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California Plans to Ban Sales of New Gas-Powered Cars in 15 Years
California plans to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars statewide by 2035, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday, in a sweeping move aimed at accelerating the state’s efforts to combat global warming amid a deadly and record-breaking wildfire season. In an executive order, Governor Newsom directed California’s regulators to develop a plan that would require automakers to sell steadily more zero-emissions passenger vehicles in the state, such as battery-powered or hydrogen-powered cars and pickup trucks, until they make up 100 percent of new auto sales in just 15 years. [ read more … ]
Supreme Court
Election and Supreme Court Fight Will Decide Trump’s Environmental Legacy
President Trump has initiated the most aggressive environmental deregulation agenda in modern history, but as his first term drives to a close, many of his policies are being cut down by the courts — even by Republican-appointed jurists who the administration had hoped would be friendly. Those losses have actually heightened the stakes in the election and the fight over a replacement on the Supreme Court for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A second term, coupled with a 6-3 conservative majority on the high court, could save some of his biggest environmental rollbacks. [ read more … ]
The Energy 202: Landmark Supreme Court climate ruling more vulnerable than ever with Ginsburg’s death
The landmark 2007 decision, called Massachusetts vs. Environmental Protection Agency, gave the federal government the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Now with President Trump poised to add a sixth conservative justice, some conservatives are itching for the high court to take some of that power away.The question is whether the Supreme Court will take up future cases tackling climate change — and how far a more conservative bench will go to chip away at its past decision. [ read more … ]
What Trump’s finalists say about climate change
An opponent of the social cost of carbon. A former Michigan judge backed by industry and conservative activists. And a Florida jurist who refused to acknowledge climate science. They have risen to the top of President Trump’s short list for the Supreme Court. Trump’s pick to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could help decide how far the court moves to the right on energy policy, administrative law and other climate issues, as the bench becomes more conservative potentially for decades to come. [ read more … ]
Wind Energy
Britain, Netherlands plan to link offshore wind farms
The network managers want to use underwater cables to connect as much as 4 gigawatts of offshore wind farms to the power grids of both countries, a move that could open new markets to sell electricity and cut down on times when wind farms are shut off due to oversupply. Interconnectors will only become more important to Britain as its aging fleet of nuclear reactors shuts down, although a new reactor at Hinkley Point C will boost domestic capacity from 2025. National Grid and Tennet aim to identify a first project to lead the plan by the end of next year and be linked by 2029. [ read more … ]
Climate
China, in Pointed Message to U.S., Tightens Its Climate Targets
President Xi Jinping of China pledged on Tuesday that his country would adopt much stronger climate targets and achieve what he called “carbon neutrality before 2060.” If realized, the pledges would be crucial in the global fight against climate change. The announcement, made at the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, is significant because China is currently the top producer of greenhouse gas emissions. What the country does to curb its emissions, therefore, is crucial to slowing down global warming on the whole. [ read more … ]
From LA to Oslo, 12 cities pledge to divest from fossil fuel
Ten cities around the world on Tuesday joined New York and London in committing to divest from fossil fuel companies as part of efforts to combat climate change. Berlin, Cape Town, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Oslo and others pledged to take “all possible steps to divest city assets from fossil fuel companies and (increase) financial investments in climate solutions.”
The cities that have a total of 36 million residents.
[ read more … ]
EVs
Tesla says battery breakthroughs to bring $25K electric car
At its much-hyped Battery Day, Tesla Inc. yesterday unleashed a blizzard of innovations that it said could make battery-making cheaper and result in a $25,000 Tesla within three years.
It was a different kind of show for Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, who is known for unveiling electric trucks and cars in front of a live crowd and seizing the popular imagination in a way that makes its stock sizzle. [ read more … ]
Tesla’s Battery Day Letdown Risks $320 Billion Stock Gain
Tesla Inc.’s highly anticipated “Battery Day” fell short of expectations that helped fuel its $320 billion surge in market value this year, with Elon Musk outlining grandiose goals that will take time to pull off. The chief executive officer laid out a plan Tuesday to build a $25,000 car and cut battery costs in half over the next three years. Analysts said while the technology and manufacturing innovations outlined were impressive, Tesla’s valuation already reflected its ability to disrupt and that investors may be let down by the lack of surprises at the much-hyped battery showcase event. [ read more … ]
6 utilities team up to tackle driver range anxiety
Some of the Midwest’s biggest electric utilities are working together to boost electric vehicle adoption by easing concerns over range anxiety. Six utilities from the Great Plains to the Motor City signed on to a memorandum of cooperation, thought to be a first-of-its-kind commitment among utilities to coordinate the build-out of a regionwide EV charging network. [ read more … ]
Campaign 2020
Democratic Donors Push Biden for a Cabinet Free of Fossil Fuel Connections
Liberal activists have opened a new front in their battle to push Joseph R. Biden Jr. to the left on climate change: a campaign to pressure the Democratic presidential nominee to reject advisers with any ties to fossil fuel companies. The targets include former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and others who served in the Obama administration. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.