Analysis | The Civilian Climate Corps was dropped from the climate bill. Now what?

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The Civilian Climate Corps was dropped from Democrats' climate bill. Now what?

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps. President John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps. And President Biden took office with grand plans to launch the first-ever Civilian Climate Corps.

But after months of momentum, those plans face an uncertain future on Capitol Hill, potentially ending a streak of presidential initiatives to put young people to work solving pressing societal problems.

The details: Soon after taking office, Biden signed an executive order that called for creating a Civilian Climate Corps. The federally funded initiative was aimed at hiring tens of thousands of young people to pursue climate-friendly projects such as restoring wetlands, installing solar panels and removing invasive species.

The program was designed to resemble the Civilian Conservation Corps, the New Deal-era initiative that put millions of young men to work planting trees, constructing trails and making improvements to the nation's infrastructure.

Congressional Democrats provided up to $30 billion in funding for a Civilian Climate Corps in an early version of their sweeping climate and social spending package, formerly known as the Build Back Better Act. But the program was dropped from the final version of the climate package, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, during private negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.).

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) then introduced an amendment to the package to reinstate the Civilian Climate Corps. But Democrats united in opposition to the amendment, saying it was important to keep the bill intact. (They also opposed every amendment from Republicans.)

In an interview Wednesday, Sanders said he would “keep fighting” to create the corps, even as he acknowledged that it has no clear legislative path forward.

“The Civilian Climate Corps is not only a tremendous opportunity to transform our energy system, but equally important, it allows the young people of this country to roll up their sleeves and get to work on energy efficiency and sustainable energy,” Sanders said. “And given the fact that young people have led the effort in combating climate change, I think it's something that we should be prepared to do.”

Energizing young voters

The Civilian Climate Corps proposal was hugely popular. Recent polling from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found that 83 percent of Americans support reestablishing the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps.

“The Civilian Climate Corps was one of the most popular parts of the Build Back Better proposal,” Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who introduced legislation to create the corps with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), said in an interview Wednesday.

“It's something obviously that Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and I fought hard for,” he said. “So we're going to find other avenues. We don't have a specific legislative strategy yet. But we're not going to give up on it.”

Markey also tacitly acknowledged that the program could help mobilize young people to vote for Democrats in November's midterm elections.

“Young people are excited about it,” he said. “And we absolutely have to find some way of funding a program that captures that green generation enthusiasm.”

Pursuing other avenues

Some Democrats are eyeing the annual appropriations bills as another avenue for creating the Civilian Climate Corps — albeit at a much lower funding level than $30 billion.

• The House in June passed a fiscal 2023 appropriations package that includes $31 million for a Civilian Climate Corps.
• Under a plan released by the Senate Appropriations Committee in July, the National Park Service would receive $20 million for Civilian Climate Corps work.

“The Civilian Climate Corps initiative holds potential to address climate chaos while employing thousands of young people in good-paying jobs to maintain our nation’s public lands,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, said in an emailed statement.

Some environmentalists are also taking solace in the fact that the Inflation Reduction Act includes two provisions that would accomplish similar goals as a Civilian Climate Corps.

• The law provides $500 million for the Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management to pursue conservation and ecosystem restoration on public lands.
• An additional $500 million is earmarked for the Park Service to hire new employees.

“There's a lot in the IRA that looks like a Civilian Climate Corps in everything but name,” said Lena Moffitt, chief of staff at the climate advocacy group Evergreen Action.

International climate

Liz Truss, new U.K. leader, unveils plan to cap energy prices

Britain's new prime minister, Liz Truss, on Thursday announced a bold plan to freeze gas and electricity rates for two years, an effort to shield millions of households from soaring energy bills this winter, Mark Landler and Eshe Nelson report for the New York Times.

Under the plan, rolled out by Truss on her third day in office, average annual energy costs would be capped at £2,500. Costs for businesses, charities and schools would also be capped for six months.

