Energy Update: Week of December 3

Friends,

With Saturday’s early morning news that former President George HW Bush passed, the last few days have been a sad, but glorious tribute to a good man and statesman.   While many of us have incredible George Bush 41 stories, I thought yesterday’s 60 Minutes tribute was very special in capturing the man and featured touching interviews with Presidents Clinton, Bush 43 and Obama.  Sad times, but we will celebrate a life well-lived with his state funeral this week and our National Day of Mourning Wednesday. 

Today starts the UN COP 24 meeting in Poland.  While Paris attracted a lot of headlines, negotiators from 197 countries continue to struggle to really to hash out the rules that will govern the global effort to rein in greenhouse gases in the coming decades.  The hope for Poland is that a "rule book" detailing how to make sure countries are sticking to the promises they made in Paris three years ago will be implemented.   As with any decisions surrounding these issues – which I have been following since 1997 – in practice, it is not an easy task.  There are a few things to keep watch of in the discussion, including European woes in implementing climate reduction strategies, the usual, but Increasing hardening divisions between rich/poor countries – as well as internal divisions within Europe, the US, Canada and Australia and big emitters like China and India.  Finally, last week’s release of the 4^th assessment and other dire claims about climate impacts will continue to impact the discussions.  We are happy to discuss should you be following the action. 

And speaking of climate, Sen. Bernie Sanders is leading a group of climate action supporters in a National Town Hall Meeting tonight at 7:00 p.m.  I don’t expect it will be very reasonable, but it certainly will likely get attention because of the climate report and the UN Meetings.

With Wednesday’s state funeral, it sounds like Congressional action on budget issues will be temporarily delayed from the expected Saturday deadline.  It is also unclear if the Senate will act this week on the nomination of Bernard McNamee to serve on FERC, which was expected tomorrow after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed cloture on the nominee last week.  Finally, still not certain if the slate of Wednesday hearings on ethanol and nuclear issues will go forward.  We will keep you updated. 

In other key events, Energy Sect Perry join the National Petroleum Council meeting, POWER-GEN, ACEEE’s Health Conference and gridCONNEXT are all happening tomorrow.  On Wednesday, National Academies of Sciences releases new report on addressing environmental engineering challenges in the 21st century.  The BRT hosts a CEO Innovation Summit and OPEC launches as well in Austria on Thursday.  Finally, Friday, the Urban Institute hosts a conversation that discusses current US disaster preparations and suggest improvements for individual buildings, community education and city and national policies.  Of course, our friends at MIT are focused on this issue every day and can add value to any coverage.  

Finally, last night we lit our first set of candles for the first night of Hanukkah and on Wednesday, the Southern Company holds its annual Holiday party at Union Station.  Both are truly are the first real signs that the Holiday Season is here.  

Best,

Frank Maisano

(202) 828-5864

C. (202) 997-5932

 

FRANKLY SPOKEN

“What he represented — what he and Mrs. Bush represented together — was an era. A way of being. A sense of caring, compassion and human kindness that ran through them like a river and washed over everything and everyone they touched.”

Kristin Clark Taylor writing in a tribute to George H.W. Bush in the Washington Post.  She served as deputy press secretary when he was vice president and after his election to the presidency, as White House director of media relations.

ON THE POD

Podcast Focused on Midterm Results, Immigration Issues – Bracewell PRG’s Lobby Shop podcast has its latest episode live on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play Music. We welcome Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us, to the show to discuss the politics and history of immigration reform in the U.S. and what the future of the issue looks like for a post-Midterms America.

FUN OPINIONS

NYT Ed Board: Just Do It – The New York Times Editorial Board weighed in last week on the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, a new effort under which nations agreed to phase out HFCs and find substitutes that were friendlier to the atmosphere. To date, 60 countries, not including the United States, have ratified the amendment. The Obama administration signed it 2016, but the Trump White House has not sent it to the Senate for ratification. NYT: “The question is how best to engage Mr. Trump’s interest. Selling it to him as a climate measure could be a serious problem, since he is copiously on record as dismissing global warming as a problem. Presenting it to him as a jobs and trade measure would be much smarter, since he talks about both all the time.  A report in the spring from two trade groups — the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute and the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, estimated that the United States would gain 33,000 additional jobs and $12.5 billion in annual economic output by 2027 solely by ratifying the amendment. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce likes the agreement, and so do many members of Congress. In June, 13 Senate Republicans wrote a letter to the president urging him to send them the agreement for approval because of its obvious economic benefits. Here’s a case where Mr. Trump could just say “yes” and make his base (and the rest of us) happy. He doesn’t even have to mention “climate.”

