Environment &amp; Climate News

New York Offers New Financial Incentives, Security for Renewable Energy Developers

April 2, 2020

By Bonner R. Cohen

The N.Y. Public Service Commission ordered the State Energy Research and Development Authority to offer new financial options beyond traditional fixed-price contracts when soliciting bids to build renewable energy projects.

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President Trump Proposes Reducing and Refocusing Environment and Energy Spending

March 30, 2020

The Trump Administration recently submitted its proposed fiscal year 2021 budget, which would significantly cut funding for certain climate change-focused programs at several government agencies.

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Coal Stays Online in New England

March 26, 2020

The largest remaining coal-fueled power plant in New England, New Hampshire’s 482-megawatt Merrimack Station, will remain in operation through at least May 2024.

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California Considers Banning Gasoline-Powered Yard Equipment

March 26, 2020

By Kenneth Artz

California may soon ban gasoline-powered gardening tools such as lawnmowers and leaf-blowers statewide.

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Tri-State Generation Announces Coal Closures, Renewable Construction in Colorado and New Mexico

March 24, 2020

A co-op wholesale power supplier in Colorado and New Mexico announced a major shift from coal-fueled power plants to wind and solar industrial facilities in its electric power generation operations.

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Virginia Passes Major Renewable Energy Legislation

March 24, 2020

By Bonner R. Cohen

The newly minted Democratic majority legislature in Virginia narrowly passed sweeping legislation designed to overhaul how the state’s utilities generate electricity.

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U.S. Department of Energy Approves Four New Liquefied Natural Gas Projects in Texas

March 23, 2020

By Kenneth Artz

The U.S. Department of Energy approved four liquefied natural gas export projects for construction on the Texas Gulf coast in February.

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Republicans Offer Bills to Fight Climate Change

March 20, 2020

By H. Sterling Burnett

Members of the Republican congressional caucus have offered a slate of bills that would expand subsidies for and research into carbon-capture and sequestration.

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Indiana House Passes Bill Delaying the Retirement of ‘Legacy’ Power Plants

March 20, 2020

The Indiana House of Representatives passed a bill to prevent public utilities planning from closing ‘legacy’ power generating facilities—any power plant considered ‘a reliable capacity’ provider—without securing approval from state regulators.

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Oil Production on Federal Lands Reaches Record High

March 19, 2020

By Bonner R. Cohen

Production of crude oil on federally managed lands and waters reached a record high of 1 billion barrels in 2019, according to figures released by the U.S. Interior Department in February.

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Maine Lawmakers Push for Expensive Electric School Bus Purchases

March 18, 2020

Citing an impending “climate crisis,” Maine state Sen. Eloise Vitelli introduced as emergency legislation a bill setting a goal for the state Department of Education to transition the school bus fleet to 100 percent electric buses by 2040.

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Companies Join Forces to Open U.S. Rare Earth Mining and Processing Facilities

March 17, 2020

By Kenneth Artz

Texas Mineral Resources and USA Rare Earth are joining forces to open a rare earth mining operation in Texas and a minerals processing plant in Colorado.

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Partners in Liberty: National Center for Public Policy Research

March 16, 2020

The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) was created not to be just another think tank but rather a “do tank” providing the freedom movement with what its founders called “missing ingredients for success.”

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Court Orders U.S. Energy Department to Set Efficiency Standards

March 12, 2020

Federal courts have ordered the Trump administration to impose energy efficiency standard upgrades for four set of appliances first proposed under the Obama Administration.

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Researchers Genetically Modify Mosquitos to Prevent Dengue Fever

March 12, 2020

Scientists have developed a process for implanting the human antibody for dengue fever into mosquitos, potentially blocking their ability to pass the disease on to people.

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Getting Off the Road to Climate Serfdom

March 12, 2020

By Robert Bradley

The political world is increasingly saying “no” to policies that make energy less available, more expensive, less reliable, and more intrusive in our lives.

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Federal Court Temporarily Enjoins California Alligator Trade Ban

March 10, 2020

The State of Louisiana, along with some landowners and boutique retailers, are suing California to prevent a decades-old law banning the importation and sale of alligator and crocodile products in the state from finally coming into effect.

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Partners in Liberty: Cascade Policy Institute

Constitutional Reform

March 10, 2020

Cascade Policy Institute is Oregon’s free-market think tank.

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U.S. EPA Allows Continued Use Chemical Traps to Control Predators

March 9, 2020

By Kenneth Artz

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the continued use of cyanide traps, known as M-44s, to control predators on public lands, despite the fact they sometimes kill non-targeted species.

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Eminent Domain for Midwestern Wind Energy Power Line Remains in Flux

March 9, 2020

By Bonner R. Cohen

Landowners in Missouri are fighting the use of eminent domain by the developers of the $2.3 billion Grain Belt Express power line to run the high-voltage power line across their property.

