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The new year in NetZero Insider buildings, land and industry adaptation news opened with the Biden administration proposing a ban on commercial logging of old growth trees in national forests. In addition to sequestering carbon emissions, older trees playing a vital part in ecosystems and as cultural resources, said the story from Inside Climate News. The new policy is unlikely to squelch the debates around how forests should be managed considering new challenges brought about by climate change.
The Biden administration also has worked out a deal between Oregon, Washington, and some local tribes on increasing salmon and other fish runs along the Snake River system in the Pacific Northwest, which could potentially lead to breaching four dams. Eliminating those dams would require Congressional approval.
We also have a run down on the status of litigation challenging natural gas bans. The cases all center around how much the Energy Policy & Conservation Act preempts local and state electrification rules. according to Amy Turner of Columbia University. In a related story, he Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said it will not reconsider its decision overturning Berkeley, Calif.’s ban. The issue could end up before the Supreme Court.
Jurisdictions proposing bans want consumers to switch to electric appliances for heating and cooking. Clean Technica has the details on a survey which found 31% of Americans want an all-electric home and another 29% want most major appliances to be electric, while just 21% prefer a home with major appliances burning fossil fuels.
Continuing its work on building decarbonization, the Department of Energy requested information to help it develop a national standard for zero-emissions buildings. Developing a broadly accepted definition of zero-emissions buildings is important for verification and is foundational to transitioning the sector, DOE said.
Read that and more in this week’s Intelligence Report:
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