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Schumer to Trump: To get infrastructure deal, make renewable tax credits permanent
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, N.Y., wrote President Donald Trump on Friday to emphasize the importance of fighting climate change in the context of an infrastructure legislative package. Schumer detailed several policies to help fight global warming, including creating permanent tax incentives for battery storage projects and renewable energy generation. He called for more investments in the electric grid, transmission and clean emissions technology, including energy storage, in research, development and deployment. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
New governors plan aggressive climate steps
New and recently reelected Democratic governors plan a series of aggressive steps to address climate change and bolster renewable energy industries in their states. The new climate plans come amid federal and international reports that show significant and immediate threats to the environment and the global economy as carbon emissions rise and temperatures spike faster than anticipated. [ read more … ]
Gov. Inslee’s new climate plan nixes coal power by 2025
“This package can pass this year,” Gov. Inslee said at a Monday press conference. “… Because we have the technology available to electrify our transportation system, and because we have legislators in a consensus to adopt these policies, Washington state will have the cleanest transportation system in the Unites States, based on legislation that can pass this year. This is a big deal.” [ read more … ]
Electric ferries, no more coal power: After carbon-fee defeat, Inslee rolls out clean-energy proposals
Rebounding from the defeat of a carbon-fee initiative he strongly backed, Gov. Jay Inslee is proposing a suite of state legislation to fight climate change, including a plan to rid electric utilities of fossil fuel-generated power by 2045. Calling his proposals “a clean energy smart deal” during a news conference Monday in Seattle, Inslee said they would put Washington on track to meet a target in state law of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2035. [ read more … ]
House seeks Senate ‘signals’ on extenders
A coalition of more than 150 businesses and industry associations yesterday wrote to congressional leaders to argue for the expansion of the investment tax credit to include energy storage technologies, which would be done under H.R. 4649 and S. 1868. Current law only allows energy storage technologies, which include batteries, flywheels and pumped hydro, to qualify for the credit when used with solar projects under certain circumstances, according to the American Wind Energy Association, which signed the letter. [ read more … ]
Trump Team Pushes Fossil Fuels at Climate Talks. Protests Erupt, but Allies Emerge, Too.
Trump administration officials at high-stakes climate talkshere offered an unapologetic defense of fossil fuels on Monday, arguing that a rapid retreat from coal, oil and gas was unrealistic. While that stance brought scorn from environmentalists and countries that favor stronger action to fight global warming, there are signs that the administration is finding a receptive audience among other major fossil-fuel producers, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
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White House advisers warn of catastrophic grid outages
How can America cope with a monthslong power outage of “a magnitude beyond modern experience”? Clear lines of command, flexible communications networks, plenty of exercises and protective “community enclaves” should all play a role, according to a draft report from a group of presidential advisers. [ read more … ]
Can the ‘Green New Deal’ deliver 100% renewables?
Activists storming Capitol Hill today in the name of a “Green New Deal” are joining progressive Democrats who say the United States must obtain its electricity within a decade from 100 percent renewables. Such an ambitious goal, they argue, is critical to avoiding the most catastrophic effects of climate change laid out in a string of recent reports from scientists across the globe. But is it possible? [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.