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Trump Said to Offer Cathy McMorris Rodgers Post to Head Interior
The League of Conservation Voters gave McMorris Rodgers a zero score in the group’s 100-point National Environmental Scorecard reflecting votes in 2015. Her lifetime pro-environment score is 4 percent with the group, which bases its findings on lawmakers’ votes on the group’s top issues including energy, global warming, public health, public lands and wildlife conservation, and spending for environmental programs. The average U.S. House score in the group’s ratings for all House members was 41 percent. [ read more … ]
Climate Change Conversations Are Targeted in Questionnaire to Energy Department
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition team has circulated an unusual 74-point questionnaire at the Department of Energy that requests the names of all employees and contractors who have attended climate change policy conferences, as well as emails and documents associated with the conferences. In question after question, the document peppers Energy Department managers with pointed queries about climate science research, clean energy programs and the employees who work for those programs. More broadly, the questionnaire hints at a significant shift of emphasis at the agency toward nuclear power, and a push to commercialize the research of the Energy Department’s laboratories, long considered the crown jewels of federal science.
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Biden Does Not See Trump Undoing Much of Environmental Record
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday he doubted whether Donald Trump could undo much of the current administration’s record on the environment because so many green policies have firmly taken hold. Trump, who will take over as president on Jan. 20, has said he does not believe in global warming and will name a climate change skeptic, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, to head the Environmental Protection Agency. [ read more … ]
Will Donald Trump Blow Warren Buffett’s Clean-Energy Bet Off Course?
The biggest wild card in wind’s future may be federal tax credits. A utility like Berkshire’s MidAmerican can lower its tax liability through production credits for 10 years for each project. The federal government offers a tax credit of 2.3¢ for every kilowatt-hour produced. MidAmerican’s new Iowa project alone, once finished, will generate over $29 million a year in tax credits for Berkshire. And Berkshire can use its credits for its entire company, which made $28 billion in operating income in 2015. Buffett freely admits that without the tax credit his desire to get into wind energy would have been greatly diminished. [ read more … ]
Program helps satisfy Nebraska’s growing wind energy workforce demand
Construction is underway on 81 wind farm projects in 25 states, several of which are in Nebraska. The biggest is the Prairie Grande near O’Neill, which is expected to have 200 new turbines. “When we look at where we’re constructing these wind farms, that’s about 33 billion dollars in new investments. We see that money going to both rustbelt states and to the rural areas in this country,” Hirner said [ read more … ]
UK Wind Energy Sets New Generation Record, Exceeds 10,000 Megawatts
The UK’s wind energy industry has surpassed another milestone, generating more than 10,000 megawatts (MW) for the first time from its fleet of onshore and offshore wind turbines. The news comes from the UK’s wind energy trade body, RenewableUK, which reported that the record of 10,104 MW was achieved between 2pm and 2:30pm on Wednesday, providing 23% of Britain’s total electricity demand at the time. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.