The following witnesses were invited to testify:

• Kathy Gerwig, Vice President, Workplace Safety and Environmental Stewardship Officer, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.
• Charlie Drevna, President, National Petrochemical and Refiners Association
• Dr. Neil C. Hawkins Sc.D., Vice President, EH&S and Sustainability, The Dow Chemical Company
• Beth Bosley, Managing Director, Boron Specialties, On behalf of Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates
• Howard Williams, Vice President, Construction Specialties, Inc.
• Linda Fisher, Vice President, Safety Health and the Environment, DuPont

More Information: Archive video of the hearing will be posted here.

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For more information and to register, see the Webinar series flyer. Slides from previous Webinars will be available for download on the Utility Partnerships Training page of the Save Energy Now Web site.

Source: March 5, 2009 EERE Update

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Created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, this is the first time that the Department has appointed a full-time person to fill this role.  An aeronautical engineer, Dr. Edmonds is presently the Director of Jet Propulsion Laboratory Technology Transfer at the California Institute of Technology.  In that position, she is responsible for licensing technologies developed at both JPL and Caltech to industry and start-ups, managing the JPL patent portfolio, assisting Caltech Start-ups and managing Caltech’s current patent filings. Dr. Edmonds will also be a featured guest speaker at the inaguaral ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in to take place March 1-3, 2010 in Washington D.C.  The ARPA-E Summit will bring together leading members of the business and scientific communities to discuss their game-changing ideas for transforming the way we use and produce energy.

Source: February 23, 2010 DOE Press Release

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In their analysis, motor vehicles emerged as the greatest contributor to atmospheric warming now and in the near term. Cars, buses, and trucks release pollutants and greenhouse gases that promote warming, while emitting few aerosols that counteract it.

The researchers found that the burning of household biofuels — primarily wood and animal dung for home heating and cooking — contribute the second most warming. And raising livestock, particularly methane-producing cattle, contribute the third most.

On the other end of the spectrum, the industrial sector releases such a high proportion of sulfates and other cooling aerosols that it actually contributes a significant amount of cooling to the system. And biomass burning — which occurs mainly as a result of tropical forest fires, deforestation, savannah and shrub fires — emits large amounts of organic carbon particles that block solar radiation.

Source: February 18, 2010 NASA Press Release

More Information: The full press release is at http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20100218a/

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The following witnesses were invited to testify:

• Testimony of Alan Taub
• Testimony of Dr. Henry Kelly
• Testimony of Fredrick W. Smith
• Testimony of Kraig Higginson
• Testimony of Mary Ann Wright
• Testimony of Richard Lowenthal

Archive video of the hearing is posted here.

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The steps EPA announced today are:

• The creation of a new Office of Sustainable Communities to encourage communities to take an integrated approach in making environmental, housing and transportation decisions.
• A new pilot grant program designed to help three states – New York, Maryland and California – use their clean water funding programs to support efforts to make communities more sustainable.
• A pilot program to clean up and redevelop contaminated sites, known as brownfield sites, in coordination with communities’ efforts to develop public transportation and affordable housing.

Today’s announcements build on the work EPA is doing with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Transportation through the Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities. The partnership is focused on ensuring that housing and transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change.

Source: February 5, 2010 EPA News Release

More Information:

• More information on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities:http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/partnership
• More information on EPA’s Smart Growth program: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth
• The full news release is at http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/24aa0923ea5b1f5f852576c1006cfc51!OpenDocument

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This work results from an 18-month combined effort with CEOs and experts, and dialogues with over 200 companies and external stakeholders in some 20 countries.

Entitled Vision 2050: The new agenda for business, the report “lays out the challenges, pathway and options that business can use to create an opportunity-rich strategy, both regionally and globally, that will lead to a sustainable world,” said Dr. Mohammad A. Zaidi, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Alcoa, who led the project as one of four co-chairs.

Source: February 4, 2010 WBCSD Press Release

More Information:

• The full press release is at http://www.wbcsd.org/Plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?DocTypeId=33&ObjectId=Mzc0MD
• Vision 2050: The new agenda for business – full report
• Vision 2050: The new agenda for business – summary report

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Summary: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson has released an action plan to guide the Obama Administration’s efforts to restore the Great Lakes. The action plan, which the administrator unveiled at a Sunday meeting with governors from the Great Lakes states, lays out the most urgent threats facing the Great Lakes and sets out goals, objectives and key actions over the next five years to help restore the lakes.

Some 30 million Americans get their drinking water from the Great Lakes, and the lakes also support a multi-billion dollar economy based on fishing, boating and recreational activities. The lakes face significant challenges, including pollution and the threat of harmful species that threaten their health.

President Barack Obama has committed to making Great Lakes restoration a national priority. In February 2009, President Obama proposed $475 million for a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the most significant investment in the Great Lakes in two decades. The action plan, which covers FY 2010 through 2014 and was developed by 16 federal agencies as part of the federal inter-agency task force chaired by Administrator Jackson, will help guide the administration’s efforts to implement this historic initiative to restore and protect this natural and economic treasure.

