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EPA Proposes New Rules; Biden Speaks at U.N. Climate Summit; Jury Selection in the Arbery Trial; Supreme Court Hears Texas Abortion Ban; Delta Flight Diverted because of Unruly Passenger. Aired 9:30- 10a

Aired November 02, 2021 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[09:31:01]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, today, President Biden will wrap up his European trip with a final day at the U.N. climate change conference in Glasgow. The president delivering remarks -- set to deliver remarks at any moment. His administration, meantime, is planning to propose new rules today that would target methane leaks from oil and gas operations.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Methane, we should note, is the main component of natural gas, and the EPA estimates this new proposal would impact 75 percent of existing methane emissions.

CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, and chief climate correspondent Bill Weir are both in Scotland.

Kaitlan, first, tell us in detail what this executive order will do.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this is a new rule that's going to be coming from the EPA, and it's really the intent of it, the overarching intent, is to heavily regulate methane in a way that we have not really seen the United States do before. And this is part of this bigger step that you're seeing President Biden take.

HILL: Kate --

COLLINS: And, of course, this is also coming on the heels of what his predecessor did when it came to methane, which was, he tried to roll back a lot of those policies. And so the president clearly here is taking a very different route when it comes to methane.

And I think really what you see from what the president is going to say here shortly coming up, following his commitment earlier this morning, along with the leaders of 100 other nations when it comes -- came to -- or came to conserving forests across the world globally, which is also another effort that they are taking to slow global warming, is, these are the actions that the president feels he can take on his own. And, of course, it comes as we are seeing the drama over his agenda on

Capitol Hill play out, with that announcement from Senator Manchin yesterday, making clear he has not fully put his support behind the president's plan yet. And, of course, that is a plan that includes hundreds of billions of dollars for climate change. And so these are actions that the president can take on his own here at the summit with world leaders as he is trying to say the United States is leading here, they are back at the table in a way that, of course, they were not when his predecessor was in office.

HILL: And, Bill, as we wait for President Biden there to make his remarks, I do want to drill down a little bit more on, you know, these more than 100 world leaders, so we're talking about more than 85 percent of the world's forests represented by those leaders committing to ending and actually reversing deforestation and land degradation by 2030. That's a pretty aggressive goal. Where does it actually stand?

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BILL WEIR, CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's -- it is the biggest announcement I think so far of this young COP26, especially since Russia's Vladimir Putin and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro both sent in videotaped remarks adding to this pledge, as you say.

First of all, the greatest carbon capture machine ever invented is a tree. And in addition to the forests, as a carbon capturing device, they also are home to countless animals and birds and insects that are part of the web of life that are being decimated, and indigenous communities who know how to live with nature in a sustainable way.

So, just for perspective as well, in 2020, we have a great graphic from "The Washington Post" here, 100,000 square miles of forest were taken down around the world. The biggest countries leading that chainsaw brigade, Russia and Brazil. Of course the Amazon Rain Forest so vital, the lungs of the planet there.

So if these pledges are to be believed, this is a massive win for earth and life as we know it, but, to put it in context even further, back in 2014, over 200 countries made a pledge to end deforestation by around the same time. And, obviously, that didn't quite happen.

But, you have to have hope now that as both the extinction crisis, the biodiversity laws, and the climate crisis would give some real teeth to these pledges.

SCIUTTO: Kaitlan, a way for the U.S. to have teeth to its own pledges, of course, are the climate commitments in the Build Back Better agenda. Has the president, while he's in Scotland, reacted to Senator Joe Manchin's comments yesterday and then the progressive's commitment that followed those comments?

[09:35:06]

COLLINS: The president himself has not, though he has been asked several times by reporters, including when they just ran into him essentially that this summit site (ph), which (INAUDIBLE) typically don't do that. But it's a very crowded summit site and reporters actually (INAUDIBLE) they were walking around there and ran into President Biden, asked him a question about Manchin, if he had any response. Nothing from him yet, but we did --

HILL: Kaitlan, I'm sorry, I'm going to stop you. We're having your -- we're having a tough time with the transmission and your audio.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: We want to hear what you -- what you're saying, we just can't really get it. So we're going to try to work on that.

