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House Passes Sweeping Climate, Tax and Health Care Package
Congress gave final approval on Friday to legislation that would reduce the cost of prescription drugs and pour billions of dollars into the effort to slow global warming, as House Democrats overcame united Republican opposition to deliver on key components of President Biden’s domestic agenda. With a party-line vote of 220 to 207, the House agreed to the single largest federal investment in the fight against climate change and the most substantial changes to national health care policy since passage of the Affordable Care Act. The bill now goes to Mr. Biden for his signature. [ read more … ]
Wind Energy
California Sets Ambitious Goal to Get Power From Offshore Wind
The target goes beyond Governor Gavin Newsom’s call last month for the state to install at least 20 gigawatts of turbines at sea by 2045. While offshore wind development on the US West Coast is trailing efforts in the Atlantic, California’s move may spur additional plans for the Pacific, according to David Hochschild, chairman of the commission. “I think what we do here matters more than we realize,” Hochschild said at a meeting. “We have a great track record of starting things in California, and what we’re doing today on wind is yet another step.” [ read more … ]
Inflation Reduction Act
A Victory for Biden, and a Bet on America’s Future
With final House passage of the Inflation Reduction Act on Friday, President Biden is poised to deliver the latest in a series of legislative victories that will ripple across the country for decades — lowering the cost of prescription drugs, extending subsidies to help people pay for health insurance, reducing the deficit and investing more than $370 billion into climate and energy programs. [ read more … ]
Climate Bill’s Success Hinges on Timely Renewable-Projects Build-Out
Despite the new financial support for renewable technologies, the industry faces supply-chain snarls, logjams in securing project approvals and challenges in constructing new high-voltage power lines and large-scale batteries to support an unprecedented build-out of wind and solar farms. “It is a very significant piece of legislation; there’s no two ways about it,” said David Stubbs, global head of thematic strategy for J.P. Morgan Private Bank. “At the same time, there are major constraints on the rollout of electrification and the greening of America’s electricity grid.” [ read more … ]
VCs Say Climate Bill Will Help ‘Prime the Pump’ for Startup Growth
Perhaps more exciting to the investor class is the expected impact on Fortune 500s. Thousands of big companies that have set zero emissions goals are lumbering toward them, moving even slower during the economic downturn. The hope is that the climate policy will reverse that trend, spurring activity from the very companies that might buy from or acquire startups. What’s necessary for that to happen is a return of healthy public markets both so that maturing companies can access capital and the overall landscape primes for growth. [ read more … ]
API Outlines U.S. Energy Industry Opposition to Inflation Reduction Act
The American Petroleum Institute (API) joined with nearly 60 other trade groups representing America’s natural gas and oil industry in opposing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as passed by the Senate. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the organizations outlined problematic provisions, including punitive new taxes and regulatory red tape that undermine the industry’s ability to promote energy security for the American consumer. Here is the letter: [ read more … ]
States
Mass. enacts sweeping climate and energy law
Massachusetts’ Republican governor signed climate legislation yesterday with some of the United States’ most aggressive restrictions on fossil fuels and sweeping incentives for clean energy, even as he expressed misgivings about the contents. The law, “An Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind,” will end the sale of new gasoline-powered cars in Massachusetts in 2035. Only a small handful of states — New York, California and Washington — have passed laws or commenced rulemakings to that end. [ read more … ]
Climate
Arctic warming is 4 times the global rate. Here’s why.
One study after another is coming to the same conclusion about the rapidly warming Arctic: It’s heating up a lot faster than earlier research suggested. The latest figures indicate that the planet’s northernmost region is warming a whopping four times faster than the Earth as a whole. That’s a significant update compared to earlier estimates. [ read more … ]
Clock ticks down on Colorado River cuts. What will feds do?
Western states that rely on the Colorado River Basin for their water supplies face a Tuesday deadline to tell the Bureau of Reclamation how they plan to cut back during the crushing drought that has shrunk the river. But as that date nears, the consequences for failure remain a key unknown. Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton announced in June that states in the Colorado River Basin need to propose how to conserve between 2 million and 4 million acre-feet of water before a mid-August deadline, when the agency releases its 24-month projections for water levels in lakes Powell and Mead. [ read more … ]
EVs
Can the F-150 Lightning Make Everyone Want a Truck That Plugs In?
In the near future, the so-called Rust Belt, along with the Deep South, could become the Battery Belt. And the F-150 Lightning, paired with its growing slate of American-made competitors, could offer an all-around win: manufacturing revitalized, gas money saved, and the potential to curb the transportation sector’s leading 27 percent share of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. A clean energy transition temptingly driven by strong, spacious, all-American vehicles with cultural cachet. A solution without sacrifice. Carrots, not sticks. [ read more … ]
A California Startup Is Selling Electric Vehicle ‘Subscriptions’
The future being sold by Autonomy, a California-based startup that since January has been targeting a narrow niche on the EV ownership spectrum, somewhere between the Hertz rental counter and a three-year lease. “We exist to expand the adoption of electric vehicles,” reads Autonomy’s pitch, “and we don’t think you should be forced to accept expensive, long-term debt to drive one.” Autonomy is now stocking up on EVs from pretty much every company that makes them: This week, it announced plans to order nearly 23,000 cars from 17 automakers, including Ford, Polestar and Tesla. There are even 200 vehicles reserved from Canoo and Fisker, two companies on the not-quite-there side of actually making a drivable electric car. [ read more … ]
Tesla, GM Score Biggest Share of $1.2 Billion EV Order From Startup Autonomy
Tesla, GM, Volkswagen and Ford are among the automakers set to get big orders from Autonomy, a startup offering drivers the option of subscribing to an electric vehicle instead of buying one outright. Autonomy plans to announce Tuesday that it’s ordering nearly 23,000 EVs from 17 different automakers for a total outlay of $1.2 billion. With chip shortages limiting production capacity at most automakers, it’s unclear how soon such a fleet could be amassed. The order represents 1.2% of the projected US electric vehicle production through the end of next year. [ read more … ]
For Electric Vehicle Makers, Winners and Losers in Climate Bill
The climate and energy package awaiting final approval by Congress aims to achieve two goals that are not always compatible: Make electric vehicles more affordable while freezing China out of the supply chain. Auto industry representatives have been griping that the proposed $7,500 tax credits for electric vehicle buyers come with so many strings attached that few cars will qualify. Buyers can’t have very high incomes, the vehicles can’t cost too much, and the cars and their batteries have to meet made-in-America requirements that many carmakers cannot easily achieve. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.