The action plan directs aggressive action under five priority “focus areas” the task force has identified as vital for restoring the Great Lakes. They are:

· Protection and cleanup of the most polluted areas in the lakes: The task force will work with state and municipal partners to clean up toxic hotspots so that these critical “working waterways” are put back to work for healthy fishing and recreation.

· Combating invasive species: Invasive species pose a unique threat to the Great Lakes, and the plan outlines a number of steps to keep such species out of the lakes. For example, recognizing that Asian carp continue to be an emerging threat, we are planning to allocate additional funds under the Initiative to tackle this problem.

· Protection of high priority watersheds and reduced runoff from urban, suburban and, agricultural sources: The Great Lakes are renowned for their beaches. Initiative funding will be targeted toward, among other things, reducing pollution so they can stay open more often for people to enjoy.

· Restoration of wetlands and other habitats: The action plan includes a first-ever assessment of the entire 530,000 acre Great Lakes coastal wetland, to help the task force begin to restore troubled areas; and

· Implementation of accountability measures, learning initiatives, outreach and strategic partnerships: The task force will work closely with the Great Lakes states, non-profits, stakeholder groups and Canada to protect and restore the lakes.

The plan also provides accountability for the administration’s efforts in each of these five priority areas by including measures of progress and benchmarks for success over the next five years.
Date Released: February 22, 2010

Source: U.S. EPA February 22, 2010 News Release

More Information: http://www.greatlakesrestoration.us

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To modernize NEPA, CEQ has issued draft guidance for public comment on: when and how Federal agencies must consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate change in their proposed actions; clarifying appropriateness of “Findings of No Significant Impact” and specifying when there is a need to monitor environmental mitigation commitments; clarifying use of categorical exclusions; and enhanced public tools for reporting on NEPA activities.

Draft Guidance on the Consideration of Greenhouse Gases

CEQ is releasing draft guidance for public comment on when and how Federal agencies must consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate change in their proposed actions.   CEQ has been asked to provide guidance on this subject informally by Federal agencies and formally by a petition under the Administrative Procedure Act.  The draft guidance explains how Federal agencies should analyze the environmental impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change when they describe the environmental impacts of a proposed action under NEPA.  It provides practical tools for agency reporting, including a presumptive threshold of 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from the proposed action to trigger a quantitative analysis, and instructs agencies how to assess the effects of climate change on the proposed action and their design.  The draft guidance does not apply to land and resource management actions and does not propose to regulate greenhouse gases.  CEQ is receiving public comment on this guidance for 90 days.

• Read the Draft Guidance on the Consideration of Greenhouse Gases
• Submit your comment on the Draft Guidance

Draft Guidance Clarifying Appropriateness of “Findings of No Significant Impact” and Specifying When There is a Need to Monitor Environmental Mitigation Commitments

Many Federal actions receive an environmental review, known as an Environmental Assessment.  In those instances, NEPA compliance is usually completed with a “Finding of No Significant Impact” (FONSI) on the environment, thus a more detailed Environmental Impact Statement is not required.  The draft guidance clarifies that the environmental impacts of a proposed action may be mitigated to the point when the agency may make a FONSI determination.  When the FONSI depends on successful mitigation, however, such mitigation requirements should be made public and be accompanied by monitoring and reporting.  The draft guidance also applies to monitoring and reporting of mitigation commitments agencies make in an EIS and Record of Decision.  CEQ has released this draft guidance for 90 days of public comment.

• Read the Draft Guidance Clarifying Appropriateness of “Findings of No Significant Impact” and Specifying When There is a Need to Monitor Environmental Mitigation Commitments
• Submit your comment on the Draft Guidance

Revised Draft Guidance Clarifying Use of Categorical Exclusions

Many Federal actions do not have significant effects on the environment.  When these actions fall into broad categories of activities, agencies may apply a “categorical exclusion” from further NEPA review.  This draft guidance clarifies the rules for categorical exclusions and ensures that there is a concise public record when agencies apply them.  While CEQ previously has sought public comments on this matter, this guidance provides additional clarifications, so we are seeking additional public comment for 45 days.

• Read the Draft Guidance Clarifying Use of Categorical Exclusions
• Submit your comment on the Draft Guidance

Source: February 18, 2010 White House Release

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Summary: The U.S. Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office is issuing this final Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the Energy Innovation Hub – Modeling and Simulation for Nuclear Reactors program. The purpose of the Energy Innovation Hubs will be to assemble the most talented scientists and technologists to focus intense research and development efforts on the critical areas listed above. The Hubs are designed to accelerate the current state-of-the art energy science and technology toward their fundamental limits and support high-risk, high-reward research projects that produce revolutionary changes in how we produce and use energy. Ideally, each Hub will have a central location housing many investigators, who will likely span multiple disciplines. Each Hub may be led by universities, private for-profit or non-profit firms, or government laboratories.

Date Released: February 17, 2010

Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0000170

Award Ceiling: $122,000,000

CFDA Number: 81.121 — Nuclear Energy Research, Development and Demonstration

Applications Due By: Mar 08, 2010

More Information:http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=51265

Contact:Eliot Dye; dyeej@id.doe.gov

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