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In the Shadows of America’s Smokestacks, Virus Is One More Deadly Risk
Nationwide, low-income communities of color are exposed to significantly higher levels of pollution, studies have found, and also see higher levels of lung disease and other ailments. Now, scientists are racing to understand if long-term exposure to air pollution plays a role in the coronavirus crisis, particularly since minorities are disproportionately dying. [ read more … ]
Climate Change
How our brains make it hard to solve climate change
“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our databanks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.” [ read more … ]
Relief
Green groups wish Democrats had gone bigger with relief bill
Environmentalists are lamenting the provisions in Democrats’ $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill slated for a vote Friday, arguing the House package is ambitious on several fronts but not climate and clean energy. The environmental provisions in the bill include $1.5 billion in funding for states and tribes to help low-income households pay for drinking water services and another $1.5 billion to help low-income households cover their energy costs. [ read more … ]
‘Stealth Bailout’ Shovels Millions of Dollars to Oil Companies
As it headed toward bankruptcy, Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. took advantage of a little-noticed provision in the stimulus bill Congress passed in March to get a $9.7 million tax refund. Then, it asked a bankruptcy judge to authorize the same amount as bonuses to nine executives. The rig operator is one of dozens of oil companies and contractors now claiming hundreds of millions of dollars in tax rebates. They are employing a provision of the $2.2 trillion stimulus law, called the CARES act, that gives them more latitude to deduct recent losses. [ read more … ]
PJM
Ditching PJM capacity market could cost New Jersey $386M through 2022, market monitor finds
States in the PJM market have been looking for alternative policies to ensure state-subsidized resources like some nuclear and renewable power are not disadvantaged by the MOPR, while still ensuring future capacity. New Jersey, Maryland and Illinois have been the most vocal opponents of the rule. After the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted in April to uphold the order, all three states filed a petition for review with two federal courts. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.