Truss also announced that the U.K. government would lift a ban on hydraulic fracturing and issue approvals for new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. The moves, which could increase planet-warming emissions, are aimed at making Britain less dependent on imported energy amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But the new supplies will not flow quickly enough to mitigate Russia's cutbacks in gas supplies to Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday threatened to halt all energy sales to countries critical of the Kremlin if Group of Seven nations push forward with a cap on oil prices, Mary Ilyushina reports for The Washington Post.

“We will not supply gas, oil, coal, heating oil — we will not supply anything,” Putin said at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum, calling Western sanctions meant to hurt Moscow financially over the war in Ukraine “stupid.”

The Middle East is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world

The climate in Middle Eastern and eastern Mediterranean countries is expected to warm by about 9 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century — almost twice as fast as the rest of the world — according to a study in the Review of Geophysics, Karina Tsui reports for The Post.

The rising temperatures in countries including Saudi Arabia, Greece and Egypt are expected to cause longer heat waves, more severe droughts and frequent sandstorms, according to the study, which was published in June but recently updated to include new global climate projections ahead of the United Nations climate summit in Egypt in November.

The report emphasizes the importance of decarbonizing the energy and transportation sectors across the region to help avert a climate catastrophe. But while most countries in the region have committed to the 2015 Paris accord, which aims to limit global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, the oil-rich Middle East is a growing emitter of greenhouse gas pollution.

The power grid

California tries to avoid blackouts as it pursues a green energy future

Although California narrowly avoided blackouts on Tuesday amid a historic September heat wave, the state's embrace of clean energy is facing scrutiny this week after it asked residents not to charge their electric cars during peak hours, The Post’s Evan Halper and Erica Werner report.

For years, California has led the nation in the transition to renewable energy. But as extreme hot and dry spells occur more frequently because of climate change, some residents are losing their enthusiasm for a quick switch to green measures, wondering whether the power grid can handle the new challenges.

“I don’t remember this many days this hot in a row,” said David Plenn, 70, the owner of a toy store in South Pasadena. “Now we’ve got all e-cars, the grid is not holding. … Someone better be working on that.”

Meanwhile, state energy officials are doubling down on their commitment to climate-friendly policies.

“We understand we cannot have the lights go off,” said Siva Gunda, vice chair of the California Energy Commission. “But the fear of these questions being brought up is not a reason to slow down from what we know is morally and societally what we need to do.”

Agency alert

Energy Department unveils report on slashing industrial emissions

The Energy Department on Wednesday released a report that identifies four pathways to slash pollution from the nation's industrial sector, which accounted for roughly one-third of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions in 2021.

The report, dubbed the “Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap,” focuses on cutting emissions from iron and steel, cement and concrete, food and beverage, chemical manufacturing, and petroleum refining.

The four pathways are:

• Energy efficiency
• Industrial electrification
• Low- and no-carbon fuels, feedstocks and energy sources
• Carbon capture, utilization and storage

Haaland visits potential national monument in Nevada

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Wednesday visited a site in southern Nevada known as Avi Kwa Ame, or Spirit Mountain, to discuss how to protect the the area with tribal and local community leaders. Indigenous and environmental activists are pushing for the landscape, which is considered sacred by several Native American nations, to be designated as a national monument.

During the secretary's visit, the Honor Avi Kwa Ame coalition urged Haaland to advise President Biden on the importance of the proposed designation.

“Establishing the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument will honor tribes, preserve ecological resources and strengthen our outdoor recreation economy while heeding Nevadans’ call for meaningful conservation and climate action,” Craig Bakerjian, Avi Kwa Ame campaign manager for the Nevada Conservation League, said in a statement. “The secretary’s presence at the proposed monument site and walking alongside members of our coalition gives her the incredible experience to understand this locally led conservation effort being backed by a diverse group of stakeholders.”

In the atmosphere

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‏Source www.washingtonpost.com