But, Bill, I'll bring you in here.

That -- you know, having that commitment, as Kaitlan pointed out, you know, a little bit earlier, you know, executive orders and measures can only go so far. But when you have that commitment in terms of legislation, it does ring differently.

How much has that impacted President Biden's standing, really his collateral in many ways, there at COP26?

WEIR: Well, so much of his presence here and bringing so many cabinet members, President Obama coming next week, is a trust-building mission, to signal to the world, yes, we are in this despite what has happened in the past. It wasn't just Trump walking away from Paris, it was George W. Bush backing away from the Kyoto Accords when rich nations initially promised to kick in to help developing countries.

Another big announcement today is that the U.K., the EU and the U.S. will specifically help South Africa get off of coal. They are really a symbol of sort of environmental injustice, dirty infrastructure built under apartheid, now the highest pollution per capita in the world. That will cost billions, split among the rich countries there as well. You see -- I saw President Biden today with the presidents of Gabon and in the Congo, talking about this deforestation plan to protect these vital pieces of land around the world as well.

And, yes, I mean, the -- even the methane pledge comes as this Supreme Court just agreed to hear a challenge that came from Republican states and coal companies over whether the EPA has the authority to regulate, you know, the planet (INAUDIBLE) greenhouse gas --

SCIUTTO: Bill, apologies, we'll have to cut you off there because, as you mentioned, here is President Biden, about to begin his remarks today.

Let's listen in.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, I'm going to be very, very brief.

I want to thank, Garrison (ph). Thank you so much, everyone, here today, you know, for signing this game-changing commitment.

One of the most important things we can do, and I keep referring, as many of you do, to this decisive decade, we got to figure what we're going to do. It's not just between now and 2050. What we're going to do between now and 2030 is going to impact significantly on what we'll -- whether we'll be able to meet our longer term commitment.

And one of the most important things we can do in this decisive decade is to keep 1.5 degrees in reach, is reduce our methane emissions as quickly as possible. As already has been stated, it's one of the most potent greenhouse gases there is. It amounts to about half -- half the warming we're experiencing today. Just methane exposure.

So together we're committing to collectively reduce our methane by 3 percent by 2030, and I think we can probably go beyond that.

We just announced this package that the General Assembly, and back in September. At the time was mentioned nine countries had signed on. Today, it's over 80, it's approaching 100 countries that are signing on. That's nearly half the global methane emissions or 70 percent of the global GDP. And it's not -- it's going to make a huge difference. And not just when it comes to fighting climate change, as Ursula pointed out, physical health of individuals and a whole range of other things. It's going to improve health, reduce asthma, respiratory related emergencies. It's going to improve the food supply as well by cutting crop loss and related ground level pollution. And it's going to boost our economies, saving companies money, reducing methane leaks, capturing methane, to turn it into new revenue streams, and as well as creating good paying union jobs for our workers.

And we're taking -- we're talking about jobs to manufacture new technologies, for methane detection, jobs for union pipe fitters and welders to go out and cap, abandon oil wells and plug leaking pipelines, which is thousands of miles of those, and it has been a foundation -- a foundational commitment of my administration from the beginning. It's something that we can't -- I campaigned on and today I'm announcing the next steps to reduce U.S. methane emissions.

We're proposing two new rules. One through our Environmental Protection Agency, that's going to reduce methane losses from new and existing oil and gas pipelines.

[09:40:05]

And one through the Department of Transportation, to reduce wasteful and potential dangerous leaks from natural gas pipelines. They have authority over that area.

We're also launching a new initiative to work with our farmers, and our ranchers, to introduce climate smart agricultural practices and reduce methane on farms, which is a significant source as well.

And this is all part of our new methane strategy, which focuses on reducing the largest source of methane emissions while putting thousands, thousands of skilled workers on the job all across the United States, and I expect in your countries as well.

So let me close, again, by reiterating, this isn't just something we have to do to protect the environment and our future, it's an enormous opportunity, enormous opportunity for all of us, all of our nations to create jobs, and make meeting climate goals a core part of our global economic recovery as well. The United States is eager to work with each of you to make sure we meet this goal, and encourage more countries, more countries to join us in committing to reducing methane globally because there are more that can join and should.

