Welcome to Tuesday’s Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. Subscribe here: digital-staging.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.
Today we’re looking at climate announcements from the U.S. and China during speeches at the United Nations General Assembly and the latest on when the administration’s oil and gas review could come out.
For The Hill, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. Write to us with tips: rfrazin@digital-staging.thehill.com and zbudryk@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @RachelFrazin and @BudrykZack.
Let’s jump in.
Biden wants boost for climate financing for developing countries
During his first speech before the United Nations General Assembly, President Biden called for an additional boost for climate financing for developing countries.
The administration said in April that it would double its climate financing for developing countries, which reportedly brought its annual commitment to $5.7 billion. On Tuesday, Biden said he’ll seek to double that again, reaching about $11.4 billion per year.
“In April, I announced the United States will double our public international financing to help developing nations tackle the climate crisis, and today, I’m proud to announce that we’ll work with the Congress to double that number again, including for adaptation efforts,” he said.
Timing is everything. In the April announcement, the administration said that it hoped to double financing for climate-related programs in developing countries by 2024 compared to the average level during fiscal years 2013 through 2016.
In his new speech, Biden didn’t specify what the timeline would be for the additional boost to climate financing.
But he’s not the only one stepping it up. China, a major financier of the coal industry worldwide, will no longer build new coal plants abroad, the country’s president announced Tuesday.
“China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad,” President Xi Jinping said in a speech before the United Nations General Assembly.
Read more about Biden’s remarks here and Xi’s remarks here.
Lands nominee says oil review at interagency review stage
Laura Daniel-Davis, President Biden’s pick to be Interior’s assistant secretary for land and minerals management, indicated Tuesday that the department’s long-awaited report on its oil and gas leasing review is at the late-in-the-process interagency review stage.
At a nomination hearing Tuesday, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) asked Daniel-Davis on the status of the report, which the administration had projected for an early summer release.
The nominee said the report is undergoing the full interagency review process.
“Reports like this that come at the direction of an executive order do go through an appropriate interagency and White House review process, so that is where we are,” she told Manchin.
Daniel-Davis did not identify a specific timeline for the release of the report but told Manchin, “I’m hopeful we’ll be able to get it out the door very soon.”
Read more about Daniel-Davis’s confirmation hearing here.
A MESSAGE FROM THE LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS
We’re calling on Congress to pass the climate test — and only support a reconciliation package with real climate action that cuts climate pollution in half by 2030. Read LCV’s letter now.
Dakota Access asks court to reverse decision requiring environmental review
Dakota Access is asking the Supreme Court to take up a lower court determination finding that its pipeline needs additional environmental review.
So remind me what happened…At the start of the year, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision that the federal government needed to conduct a rigorous environmental review called an Environmental Impact Statement for the pipeline.
The appeals court also upheld a decision to vacate a permit for the now-operational pipeline, while the review is conducted.
What’s new? In its new filing, the company asks the high court to consider whether the appeals court was wrong to vacate the permit under environmental laws. It also takes issue with the appeals court’s assertion that it was judging whether the federal government had “convinced the court that it has materially addressed and resolved serious objections to its analysis.”
Read more about the request here.
IDA RELIEF KEEPS FLOWING
The U.S. Small Business Administration has granted more than $100 million in aid related to Hurricane Ida, through loans the agency is touting as a low-cost way to battle disaster impacts.
A spokesperson for the agency told The Hill that as of Tuesday, the agency had approved over $133 million in aid for Hurricane Ida.
Alejandro Contreras, director of Preparedness, Communication and Coordination in the Office of Disaster Assistance, told The Hill in an interview, that this money can go to help homeowners and renters, businesses and private nonprofit organizations.
Contreras called the loans an “affordable form of government assistance for recovery” since they eventually get paid back to the government.
“That helps reduce the overall cost to the government…and it puts some of the responsibility also onto the property owners,” he said.
ON TAP TOMORROW
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The Joint Economic Committee will hold a hearing on the benefits of electrifying U.S. homes and buildings
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The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will vote on the nominations of Jeffrey Prieto to be the EPA’s top lawyer, and Stephen Owens, Jennifer Sass and Sylvia Johnson to be members of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
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The Senate EPW Committee will also hold a hearing titled “The Circular Economy as a Concept for Creating a More Sustainable Future”
- Norway promises Europe more gas as prices soar, Reuters reports
A MESSAGE FROM THE LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS
We’re calling on Congress to pass the climate test — and only support a reconciliation package with real climate action that cuts climate pollution in half by 2030. Read LCV’s letter now.
WHAT WE’RE READING
- Former Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, leading GOP voice on environment, dies at 84, Syracuse.com reports
- Wind farm draws fire for interfering with WWII incarceration site, E&E News reports
- UK strikes deal for CO2 producer CF to restart operations, Reuters reports
- Floridians Want More Aggressive Action To Address Environmental Issues, Survey Finds, WUSF reports
- Cape Verde’s ‘fish detectives’ try to keep extinction at bay, The Guardian reports
ICYMI
Judge dismisses Greenpeace lawsuit against Walmart
Progressive poll finds support for solar energy tax credit legislation
Biden announces $10 billion commitment to fighting world hunger
Native American tribes sue to halt Wisconsin wolf hunt
Biden takes first step on workplace protections from extreme heat
And finally, something offbeat and off-beat: Modern problems require modern solutions
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s energy & environment page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.