Coal bailout architect and FERC Commissioner Bernard McNamee has submitted a letter to Senate Democrats informing them of an ethics official’s advice to him on recusing himself from participating in commission decisions that are pertinent to his past coal bailout work for Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
As Donald Trump attempts to manufacture a crisis along the border, a series of new reports indicates he is continuing to ignore a real, critical crisis that threatens the health and safety of communities across the country.
Harrisburg, P.A.-- Governor Wolf signed an executive order today committing Pennsylvania to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent by 2025 and 80 percent by 2050 from 2005 levels, consistent with the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. The executive order also includes a provision re-establishing the Green Government Council, co-chaired by the Department of General Services, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Department of Environmental Protection. The goals of the council are to reduce energy consumption in state government by 21 percent, procure 40 percent of state agency energy use from renewables, and replace 25 percent of the state fleet with electric vehicles by 2025.
New Report Shows Coal Plant Highly Uneconomic
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler proposed plans to ignore the health and environmental benefits of clean air and water safeguards while prioritizing corporate polluter profits as part of a planned roll-back to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). MATS protects Americans from pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants. These safeguards, which EPA finalized in 2012 with compliance deadlines that ended in 2016, drastically curtailed the emission of dangerous toxic pollution that poisons wildlife, contaminates seafood, and threatens the health of pregnant women and young children.
Today, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada approved NV Energy’s 2019-2038 Triennial Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), and the decision was recognized as a significant step for the state’s future by four clean energy groups—the Sierra Club, the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, Western Resource Advocates, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The IRP approved by the Commission, also referred to as NV Energy’s Low Carbon Case, will add 1,001 MW of new solar photovoltaic projects and 100 MW of battery storage, allowing the utility to more than double its total renewable generation from 14 percent in 2017 to 32 percent by 2023. The approved plan also provides NV Energy with the authority to retire the aging North Valmy Unit 1 coal unit at the end of 2021 – four years ahead of schedule.
On the heels of the widely publicized release of a report on pervasive groundwater contamination at Illinois’ coal ash sites, and inaction from Governor Rauner’s Illinois EPA, Sierra Club filed a lawsuit against Texas-based Vistra Energy for ongoing and repeated violations of Illinois water quality standards at three of its Illinois coal plants.
Trenton, New Jersey -- Governor Murphy announced his plan to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative today, a multi-state program establishing limits on carbon pollution from the region’s power plants. The announcement comes after his January 2018 Executive Order directing the administration to re-enter the program. New Jersey is proposing to enter the regional program starting at 18 million tons/CO2 per year. Current states included in RGGI are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Virginia and New Jersey both now plan to participate.
Today the Sierra Club and environmental allies argued in U.S. District Court that the Trump Administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it unilaterally halted a comprehensive review of federal coal leasing on public lands.
Former coal lobbyist and acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced plans today to roll back carbon pollution standards for new coal-fired power plants, a move many onlookers view as another bid to help his former employers in the coal industry.
The U.S. Senate confirmed coal bailout architect and fossil fuel proponent Bernard McNamee to the technology-neutral Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today, despite strong opposition from public health groups, environmental organizations, and elected leaders.
This afternoon, Xcel Energy announced its commitment to reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050. This is the first major interstate utility in the U.S. to commit to eliminating carbon emissions.