I just want to thank you again. Much more to say but much of it's already been said. But thank you for your partnership. Thank you for your ambition.

And now I'm going to turn it back to Secretary Kerry, I believe he's still here. There he is. And I thank you all so very much.

HILL: President Joe Biden there speaking at COP26, emphasizing efforts here in the U.S. in terms of methane emissions, talking about new efforts from the EPA, specifically targeting oil and gas production, also the Department of Transportation targeting leaks and natural gas pipelines.

And, Jim, what I thought was interesting, he really was framing this -- he used the word "opportunity," but really framing this from an economic perspective as well. The president there, several times, talking about the jobs that this could create as he's selling those efforts.

SCIUTTO: Yes, which is a consistent message for a whole host of things, including in renewable energy. We'll see if that message holds and whether it moves people on Capitol Hill on other climate measures.

Still ahead, though, this hour, we continue to follow other stories, including an unexpected turn in jury selection for the murder trial of the men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery. Defense attorneys now complaining the jury pool does not have enough white men. We're going to have a live update coming up.

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[09:47:07]

HILL: We are now in the third week of jury selection for the trial of the three white men who were accused of fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery last year. A thousand jury summons were sent out, less than half of those people have actually shown up. The defense team is now starting to complain about the jury pool. One attorney saying, quote, in this case it would appear that white males born in the south over 40 years of age without four-year college degrees, sometimes euphemistically known as "Bubba" or "Joe Six Pack," seem to be significantly underrepresented.

CNN's Martin Savidge is in Brunswick, Georgia, this morning.

I have to say, when I read those, I just sort of have to sit and think about that for a minute. It is something.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. No, my jaw dropped when I heard Kevin Gough say that in court on Friday. You don't hear that kind of depiction in a courtroom.

However, I will say that Jason Sheffield, who is another defense attorney, he represents Travis McMichael, he's the one who actually shot Ahmaud Arbery three times with a shotgun, he is saying, his defense attorney, that, hey, I may not have liked the language that Kevin Gough used, but essentially what he said is true. And this is really a window on the defense for us here because we're beginning to understand what type of juror they're looking for. And just as you said, it's a white male from the south, 40 years and above, who didn't go to college. And right now they're saying, out of the 500, even though there were a thousand summoned, about 500 people actually have shown up for potential jury duty, they say they're not seeing that in the mix.

And, clearly, that is the key demographic they believe for the juror who will be open to the defense's arguments. And the defense is standing on two things here, one is self-defense, and the other is that these men were attempting to conduct a citizen's arrest under the old Georgia law.

So it seems to be a real concern on the part of the defense here, and now they're going public with it.

HILL: It is -- it is fascinating because I'm sure there are -- I actually know, there are plenty of examples you can point to, right, where people may have wanted perhaps a more diverse jury or an actual jury of their peers with no chance for that. We'll continue to watch.

Martin Savidge, appreciate it. Thank you.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Listen to this story because there are decisions before the Supreme Court which very well will affect a woman's right to choose around country. A majority of Supreme Court justices now appear open to letting abortion providers challenge Texas' controversial ban on abortions after six weeks. During oral arguments on Monday, conservative Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, who both voted earlier to allow the law to take effect in September, expressed some doubt about the law's broad reach. The abortion ban in essence attempts to shield state officials from federal lawsuits by empower private citizens, really anyone, to enforce the law on their own.

[09:50:02]

CNN's Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue is in Washington, D.C., this morning.

Ariane, it can be difficult to read the tea leaves of these oral arguments. Turn your keen educated eye to what you heard yesterday and what it means for folks at home.

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Well, look, it was really surprising. Two months after the conservatives allowed this law to go into effect, you had two main conservatives expressing these reservations about the law, right? And this is not a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. The whole ballgame here is, as you said, how this law is written and how Texas says, look, nobody can challenge it in federal court.

Well, Amy Coney Barrett, about midway through arguments yesterday, she seemed to worry about that, like really, is state court the way -- the best way for people to air their constitutional grievances? She just wondered, why not in federal court.