IN THE NEWS

EPA Releases RFS Obligations – The EPA RFS Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) will be rolling out at noon.  We have heard that the volume levels for conventional ethanol will remain at 15B gallons and with a total allocation of 19.92B/gals when considering advanced and bio diesel.  They also make no changes to the small refiner exemption which is clear in the 2006 law.

Barrasso Says Small Refiners Must Be Protected – Sen Environ Committee Chair John Barrasso weighed in on the small refiner exemption – which has been challenged by ethanol advocates.  Barrasso was clear that reports that EPA & DOE might be freezing reviews incorrect and illegal.  

“The Clean Air Act requires EPA to provide relief to any small refinery that suffers disproportionate economic hardship under the Renewable Fuel Standard. EPA must act within 90 days of receiving a petition for relief from a small refinery. That’s the law. The agency must follow the law.”

Refiners Raise Concerns – The Fueling American Jobs Coalition, a coalition of small and large independent refiners said:

In keeping with annual ritual, EPA has once again released RVO guidelines for the coming year that artificially elevate the requirement for ethanol in motor fuels far above true market demand. Playing out the second part of the ritual, the very same renewable fuels players whose businesses are propped up by a government mandate complain that the requirements should be even higher.

The calls for ever higher RVOs mistakenly assume that demand for ethanol has declined. However, pro-ethanol experts and earnings-call statements alike concede that legally required efforts to address harms to small refiners have had no adverse effect on ethanol production, sales or demand. Meanwhile, renewable identification number (RINs) prices crept up this week, reaffirming how skittish that market remains.

Just before the mid-term elections, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf petitioned EPA “…to reduce the nationwide renewable fuel volume mandate in order to address the economic difficulties faced by refiners in Pennsylvania and elsewhere in complying with this mandate.”

The reasoning behind his action is clear: the implementation of the renewable fuel standard (RFS) is deeply flawed, needlessly penalizing independent refiners, small gasoline retailers and others. This basic problem is acknowledged by most everyone who does not profit directly from the RFS. Congress and EPA should subject the program to wholesale repair.

In the meantime, we urge EPA to focus on addressing needed market reforms to help eliminate the fraud and potential for price spikes surrounding the trade in RINs. EPA should clean up the RINs market with sensible reforms such as position limits for RINs, as well as regulations to address eligibility to participate in the RINs trade and add greater transparency to this dark market.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufactures (AFPM) have also released statement on the topic.

Air Liquide to Reduce Carbon by 2025 –   As part of its global approach to climate, Air Liquide is reducing the carbon intensity of its activities by 30% its carbon intensity by 2025, based on its 2015 emission levels. These objectives will be reached notably by:

• increasing by nearly 70% its purchases of renewable electricity;
• improving the energy efficiency of its production units;
• and reducing by 10% the carbon footprint of its products through the optimization of both production and transportation.

Air Liquide is contributing to the development of a low carbon society by:

• developing biomethane for the industry and transport;
• proposing alternative solutions for refrigerated logistics;
• promoting hydrogen – in particular carbon-free hydrogen – which will play a key role in the fight against climate change and the energy transition, with regards to both mobility and energy.

For many years now, Air Liquide has been committed to a sustainable growth, notably to limit its own CO₂ emissions as well as those of its customers. To accelerate the pace of this momentum, Air Liquide is going further today by announcing its climate objectives with a global approach that includes its assets, its customers, and ecosystems.  With its customers, the Group is also committed to sustainable industry by promoting low carbon solutions. Thanks to its in-depth knowledge of customers’ processes, Air Liquide is already offering technologies like oxy-combustion, which allows its customers to improve the energy efficiency of their industrial processes and reduce their emissions. The Group is continuously innovating and developing new solutions, such as CO₂ capture and usage, or the development of new materials for Electronics.

