Complete list of press releases

In a highly unusual decision, the Supreme Court today granted an emergency stay of the Clean Power Plan – the historic measure to reduce climate pollution and protect public health.

The Court overruled a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which denied motions to stay the Clean Power Plan on January 21 following two months of briefing and weeks of careful review. The Supreme Court’s decision means the plan will be “paused” while the D.C Circuit court reviews the merits of lawsuits challenging it. Oral arguments will be held before the D.C. Circuit on June 2.

“Today’s court decision is unfortunate but does not reflect a decision on the merits. The D.C. Circuit court will carry out a careful and expeditious review of the merits over the next few months. The Clean Power Plan has a firm anchor in our nation’s clean air laws and a strong scientific record, and we look forward to presenting our case on the merits in the courts,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel for Environmental Defense Fund, which is a party to the case. “EDF believes the merits phase of the case can be argued, and decided, quickly – while Americans in red and blue states alike work together to protect our families and communities from the clear and present danger of climate change.”

The Clean Power Plan establishes America’s first-ever national limits on carbon pollution from power plants – the single largest source of such pollution. By 2030, when it’s fully implemented, the Clean Power Plan will reduce carbon pollution from the power sector to 32 percent below 2005 levels. It is also expected to save 3,600 lives and prevent 90,000 childhood asthma attacks each year, while saving average American families almost $85 on annual energy bills.

Opponents launched multiple legal attacks against the Clean Power Plan, starting before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finished writing it. After the D.C. Circuit Court reviewed and denied motions to stay the Clean Power Plan, and set an expedited schedule to hear lawsuits on its merits, opponents took the highly unusual step of asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s decision and grant an emergency stay. Today the Supreme Court granted those requests by a 5-to-4 vote.

A broad and diverse coalition, including EDF, will be defending the Clean Power Plan when the D.C. Circuit Court turns to the merits. That coalition includes attorneys general of 18 states and seven large cities, ten major power companies, a host of clean energy associations, and public health and environmental organizations. Additional parties – including the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, 14 additional municipalities including Houston and Salt Lake City, and two former Republican Administrators of EPA – have moved to join the litigation as amici in support of EPA.

You can find more about the Clean Power Plan, including all legal briefs in the cases about it, on EDF’s website.

(CASPER) — Today, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission voted on revisions to the state’s flaring rules. The final version includes both important deficiencies and some important progress.   

“The revised rule carries some improvements, including better data reporting and a requirement that operators submit a gas capture plan with their application for a permit to flare,” said Amber Wilson, environmental quality advocate for the Wyoming Outdoor Council. “But more could have been done at this stage to reduce waste and protect Wyoming’s air quality.”

The new rule places few new restrictions on venting or flaring, which is the intentional release of natural gas to the atmosphere.  Venting of gas directly to the atmosphere poses serious environmental risks, and both venting and flaring are wasteful practices that needlessly deplete an important domestic energy resource.

The new rule does not include a prohibition on venting, and it lacks any requirement that operators demonstrate an economic justification for venting or flaring.

Venting of natural gas is flatly prohibited in some states, such as North Dakota. Furthermore, flared and vented natural gas represent the waste of a valuable natural resource. According to a recent report from ICF International, due to venting, flaring and equipment leaks, Wyoming wasted more than $42 million worth of gas in 2013 on federal and tribal lands alone. According to a report from Western Values Project, if captured and sent to market, this natural gas would have brought an additional $88 million in federal royalty payments to Wyoming since 2009.

“We had hoped the Commission would raise the bar at least to the level that North Dakota has and outright prohibit the antiquated and dirty practice of venting with a narrower exception carved out for only those wells that technically have no other choice,” said Wilson. “We look forward to the Commission readdressing this rule in the relatively near future as better data become available as the result of the Commission’s new reporting requirements.”

The final rule also still includes the arbitrary permitting threshold for flaring 60,000 cubic feet per day.

“These thresholds allow too much venting and flaring to happen under the radar,” said Jon Goldstein, Senior Energy Policy Manager at Environmental Defense Fund. “Each well may be flaring a small amount, but in aggregate, this can mean a lot of waste.”

In 2015, the amount of unpermitted flaring and venting was 56 percent of the state total, which increased from 40 percent in 2014.

