth Action endorsed Sanders’s presidential bid over the summer.
OBAMA TO PARIS … AND FACEBOOK: Obama announced Monday that he’ll take a two-day trip to Paris at the end of this month to participate in the United Nations climate pact negotiations.
He made the announcement as part of a video in the first post on his new Facebook page.
“Because of American leadership, we’ve already been able to get 150 countries that represent about 90 percent of the world’s economy and carbon emissions, to agree that we have to come together to create that international framework,” Obama said in the video post, which showed him walking through the south lawn of the White House. “And we’re going to be meeting in Paris in December to try to hammer out that agreement.”
Obama’s brief visit will start Nov. 30 and end Oct. 1, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.
Earnest said Obama’s priorities in the agreement are that it incorporates individual countries’ commitments, incentivizes further future reductions and includes financial and technical help for developing countries.
GOP TRYING TO SAVE KEYSTONE: A group of House Republicans is pleading with Canada’s government to keep advocating for the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Days after Obama rejected the project, Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) is asking his colleagues to sign onto a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to try to save it.
They’re telling Trudeau that despite Obama’s rejection, Keystone has a future in the United States, and Canada needs to help keep it alive until the next president.
“After President Obama leaves office, decisions such as approval of the Keystone XL pipeline will fall upon his successor,” the Republicans write in the letter.
“Simply put, if the American people choose a president who supports building Keystone XL, that president can reverse this misguided decision and authorize the project the day he or she takes office.”
Trudeau supports Keystone, but has criticized the extensive efforts of his predecessor Stephen Harper to lobby for the project in the United States.
Read more here.
TOMORROW IN THE HILL: What’s next for Keystone? Its supporters have a number of options for moving forward, with varying chances for success. Read it in The Hill.
NEW COAL INDUSTRY REPORT SLAMS CLIMATE RULE: A new report commissioned by the coal industry says Obama’s new climate rule for power plants will raise electricity prices in each state where it applies.
The report, completed by Nera Economic Consulting and commissioned by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, says the rule’s costs will approach $300 billion without helping the climate.
“This analysis makes it abundantly clear the president’s power plan will result in higher electricity prices and delivers a sharp wake-up call to states and consumers,” Mike Duncan, the group’s president, said in a statement.
The Monday report is only the latest in harsh criticisms of the rule by the coal industry, which stands to lose greatly from its implementation.
It contrasts with the Environmental Protection Agency’s analysis, which found that the benefits in energy efficiency, climate protection and health would far outweigh the costs.
Documentation released with the final rule estimated a cost of up to $8.4 billion and a benefit of up to $54 billion.
ON TAP TUESDAY I: UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond will speak on energy and climate policy at the American Enterprise Institute.
ON TAP TUESDAY II: Charles Ebinger, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, will discuss crude oil export policy at a United States Energy Association event.
AROUND THE WEB:
A second cyclone in as many weeks is bearing down on Yemen. Al Arabiya has the details.
British researchers say global temperatures this year are on track to be 1-degree Celsius higher than the pre-industrial average, halfway to the threshold scientists warn will bring about the worst of climate change, the Associated Press reports.
The UK is likely to miss its goal of getting 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, the Guardian reports.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Check out Monday’s stories …
-Dems pan Volkswagen emission scandal ‘goodwill‘ offer
-Clinton promises to expand climate efforts: ‘There is no Planet B‘
-GOP to Canada: Don’t give up on Keystone
-Feds auction 340,000 acres for offshore wind power
-Obama to visit climate pact talks in Paris
-Obama joins Facebook, makes climate change appeal
-Coal giant agrees to disclose climate risks
-Greenhouse gas levels hit a new record in 2014
-Feds investigating Wisconsin oil train crash
-Clinton scores prized green group endorsement
-Pressure builds to probe Exxon climate claims
-Green groups find a new cause
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