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In shift, Trump admin plans to pay climate dues
In a reversal from its position last year, the Trump administration has proposed paying U.N. climate dues as part of its fiscal 2019 State Department budget. The budget proposal released on Monday would provide a total of $6.4 million to pay U.S. dues to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and its scientific arm, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a State Department official told E&E News. The number is not explicitly mentioned in the budget documents released by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. [ read more … ]
Trump’s Gas-Tax Hike Goes Nowhere in Congress
Despite backing from groups as wide ranging as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the lobby for truckers — and now President Donald Trump — a proposal to raise gas tax for the first time in 25 years appears to be going nowhere fast on Capitol Hill. Trump surprised a bipartisan group of House and Senate committee leaders Wednesday at the White House by offering to support a 25 cent-per-gallon increase in the tax on gas and diesel fuel dedicated to improving roads, highways and bridges. But that wasn’t swaying Republican opinion Thursday. [ read more … ]
NARUC Pushes for PURPA Reform in Letter to FERC
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners has issued a letter to the members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission urging action to reform the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (known as PURPA) and outlining methods to achieve the much-needed changes. With dramatic changes to the energy industry since PURPA was first enacted, the issues surrounding PURPA’s implementing regulations are important and should remain among FERC Chairman McIntyre’s chief priorities. [ read more … ]
How Trump’s tariff clouds one company’s outlook
When President Trump slapped tariffs on solar imports, he torpedoed Sun Tribe Solar’s plan to add at least two jobs to its 20-employee workforce. But it could have been even worse. [ read more … ]
Cantwell, others float bills to boost grid, smart buildings
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) released a series of bills Friday that address grid modernization and security, the energy workforce and smart building concerns. Several members of the House Climate Solutions Caucus also pushed for legislation meant to address climate and energy challenges. [ read more … ]
Trump energy adviser’s White House run went up in smoke
George David Banks is a free man. The 50-year-old Missouri native resigned abruptly last Tuesday as President Trump’s top energy aide after failing to receive a permanent security clearance over his admitted use of marijuana in 2013. With a year of the Trump White House behind him — and extensive experience on and off Capitol Hill — Banks is plotting his next step. [ read more … ]
Climate investors funnel cash into 9 international projects
A clean finance group yesterday named nine projects it will support this year, with a focus on climate change in emerging markets. The efforts picked by The Lab — a group funded by governments, philanthropies and corporations — target Brazil and India, two of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters, as well as sub-Saharan Africa. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.