DuPont, others urge Trump to stick with Paris accord

DuPont and a dozen other major U.S. companies urged President Donald Trump on Wednesday to stay in the Paris Climate Agreement, arguing that it will help them manage climate risks and stay competitive in the global alternative energy market.

The group, which includes corporate giants Wal-Mart, General Mills, Google, Intel, Microsoft and Novartis Corp., was organized by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, the former Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

DuPont has invested in cellulosic ethanol as an advanced biofuel and in 2015, opened a cellulosic biofuel facility in Nevada, Iowa, with the capacity to produce 30 million gallons of biofuel annually.

The plant is designed to use corn stover – the cornstalks, leaves and cobs – left over after harvest. Company officials said, at the time of the opening, that the biofuel will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent compared with traditional gasoline. The feed stock avoids use of corn, which some argue, raised the cost of feed for poultry growers on the Delmarva Peninsula in 2012-2013 when per-bushel corn prices peaked at $7.63 a bushel.

In January, the price was $3.44. Dozens of other researchers, both in academia and in corporate labs, are looking at biofuel feed stocks from grasses, and trees to sugar beets as an alternative to traditional petrochemicals.

The letter could signal a blow for the Trump administration's climate and environmental agenda.

Also on Wednesday, Sen. Tom Carper and former Delaware Environmental Secretary Collin O'Mara testified at the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee on proposed changes to the Waters of the United States rule. The rule guides federal regulation in wetlands and has been a sore point for farm groups, including the Delaware Farm Bureau and its national counterpart.

“I believe that all of us understand that protecting wetlands and reducing pollution requires active participation from farmers and ranchers," Carper said in his opening statement. "They live closest to our land and water, and they have every reason to be good stewards of these resources. Indeed, that is one reason why farmers in my state of Delaware celebrate their investments in, and successes of, no-till farming. While those farmers loved their land, traditional farming practices often ended up sending their best soils down a ditch or away with the breezes. Their land was eroding from under their feet. And then, science showed them a better way. They weren’t blinded by science. They were guided by it."

Carper said the existing rule took a long time to develop and was guided by science and the public.

"It treads a moderate line between the extreme desires of interest at both ends," Carper said. "I would ask the administration and detractors of this approach to show us your work."

O'Mara, now president of the National Wildlife Federation, also spoke in support of the rule.

“In our lifetime, we have the potential to fulfill the bipartisan promise when the Clean Water Act was adopted 45 years ago to ‘restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters’ to ensure fishable, swimmable, drinkable waters," O'Mara said. “It will take a combination commonsense protections and collaborative conservation efforts like those supported in the Farm Bill; State Revolving Funds; and efforts like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Chesapeake Bay Program and Delaware River Basin Conservation Act. The final Clean Water Rule is an important part of this effort. It is the product of years of transparent scientific and public deliberation —and it will help protect drinking water supplies for more than 117 million Americans."

STORY: Whale mortality event declared in Delaware, region

STORY: Trump order calls for review of water rule

At an Earth Day appearance and speech in Dallas last week, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said his goal is to get his agency "back to basics with the mission of EPA."

Pruitt said "we're trying to really set some metrics and objectives to achieve measurable outcomes in key areas. When you think about air quality in this country we're roughly at 40 percent non-attainment right now. … We need to do better than that."

He pointed to his concerns with the slow pace of the Superfund Program and with emerging drinking water concerns such as in Flint, Michigan.

One role of the federal agency should be to step in when environmental issues go beyond state boundaries, he said.

He said the Waters of the United States rule says one thing while the Clean Water Act says another.

"It creates uncertainty in the marketplace," he said. The regulated community doesn't "know whether to follow the statute or the rule."

Pruitt, in earlier speeches, said his opinion is that the country needs to exit the Paris Climate Agreement.

"It's a bad deal for America," he said.

The group of corporate leaders took a different position in their letter to the president.

“U.S. business interests are best served by a stable and practical framework facilitating an effective and balanced global response,” the letter says. “We believe the Paris Agreement provides such a framework.”

One issue for the business leaders is reducing the future climate impacts that could disrupt or damage factories and material and product supply chains.

The Paris Climate Agreement, finalized in December 2015, is considered a treaty under international law. It holds the United States to a 26 to 28 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2025, based on levels in 2005. The United States is one of 185 countries that signed the accord.

“Business leaders recognize the costly impacts of climate change, and the opportunities for jobs and growth in a clean technology future,” said Bob Perciasepe, president of the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions. “Corporate leadership was critical to delivering the Paris Agreement. But the agreement will only achieve its full promise if the U.S. stays on board. These companies from across the U.S. economy are laying out the clear business case for doing just that.”

Contact Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.