While President Trump has announced the U.S. will pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, the United States cannot formally exit the agreement until November 5, 2020. Despite the administration's stance and its many efforts to end U.S. action to reduce carbon emissions, numerous U.S. governors arrived at the Global Climate Change Summit in Bonn... US governors release own plans to cut carbon at climate-change summit
While President Trump has announced the U.S. will pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, the United States cannot formally exit the agreement until November 5, 2020. Despite the administration's stance and its many efforts to end U.S. action to reduce carbon emissions, numerous U.S. governors arrived at the Global Climate Change Summit in Bonn...
When top U.S. scientists released the fourth National Climate Assessment, it spelled out one blunt conclusion: human activity in releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere caused the climate change that has warmed the globe. Mandated for release every four years, the report will apparently have no sway over EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, a...
The battle over early termination of the U.S. income-tax credit for purchase of an electric car took a new turn on Thursday. HR1, the draft Tax Cut and Jobs Act introduced in the House of Representatives, would end the credit as of December 31. The U.S. Senate version of the tax-reform bill introduced late Thursday, however, retains the credit...
When the Environmental Protection Agency quietly issued its new four-year plan in mid-October, the phrase "climate change" did not appear anywhere in the 38-page document. It is now clear the Trump Administration intends to delay, halt, or erase government efforts to limit U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the global-warming gas that is the main...
The process of drafting a so-called tax reform bill has been shrouded in mystery, with even Republican congressmembers admitting they didn't know what provisions it will contain. But according to a report on Thursday, the draft of the bill, named the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—to be released Thursday—may eliminate the income-tax credit of...
Presuming China sticks to its statement that it will ban sales of new vehicles with combustion engines in some future year, the auto industry is facing a very different future than it was a year ago. Similar bans from Norway, The Netherlands, France, and the U.K. all represented smaller markets, but China is by far the world's largest single...
It’s being called “DIY Dieselgate,” and it could make the air people breathe a lot dirtier. An entire section of the automotive industry—racing—has been exempt from the requirements for emission-control devices found on our everyday cars and trucks. Race enthusiasts got worried early in 2016 when the EPA issued new...
Following years of debate, the EPA said earlier this month it will study the possibilities of cutting the amount of ethanol in the United States' gasoline supply. Since 2007, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has required growing amounts of ethanol to be blended into U.S. fuel supplies, with E10—a mix of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent...
EPA head Scott Pruitt told miners in Kentucky on Monday that he intends to begin dismantling former President Barack Obama's signature climate-change agenda effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions from coal power plants. Standing alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Pruitt told reporters at an event in Hazard, Ky., that, "The...
Pity Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the man now running the cabinet department he couldn't remember that he wanted to eliminate altogether during a notorious 2011 presidential debate. He has pulled off an unusual feat, by uniting lobbyists for fossil-fuel interests with their counterparts advocating for renewable energy. Given the ascendance of...
Donald Trump's White House appears to be readying another of its next big climate change overhauls, and like many of the administration's plans, it will weaken or eliminate regulations on industry. Specifically, President Trump touted the undoing of the Clean Power Plan at a rally in Huntsville, Alabama, which foreshadowed a formal announcement...
With the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president last November, it became clear that the regulatory environment for businesses would change once he took office. Indeed, dozens of regulations limiting corporate activities involving emissions, fossil-fuel exploration, hiring and firing, and a host of other issues have been eliminated or are under...
The Trump administration hasn't been coy about trying to champion traditional fossil fuels while downplaying the importance and falling costs of renewable energy. Earlier this year, Department of Energy secretary Rick Perry, previously governor of fossil-fuel producer Texas, called for a 60-day review of the United States' energy grid. The stated...
Continuing political turmoil and news coverage of the Trump Administration haven't stopped the president's agency heads from drastically reshaping policies on energy, the environment, and emissions. Comments are now being taken on the reopened EPA limits on vehicular carbon emissions for 2022 through 2025, although reporters had to dig to find out...
Tesla has once again ruffled the feathers of the California New Car Dealers Association with a new round of referral programs. The Silicon Valley automaker has used referral programs for years; they usually provide perks for current owners who get friends, coworkers, and colleagues to buy a new Tesla vehicle. The dealer association has now noted...
As a Tesla lawsuit over the state of Michigan's dealership franchise law grinds on, the Silicon Valley automaker scored a recent legal victory. A federal magistrate has ordered two Michigan lawmakers to turn over their communications to the company's lawyers, including emails they sent to lobbyist groups. State Senator Joe Hune and State...
On August 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it would reopen the Comment Period for the vehicle-emission standards for model years 2022 through 2025 it had finalized in January. The auto industry and its lobbyists had complained that the agency had moved too quickly, despite its issuance last summer of a voluminous Technical...
The Trump administration has reneged on one aspect of a promise widely discussed throughout the 2016 presidential campaign: reviving the coal industry. President Donald Trump declared the United States coal industry would thrive under his watch, but the Trump administration and the Energy Department have just delivered a blow to the...