US governors release own plans to cut carbon at climate-change summit

ebee streelight charging stationWhile 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...

Senate tax plan leaves electric-car purchase credit in place

U.S. Capitol BuildingThe 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...

Tax bill may eliminate credit for all electric-car buyers: report

Chevrolet Bolt EV being charged outside Go Forth electric-car showroom, Portland   [photo: Forth]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...

When will U.S. ban sales of new cars with engines? Poll results

Bugatti Chiron Scale Engine and GearboxPresuming 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...

Proposed ethanol cuts bring EPA up against Iowa’s powerful politician

Big square baler harvesting wheat straw for production of cellulosic ethanolFollowing 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 to roll back Obama-era greenhouse gas policies on coal power plants

Coal trains by Flickr user Kimon Berlin (Used under CC License)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...

Head of EPA ignores environmental groups, meets only with corporations

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt  [photo from 2014]Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has had a very busy schedule since being confirmed to lead the agency set up to protect America's air, water, and land from pollution. Unlike his predecessors, Pruitt—a climate-science denier and aggressive advocate of fossil fuels—has largely ignored environmental groups and...