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Leader of New Climate Panel Talks of Need for ‘Bold Action’
It does not yet have office space, staff or even Republican members, but Florida Rep. Kathy Castor is confident that a special House committee on climate change will play a leading role on one of the most daunting challenges facing the planet. Castor, who chairs the new panel, says those early obstacles can be overcome as lawmakers move to reduce carbon pollution and create clean-energy jobs. [ read more … ]
Trump admin’s rollback ‘flawed and erroneous’ — states
EPA’s decision to rethink Obama-era clean car rules was “untethered” to evidence and contrary to the agency’s own regulations, critics told a federal court last week. States, environmental groups and others filed key legal briefs in a fight over the Trump administration’s reversal of Obama-era findings that served as the foundation for greenhouse gas emissions standards for model year 2022-25 vehicles. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit should strike down EPA’s recent move “because this flawed and erroneous Revised Determination violates multiple regulatory requirements and bedrock principles of administrative law,” a coalition of states led by California wrote. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
New governors accelerate clean energy action, propelled by Democratic midterm wave
The highly anticipated wave of state-level clean energy policy stemming from last fall’s midterm elections is just beginning to make its way across the country, aided by a crop of eleven new Democratic governors, seven of which flipped previously Republican seats. Many governors have already made clean energy policy a priority in their first month, laying the groundwork to continue or begin their state’s transition to a cleaner, more efficient electric grid. [ read more … ]
Charlie Baker defended wind power after a Republican congressman questioned him on Capitol Hill
Climate change may not have been mentioned during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, but Gov. Charlie Baker was in Washington, D.C., to talk about the subject Wednesday morning. In the first House hearing on climate change since 2009, the Massachusetts governor testified about what his state is doing to — and what the federal government could do to help — reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change. [ read more … ]
Reliability hinges more on grid than fuel — DOE draft
A draft Department of Energy grid study obtained by E&E News concludes that vulnerabilities to the grid system are more important in causing power outages than fuel security or power plant operation. Those findings could undermine the Trump administration’s push for market interventions to boost struggling coal and nuclear plants. [ read more … ]
EPA set to issue Clean Power Plan replacement this spring
EPA is still planning to finalize a replacement for the Clean Power Plan close to its original schedule, the agency told a federal appeals court today. EPA is aiming to finalize the Affordable Clean Energy rule in the second quarter of 2019. The agency is also “evaluating the impacts that the recent lapse in appropriations has had on the Agency’s schedule for taking final action,” according to a status update to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. [ read more … ]
Copy Obama to kick-start ‘Green New Deal’ — Browner
President Obama’s climate czar told lawmakers yesterday to embrace the “Green New Deal,” and she later suggested they start by codifying the Obama regulations that President Trump is trying to undo. “We’re not starting this on a completely empty slate,” said Carol Browner, who also served as President Clinton’s EPA administrator. “We tried to get a carbon bill. We were not successful, but we looked at our existing laws and we found lots of ways to actually reduce [greenhouse gases]. So maybe go back and codify what Obama’s done, right?” she said after testifying at a congressional hearing on oceans and climate change. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.