Budget & Policy

Coal industry advocates Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) on Wednesday praised a recent federal court decision out of West Virginia that found that in not completing evaluations of potential job losses due to Clean Air Act regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency did not complete its duty under the law.  “This decision […]

Implementing carbon pricing in the United States may seem like a pipe dream, but the nation could very well be headed in that direction, Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute, said Wednesday. “Look, because we live in Washington, D.C., we tend to assume that putting a price on carbon is going […]

New England states can reduce their carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050, but it won’t be easy, environmental consulting firm M.J. Bradley & Associates said in a report Wednesday. The region has made great strides toward decarbonization, with coal use down more than 80 percent since 2005, the report says, noting that most states in […]

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, in the last of three debates, on Wednesday repeated their arguments over the nuclear weapon-related dangers of their opponent’s potential presidency, touching on the strategic stability between the United States and Russia. Commenting on the U.S.-Russian relationship, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly […]

While a Canadian carbon price could only reduce carbon emissions within the country’s borders, an innovation-based national climate policy holds the potential to curb emissions around the world, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said Tuesday. “We need to focus on technological solutions,” Wall said during an event hosted by the province’s Chamber of Commerce. “Even if […]

More than half of the nations that made climate change mitigation commitments under the Paris Agreement stated an intention to use some form of carbon price to meet those pledges. If they cooperate the cost of carbon mitigation could be reduced by 32 percent, the World Bank said in a report Tuesday. Development of an […]

Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s adviser on all things energy, on Friday knocked the current administration’s overregulation of everything from energy to overtime pay. “Over the last eight years, President Obama has led a regulatory onslaught the likes of which we have never seen,” Cramer said during the Republican weekly address. […]

Members of Congress have again called on President Barack Obama to adopt a policy of nuclear no-first-use despite the administration’s indication that it will not make such a change during the remainder of the president’s term. The Oct. 13 letter to Obama, signed by 22 members of Congress – including Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Keith Ellison […]

President Barack Obama has taken great strides to make the United States a leader on climate change during his eight years in office, but there is one more thing he should do in his last 100 days to cement his legacy, the Rainforest Action Network said in a report Wednesday. “To truly tip the scales […]

Carbon capture is vital to decarbonizing the global economy, but simply pumping the collected material underground won’t be enough, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said Thursday at an event hosted by Columbia University. Carbon utilization will be vital as well, he said: “Clearly, geological sequestration is there and can take quite a bit, but the […]

The Environmental Protection Agency is mistaken in determining that carbon capture and storage is a proven technology, petitioners in a lawsuit challenging the agency’s New Source Performance Standards for new-build coal-fired power plants said Thursday in briefs submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The suit is led by North Dakota […]

With the fate of the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants in the hands of the courts, some have suggested the EPA could tackle carbon regulation under Section 115 of the Clean Air Act if its new rule is struck down. However, that strategy could prove legally risky, Nathan Richardson, […]

An article in the Oct. 11 edition of GHG Daily Monitor mischaracterized comments Michael Crothers, president and country chair of Shell Canada, wrote in an op-ed published Sunday in the Globe and Mail. The lead of the article should have said: “The world needs energy, and thus it needs carbon capture and storage.”

U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the first half of 2016 were the lowest in 25 years, the Energy Information Administration announced Wednesday. “U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions totaled 2,530 million metric tons in the first six months of 2016. This was the lowest emissions level for the first six months of the year […]

Joining the recent exodus of Republicans from the Donald Trump train, a group of 13 senior officials who served in the George W. Bush administration in the Departments of Energy and Transportation, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, on Wednesday released a statement opposing the GOP presidential nominee. “As Republicans, we are united in […]

Global coal demand has doubled since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, illustrating the need for increased support for carbon capture and storage to offset the resulting increase in carbon emissions, according to a report issued Monday by Finland-based international consulting and engineering firm Pöyry. “Coal is not about to disappear from our […]

The threat of a Donald Trump presidency is not enough to convince Brian Deese, President Barack Obama’s senior climate adviser, that the ongoing transition of the nation’s energy system from reliance on carbon-heavy fossil fuels to escalating use of clean energy sources can be stopped. “If you look at what utilities are saying, the conversation […]

The Obama administration brought energy policy front and center with its efforts to address climate change, and it will still be there when the next president enters the Oval Office in January, according to a report issued Tuesday by the University of North Carolina School of Law Center for Climate, Energy, Environment and Economics; the […]

The United States is positioned to lead the global fight against climate change, but that opportunity will be squandered if Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is elected in November, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore said Tuesday during a rally in Miami. “Climate change is real, it’s urgent, and America […]

Global energy demand growth will slow and eventually peak, sometime before 2030, the World Energy Council said in a report Monday. “The world’s primary energy demand growth will diminish and per capita energy demand will peak before 2030 due to unprecedented efficiencies created by new technologies and more stringent energy policies,” the report says. Global […]

An article in the Oct. 6 edition of Weapons Complex Morning Briefing mischaracterized Nuclear Regulatory Commission proceedings concerning an exemption request at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. NRC staff has recommended the commission deny a request for a hearing on the matter.

Just after three senators introduced a bill to tighten whistleblower protection for Energy Department employees and contractors, the agency itself released a new internal order aimed at ratcheting up those same protections without congressional action. DOE order O 221.1B, “Reporting Fraud, Waste and Abuse to the Office of Inspector General,” was approved Sept. 27, only […]

The ExchangeMonitor’s GHG Daily will not be published Monday in observance of Columbus Day. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Tuesday, Oct. 11.

The steel industry contributes 6-7 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and must reduce its output intensity by more than 70 percent by 2050 for the world to have a chance to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, CDP said in a report Thursday. However, the production process of steel leaves the industry with […]

Federal spending on the military far outstrips U.S. expenditures for dealing with climate change – even though the Defense Department itself has identified the global changing climate as a looming national security danger, according to a report published Thursday by the Institute for Policy Studies. “As the comparison of the budgets for traditional military force […]

It is past time that the United States develop an efficient plan to deal with carbon dioxide, former Deputy Secretary of Energy Clay Sell said Thursday during the United States Energy Association’s Annual Energy Supply Forum. To that end, the next secretary of energy, regardless of which party is in the White House, must “design […]

The Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama has waged a war on coal, striking a blow against a crucial component of West Virginia’s economy, lawmakers said Wednesday during a field hearing of the of the Senate Environment and Public Works Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee, in the city of Logan. The EPA’s regulations […]

Greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants decreased 6.2 percent from 2014 to 2015, according to new data from the Environmental Protection Agency. This represents a decrease of 11.3 percent from 2011 levels. “Several factors contributed to this reduction, including energy prices favoring the use of natural gas over coal, increased use of renewable energy […]

The ExchangeMonitor’s Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not be published Monday in observance of Columbus Day. Look for the next issue in your inbox on Tuesday, Oct. 11.

Just after three senators introduced a bill to tighten whistleblower protection for Energy Department employees and contractors, the agency itself released a new internal order aimed at ratcheting up those same protections without congressional action. DOE order O 221.1B, “Reporting Fraud, Waste and Abuse to the Office of Inspector General,” was approved Sept. 27, only a […]