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Biden $2 trillion infrastructure proposal includes billions in spending on transmission, clean energy
Biden’s proposed plan would spend more on climate and clean energy than any other administration in U.S. history and is the next step in the president’s campaign trail promise to bring the country’s electricity to 100% clean electricity by 2035, and build a net-zero emissions economy by mid-century. “As we saw in Texas and elsewhere, our electrical power grids are vulnerable with storms, catastrophic failures and security lapses [leading to] tragic results. My American jobs plan will put … hundreds of thousands of people to work — line workers, electricians, and laborers — laying thousands of miles of transmission lines, building a modern, resilient and fully clean grid.” [ read more … ]
Clean Energy Standard
White House Wants Nuclear in Clean Energy Mandate, McCarthy Says
Nuclear energy should be one of the power sources eligible for a national clean energy mandate sought by the White House as part of its infrastructure plan, presidential climate adviser Gina McCarthy told reporters. McCarthy’s remarks on Thursday came amid concern about the carbon-free fuel source from progressives and some environmentalists who have qualms about radioactive waste and uranium mining for reactor fuel. [ read more … ]
White House will seek law to require carbon-free power from U.S. utilities
The Biden administration said on Thursday it will seek to pass a law requiring utilities to source more power from renewable and other clean sources as part of an ambitious effort to address climate change through investing in infrastructure. A so-called clean energy standard (CES) would help put the United States on a path to delivering on President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to decarbonize the nation’s electricity sector by 2035, and the whole economy by 2050.
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Biden Administration
Biden’s Infrastructure Plan: Where the Money Is Going
The White House rolled out a $2.3 trillion plan that makes major investments in the nation’s infrastructure, along with a series of tax increases on corporations. President Biden detailed the proposal in a speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday afternoon. The broad outline now goes to Capitol Hill. Republicans have indicated that they would be opposed to a large package accompanied by tax increases, meaning Democrats will likely need to leverage their slim majorities in Congress to pass it along party lines.
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Biden Purges Science Adviser Panels Trump Tilted Toward Industry
The Biden administration is purging members of two of the scientific advisory committees that guide the work of the Environmental Protection Agency, a move designed to shrink the influence of industry on the panels. EPA Administrator Michael Regan cast the decision as necessary to ensuring scientific integrity at the agency.
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Markets
U.S.-Saudis Discuss Energy Affordability Before OPEC+ Talks
The U.S. called Saudi Arabia on the eve of an OPEC+ meeting to highlight the importance of “affordable energy,” adding another element of uncertainty into the group’s decision on production cuts. The cartel is heading into Thursday’s talks with several options up for discussion, including maintaining its existing production cuts or making a modest increase, delegates said. Rhetoric from the cartel’s top official had indicated a cautious approach, focusing on the fragility of demand and the risk of a Covid-19 resurgence. [ read more … ]
Commentary
Why Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Is a Green Jobs Plan
“Once you put capital money to work, jobs are created.” These are not the words of President Joe Biden, announcing his administration’s infrastructure plan in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Nor were they the words of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, standing on a train platform to announce expanded service, or of any of the administration’s economists charged with touting the virtues of the $2.25 trillion spending plan. It was Michael Morris, then-CEO of Ohio utility American Electric Power, who uttered them on an investor call a decade ago. [ read more … ]
FirstEnergy
Gov. Mike DeWine signs repeal of nuclear bailout, other parts of scandal-tainted House Bill 6
With little fanfare, Gov. Mike DeWine signed legislation Wednesday dismantling two key parts of the corruption-ridden House Bill 6 that give billions in ratepayer dollars to energy companies.
House Bill 128, which takes effect in 90 days, repeals part — though not all — of the law at the center of what authorities say is the largest bribery scheme in Ohio history. HB128 rescinds a $1 billion-plus financial bailout of the Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear power plants along Lake Erie.
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Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.