GOP lawmakers accuse EPA of muzzling scientists on climate regulations?

Lindsay Abrams writing for the liberal Wed Site Salon . Com

 

Thursday, Oct 10, 2013 Carbon capture technology isn’t living up to its promise

A new report finds we're way behind on technology that's supposed to help mitigate climate change

If we’re not going to reduce our use of fossil fuels enough to have a meaningful impact on climate change, we need to find another way to limit the amount of CO2 we release into the atmosphere. That’s the idea, at least, behind carbon capture and sequestration, or C.C.S., technology. And according to the New York Times, scientists and engineers generally agree that such technology will be necessary for meeting international emissions goals.

In reality, through, C.C.S. doesn’t seem to be on track to fulfill the vital role assigned to it. A new survey from the Global CCS Institute found that there are only 65 large-scale carbon capture projects currently underway worldwide, down from 75 in the past year. The Times explains:

The International Energy Agency expects carbon capture and storage to become the third largest way to reduce carbon emissions by 2050, behind energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources like solar and wind power, and ahead of nuclear power and a switch to lower-carbon fuels. The Global CCS Institute’s report found that “while C.C.S. projects are progressing, the pace is well below the level required for C.C.S. to make a substantial contribution to climate change mitigation.”
…
But the technology for capturing carbon has not been proved to work on a commercial scale, either here or abroad. The Energy Department canceled its main project demonstrating the technology in 2008. It would have turned coal into a mixture of gases and captured the carbon dioxide before combustion. The department eventually started over with a plan to burn coal in pure oxygen so that the flue gases would be nearly pure carbon dioxide. That plan was aided by financing from the federal stimulus program, although construction has not begun.

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/10/carbon_capture_technology_isnt_living_up_to_its_promise/

---

---

Last month, the EPA unveiled new emissions regulations that would require all new commercial plants to install carbon-capture technology. Many argued that, due to the technology’s prohibitively high cost, the regulations will be impossible for coal-fired plants to meet. The administration said at the time that it’s counting on innovation to eventually lower costs.
But with models predicting unprecedented shifts in global temperatures by as soon as mid-century, C.C.S isn’t shaping up to be the silver bullet we might have hoped it would be.

           Republican leaders on the House Science Committee are accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of disregarding science in its push to impose carbon dioxide limits on power plants.

Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and 20 other Republican lawmakers sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy on Thursday, claiming the agency has "muzzled" members of its independent science advisory board.

The EPA released a proposal in September that would set emissions caps for new coal-fired power plants and would likely require the industry to use carbon-capture technology, which involves burying the carbon underground.

Critics of the proposed rule say the technology, which is still under development, is too expensive, not commercially available and poses safety risks.

The lawmakers claim the agency is ignoring dissenting voices on its science advisory board, which recommended a review of the science underpinning the newest power plant rule.

A senior official at EPA recently deflected the scientists' criticisms by claiming that the rule, which has yet to be finalized, doesn't need to address carbon dioxide storage, the lawmakers said.
“We are concerned about the agency’s apparent disregard for the concerns of its science advisors,” the lawmakers wrote. “Science is a valuable tool to help policymakers navigate complex issues.  However, when inconvenient facts are disregarded or when dissenting voices are muzzled, a frank discussion becomes impossible."

The agency maintains the carbon-capture technology has been "adequately demonstrated" based on a government-funded projects under construction in Mississippi and three planned projects in Texas, California and Canada.

The lawmakers said the proposed mandates in the rule would "create regulatory burdens" and "litigation risks" for the coal industry and would result in the loss of American jobs.
“The EPA’s proposed power plant regulations will put Americans out of work and will make electricity more expensive and less reliable," the lawmakers wrote. "It is misleading and dangerous for EPA to quietly dismiss inconvenient facts and ignore the consequences of its costly regulations. Americans deserve honesty.”

In October, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., released draft legislation to block the EPA's proposal to limit emissions from new power plants and require the agency to set new rules that incorporate "commercially feasible" technologies.


The Manchin-Whitfield proposal has yet to be officially introduced

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/20/gop-lawmakers-accuse-epa-muzzling-scientists-on-climate-regulations/?intcmp=trending