1/o1eu 1                              U.D. Larnon Emissions burged In 2018 Even as Coal Plants Closed - The New York Times

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U.S. Carbon Emissions Surged in 2018
Even as CoalPlants Closed

By Brad Plumer
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Jan. 8, 2019

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WASHINGTON  America's carbon dioxide emissions rose by 3.4 percent in 2018, the biggest
increase in eight years, according to a preliminary estimate published Tuesday.

Strikingly, the sharp uptick in emissions occurred even as a near-record number of coal plants
around the United States retired last year, illustrating how difficult it could be for the country to
make further progress on climate change in the years to come, particularly as the Trump
administration pushes to roll back federal regulations that limit greenhouse
gas emissions.

The estimate, by the research firm Rhodium Group, pointed to a stark reversal. Fossil fuel
emissions in the United States have fallen significantly since 2005 and declined each of the
previous three years, in part because of a boom in cheap natural gas and renewable energy, which
have been rapidly displacing dirtier coal-fired power.

Yet even a steep drop in coal use last year wasn't enough to offsetrising emissions in other parts
of the economy. Some ofthat increase was weather-related: A relatively cold winter led to
a spike
in the use of oil and gas for heating in areas like New England.

But, just as important, as the United States economy grew at a strong pace last year, emissions
from factories, planes and trucks soared. And there are few policies in place to clean those sectors
~
up.

"The big takeaway for me is that we haven't yet successfully decoupled U.S. emissions growth
from economic growth," said Trevor Houser, a climate and
energy analyst at the Rhodium Group.

As United States manufacturing boomed, for instance, emissions from the nation's industrial
sectors  including steel, cement, chemicals and refineries  increased by 5.7 percent.

Policymakers working on climate change at the federal and state level have so far largely shied
away from regulating heavy industry, which directly contributes about one-sixth of the country's
carbon emissions. Instead, they've focused on decarbonizing the electricity sector through
actions like promoting wind and solar power.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/climate/greenhouse-gas-emissions-increase.htmi?fbclid=IwAR2MtSiJ3eLVH3VVmM50XO7uNC4adp44veSAzTlatF...   1/3


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But even as power generation has gotten cleaner, those overlooked industrial plants and factories
have become a larger source of climate pollution. The Rhodium Group estimates that the
industrial sector is on track to become the second-biggest source of emissions in California by
2020, behind only transportation, and the biggest source in Texas by 2022.

There's a similar story in transportation: Since 2011, the federal government has been steadily
ratcheting up fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks, although the Trump
administration has proposed to halt the toughening of those standards after 2021.

There are signs that those standards have been effective. In the first nine months of 2018,
Americans drove slightly more miles in passenger vehicles than they did overthat
span the
previous year, yet gasoline use dropped by 0.1 percent, thanks in part to fuel-efficient vehicles and
electric cars.

=>  But, as America's economy expanded last year, trucking and air travel also grew rapidly, leading
to a 3 percent increase in diesel and jet fuel use and spurring an overall rise in transportation
emissions for the year. Air travel and freight have also attracted less attention from policymakers
to date and are considered much more difficult to electrify or decarbonize.

Demandfor electricity surged last year, too, as the economy grew, and renewable
power did not
expand fast enough to meet the extra demand. As a result, natural gasfilled in the gap, and
emissions from electricity rose an estimated 1.9 percent. (Natural gas produces lower CO2
emissions than coal when burned, butit is still a fossil fuel.)
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Transmission towers near the coal-fired Will County Generating Station in Romeoville,
Ill.  Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Even with last year's increase, carbon dioxide emissions in the United States are still down 11
percent since 2005, a period of considerable economic growth. Trump administration officials
have often cited that broader trend as evidence that the country can cutits climate pollution
without strict regulations.

But if the world wants to avert the most dire effects of global warming, major industrialized
countries, including the United States, will have to cut their fossil-fuel emissions much more
drastically than they are currently doing.

Last month, scientists reported that greenhouse gas emissions worldwide rose at an accelerating

pace in 2018,putting the world on track to face some of the most severe consequences of global
warming sooner than expected.

