OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Sanders-Biden climate task force calls for carbon-free power by 2035 | Park Police did not record radio transmissions during June 1 sweep of White House protesters | Court upholds protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears

HAPPY WEDNESDAY! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of the latest energy and environment news. Please send tips and comments to Rebecca Beitsch at rbeitsch@thehill.com. Follow her on Twitter: @rebeccabeitsch. Reach Rachel Frazin at rfrazin@thehill.com or follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin.

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MAY THE (TASK) FORCE BE WITH YOU: A unity task force made up of supporters of both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden has come up with a series of broad environmental recommendations for Biden as he prepares to become the official Democratic presidential nominee. 

The task force’s broad plan includes a goal of eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035, achieving net-zero emissions for all new buildings by 2030, and making energy-saving upgrades to as many as 4 million buildings and 2 million households within five years. 

Some of the recommendations released Wednesday set more specific targets than the former vice president’s current climate plan, which calls for a shift away from coal-fired electricity, halving the carbon footprint of buildings by 2035 and starting a national program aimed at affordable energy efficiency retrofits in homes.

The group is one of several “unity task forces” made up of supporters of Sanders and Biden that is making platform recommendations as Biden courts favor from the progressive faction of the party. 

Sanders, who sought to challenge the former Delaware senator from the left, came in second place in the 2020 Democratic primary, repeating his result from 2016, when he lost the presidential nomination to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

The climate panel is co-chaired by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a leading proponent of the Green New Deal, and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

“The Unity Task Force urges that we treat climate change like the emergency that it is and answer the crisis with an ambitious, unprecedented, economy-wide mobilization to decarbonize the economy and build a resilient, stronger foundation for the American people,” the document says. 

The plan also calls for a significant investment in renewable energy, including installing 500 million solar panels and manufacturing 60,000 wind turbines.

In the transportation sector, the group recommends the adoption of “strong standards” for clean cars and trucks and the transition of all school buses to American-made, zero-emission alternatives within five years. 

Read more about the climate task force’s recommendations here and more about the general recommendations from all of the unity task forces here. 

NO SIGNAL: The U.S. Park Police’s radio communications system did not record any transmissions when the agency and other law enforcement officers dispersed a crowd of protesters gathered around Lafayette Square on June 1 ahead of President Trump’s visit to a nearby church, the agency told The Washington Post.

The disclosure comes as the episode faces scrutiny from members of Congress and the internal watchdog for the Department of the Interior. Park Police have previously acknowledged using smoke canisters and pepper balls to clear the group of largely peaceful demonstrators who gathered in the area following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police.

The incident came ahead of a 7 p.m. citywide curfew and just moments before Trump visited nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo-op. Members of the Secret Service, D.C. National Guard and Arlington County police were also involved.

Park Police Lt. Jonathan Hofflinger told the Post on Tuesday that “at the conclusion of the demonstrations, we discovered that the radio recorder was not working and did not record any transmissions.”

“However, written radio logs were generated as a redundant practice,” he said. “This recorder issue has since been rectified.”

Park Police did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill for further comment. 

“Trump administration officials ordered the attack on clergy, nonviolent protesters, and working members of the press. For the official audio record of that day to now turn up missing has every appearance of a coverup,” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who is leading an investigation into the events that day, told the Post. 

He added that his panel would like to hear from Park Police acting chief Gregory Monahan later this month. 

Grijalva’s committee in late June conducted a hearing examining the forced removal of protesters at Lafayette Square. 

Kenneth Spencer, chairman of the Park Police’s Fraternal Order of Police Labor Committee, told the Post that the lack of radio recordings was “frustrating” because he felt officers responded appropriately to the situation. 

“Myself included, there were many officers expressing what kind of objects they were being hit with, where it was coming from,” Spencer said. “Everything of that nature was being expressed on the radio.”

Read more about the radio recording issue here. 

CARE FOR THE BEARS:  A federal court on Wednesday upheld a lower court decision reversing a Trump administration policy that eliminated protections for grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park.

A three-judge panel agreed with a prior ruling that the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) acted contrary to the best available science in its determination that grizzly bears near the park would no longer be listed as a threatened species. 

FWS delisted grizzlies in 2017, affecting about 700 bears in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. 

At that time, proponents said that increases in bear populations, conservation efforts and state protection policies justified delisting the creature. However, opponents said that threatened species protections were still necessary because it was too soon to tell if Yellowstone grizzlies had recovered. 

FWS did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the new ruling. 

Conservationists hailed the decision as a win that will prevent the creatures from being hunted as trophies. 

“This is a tremendous victory for all who cherish Yellowstone’s grizzly bears and for those who’ve worked to ensure they’re protected under the Endangered Species Act,” said Andrea Zaccardi, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement “Hunting these beautiful animals around America’s most treasured national park should never again be an option.”

The story is here. 

OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY:

Gov’t loans go to green groups battling Trump rollbacks, E&E News reports

Defendants’ appeal over venue denied by federal court in Boulder climate change lawsuit, The Boulder Daily Camera reports

Even if we start to fix climate change, the proof may not show up for 30 years, The Washington Post reports

ICYMI: From Tuesday night …

Court rulings deal setbacks to pipelines