Co-authored by Laura Supple and Rama Zakaria The Trump administration is expected to soon finalize a rule that will throw out the Clean Power Plan – the first and only nation-wide limit on carbon pollution from existing power plants – and replace it with a “do-nothing” rule. Unlike the common-sense, market-based approach of the Clean […]

Co-authored by Laura Supple and Rama Zakaria The Trump administration is expected to soon finalize a rule that will throw out the Clean Power Plan – the first and only nation-wide limit on carbon pollution from existing power plants – and replace it with a “do-nothing” rule. Unlike the common-sense, market-based approach of the Clean […]

Co-authored by Laura Supple and Rama Zakaria The Trump administration is expected to soon finalize a rule that will throw out the Clean Power Plan – the first and only nation-wide limit on carbon pollution from existing power plants – and replace it with a “do-nothing” rule. Unlike the common-sense, market-based approach of the Clean […]

Over the last several weeks, widespread reporting has documented the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change. Recent reports have shown White House attempts to block a senior state department official’s testimony on climate change, and documents that EDF recently obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests show Trump administration advisor […]

The post Trump’s EPA moves one step closer to dangerous proposal to eliminate methane pollution standards appeared first on Energy Exchange.

Over the last several weeks, widespread reporting has documented the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change. Recent reports have shown White House attempts to block a senior state department official’s testimony on climate change, and documents that EDF recently obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests show Trump administration advisor […]

By Rosalie Winn Over the last several weeks, widespread reporting has documented the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change. Recent reports have shown White House attempts to block a senior state department official’s testimony on climate change, and documents that EDF recently obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests show […]

By Rosalie Winn Over the last several weeks, widespread reporting has documented the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change. Recent reports have shown White House attempts to block a senior state department official’s testimony on climate change, and documents that EDF recently obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests show […]

By Rosalie Winn Over the last several weeks, widespread reporting has documented the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change. Recent reports have shown White House attempts to block a senior state department official’s testimony on climate change, and documents that EDF recently obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests show […]

Written by Moms Clean Air Force

A new report by the Environmental Defense Fund details the major threats to public health and future generations from the Trump EPA attacks on the 2016 chemical safety law - the Lautenberg Act.

Written by Ronnie Citron-Fink

Parents should be able to trust that their government is protecting them from chemical risks in our homes and communities. We need a drastic change to EPA’s current direction on chemical safety. Without protection, our children and grandchildren, who are already paying the price of this travesty, will continue to be at risk for decades to come.

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Timing Games

Electric utilities seeking bailouts have a habit of imposing arbitrary deadlines on legislators, threatening to close their plants if they don’t get their subsidies. FirstEnergy Solutions is pushing for a June 2019 subsidy decision, which coincidently matches the end of Ohio’s legislative session. 

Yet in March 2017, the utility giant claimed the nuclear plants are “in danger of premature closing by the summer of 2018 unless a buyer emerges or the utility gets help from legislators in Ohio and Pennsylvania.” In May 2017, the Davis-Besse and Perry reactors cleared the PJM Capacity Auction, which required them to be available to run from June 2020 to May 2021 or incur major capacity performance penalties. Another change of tune came in March 2018, when FirstEnergy asked the federal government for subsidies beginning within 16 days, saying its nuclear and coal plants were “at imminent risk of permanent closure if something is not done now.”

FirstEnergy’s arbitrary deadlines have little to do with reality, and more to do with the next billion dollar bailout on its wish list. Fortunately, the president of the Ohio Senate, Sen. Larry Obhof, recognizes FirstEnergy’s timing games: “I don’t think anybody sets the legislative schedule except for me and the chairmen and the members.”   


Changing Bailout Pleas

FirstEnergy Solutions recently testified that the minimal level of annual support needed for its uneconomic reactors is $150 million a year. However, in August 2014, FirstEnergy told Ohio regulators that its plants would be profitable and provide customers with a $107 million credit in 2019. In February 2016, it predicted its subsidy pleas would give customers $561 million in credits over the next eight years. Only five months later, FirstEnergy requested a direct subsidy of at least $558 million per year for the next eight years. 
Is it unreasonable to ask the bailout pleader to be a bit more consistent?

Scam

Now, for your weekly dose of irony: FirstEnergy has been warning consumers of scammers. “Utility customers have been targeted by criminals through schemes that include door-to-door visits, phone calls and electronic communications. For your safety and security, we urge all customers to remain vigilant against scammers who claim to be associated with our company.” 

We agree FirstEnergy customers should remain vigilant. But we suggest they also beware of schemes that include “asking customers to pay billions of dollars to make up for FirstEnergy’s bad business decisions.” 

Couldn’t Have Said It Better -- #1 

By Sarah E. Hunt, CEO and co-founder of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy 

“HB 6 is nothing more than an old-fashioned government bailout, paid for by the citizens of Ohio. HB 6 subsidizes two aging coal plants, one of which is not even in Ohio, and bails out two nuclear power plants at a $150 million price tag. All of this is done on the backs of Ohio families. 

Conservatives and proponents of free market values should find it concerning that Republican leaders in the statehouse are the driving force behind HB 6. Republicans are supposed to be the party that slashes needless regulation, unshackles the free market, and lowers the tax burden for hard working Americans. Republicans are also the party of personal responsibility and environmental stewardship, exemplified by Theodore Roosevelt’s national park system.” 

Couldn’t Have Said It Better -- #2

By WCHM, NBC-4 in Columbus, Ohio

“If a business told you it was not profitable and asked you for $150 annually so they could keep their business open and their workers employed; and then refused to prove to you they actually needed your money, because they didn’t have enough of their own, would you hand over the cash? 
That’s pretty much what is happening with one company that is asking the State of Ohio for a massive bailout, only instead of asking for $150 they are asking for $150,000,000.”

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It’s time we thoughtfully reimagine how to manage water going forward. The nation needs a more holistic approach to confront escalating flood damages.

It’s time we thoughtfully reimagine how to manage water going forward. The nation needs a more holistic approach to confront escalating flood damages.

The post Attention Congress: Investing in nature can help our flood-ravaged nation first appeared on Growing Returns.

It’s time we thoughtfully reimagine how to manage water going forward. The nation needs a more holistic approach to confront escalating flood damages.

Written by Katy Farber

"95% of school buses in the US run on diesel. But we know there’s no safe level of exposure to diesel exhaust for children," says new report. Students and their communities, breathe exhaust fumes every single day. That diesel plume – a harmful carcinogen – contributes to lung cancer, asthma, and other respiratory illnesses.