Overnight Energy & Environment

Energy & Environment — Biden touts tighter methane regulation at COP27

by Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk 11/11/22 06:49 PM ET

President Joe Biden speaks at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 11, 2022, at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Biden addresses the international COP27 summit. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency unveils its tighter methane rule, and Egypt’s government could risk the U.S.’ moral authority on climate.

This is Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. For The Hill, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. Someone forward you this newsletter?

EPA proposes stricter methane rule

The Biden administration on Friday proposed to tighten regulations on the oil and gas sector aimed at controlling emissions of a planet warming gas called methane.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projects that in 2030, the requirements would cut 87 percent of methane emissions from the pollution sources that it regulates when compared to 2005 levels.

The proposal strengthens a Biden administration proposal from last year that was expected to have cut methane emissions from regulated sources by 74 percent in 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

The EPA press release says that taken together, its two methane proposals would reduce about 36 million tons of methane emissions between 2023 and 2035, which it said is nearly the planet-warming equivalent of greenhouse gases emitted from all of the country’s coal-fired power plants in 2020.

Methane, like carbon dioxide, is a greenhouse gas that warms the planet. Methane has a shorter lifespan than carbon dioxide, but is more than 25 times as potent.

The details:

Among the new provisions is the creation of what’s being called a “super-emitter response program” that would require oil and gas operators to respond to credible reports of large methane leaks.
The rule is expected to require that wells are monitored for leaks until they are closed and put new regulations on a practice called flaring in which excess gas is burned off.
The agency estimated that between 2023 and 2035 the regulations would save enough natural gas to power 3.5 million homes.

The reactions:

The methane rule received a fairly neutral reaction from some oil and gas industry groups. Anne Bradbury, CEO of the American Exploration and Production Council, said in a statement that the group “appreciate[s] EPA’s inclusion of many of the recommendations we made for needed changes and clarifications for upstream.”
But, she added, “we still have concerns that should be addressed to make key provisions truly workable.”
Jon Goldstein, senior director of regulatory and legislative affairs at Environmental Defense Fund, told The Hill in a brief interview that he believed the proposal was significantly better than the agency’s prior plan, but said that he had hoped it would go farther — banning flaring except in emergency situations.
“It shows some great improvement on the initial proposal from a year ago,” he said, but added “It leaves some work to continue to press on as far as trying to eliminate pollution from routine flaring at oil and gas wells.”

Read about the proposal here.

ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM BIDEN

The methane rule is one of several initiatives the administration is highlighting.

Here’s some of the others:

The U.S., with the European Union, Japan, Canada, Norway and the United Kingdom, is expected to announce a joint declaration to minimize flaring, as well as methane and carbon dioxide emissions in fossil energy.
Biden is also expected to give additional U.S. funds to help developing nations adapt to climate change’s impacts. Specifically, he’ll double the country’s pledge to the adaptation fund, adding an additional $50 million to his prior pledge and will also announce $150 million for adaptation initiatives in Africa.
A joint $500 million effort with Germany and the European Union to bolster Egypt’s transition to renewable energy.

Biden insists US will meet goals, calls for more action

President Biden insisted Friday the U.S. will deliver on its climate change commitments, addressing an audience at an international climate summit in Egypt that is skeptical of whether the U.S. will actually live up to its promises.

“Today, finally, thanks to the actions we’ve taken, I can stand here as president of the United States of America and say with confidence: The United States of America will meet our emissions targets by 2030,” Biden said onstage at the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt.

Some background info on that:

Biden scored a major domestic win on climate change over the summer when he signed the Inflation Reduction Act, sweeping legislation that represents the biggest effort by a U.S. Congress to date to take action on the issue.
The legislation, which Democrats approved through a budget process that prevented a GOP filibuster in the Senate, will invest billions in clean energy and is intended to meet the U.S. goal of cutting its emissions in half by 2030, compared to a 2005 baseline.
The U.S. has been the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gasses and modeling has shown this legislation does not, on its own, deliver the emissions reductions necessary to meet the 50 percent target, though Democrats have hailed it as a big step toward Biden’s climate goals.

What else did he say?

During his speech, Biden also called out Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, citing the conflict as a reason to shift away from fossil fuels. “Russia’s war only enhances the urgency of the need to transition the world off its dependence on fossil fuels. True energy security means every nation … benefiting from [a] clean, diversified energy future,” Biden said.
The president called on the global community to take action on climate and help developing countries. “The United States is acting. Everyone has to act,” he said. “Countries that are in a position to help should be supporting developing countries so they can make decisive climate decisions.”

Egypt’s human rights record questioned amid COP27

Human rights activists worry that Egypt’s government will use the COP27 United Nations climate summit in the country to launder its human rights record, and are calling on President Biden to use his appearance there to press Cairo to release political prisoners.

“It’s very clear that the Egyptian Government has sought out a COP27 posting as a way to legitimize its dictatorship as a way to work the dictatorship’s re-entry into the international community as a legitimate form of government,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the group Democracy for the Arab World Now.

Critics of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s government have pointed to his government’s crackdowns on human rights activists and protesters, including the killing by security forces of at least 900 protesters in 2013 when he seized power.
President Biden met with Sisi on Friday. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a White House briefing Thursday that the White House has “deep concern” about imprisoned Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has been on a hunger strike for seven months and started a water strike to coincide with the conference.
“We would like to see him freed,” Sullivan added.

A White House readout of the meeting said that Biden raised “the importance of human rights and respect for fundamental freedoms” but did not give specifics. The Hill has reached out for more details.

Observers, as well as members of his family, are concerned Abdel Fattah’s life is at imminent risk, and the UN’s own human rights watchdog has called for his release.

The president is under particularly intense pressure to stand up to Sisi after activists sharply criticized his collegial meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, where the president unsuccessfully appealed for increased oil production.

Whitson noted that the U.S. is not a neutral actor in Egypt. “In this case, the U.S. is actively arming and protecting the dictatorship in Egypt as it carries out these heinous abuses,” she said.
“It’s sort of irreconcilable for the U.S. to be championing environmental activism and environmental change in a country that has done everything to suppress the voices of its citizens, including the ones demanding environmental change,” she added.

Lawmakers weigh in: In a letter Monday, 57 Congressional Democrats, led by Sen. Chris Coons (Del.), wrote to Biden urging him to address Egypt’s human rights record with Sisi’s government, warning that failure to do so would undermine the U.S.’ moral authority on climate issues.

“We are … deeply troubled by the message it sends to the world that the Egyptian government is hosting COP27 while imprisoning tens of thousands of political prisoners – including many environmental activists,” they wrote.