Budget & Policy

New York’s Public Service Commission on Monday approved Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard, which could pay upstate nuclear power plant operators up to $1 billion in zero-emission energy credits over the first two years of the program. The four-member board voted 3-1 in support of the plan, with one commissioner registering a “concur” vote, […]

GHG Daily will be published on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the ExchangeMonitor’s publishing recess in the second and third week of August. The regular daily publishing schedule will resume on Monday, Aug. 22.

Federal agencies should consider the climate impacts when conducting National Environmental Policy Act reviews of their actions, according to a guidance released Tuesday by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. How exactly they do so is more or less up to them. “Climate change is a fundamental environmental issue, and its effects fall squarely […]

At the one-year anniversary of the finalization of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, California this week became the first state to release a proposed compliance plan for the rule. The Clean Power Plan, carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants, was finalized on Aug. 3, 2015. It requires states to submit action […]

The launch of a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) review of the national coal leasing programs is “unjustifiable,” Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) told the Interior Department in comments submitted Friday concerning the PEIS. In a 75-page letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze, Mead concluded that “this […]

With presidential nominees named in both major parties, voters are closely watching how Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton are going to perform in the battleground states. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity has a little advice for the nominees: don’t disregard coal.  “Coal-fired electricity is important to 13 of these 17 states,” […]

New York’s Public Service Commission on Monday approved Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard, which could pay upstate nuclear power plant operators up to $1 billion in zero-emission energy credits over the first two years of the program. The four-member board voted 3-1 in support of the plan, with one commissioner registering a “concur” vote, […]

In its 2016 platform, the Democratic Party has veered too far to the left, abandoning its support for natural gas energy generation, Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the Institute for 21st Century Energy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, wrote in a Wall Street Journal commentary last week. “[T]he final language stops short of […]

Just before returning home to their districts to campaign during Congress’ annual summer recess, two House committees took up their version of legislation that would extend whistleblower protection to employees of federal contractors and federal grantees, and further wall off whistleblowers from retaliation by nestling the machinery for whistleblowing in the offices of agency inspectors […]

Environmentalists said the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) staff zero-emission credit proposal for upstate nuclear power plants under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard would rip off New York consumers, while ignoring cleaner, more affordable energy options. That’s one of the takeaways from comments four environmental groups submitted before PSC’s deadline for public input […]

U.S. The 2016 Democratic Party Platform does not address America’s commercial nuclear waste storage problem. The 51-page document was released last week, ahead of this week’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where Hillary Clinton was officially named the party’s presidential candidate. Though Republicans in their own 2016 platform vowed to end the Obama administration’s “disregard […]

Accepting the Democratic nomination for president, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that, if elected, she would ensure the United States meets its commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change. “I’m proud that we shaped a global climate agreement – now we have to hold every country accountable to their commitments, including […]

To ensure that the United States continues to work to combat climate change, it is imperative that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump not be elected president, Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, said Thursday during a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “Climate change is happening now, but Donald Trump […]

Speaking at a town hall Wednesday in Scranton, Pa., north of Philadelphia where Democrats are holding their national convention this week, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump reaffirmed his intention to put coal miners back to work. “Hang in, because we’re going to put you back to work,” he told the audience. During his speech, Trump […]

Climate change on Wednesday got its biggest moment of the Democratic National Convention thus far with passionate speeches delivered by actress Sigourney Weaver and California Gov. Jerry Brown. “Climate change is unlike any other threat we humans face. It’s overarching, it affects the entire Earth and all living things, it’s slow, it’s relentless, it is […]

Supporting clean coal technology at the Democratic National Convention may not be the popular position, but it is nonetheless worthwhile, former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell said Wednesday during a panel discussion hosted by Politico on the sidelines of the event in Philadelphia. “I realize people say ‘clean coal’ is an oxymoron, but in fact the […]

For the United States to do its part to deliver on the international goal of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, coal leasing on public lands must end, nearly 70 scientists stated Wednesday in a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and two top officials at the Bureau of Land Management […]

The nation is already beginning to transition to cleaner energy, and how that shift is handled and leveraged is up to the next administration, a panel of experts said during a Washington Post panal discussion Tuesday on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “None of this is going to be easy, transitions […]

Closing out the second night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, former President Bill Clinton presented an impassioned speech outlining the achievements of his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, throughout her life in public service, briefly noting her role in international climate change negotiations. “She put climate change at the center of our […]

Just before returning home to their districts to campaign during Congress’ annual summer recess, two House committees took up their version of legislation that would extend whistleblower protection to employees of federal contractors and federal grantees, and further wall off whistleblowers from retaliation by nestling the machinery for whistleblowing in the offices of agency inspectors general — including at the […]

The United States Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy plans to release a number of reports throughout the remainder of the election season exploring the possible implications of implementation of energy policies proposed during the campaign. The “Energy Accountability Series” reports will not seek to “fact check” candidates but rather to “step back […]

Trying to find areas of agreement in the platforms of the Democratic and Republican platforms is no easy task, and taxing carbon is certainly not that area, the Brookings Institution pointed out in blog post Sunday. “For those who say there are no differences between the Republican and Democratic parties, just read the platforms side-by-side. […]

Having endorsed Hillary Clinton following a hard-fought primary campaign, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took aim at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s stance on climate change while emphasizing the importance of a Democratic victory in the November election during a speech Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “Donald Trump, well, like most Republications […]

Environmentalists said the New York Public Service Commission’s (PSC) zero-emission credit proposal for upstate nuclear power plants under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard would rip off New York consumers, while ignoring cleaner, more affordable energy options. That’s one of the takeaways from comments four environmental groups submitted before PSC’s deadline for public input on […]

Several Democratic members of the House of Representatives have sent a letter to President Barack Obama encouraging him to use his final months in office to reduce the risk of miscalculation and inadvertent nuclear war, parallel to a similar letter sent last week by Senate Democrats. The July 20 letter, signed by Democratic Reps. Chris Van […]

The Democratic Party meets in Philadelphia this week at its national convention to name a presidential nominee and adopt a party platform. The latest version of the platform released late last week holds the same principals on climate change and energy agreed to at the last meeting of the party platform, held in Orlando on […]

Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.), newly tapped Democratic vice presidential nominee, has a long history of supporting clean coal technologies. “[T]he U.S. is in the midst of a domestic energy boom, and [the Commonwealth of Virginia] is well positioned to lead in energy innovation. But these changes will not happen overnight and I respect the role […]

The Republican Party has formally announced its intention to revive plans for a national repository for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. “We will end the Administration’s disregard of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act with respect to the long-term storage of nuclear waste,” the 2016 Republican Party Platform states. The finalized 58-page document was […]

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) believes there may be a legislative fix for the culture of whistleblower retaliation a congressionally chartered report last week said persists across the Energy Department’s nuclear complex. The McCaskill-authored S. 795, “a bill to enhance whistleblower protection for contractor and grantee employees,” passed the Senate by unanimous consent in May and […]

The Energy Department said Thursday it completed the reorganization of its Environmental Management (EM) bureaucracy this week, consolidating seven organizational stovepipes into three and bringing the office’s nine field centers under the management of new Washington-based field office czar Stacy Charboneau. Charboneau take the new position of associate principal deputy assistant secretary for the Field Office unit within […]