Last month the U.S. Bureau of Land Management released proposed new rules that, after a phase-in period, would prohibit flaring over 60,000 cubic feet per day and largely eliminate venting from oil and gas wells on federal and tribal lands.

“Wyoming’s rule falls well short of what other regulators are implementing and threatens the state’s status as a leader in oil and gas regulation,” said Goldstein.

In Montreal today, a technical group at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agreed on a proposed CO2 emissions standard for aircraft. Similar to a miles-per-gallon standard for cars, the standard will require aircraft manufacturers to start producing more efficient airplanes. The standard is expected to be adopted at the ICAO Council meeting this spring.

“The standard appears to be ambitious as it applies to new types of large aircraft. Having more efficient aircraft take to the sky can help airlines begin to slow aviation’s skyrocketing climate pollution. That’s a positive step, and ICAO and the Obama Administration are to be commended for it.

“The standard’s application to aircraft already being manufactured, however, is less ambitious. The technical committee has called for a review, to be concluded by 2019, which could be an opportunity to increase the ambition of the standard as it applies to these aircraft. In the meantime, industry should aim to improve the efficiency of aircraft coming off production lines – starting now.

“The recommended CO2 standard is only one part of a set of agreements under negotiation in ICAO. Less than two months after countries reached a landmark climate deal in Paris, the standard takes a useful first step. As the spotlight shifts, we look to the Obama Administration to lead the drive to get agreement on the real prize this fall: a market-based measure to cap aviation emissions and drive pollution down, not up.”

• Annie Petsonk, International Counsel, Environmental Defense Fund

(LOS ANGELES) On Friday, California’s oil and gas regulators approved a new set of emergency requirements to begin modernizing natural gas storage safety practices and help prevent another disaster like the one at Aliso Canyon. The new regulations, called for by Gov. Jerry Brown in January and drafted by the Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), include key provisions recommended by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and are a significant first step toward keeping California communities safe from future disasters.

On Monday, EDF commended regulators on the final regulations:

“While much more work is needed to bring the state’s decades-old natural gas storage requirements into the modern age, regulators made important advancements with these emergency rules, putting in place new well integrity safeguards and calling for information to help with the upcoming permanent rulemaking,” said Scott Anderson, EDF’s Senior Policy Director, Climate and Energy Program. “EDF is pleased that DOGGR revised its original proposal to ensure compliance with all relevant sections of its rules and reduce the chance that company-developed Risk Management Plans will become substitutes for professional judgment by the regulators.

“The Department of Conservation should work with the Air Resources Board, Public Utilities Commission, and others to increase oversight of gas storage operations, so disasters like Aliso Canyon don’t become the norm.”

EDF continues to call for improvements to California’s natural gas storage regulations, including comprehensive leak detection requirements and a major redesign of well integrity policies – these are the requirements that cover how wells are permitted, built, operated, tested, maintained, repaired, and decommissioned. In the case of Aliso Canyon, where an aging well had been converted for use in storage, improved well integrity requirements could have potentially prevented the disaster entirely. As underscored by this ongoing crisis, these basic, critical improvements would safeguard the health and safety of communities statewide. 

(NEW YORK – February 4, 2016) New York City will increase solar power capacity in public buildings by five times as much as its current levels by 2018, announced Mayor Bill de Blasio today during the State of the City Address. The push aims to add 19 megawatts of solar energy to the electric grid from the existing five, and get the city closer to its objective of generating 100 megawatts of renewable energy from city-owned buildings by 2025.

“Strengthening New York City’s history of leading by example, Mayor de Blasio’s announcement demonstrates his commitment to accelerating the city’s clean energy economy. This approach has the potential to cut pollution, save money, create local jobs and improve New Yorkers’ quality of life. It is also an excellent sign of things to come.”

• Rory Christian, Director, New York Clean Energy, Environmental Defense Fund

California’s Air Resources Board showed strong leadership this week in taking regulatory action to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from the state’s oil and gas industry. The newly proposed rules would, among other actions, prohibit venting (intentional emitting), require quarterly leak inspections of new and existing facilities, and include measures to prevent worsening local air quality caused by oil and gas activity.

“In light of the Aliso Canyon disaster, the case for strong national rules to limit methane pollution from both current and future oil and gas sites has never been clearer,” said Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund President. “California, along with a handful of other leading states, is showing there is a sensible way to reduce these emissions now. Across the nation, the oil and gas industry emits 8 million tons a year, the same climate impact as the annual emissions from 160 coal plants during the next two decades.”

Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is released into the atmosphere when uncombusted natural gas is leaked or vented. It is a potent climate pollutant responsible for about a quarter of today’s global warming, and can be associated with public health problems, such as the headaches, nausea and other symptoms that have been reported by residents of the nearby Porter Ranch neighborhood.

“Keeping gas in the pipes where it belongs protects public and environmental health,” said Tim O’Connor, Director of California Oil and Gas for EDF. “Many of the state’s oil and gas facilities are old and decrepit. In light of the science on methane and equipment leaks, and the events at Aliso Canyon, this long-awaited proposal for increased oversight and maintenance requirements couldn’t have come sooner.”

Final consideration of the proposed rule is expected later in 2016.

(TRENTON – February 2, 2016) Environmental Defense Fund’s Investor Confidence Project (ICP) today announced the launch of a new pilot program with the New Jersey Board of Utilities (BPU) that could dramatically scale-up private investment in energy efficiency in buildings and change the way the market for energy efficiency functions. The pilot makes New Jersey the first state to bring ICP’s market-based approach to energy efficiency into an existing state efficiency incentive program.

EDF’s Investor Confidence Project and its Investor Ready Energy Efficiency^TM (IREE) Certification brings rigorous measurement and verification metrics to energy efficiency retrofit projects, standardizing the way such projects are developed and brought to market — and making them more attractive to investors and building owners alike. ICP projects in other states are at the forefront of a growing trend toward greater performance certainty. 

“New Jersey has long been a leader in clean energy, and was one of the first states in the U.S. to fully grasp the value of solar power,” said Mary Barber, EDF Director, New Jersey Clean Energy. “With the adoption of ICP’s Investor Ready Energy Efficiency, we’re seeing that kind of leadership again.  What New Jersey is doing with ICP and energy efficiency has the potential to help transform energy markets across the United States.”

“I want to thank the Environmental Defense Fund’s staff for working with us to develop investor ready protocols for energy efficiency projects,” said Richard S. Mroz, President of the N.J. Board of Public Utilities. “We encourage commercial and industrial businesses to take their energy-efficiency commitments to the next level by choosing to participate in the pilot program when applying to New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program’s Pay for Performance program. By incorporating the Investor Confidence Project protocols, participants will receive greater financial incentives as well as peace of mind as their projects achieve energy savings that justify their up-front investments.”

Buildings use nearly 40 percent of all energy in the U.S.; efforts to improve their efficiency is key to a clean energy future. Existing programs to save energy have demonstrated their ability to create local jobs, cut pollution, and save money, but for many years, such efforts have struggled to capture the full scale of the opportunity.

The New Jersey Clean Energy Program’s pilot will incorporate the Investor Confidence Project’s energy efficiency protocols into the state’s Pay for Performance (P4P) program. The P4P pilot introduces ICP’s IREE^TM projects as an alternative way for buildings to meet the pay-for-performance requirements.

One of the goals of the pilot is to assemble data over three years of participation that will provide project developers and the New Jersey Clean Energy Program with new information regarding project performance over an extended period of time; crucial information to ensure that the predicted energy and environmental benefits are achieved and maintained.

For more information on the Investor Confidence Project, visit www.EEperformance.org.

The Supreme Court announced an historic decision today that is a major victory for customer-friendly, clean, low-cost, and reliable energy. 

“Today’s Supreme Court decision is a victory for all Americans who want greater choice and value broader customer access to clean, low-cost energy,” said Fred Krupp, president of EDF. “Demand response is helping millions of Americans get low-cost, clean and reliable electricity. Today’s court ruling will help expand customer choice, and solidify demand response as a crucial part of our clean energy future.”

The Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling, and decided in favor of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) well-designed clean energy policy in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission v. Electric Power Supply Association (Docket No. 14-840) and EnerNOC, Inc. v. Electric Power Supply Association (Docket No. 14-841).The Supreme Court vote was 6-to-2 in the case; Justice Alito was recused. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and a host of other environmental organizations jointly submitted a “friend of the court” brief in the case.

Justice Kagan, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kennedy, wrote the majority opinion, saying, “The Commission, not this or any other court, regulates electricity rates.”