And then you had Justice Kavanaugh, and he brought up what we call the slippery slope argument, right? First of all, he knows if they allow this law to go into effect, they're going to be very busy.

SCIUTTO: Right.

DE VOGUE: Lots of other laws are going to come. And then, what about liberal states? What if they pass a law that, say, restricts gun rights or First Amendments?

SCIUTTO: Yes.

DE VOGUE: Listen to what he had to say in oral arguments as he made that -- made that case.

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JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH, SUPREME COURT: It could be free speech rights, it could be free exercise of religion rights, it could be Second Amendment rights if this position is accepted here. The theory of the amicus brief is that it can be easily replicated in other states that disfavor other constitutional rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: So, you listen to that here. Do you sense a majority forming, not just to allow the challenge, but perhaps to overrule the essential essence of this Texas law, right, which lets vigilantes, in effect, enforce and therefore shields the state government from lawsuits.

DE VOGUE: Let me preface everything by reading tea leaves in oral arguments, very difficult.

SCIUTTO: Of course, with that proviso.

DE VOGUE: But here's what I think we could see tomorrow. There's -- they are -- or we could see as early as today, it could take weeks, we don't know. But there are two cases, right? There's the abortion providers case. They want to get into court. There's the Department of Justice. They want to get in court, both to challenge this law.

What we could see is the court saying, OK, abortion providers, you can get into court now and you can bring a challenge, and that challenge in the lower court would get directly to a woman's right to choose.

SCIUTTO: OK.

DE VOGUE: And then they could say, and then we don't even have to deal with that Department of Justice challenge, which is much more complicated. It opens up these gnarly questions that none of the justices yesterday seemed interested in.

SCIUTTO: Right.

DE VOGUE: But the big question in this order that we could get as soon as today, or in a couple of weeks, you never know, is whether they'll freeze the law while that appeals process plays out. That's the big thing, because then women would be able to have their abortions again.

SCIUTTO: Right, because right now, in effect, they're already banned.

Ariane de Vogue, listen, it's fascinating to watch.

DE VOGUE: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Hugely consequential.

Erica.

HILL: Just ahead here, a Delta flight diverted after an onboard disturbance with a passenger. So what happened this time in the increasingly unfriendly skies? That's next.

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[09:57:45]

HILL: The latest in a disturbing series of in-flight incidences. A Delta plane, which had to be diverted midflight yesterday because of a, quote, onboard customer disturbance.

SCIUTTO: So a passenger tweeted this photo of police on the plane. Delta airlines says the flight was heading from Atlanta to Los Angeles when it had to be diverted midair to Dallas. This is the second incident in less than a week for Delta. CNN's Aviation correspondent Pete Muntean, he is in Washington.

Pete, I've been on a plane where someone was not quite assaulting but certainly accosting a flight attendant. We were met by cops on the ground. And how often is this kind of thing happening?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Jim, Delta's calling this latest incident rare, but the fact is, this just keeps happens over and over again. Forty-nine hundred and forty-one incidents of unruly passengers reported by flight crews to the FAA just this year alone. Most notably on an American Airlines flight just last Wednesday when a flight attendant was reportedly punched in the face by a passenger.

Now there is this from this Delta Air Lines flight. Here is the photo from on board last night when this passenger tweeted this. You can see police in the background. And he says that somebody was removed from the plane.

In a statement, Delta Air Lines says it has zero tolerance for unruly behavior at our airports and in our aircraft. We applaud the flight crew's quick decision to divert and address the situation as expeditiously as possible so the remainder of our customers can resume their travels. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was asked about this on NEW DAY this morning and he says that a federal ban list, no- fly list for violent passengers, should be something that is on the table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I think everybody option needs to be on the table. I can't believe we even have to say this. But for God's sake, do not -- do not disrespect, let alone harm flight crews, who, as the captain always says, are there for your safety.

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MUNTEAN: Now, the concern is that somebody could get banned from one airline and then theoretically fly on another airline. The information between airlines is not all that great. That's something that airline units have been pushing for. They've also been pushing for the Department of Justice to crack down on this and up the ante on unruly passengers.

[10:00:03]

We've seen a bit of a shift in the tide over the last few days with more and more indictments coming down against unruly passengers