[Source: Consumer Reports] A number of states are charging electric-vehicle owners fees that experts and consumer advocates say are higher than what the drivers of equivalent gas-powered vehicles are paying in gas taxes, potentially discouraging an important environmentally friendly technology. Almost all states have gasoline taxes to help pay for transportation projects, and electric-vehicle owners Read More…
Category: U.S. News
The Energy 202: EPA’s new ‘no surprises’ inspection policy has some critics worried
[Source: The Washington Post] The Environmental Protection Agency will no longer have inspectors drop by power plants and other potential illegal polluters without giving states notice, a move Trump administration critics say will limit the agency’s ability to enforce environmental laws. A July 11 memo from Susan Bodine, the EPA’s top enforcement official, to regional administrators spelled out the Read More…
Trump EPA rolls back Obama rule on coal-fired power plants
[Source: Associated Press] The Trump administration on Wednesday completed one of its biggest rollbacks of environmental rules, replacing a landmark Obama-era effort that sought to wean the nation’s electrical grid off coal-fired power plants and their climate-damaging pollution. Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, signed a replacement rule that gives Read More…
Conservative groups tell Congress: ‘We oppose any carbon tax’
[Source: The Hill] A group of 75 conservative organizations and leaders on Monday sent a letter to Congress expressing their opposition to a carbon tax, pushing back at an idea that has received support from politicians and policy experts on both sides of the aisle as a way to combat climate change. “We oppose any Read More…
Battle over science roils EPA
[Source: The Hill] Environmental Protection Agency is battling its own board of science advisers over its controversial plan to dismiss certain types of scientific research from consideration when issuing rules. A meeting this week between the agency and some of the nation’s top scientists highlighted the growing rift between the EPA and the scientific community, Read More…
Supreme Court moves to limit state and local governments’ power to impose fines and seize property
[Source: The Washington Post] The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Constitution’s prohibition on excessive fines applies to state and local governments, limiting their abilities to impose fines and seize property. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, on just her second day back on the bench after undergoing cancer surgery in December, announced the decision for Read More…
People are fleeing California — here’s why
[Source: PATCH] People come and go for a variety of reasons: Job change. Retirement. A close family member falls ill. In California, residents most often come and go for employment-related reasons. That’s according to the 42nd annual “National Movers Study,” conducted by United Van Lines and published last week. The study tracked its customers’ state-to-state Read More…
Trump says he will name EPA’s acting chief Andrew Wheeler to post permanently
[Source: Los Angeles Times] President Trump says he will name the Environmental Protection Agency’s acting head, Andrew Wheeler, to the post permanently. Trump made the announcement almost in passing Friday at a White House ceremony for Presidential Medal of Freedom honorees. The president singled out Wheeler in the audience at the ceremony, adding Wheeler “is Read More…
As Trump slashes environmental regulations, the EPA union forms the crux of an internal resistance
[Source: Salon] Salon talked to the head of a government employees union about the president’s disastrous environmental policies. For all of the horrifying policies being implemented by President Donald Trump, perhaps the most terrifying prospect is the potential for his climate change attitudes to bring about to the destruction of life on Earth as we know it. As the Read More…