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Federal Government Clarifies Migratory Bird Protections

March 5, 2020

By H. Sterling Burnett

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a rule under which it would no longer prosecute entities that unintentionally or accidently harm or kill birds protected under the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

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California Considers Imposing Climate Change Education

March 2, 2020

By Kenneth Artz

A California bill under consideration in the state legislature would require schoolchildren to learn that humans are causing dangerous climate change in order to graduate.

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Arizonans Face Stiff Rate Hikes as Utilities Switch to Renewables

Education

February 27, 2020

By Bonner R. Cohen

Tucson Electric Power requested the Arizona Regulators allow it to by add $7.61 to home customers’ monthly electricity bill beginning in May 2020, to pay for new renewable power supplies, having helped close an inexpensive coal power plant in late 2019.

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Washington state Supreme Court Blocks Greenhouse Gas Limits for Some Businesses

February 27, 2020

Washington state’s Supreme Court invalidated portions of the state Department of Ecology’s (DEC) rules applying greenhouse gas emission caps to indirect emitters such as natural gas companies and fuel distributers.

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Appliance Regulations Are Bringing Back Dirt, Filth, and Disease

February 27, 2020

By Jeffrey Tucker

President Donald Trump is fighting to roll back federal appliance standards which are leaving people in the dark, dirty, and possibly ill.

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Pennsylvania Advances Rule to Restrict Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Production

February 25, 2020

Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board passed regulations to reduce methane and volatile organic compound emissions from oil and gas operations in the state, that will make it hard for small firms to operate wells or storage facilities.

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Study: Ag Benefits of Carbon Dioxide Are Understated in Climate Models

February 24, 2020

By Bonner R. Cohen

The agricultural gains from the fertilization effect of increasing carbon dioxide levels may produce benefits greater than any harms generated by climate change, a new study shows.

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Trump Administration Offers Clean Water Act Reforms

February 20, 2020

By H. Sterling Burnett

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has offered a series of regulatory reforms to the 1972 Clean Water Act, to protect states’ legitimate authority over land and water within their borders and to protect property rights.

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New Mexico Considers a Fracking Moratorium

February 20, 2020

By Bonner R. Cohen

For the second consecutive year, Democrats in New Mexico have introduced legislation to impose a four-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and subject existing operating wells to expanded reporting requirements.

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U.S. Energy Department Rejects Obama-Era Light Bulb Proposal

February 20, 2020

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the current standards for general service incandescent light bulbs are sufficient and do not need to be amended.

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Partners in Liberty: Washington Policy Center

February 19, 2020

The Washington Policy Center is a free-market, public policy think tank based in Seattle. The organization’s experts focus on several key areas of policy, including agriculture, education, environment, government reform, health care, and transportation.

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Democratic Presidential Contenders Push for Climate ‘Stress Test’ Requirement on Banks

February 14, 2020

By Kenneth Artz

Several Democratic presidential candidates want the federal government to require periodic “stress tests” on large banks to ensure they can handle potential economic blows from climate change.

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Politicized Veganism Threatens Human Health and Liberty

February 14, 2020

Some politicians have joined anti-meat and climate change activists in a massive effort to restructure the American diet by mandating a worldwide plant-based diet.

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New York Overrides Municipal Ban on Industrial Wind Facility, Impacts Eagle Population

February 13, 2020

State Regulators in New York approved a 124-megawatt Bluestone industrial wind facility, despite strong objections from the Delaware Otsego Audubon Society and a last-minute zoning ordinance enacted by the Town of Sanford to block the project.

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Bird Conservation Groups Sue over Lake Erie Industrial Wind Facility

February 13, 2020

By Kenneth Artz

Two bird conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit claiming federal agencies did not follow federal law during the approval process for the Icebreaker Wind industrial facility on Lake Erie.

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Providing 100 Percent Energy from Renewable Sources is Impossible

February 12, 2020

By David Wojick

It is impossible with current technologies to provide 100 percent renewable energy at reasonable prices.

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Federal Government Rejects Effort to Ban Bear Baiting on Federal Lands in Idaho and Wyoming

February 11, 2020

By H. Sterling Burnett

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked the U.S. District Court in Idaho to dismiss a lawsuit filed by environmental groups demanding federal authorities ban black bear hunting using bait in national forests in Idaho and Wyoming.

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Animal Welfare and Economics

February 10, 2020

By Daniel Sutter

Meat is unlikely to be banned until many more Americans first become vegetarians.

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Trump Administration Proposes Opening Alaskan National Petroleum Reserve to Oil and Gas Production

Government & Politics

February 7, 2020

By Kenneth Artz

The Trump administration proposed opening most of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to oil and gas production, reversing an Obama-era plan that closed much of the reserve.

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