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Dems debate in Motor City. Will cars and climate be a focus?
“Holding a debate in Detroit and not discussing auto pollution would be like having one at the Vatican and not discussing religion,” said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign. The candidates could harness the setting’s symbolism as the birthplace of cars to challenge automakers to address a major environmental problem, some climate advocates say. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
New York climate plan sets 30-year goal for 100% renewable energy
A new law signed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sets the nation’s most aggressive targets for reducing carbon emissions and is intended to drive dramatic changes over the next 30 years. It calls for all the state’s electricity to come from renewable, carbon-free sources such as solar, wind and hydropower. Transportation and building heating systems would also run on clean electricity rather than oil and gas. But while the goals of the legislation signed Thursday are clear, details on how to achieve them are undetermined. It isn’t clear how much all this change will cost, or even whether it is all technically feasible. [ read more … ]
NextEra Energy Predicts 50% Renewable Energy In US By 2030
In May, the company presented a slide based on data supplied by IHS Markit for calendar year 2017. It showed the United States would get 25% of its electricity from renewable energy resources by 2030. That slide was deleted from the June presentation and replaced with one based on data supplied by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for calendar year 2018. The new slide projects the country will reach 50% renewables by 2030. The difference is startling and proof of how quickly things are changing in the utility industry. [ read more … ]
Can states turn their goals into reality?
Early last month, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed a bill into law calling for 2 gigawatts of offshore wind, or roughly enough to meet a third of the state’s electric demand. New Jersey followed a few weeks later with its first contract for a 1.1-GW project off the coast of the Garden State. The biggest announcement of all arrived last week, when New York announced two contracts worth 1.7 GW of power. The question is whether all this new wind power will actually be built. Offshore wind is a keystone to the Northeast’s climate goals. Meeting state greenhouse gas emissions targets in the region will be exceedingly difficult without large dollops of wind power generated in the ocean. The new turbines also have the potential to replace a series of old coal, oil and nuclear facilities that have retired in recent years. [ read more … ]
Bill Wehrum, an Architect of E.P.A. Rollbacks, Faces New Ethics Inquiry
The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general will investigate allegations that William L. Wehrum, the agency’s former air quality chief, violated ethics rules when he met with former clients from his days as a lawyer and lobbyist for the oil, gas and coal industries. The inquiry will look into whether Mr. Wehrum’s efforts at the E.P.A. to weaken climate change and air pollution standards improperly benefited those former clients, a congressional aide said. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.