Equinor NJ Project Named “Boardwalk Wind” – Equinor Wind US today announced the name of the renewable energy project under development for New Jersey: Boardwalk Wind.  “We wanted a name that spoke to the best of New Jersey, symbolizing one of the beloved attributes of the state,” said Christer af Geijerstam, President of Equinor US Wind. “The boardwalks of the Jersey Shore are an iconic part of the New Jersey economy and experience. The name Boardwalk Wind reflects the pride, excitement and joy we feel about being part of New Jersey’s effort to become an economic hub for clean, resilient, home-made energy.”  Equinor Wind US is a division of the diversified Norwegian energy company formerly known as Statoil.  Equinor is one of the world’s leading offshore wind developers, with several active projects across the globe currently providing renewable wind power to over 1 million homes. The company has successfully developed projects in some of the world’s most challenging areas in an environmentally sensitive manner. Equinor won the federal auction for the offshore wind lease area 20 miles east of New Jersey and 15 miles south of Long Island, New York. This single lease area has ample space for Equinor to build wind energy generation for both New Jersey and New York.

Reed Introduces Innovation Legislation – Rep. Tom Reed introduced the Energy Sector Innovation Credit Act to encourage the U.S. energy market to be technology-diverse, innovative and good for consumers. Reed said the United States is falling behind in energy innovation because the size and the complexity of the energy market stymies American ingenuity and entrepreneurship.  The Energy Sector Innovation Credit Act encourages cutting-edge energy technologies to break into the market, and it keeps government from picking winners and losers so all innovative, efficient energy technologies can succeed.  The Energy Sector Innovation Credit Act:

• Stops picking winners and losers in the energy sector by rewarding one form of technology over the other.
• Guarantees the tax credit is phased out over time to prevent taxpayers from propping up unprofitable or inefficient energy technologies. The tax credit also scales down as production scales up.
• Rewards efficiency as the tax credit is only applied to the value of the energy when it is sold, so unneeded power is not financially rewarded.
• Ensures energy technologies cannot double dip by claiming existing incentives along with this proposed tax credit.

Free Market Groups Urge Blocking EV Tax Credit – In light of recent conversations in Washington surrounding the electric vehicle tax credit, a coalition of 28 free market policy groups, led by the American Energy Alliance, sent a letter to House and Senate leaders objecting to any expansion of the federal electric vehicle tax credit.  The letter encourages Republican congressional leaders to reject attempts by the EV lobby and their allies in Congress to slip a tax credit cap increase into upcoming legislative and extender packages.  American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle said the electric vehicle tax credit was signed into law under the condition that it would be temporary and that it would only apply to the first 200,000 vehicles sold per manufacturer.  Pyle: “The tax credit is no longer needed as America now leads the world in energy production. The time has come for the tax credit to end. Under no circumstances should the cap be lifted in this lame-duck session of Congress. We shouldn't be giving handouts to wealthy individuals to offset the costs of their luxury vehicles."

Utility Dive to Release Awards – Today our friends Gavin Bade and Iulia Gheorghiu published their 2018 Utility Dive Awards, spotlighting a new set of industry leaders we believe stood out this year.  Some of the biggest stories of the year have featured utilities that have been key to the pivotal transitions in the industry away from a centralized, baseload-focused past. The Utility Dive Awards this year honor Xcel Energy as Utility of Year, FERC Chair Kevin McIntyre as Policymaker of the Year.

