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President’s windmill hatred is a worry for booming industry
“We have been blessed to have it,” says Polly McMahon, a 13th-generation resident of Block Island, where a pioneering offshore wind farm replaced the island’s dirty and erratic diesel-fired power plant in 2016. “I hope other people are blessed too.” But there’s an issue. And it’s a big one. President Donald Trump hates wind turbines. He’s called them “disgusting” and “ugly” and “stupid,” denouncing them in hundreds of anti-wind tweets and public comments dating back more than a decade, when he tried and failed to block a wind farm near his Scottish golf course. [ read more … ]
Trump aide offers no guidance on Vineyard Wind
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management put the offshore wind farm on hold indefinitely in early August while it tries to gain a better understanding of the cumulative impact of the many East Coast wind farm projects currently in the pipeline. With the project in danger of being canceled if the delay lasts too long, James Bennett, the renewable energy program manager at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, gave no indication of when the agency’s review will be completed. [ read more … ]
Car Rule
Auto Makers Set to Meet With Justice Department on Antitrust Probe
department itself faces questions about its decision to press an issue with political overtones. The meetings would mark the first substantive discussions between the two sides since the Justice Department sent an inquiry letter a month ago seeking information about an agreement on greenhouse-gas emissions that Ford Motor Co. , Honda Motor Co. , BMW AG and Volkswagen AG reached recently with the California Air Resources Board.
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Gov. Newsom vetoes ‘Trump Insurance’ bill
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed legislation aimed at protecting federal environmental standards in the state as the Trump administration rolls those back. S.B. 1, dubbed “Trump Insurance,” would have required California agencies to adopt environmental, public health and worker safety rules at least as strong as the federal ones in place Jan. 19, 2017, the day before President Trump took office. Provisions would expire at the end of his potential second term in January 2025. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
How U.S. fossil fuels are tied to Ukraine and impeachment
The Eastern European nation sits at the crossroads of Europe and Russia. Today, roughly a third of Russian gas consumed in Europe passes through Ukraine. That has made the country uniquely susceptible to Russian meddling. Moscow has twice cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in the past 15 years and stopped selling directly to the country after the onset of the civil war there in 2014. The prospect of a third shutoff looms at the end of the year, when the current transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine is set to expire.
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Poll: Americans worry about climate, but don’t save energy
The survey released last week from the Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago examined individual attitudes toward climate change and steps people may or may not be inclined to take to save energy. While nearly 90% of respondents said they often or always turn off unneeded lights, less than half said they set their thermostats at 76 degrees Fahrenheit or higher during the summer, in an attempt to limit air conditioning use. A quarter of respondents said they always take that measure. [ read more … ]
First U.S. gas station to switch to 100% EVs opens
The nation’s first gas station to convert fully to electric vehicle charging opened last week in Maryland. The EV refueling station, run by RS Automotive in Takoma Park, will now allow four vehicles to charge simultaneously within a half-hour and will not serve gas. Backers of the project say it could offer a model for other gas station owners looking to cater exclusively to the growing EV market in the United States.
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Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.