Fossil fuel power plants can avoid most emissions by capturing carbon dioxide and pumping it underground. But to be a climate solution, that carbon has to stay stored for thousands of years.
The Supreme Court limited the EPA’s authority to regulate power plant emissions.
Al Drago/Getty Images
In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court held that an Obama administration plan to regulate carbon emissions from power plants exceeded the power that Congress gave to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Coal piles outside of PacifiCorp’s Hunter power plant in Castle Dale, Utah.
George Frey, AFP, via Getty Images
West Virginia v. EPA could be the opportunity that conservative justices have been seeking to curb federal power.
Protesters at a rally on the state of the EPA organized by the American Federation of Government Employees union, April 25, 2018, in Washington, D.C.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Chris Sellers, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York); Lindsey Dillon, University of California, Santa Cruz, dan Phil Brown, Northeastern University
Government agencies are supposed to listen to the industries they regulate, but what if they tune out everyone else? Scholars call this regulatory capture, and some staffers see it happening at EPA.
Block Island Wind, the first offshore wind energy project in the U.S., started operation in 2016.
Ionna22
A recent survey of electric utility leaders finds that Trump administration efforts to promote coal energy and roll back air pollution regulations have had little impact on their long-range plans.
TVA Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee, site of a 1.1 billion gallon spill of coal ash slurry in 2008, photographed on March 28, 2012.
Appalachian Voices
Rural development experts say the best way to help coal communities by is investing in people, infrastructure and a clean environment. Instead, President Trump’s budget cuts programs in these areas.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has argued the US should stay in the Paris climate agreement. But for the rest of the world, a US exit is better than staying reluctantly.
Carlos Barria/Reuters
If the US stays in the Paris deal but misses its targets, the deal could look like a sham. But if Trump carries out his threat to withdraw, the US veto would be gone, and other nations might step up.
Former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, now leading a clean energy research center at Colorado State University, explains why clean energy will keep growing despite President Trump’s focus on fossil fuel.
Wave goodbye to US climate leadership.
EPA/Ron Sachs
Donald Trump has signalled the end of US leadership on climate policy, with potentially unpleasant consequences for America’s economy, security and diplomatic standing.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt gestures as he answers a question during a news conference in Oklahoma City, Thursday, June 13, 2013.
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has sued the federal government repeatedly. If he becomes head of EPA and tries to weaken environmental laws, opponents are likely to do the same to him.
Many changes in electricity generation are already en route, regardless of regulations.
pixabay.com
The ‘war on coal’ is not really a result of onerous regulations but a combination of market forces over which a Trump administration has limited control.
More of this, says Hilary Clinton.
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Hillary Clinton’s energy and climate platform emphasizes renewable energy and the health benefits of the plan – a position that will resonate with many voters.
A first: limits on carbon emissions from power plants.
booleansplit/flickr
Despite looming legal challenges, states are devising plans to comply with limits on power plant carbon emissions – a crucial part of Obama’s climate policies.
Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Study of Inequalities, Social Justice, and Policy, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)