The case centered on FERC Order 745, the landmark policy that provides fair-market compensation for demand response in wholesale energy markets. Demand response is an energy conservation tool that relies on people and technology, not power plants, to meet America’s electricity needs affordably. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against FERC Order 745 in May of 2014; this was a deeply divided decision with a vigorous dissent by Judge Harry Edwards. FERC asked the Supreme Court to review that decision.

The Supreme Court case focused on two central questions, one about FERC’s authority and a second about challenges to central provisions to the order providing for fair valuation of demand response. The Court decided in FERC’s favor on both counts today, underscoring FERC’s role as the government entity tasked with ensuring our electric rates are “just and reasonable.” Today’s Supreme Court decision allows this clean energy resource to continue providing benefits to customers, a reliable electricity grid, and environment.

In addition to EDF, a broad and diverse group of entities submitted briefs in support of FERC. Grid operators spoke to demand response’s beneficial role in maintaining a reliable grid, consumer advocates highlighted the money demand response saves ratepayers, and leading economists supported the method FERC used to compensate the resource. Leading legal scholars noted how Order 745 helps to ensure just and reasonable rates, consonant with FERC’s central responsibility under the Federal Power Act, and states pointed to the benefit wholesale demand response provides to their clean energy initiatives.

You can find all the briefs in the case here, and read more about both demand response and this case on our website.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today proposed new rules to minimize natural gas waste and emissions on federal and tribal lands.

“BLM is taking an important step to ensure the responsible development of our nation’s natural resources,” said Fred Krupp, President of Environmental Defense Fund. “In 2013 oil and gas companies on public and tribal lands wasted more than $330 million worth of gas through leaking, venting and flaring practices that allow billions of cubic feet of methane—both a climate pollutant and valuable energy resource—to escape into the atmosphere.”

Overall, oil and gas production on federal and tribal lands accounts for 15 percent of total U.S. methane emissions from the production sector. According to a recent analysis by ICF International, operators on these lands waste approximately 109 billion cubic feet of gas each year, enough to heat about 1.5 million American households.

The new proposed rules are an essential part of how the U.S. will meet its national target of reducing oil and gas methane emissions by 40 to 45 percent over the next decade. They build on other state and national efforts to reduce oil and gas emissions by addressing methane pollution at new and existing oil and gas facilities.

“We will continue to work with BLM to secure the strongest, most protective final rule possible, said Dan Grossman, National Director of State Programs with EDF’s oil and gas program. “Effective rules will provide critical protection for both our air and climate and the interests of the nation’s taxpayers.”

The court’s decision  means the Clean Power Plan, a historic effort to reduce carbon pollution and protect the public from the dangers of climate change, will remain in effect while the court hears arguments on its merits.

“Today’s court decision means we can continue working – without delay — to protect Americans from the clear and present danger of climate change,” said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund, which is a party to the case. “The Clean Power Plan encourages states to use their own best ideas and resources to create prosperous clean energy economies. It rests on a rock-solid legal foundation and will help America move toward a safer and healthier future.”   

The Clean Power Plan is the single biggest step America has ever taken to address the threat of climate change. It establishes the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants – the single largest source of such pollution. By 2030, when it’s fully implemented, the Clean Power Plan will reduce carbon pollution from the power sector to 32 percent below 2005 levels. It is also expected to save 3,600 lives and prevent 90,000 childhood asthma attacks, while saving average American families almost $85 on annual energy bills.

Opponents launched multiple legal attacks against the Clean Power Plan, starting before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finished writing it. So far, EPA has won every legal battle in defense of the Clean Power Plan.

In today’s victory, the court rejected opponents’ requests to block the implementation of – or “stay” — the plan. EDF was part of a broad and diverse coalition opposing the stay that included attorneys general of 18 states and seven large cities, nine major power companies, clean energy companies, and public health and environmental organizations. In recent weeks, additional parties – including the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, fourteen additional municipalities, and two former Republican Administrators of EPA – have moved to join the litigation as amici supporting EPA. This large coalition will support the Clean Power Plan in the next phase of legal proceedings, when the court considers the merits of legal challenges to the rule. The court has scheduled oral arguments for June 2.

You can find more about the Clean Power Plan, including all legal briefs in the cases about it, on EDF’s website. 

