Shell pledges to reduce emissions
Editor’s Note Energy Briefs is a weekly recollection of local, regional and national news regarding some of the most intriguing updates regarding energy, water, and the environment.
Last week, one of the world’s largest oil companies Royal Dutch Shell vowed to increase investment for renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the New York Times, the company is taking climate change more seriously than before as a result of pressure from shareholders and governments who are part of the Paris Climate Accord.
The company is expected to begin investing $2 billion per year in renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydrogen power and on electric-car charging stations.
According to the report, Shell’s chief executive supports the goal of the Paris Agreement which seeks to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In order to do its part, the company has adopted a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2035 and by half by 2050.
Disbanding climate group
As part of the continuing efforts at the federal level to diminish anything related to climate change, the Trump Administration disbanded a cross-agency group created to help local governments protect their communities against the effects of extreme weather and natural disasters.
Bloomberg reported the Community Resilience Panel for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems which was created in 2015 following Hurricane Sandy. The group included representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies and it was tasked with finding ways for cities to build in more resilient ways and better survive rising sea levels.
Other functions included identifying potential improvements to building codes, working on guides for reestablishing cell phone service, and advised municipal utilities on resuming operations after a disaster. The decision comes after a year in which the U.S. endured three major hurricanes, Harvey in Texas, Irma in Florida and Maria, which devastated the island of Puerto Rico.
Monuments
On Monday, President Trump announced plans to reduce the footprint of two national monuments Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante by more than 2 million acres.
The biggest change is the shrinking of Bears Ears by nearly 85 percent. The current area of the monument would decrease from 1.35 million acres to just above 200,000.
Also, Grand Staircase-Escalante monument will get reduced almost by half from 1.9 million acres to 1 million.
The decision would eliminate protections over areas high in mineral resources such as oil, natural gas, and uranium deposits for possible extraction.
Following the announcement, environmental groups told Politico they’re expecting to file a lawsuit against the administration to challenge the shrinking of the monuments.
The director of Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance told Politico that under the Antiquities Act, Congress gives the president authority to establish national monuments, but not to revoke or diminish them and believes the president is exceeding that authority with Monday’s announcement.