Under the Paris climate agreement, the United States vowed to cut emissions 26 to 28 percent
below 2005 levels by 2025. The Rhodium Group report warns that this target now looks nearly
unattainable without a flurry of new policies or technological advances to drive down emissions
throughout the economy.

"The U.S.has led the world in emissions reductions in the last decade thanks in large part to
cheap gas displacing coal," said Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at
Columbia University, who was not involved in the analysis. "But that has its limits, and markets
alone will not deliver anywhere close to the pace of decarbonization needed without much
stronger climate policy efforts that are unfortunately stalled if not reversed under the Trump
administration."

The Rhodium Group created its estimate by using government data for the first three quartersof
2018 combined with more recent industry data. The United States government will publish its
official emissions estimates for all of 2018 later this year.

For more news on climate and the environment, follow @NYTClimate on Twitter.

Brad Plumeris a reporter covering climate change, energy policy and other environmental issues for The
Times's climate team. @bradplumer


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https://www.nytimes.com/201 9/01/08/climate/greenhouse-gas-emissions-increase.html?fbclid=IwAR2MSiJ3eLVH3Vvm50XO7uNC4dpd4ve5AzTiatF...   3/3


1/8/2019                                                                  Airnoise
Complaints for Anne Kroeker GmfeCRIAY,4com
)

Dist
(mi)
1 Alt
Date/Time                                              Airport  Type        Callsign    Registration  Operation    (ft)
[ SENT |   January 08, 2019 10:30 {/aimoise_complaints/12105382user_id=239)   KSEA    Commercial   DAL2584   N3750D       Departure    0.7/
4350
[ SENT |   January 08, 2019 09:16 (/airnoise_complaints/1210085?user_id=239)   KSEA    Commercial  ASA8       N523AS       Departure   4.16
2050
[ sent |   January 08, 2019 09.12 (/airnoise_complaints/1210068?user_id=239)   KSEA    Commercial   DAL2734   N820DX       Departure    1.55
5475
[sent  January 08, 2019 09:11 (/airnoise_complaints/12100337user_id=239)  KSEA   Commercial  ASAT788   N471AS     Departure  0.83
4425
[ sent   January 08, 2019 09:10 (/aimoise_complaints/12100297user_id=239)   KSEA   Commercial  ASA956    N265AK      Departure   0.96
4250
[ sENT |   January 08, 2019 09:06 (/aimoise_complaints/1210016?user_id=239)   KSEA    Commercial  ASAT7006   NB626AS       Departure   0.56
5075
[ sent |   January 08, 2019 09:05 (/airnoise_complaints/1210013?user_id=239)   KSEA    Commercial  ASA847    N491AS       Departure    1.71
4925
[ sen|   January 08, 2019 09:00 (/airnoise_complaints/1209964?user_id=239)   KSEA   Commercial  ASA1779   N847VA      Arrival      0.22
2125
[ sent |   January 08, 2019 08:58 (/airnoise_complaints/12099407user_id=239)   KSEA    Commercial   UAL9S3    N464UA      Arrival       0.36
2050
| sent |   January 08, 2019 08:56 {/airnoise_complaints/1209923?user_id=239)   KSEA    Commercial  ASAB91     N525AS       Arrival       0.38
2000
[ sen|   January 08, 2019 08:55 (/airnoise_complaints/12099097user_id=239)   KSEA   Commercial  QXE2245   N620QX     Arrival      02/
2100
| sENT |   January 08, 2019 08:52 (/aimoise_complaints/12098967user_id=239)   KSEA    Commercial              N745SwW      Arrival       0.2/
1950
| sen  January 08, 2019 08.47 (/airnoise_complaints/1209851?user_id=239)  KSEA   Commercial  ASAB83   N552AS     Arrival     0.63
2150
| SENT |   January 08, 2019 08:45 (/airnoise_complaints/12098072user_id=239)   KSEA    Commercial  ASA1005   N836VA       Arrival       0.21
2075
[ senT|   January 08, 2019 08:44 (/aimoise_complaints/1209767?user_id=239)   KSEA    Commercial  QXE2250   N634QX      Arrival       0.21
2100


hitps://airnoise.io/airnoise_complaints                                                                                                        1/2