OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Pope’s climate encyclical coming Thursday

by Timothy Cama and Devin Henry - 06/17/15 6:23 PM ET

POPE JUMPING INTO CLIMATE DEBATE: The Vatican will release Pope Francis’ eagerly-awaited encyclical on climate change and the environment on Thursday, adding his voice and papal clout to the public debate over global warming and its sources.

An Italian magazine leaked a draft version of the encyclical on Monday, which shows the pope calling global warming “one of the principal challenges now facing humanity.”

{mosads}In the draft, Francis blames climate change on human activity and calls on readers to pursue “changes in styles of life, of production and consumption, to combat this warming, or, at least, the human causes that produce and exacerbate it.”

Public reaction to the encyclical, a papal declaration detailing the church’s views on a subject, is certain to swirl on Thursday. It will likely be met with enthusiasm by environmentally-minded Catholics and other greens, who say Francis’ voice could move the needle on climate change among the public. Francis is a popular figure among U.S. Catholics, with 86 percent saying they view him favorably in a new Pew Research poll.

But some Republicans, including at least two presidential candidates, have looked to downplay Francis’ impact on the climate debate. On Wednesday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said he will read the encyclical, but that it won’t guide his views on climate matters.

Check TheHill.com for updates on Thursday.

ON TAP THURSDAY I: The Senate Appropriations Committee will meet to vote on the funding bill for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Interior Department. The subcommittee with responsibility for those agencies on Tuesday cleared the bill, which would cut funding for various programs and prevent enforcement of some top Obama administration environmental priorities.

ON TAP THURSDAY II: The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s subpanel on regulatory affairs will hold a hearing on the EPA’s management of the renewable fuel standard. Janet McCabe, head of the EPA’s air pollution office, will testify.

Rest of Thursday’s agenda …

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s subcommittee on power and water will meet to consider seven bills within its jurisdiction.

The Natural Gas Roundtable will host its monthly discussion, on the topic of natural gas development. Reps. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Gene Green (D-Texas) and Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), all co-chairmen of the Congressional Natural Gas Caucus, will speak.

The United States Energy Association will host a briefing on the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office. Joseph Marhamati and Sydney Schneir, two officials from the office, will speak.

The World Resources Institute will hold a discussion on the potential for a water quality trading program. Water quality officials from the EPA and the Department of Agriculture will be among the guests.

AROUND THE WEB:

Minnesota lawmakers will give the state’s mining industry cheaper utility rates — but consumers are going to pay more to make up for it, Minnesota Public Radio reports.

A federal judge is pressing the Interior Department to explain why it’s taken more than three decades to decide on a natural gas drilling application in Montana, the Associated Press reported.

EPA administrator Gina McCarthy made her debut on blogging platform Medium, making the case for fighting climate change in general and the Clean Power Plan specifically.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Wednesday’s stories …

-US Catholics split on climate change ahead of pope’s encyclical
-Jeb Bush knocks pope’s climate change push
-Greens: EPA underestimating harms from power plant water pollution
-GOP senators wary of EPA coal ash rule
-GOP doctors question health benefits of EPA ozone rule
-Ryan: ‘I’m against raising the gas tax’
-Groundwater resources draining fast, NASA data show