Offshore Group Report Shows Drilling Benefits for States – Explore Offshore, a bipartisan, national coalition to promote expanded access to offshore oil and natural gas resources, held a briefing on Capitol Hill recently discussing the importance of expanded offshore access and recently released studies affirming the economic boost outer continental shelf (OCS) leasing could give to coastal states – in the form of cumulative tax revenues over a 20-year forecast period.  The briefing, led by Explore Offshore co-chairs Jim Nicholson (former Veterans Secretary) and former VA Sen. Jim Webb (also Secretary of the Navy) and other state officials.  The new reports titled, “The Economic Impacts of Allowing Access to the Atlantic OCS and Eastern Gulf of Mexico for Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Development” project state, local and federal tax receipts. They were prepared for API by CALASH and estimate that offshore-related activities could generate additional non-bonus and royalty revenue such as personal and corporate income tax, property tax and sales taxes. By the numbers: 

• Florida: $2.5 billion in cumulative tax revenues from offshore leasing (includes both the Atlantic OCS and Eastern Gulf OCS)
• North Carolina: $2.56 billion
• Virginia: $1.57 billion
• South Carolina: $1.51 billion
• Georgia: $212 million

ON THE SCHEDULE THIS WEEK

COP 24 Headed to Poland – The 24^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held in Katowice, Poland in today through December 14^th. 

Sanders to Hold Climate Town Hall Meeting – Sen. Bernie Sanders will host a national town hall tonight at 7:00 p.m. in the Capitol Visitors Center CVC 200 aimed at addressing the global threat of climate change and exploring solutions that can protect the planet from devastation and create tens of millions of good-paying jobs. Sanders will be joined by 350.org founder and author Bill McKibben, Shailene Woodley, CNN host and author Van Jones, Rep-Elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Earth Guardians Youth Director Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Union of Concerned Scientists Brenda Ekwurzel and many others. 

ACEEE to Hold Conference – The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) will hold its first Conference on Health, Environment, and Energy. The two-day event in New Orleans will showcase the research of ACEEE’s new Health and Environment program as well as the work of prominent experts and academics in this growing field.  The event will bring together innovative leaders from a variety of professions to explore how energy choices can affect our health and the environment. The conference will explore how reducing energy waste, for example, can reduce pollution and protect health.  Speakers and attendees are a diverse, bringing expertise in public health and environmental regulation as well as energy-saving programs, policies, and technologies. They will discuss cutting-edge research and the pioneering efforts of public health advocates. Attendees will have plenty of opportunities to network and brainstorm.

Cantwell, Walden to Headline Grid Conference – Tomorrow through Thursday, gridCONNEXT will bring together business, utility, finance, and policy leaders to explore the most important topics impacting the grid at The Liaison on Capitol Hill.  The event convenes world-class experts to explore diverse perspectives and uncover market innovations poised to redraw the electric utility landscape. With the growth of clean energy, energy storage and electrified transportation – along with new business and regulatory models supporting investments in DERs and grid modernization. House Energy & Commerce Chair Greg Walden, Sen. Energy ranking member Maria Cantwell, Exelon Utilities CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former FERC Chair Jon Wellinghoff and our friends John Carey and Nick Juliano are on the agenda. 

POWER-GEN Set for Orlando – POWER-GEN International will be in Orlando tomorrow through Thursday. The topics and trends focus on technology, innovation and policy advancements - unmatched insight for the future of the energy spectrum and mix. 

US, Canada Reg Meeting Moves Forward – The U.S.- Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council Stakeholder Forum met tomorrow and Wednesday.  The meeting brings together regulatory officials, industry, and others to discuss chemicals, pesticides, fuels, and hazardous materials transport. Canadian and U.S. regulators will provide progress reports on existing regulatory cooperation efforts and solicit public input on new opportunities for regulatory cooperation.

Perry To Speak At NPC Meeting – The National Petroleum Council (NPC) holds its 128^th meeting tomorrow in the Astor Ballroom of The St. Regis Hotel.  In addition to remarks from Secretary

Perry, the agenda will feature a review of a supplemental assessment to the Council’s 2015 report, Arctic Potential. In other business, the Council will receive progress reports on the U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Transportation Infrastructure and the Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage studies requested by Secretary Perry.

SEIA Federal, State Summit Set – The Solar Energy Industry Assn (SEIA) Federal and State Policy Summit will be held tomorrow and Wednesday at the Washington Plaza Hotel and will examine federal and state policy issues and how they inform market opportunities and challenges in the solar industry. The event will feature discussions between industry experts and key congressional staff, the summit offers crucial national and state-level insights into the solar and energy storage industries.

Murkowski to Headline Wilson Arctic Forum – The Wilson Center holds a forum on the Arctic and U.S. national security tomorrow featuring a keynote by Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Senate energy chairman.  The symposium will include policy leaders currently drafting branch-specific Arctic strategies, solicit insight from senior Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Commerce leadership, and elicit guidance and perspective from individuals representing the State of Alaska, industry, and research communities.  Other speakers include AK Sen. Dan Sullivan, former US Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft and several others.

ELI Webinar to Discuss California Vehicle Emissions – Environmental Law Institute holds webinar on the future of California’s vehicle-emissions standards tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. Former EPA official Ben Grumbles will join a panel.

WAPA, Carvana to Highlight New Model – The Washington Auto Press Assn and Carvana hosts a behind-the-scenes tour of its DC-area Car Vending Machine tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at the Gaithersburg Maryland Carvana location. The event will feature how the business of selling vehicles is changing.  Carvana representatives will discuss how this auto retailer is disrupting the way consumers buy a car: completely online, in as little as 10 minutes.

WCEE To Discuss Data Protection – The Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment (WCEE) holds a forum tomorrow at Noon to hear from Cynthia Cole, Special Counsel at Baker Botts, as she discusses the EU's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) challenges and solutions that energy and power companies have faced in complying with the Regulation. Cole will also discuss how GDPR has spurred the US into greater privacy focus on both the state and federal level. And she will highlight the data privacy trends to look for in 2019. The EU's GDPR went into effect in May 2018. The data privacy regulation imposes new requirements on the handling of personal data in the EU and has extra territorial reach. The GDPR has had an unanticipated and far reaching impact on U.S. companies.

CSIS to Look at Sustainability Goals Tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., CSIS hosts a Chevron Forum focused on how the international development community, governments, and the private sector can work together to help developing countries provide affordable and clean energy (Sustainable Development Goal#7). In September 2015, the 193-member states of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Development Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are not an official treaty, but a global call to action to eliminate extreme poverty, build partnerships, and spur economic growth around the world. SDG#7 specifically aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.  IFC’s Milagros Rivas Saiz and Chevron economist Robert Schwiers will speak. 

ELI Forum Looks at Appalachia – The Environmental Law Institute holds a forum tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. to discuss the potential of green energy innovation for fostering environmental justice and resilient economies in Appalachian communities. With some of the highest poverty rates in the country, Appalachian communities stand at a post-coal crossroads between potential preeminence in the region’s energy supply and building resilient economies. The disparity of land ownership, long-lasting public health inequities, and unequal access to infrastructure (especially hospitals and highways) have all resulted in distinct environmental justice obstacles for communities throughout Appalachia. 

Harvard Congressional Orientation Set – Harvard Institute of Politics' hosts it bipartisan Congressional Orientation program on tomorrow to Thursday on Harvard's campus. Speakers include Gary Cohn, who served as the President’s economic adviser; Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao; former Defense Secretary Ash Carter; GM CEO Mary Barra; Johnson and Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky; former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu; AEI president Arthur Brooks; David Gergen; Danielle Allen; and Doug Elmendorf.

Women’s Conference Set – The 4^th annual Birdsall Conference on Women will be held on Wednesday to discuss how the future of technology will impact women’s economic empowerment and the opportunities and challenges they could face.

Forum to Look at Energy Policy Summit – Infocast hosts a federal energy policy summit on Wednesday and Thursday at the Embassy Suite DC Convention Center.  The forum will provide critical insights into critical and diverse areas including grid resilience and generation, pipelines, environmental regulation, cybersecurity, energy storage, ratemaking and more.  The focus will be on the nature of the proposed changes, how the revised policies will impact markets and development activity in 2019 and beyond, and the goals and points of view of key decision makers.

House Energy Panel to Look at RFS Reform Legislation – The House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment, chaired by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), will hold a hearing on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled, “Discussion Draft: The 21st Century Transportation Fuels Act.”  The panel will examine the 21st Century Transportation Fuels Act, a discussion draft led by Chairman John Shimkus and Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX) to reshape federal transportation fuel policies.  AFPM’s Chet Thompson is among those testifying.

Senate Approps Panel to Look at Future of Nuclear – The Senate Energy Appropriations panel will hold a hearing on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. on the future of nuclear power, focusing on advanced reactors.  Witnesses include DOE’s Edward McGinnis, Thomas Zacharia of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and General Atomics Christina Back.

NAS Report to Look at Enviro Engineering – The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will hold the public release of a new report, Environmental Engineering in the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges.  The report was developed by experts from a wide range of fields who, with input from the scientific community, identify the biggest global challenges over the next several decades for which the expertise of environmental engineers will be needed. The study also describes how the environmental engineering field—and colleges and universities—might evolve to better address those challenges. The study is modeled, in part, on the NAE Grand Challenges in Engineering.

Southern Holiday Party Set – The Southern Company will host its annual holiday party on Wednesday at Union Station. 

OPEC Meeting – On Thursday, OPEC begins its 125^th meeting in Vienna, Austria.

BRT to Hold Innovation Summit – The Business Roundtable will host a CEO Innovation Summit on Thursday at the Anthem in DC.  BRT’s CEO Innovation Summit will feature wide-ranging discussions between America’s top CEOs, government leaders and industry experts on bold ideas and policy solutions to ensure America remains a global leader in innovation.

Wilson Forum to Look at China – On Thursday at 9:30 a.m., the Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum (CEF) hosts a discussion to explore China’s capacity to take up the mantle of global climate leadership. Drawing on her soon-to-be-published book “Will China Save the Planet” Barbara Finamore (NRDC) will talk about China’s climate turnaround and its successes and challenges in shifting away from coal. Stephen Munro (Bloomberg NEF) will contrast China’s decarbonization efforts with those in Germany and the United States.  Taiya Smith (Garnet Strategies) will reflect on opportunities for carbon pricing within and beyond China and how countries can move Paris forward in a world of fragmented climate action.

Atlantic Forum Looks at Turkish Energy Issues – The Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center holds a discussion and launch of a special issue of Turkish Policy Quarterly focused on Turkey’s energy sector dynamics.  A group of energy experts will lead this wide-ranging discussion about the strategic and economic significance of Turkey’s energy sector dynamics.  State Department official Sandra Oudkirk will be among the speakers. 

Cato to Look at Jones Act –The Cato Institute is holding a conference on the Jones Act on Thursday.  The event will try to charting a new course after a century of failure.  For nearly 100 years the Jones Act has restricted the transportation of cargo between two points in the United States to ships that are U.S.-built, crewed, owned, and flagged. While failing to provide its promised benefits, the law has imposed a huge economic burden that manifests itself in various ways, ranging from higher transportation costs to increased traffic and pollution. This full-day conference examines these costs in greater detail, discusses the validity of the Jones Act’s national security argument, and evaluates options for reform.

JHU to Look at Enviro Impacts of Waste – The Johns Hopkins’ international studies school in Washington sponsors forum on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. looking at managing human waste in ways that safeguard the urban environment.

Forum Looks at Disaster Relief, Resiliency – The Urban Institute will hold a conversation with Dr. Lucy Jones, world-renowned disaster expert and author of The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and What We Can Do about Them). With Urban’s senior fellow Carlos Martín, Jones will discuss current disaster preparations in the United States and suggest improvements for individual buildings, community education, and city and national policies. Jones has advocated tirelessly to increase communities’ resiliency and ability to adapt to the ever-changing world around them to better understand and communicate vulnerabilities and cost-effective actions to reduce risk.  This event is part of Urban’s resilience, disaster, and climate adaptation research, which includes the December release of the 100 Resilient Cities interim evaluation report.

USEEE to Look at Oil, Gas with Moody’s Expert – The US Assn of Energy Economists will hold its monthly lunch on Friday at Carmines that will feature Pete Speer is a Senior Vice President in Moody’s Oil and Gas Team, covering a portfolio of investment grade and high yield energy companies. His portfolio includes integrated oil, exploration and production, drilling, oilfield services and midstream companies.

IN THE FUTURE

Forum to Look at Public Perspectives on Energy Projects – Next Monday, December 10^th at 8:30 a.m. in ASU’s Barrett & O’Connor Center in DC, the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes will discuss environmental impact assessments (EIAs) which document the potential environmental and public health effects of large-scale development projects. In this New Tools presentation, Kirk Jalbert explores these relationships through the story of communities grappling with natural gas liquids pipelines at different stages of development in Pennsylvania. Opposition to pipelines has moved to the forefront of anti-extraction movements due to their implications for locking regions into long-term energy development dependencies.  Comprehensive impact analysis data on proposed pipeline routes and their likely impacts are rarely provided to the public. However, in a number of groundbreaking cases, advocacy groups have partnered with capacity building organizations to discover and publicly analyze sources of data to produce alternative EIAs. These efforts have enabled narratives countering claims of pipeline safety and necessity, thus reshaping dynamics of power between concerned citizen groups, regulatory agencies, and industry.

AGU Fall Meeting Set for DC – For the first time, the American Geophysical Union will hold its 100^th Fall Meeting in Washington DC on December 10^th through 14^th.  This year’s meeting serves as the launch of AGU’s Centennial, with special events, sessions, and engagement opportunities for all attendees.  The forum is always filled with a series of climate-related stories.  Former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Amazon’s Kara Hurst and USGS Director Jim Reilly will all offer keynotes.

New Clean Water Roll Out Expected – The Administration is expected to

Wilson Forum to Look at Water Security – The Wilson Center will host a discussion on December 12^th at 2:00 p.m. with USAID-funded researchers, international scientists, water program managers, and policymakers about the implications of changing snow and ice resources for water security in High Asia. An expert panel of international scientists will summarize recent findings about High Asia’s snow and ice-dominated water supplies. We will then hear from NGO and government officials working on water security in Asia regarding operational use of hydrologic research, and where the programmatic priorities lie within their respective institutions.

SAFE to Discuss NatGas Book – SAFE and Bethany McLean will hold a book discussion at the National Press Club on Thursday, December 13^th at 4:00 p.m.  SAFE President/CEO Robbie Diamond will discuss her book in a fireside chat with, before the floor is opened to questions from the audience. In her new book Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It’s Changing the World, journalist Bethany McLean digs into the boom-bust cycles that have plagued the U.S. oil industry over the last 10 years, exploring the inner workings of a business reliant on ever-growing amounts of capital investment and returns that have yet to bear out.

Low Carbon Fuels Workshop Set for SF – The Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) holds its Low Carbon Fuels and Carbon Markets Workshop next month on December 12-14 in San Francisco.

BPC to Host Occidental CEO – The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Bob and Elizabeth Dole Leadership Series will host Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub on December 14^th at 10:00 a.m. 

NSR Comments Due – The EPA is also taking comment through Dec. 17 on its proposed amendments to new source performance standards for oil and natural gas emissions from new, reconstructed and modified sources.

State of the Energy Industry Event Set – Mark your calendars for January 3^rd when API will conduct its annual State of the Energy Industry event at the Reagan International Trade Center.   

Forum to Focus on Infrastructure, Resilience – The National Council for Science and the Environment will convene their 19^th Annual Conference from January 7-10, 2019 in Washington, D.C. The NCSE Annual Conference brings together a diverse community of experts for an enriching opportunity to collaborate on exciting projects, share research and best practices, and build professional relationships. Attendees include national and international leaders in education, government, civil society, and business. The conference is recognized for its notable presenters and innovative programming.  NCSE 2019 will focus on Sustainable Infrastructure & Resilience. 

Detroit Auto Show Ready – The 2019 North American International Auto Show will begjn in Detroit on January 14^th and runs through January 27^th at Cobo Hall in the Motor City. With the largest concentration of the world’s top automotive and technology executives, designers, engineers and thought leaders, the North American International Auto Show serves as the global stage for companies to debut brand-defining vehicles and industry-shaping announcements.  Events start with the 13^th annual ultra-luxury automotive event, The Gallery. The event has now become the official kick-off to the North American International Auto Show at the MGM Detroit.  Press days start on January 14^th with public show launching January 19^th.