Question on HR 5744 Covered Entities

Hello--I would appreciate more information about what types of facilities or activities would be included in the fourth category of covered entities in this bill:  “(4) any entity or class of entities which, as determined by the Secretary, is transporting, selling, or otherwise using a covered fuel in a manner which emits a greenhouse gas to the atmosphere and which has not been covered by the carbon fee or the carbon border fee adjustment.”  When trying to sell this bill I can easily explain the first three covered entities--oil refineries/importers, coal mining/importing, and natural gas extraction/importing--but I'm not really sure yet what is covered by this fourth category of covered entities.  Thanks for any help on this.

6 Replies
Brett Cease
3781 Posts

Thanks @Charles Haeuser! Copying our strategy and research team here to help you out: @Richard Knight @Dana Nuccitelli @Tony Sirna 
 

@Charles Haeuser, this is a deep-in-the-weeds question that we tried to decipher since the first iteration of EICDA. It seems to be a catch-all category to broaden coverage beyond the other 3 categories so that upstream emissions will not be left out. For example, the operator of a gathering line network which may leak methane to the atmosphere could be covered under this clause. Or a compressor at a drilling site that burns gas or oil and thus emits CO2 could be covered. Not quite sure why “selling” is included – it could be to cover any loopholes where a fossil fuel producer might be able to sell their raw fuel to some entity that seeks to evade the carbon fee.

I will try to contact Ross Astoria, our legislative language expert, to verify this.
 

Thanks very much, Richard. I know that if I were taking this bill to a state legislature committee or a city council they would be all over me with questions about what this catch-all would include.

Tex Haeuser

Sent from my iPhone
John Gage
156 Posts

@Richard Knight - Some groups in NH are fighting the introduction of “Advanced Recycling” in the state, which allows burning up to 50% of the garbage (e.g. plastic) to generate electricity.  I'm interested in what you discover about this fourth category because it would be wonderful to be able to tell those NH groups that the carbon in that plastic would be included in that fourth category.
 

Hi John,
Yeah, there's advanced recycling and there's "advanced recycling." Unfortunately, this catch-all term includes things that could be beneficial and things that are more dubious. Burning plastic waste for energy is probably better in some respects than just piling it up in a landfill -- at least it generates electricity -- but it's not at all a boon for the climate because it's putting fossil CO2 right back into the atmosphere. There are other advanced recycling methods that de-polymerize the plastics into components that can be turned into new plastics or other products that don't get burned, and that could be positive, especially for plastics like polystyrene that can't (or won't) be mechanically recycled. 
But using the term "recycling" for just burning the stuff to generate electricity is a misuse of the term. If we can ever get a carbon fee over the hump, this process should definitely be subject to that fee. In the meantime, it should be made clear that plastic waste is a fossil fuel, and if it gets burned, nobody should be fooled by calling it "recycling." I don't know if CCL should oppose it, but we certainly should not support it.
Rick
 
It was great hearing from you, John, after having participated in that D.C. lobbying meeting with you. I see there’s been a response to your post. Hope you’re doing well,
Tex Haeuser

Sent from my iPhone

Forum help

Select a question below

CCL Community's Sitewide Forums are an easy and exciting way to interact with other members on CCL Community.  The Sitewide Forums are focused on subjects and areas of general interest to members.  Each forum consists of topics that members have posted, along with replies from other members. Some forums are divided into categories to group similar topics together. 

Any members can post a topic or reply to a topic.

The Sitewide Forums are open to the entire CCL community to create, comment on, and view online discussions.  Posts and comments should address the subject or focus of the selected forum. 

Note: Categories can only be created by community administrators.

Guidelines for posting: (also see general Community Guidelines)

  • Don’t see your question or topic? Post it.
  • Be thoughtful, considerate (nonpartisan) and complete. The more information you supply, the better the better and more engaging the conversation will be. 
  • Feel like cursing? Please don’t.
  • Ask yourself, “Would my topic post reveal sensitive or confidential information?” If so, please don't post!

Flag/report any offending comments, and then move on. In the rare instance of a comment containing a potentially credible threat, escalate that immediately to CCL.

If the Sitewide Forum has no categories, select the "Add Topic" button at the top of topics window. 

If the forum has categories, when you click on "Add Topic," a dropdown list of the categories appears. Select the desired category and then "Add Topic."
In either case this brings up a box to enter both the topic subject and topic text.

If you have questions or wish to add comments on a posted forum topic, open the post and click the blue “Add Reply” button at top. You can also click on the “Reply” link at the bottom of the original topic posting.

This opens a text box. Add your reply. You can also add documents by dragging a file into the text box. Click “Post” at the bottom of the reply window This will add your reply to other replies (if there are any), sorted by oldest on top. 

If, however, you want to reply directly to someone else’s reply, click on the “Reply” link at the bottom of their reply. 

When replying to a topic post or a topic reply it may be helpful to quote the original text, or the part that your reply is referring to. To quote a topic or reply, click on the "Quote" link at bottom of post. 

When you do this the full text of either the post or reply will be pulled into a reply text box. If desired, you can remove parts of the quoted text in order to get the portion you are interested in quoting.

You can subscribe to notifications of new postings from any of the Sitewide Forums or forum categories. To subscribe, select the green “Subscribe” button at the top of the forum. Click on dropdown arrow to select frequency of notification.

If you are already subscribed, the button will display “Unsubscribe.”  Select it to unsubscribe or select the dropdown arrow to modify frequency of notification. 

Note: If you subscribe to a Sitewide Forum, such as "Media Relations" that has categories (such as "LTEs and Op-Eds"), you will also be subscribed to all the categories. If you wish to subscribe to only one or more of the categories, unsubscribe to the parent forum and subscribe individually to desired categories.

.

If you see a topic post or reply that interests you or that you like, you can click the “Like” icon at the bottom of the topic post or the reply. This lets the poster know that the topic was helpful. It also contributes to the topic’s popularity, which influences where it is listed in the "Popular" forum tab. There are also additional reactions available for members to use. Mouseover the "Like" icon to choose one of these options: Love, Clap, Celebrate, Insightful, or Interesting.

CCL Community Guidelines

  • Discuss, ask and share
  • Be respectful
  • Respect confidentiality
  • Protect privacy

More guidelines
 

CCL Blog Policy Area Categories