(LOS ANGELES – January 19, 2016) Environmental Defense Fund responded today to the announcement by Southern California Gas Company that it would discontinue efforts to capture leaking natural gas at the site of a ruptured storage well in Aliso Canyon. The leak, which first began in October, is one of the largest natural gas leaks ever recorded. Initial estimates showed it was emitting as much as 62 million cubic feet of the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere each day, which is equal to the daily near-term climate damage caused by the emissions from over 7 million cars. The leak has also forced the relocation of more than 2,000 nearby households.

“The abandonment of a short-term plan for cutting pollution from Aliso Canyon is more bad news for the community and the climate. But, we understand the decision given safety concerns. At the same time, it emphasizes the importance of California continuing to survey how much methane escapes and to calculate the leak’s climate damage. EDF also supports the call by community groups to step up local air monitoring and exposure assessments to protect the health of the nearby residents and workers on the site.”

·         Tim O’Connor, Director of the California Oil and Gas Program at Environmental Defense Fund

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection showed strong leadership today by recommending steps for regulatory action to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania – the second largest producer of natural gas in the country.

“Methane is a powerful pollutant escaping in large volumes from thousands of oil and gas facilities nationwide,” said Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund President. “Governor Wolf’s recommendation for action signals an important commitment that Pennsylvania will no longer ignore the air quality and climate impacts caused by the state’s extensive natural gas development.”

Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is released into the atmosphere when natural gas is leaked, vented or flared. It is a potent climate pollutant responsible for about a quarter of today’s global warming. Methane is also often emitted with other smog-forming pollutants that in recent years have exacerbated health concerns in many areas of Pennsylvania.

“Today’s announcement by Governor Wolf is welcome news and sets the stage for much needed regulatory clarity that will improve air quality, protect Pennsylvanians, and have significant impacts on the Commonwealth’s greenhouse gas emissions,” said Davitt Woodwell, President of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. “This is an important step, and Governor Wolf is right to commit to best-in-class management of the impacts of natural gas development including the strong air quality protections that Pennsylvanians deserve. We look forward to swift implementation.”

Action to reduce oil and gas emissions is building. In August 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first national limits of methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, following similar steps taken in Colorado, Wyoming, Ohio and California. EPA’s rules target methane reductions from future oil and gas operations and do not address emissions from oil and gas facilities already in operation. Pennsylvania’s proposal, if turned into regulation, will help reduce emissions from the thousands of oil and gas facilities already in operation in Pennsylvania.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“The decision by the Interior Department to suspend new coal leasing on federal lands is a responsible step for our environment and for taxpayers. We must begin taking into account the full cost of the pollution created when we extract and burn coal. The resources on federal lands belong to the American people, and must be managed in the best long term interest of the nation. The existing coal leasing program has amounted to an unfair federal subsidy for coal — not only cheating taxpayers, but putting a huge burden on our children’s generation, who will have to deal with the consequences of our pollution.”

-EDF President Fred Krupp

(NEW YORK, NY – January 13, 2016) New York solidified its role as one of the nation’s top clean energy leaders today during Governor Cuomo’s State of the State address. The goals aim to reduce carbon emissions, the main contributor to climate change, by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. New York will also phase out coal-fired power plants by 2020, while simultaneously moving forward on the goal of drawing 50 percent of its energy from renewable energy sources like wind and solar by 2030. To further bolster these commitments, Governor Cuomo has committed $300 million –an unprecedented sum– to the State Environmental Protection Fund.
 

“Building on New York’s long legacy of innovation and entrepreneurship, Governor Cuomo’s commitment to renewable energy will spur the clean energy economy and move New Yorkers toward a safer, healthier energy future. Drawing half of New York’s power from homegrown, renewable sources over the next 15 years will create local jobs, reduce harmful pollution, and give customers more choice and control. As one of the strongest renewable energy mandates in the country, this new commitment bolsters the goals of New York State’s unprecedented ‘Reforming the Energy Vision’ initiative to create a resilient 21^st-century energy system.”
 

·         Rory Christian, Director, New York Clean Energy, Environmental Defense Fund
 

“President Obama has built an impressive environmental legacy during his seven years in office. Tonight’s State of the Union address showed that climate change and clean energy will continue to be priorities for this White House in 2016, and that’s good news for all of us. The President is right that working for a clean energy future, including giving families the freedom to generate and store their own energy, is an area where people should work together across the political spectrum.”  

                    - Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund