Not content with a single Earth Day, the White House stretched its celebration of environmental and clean energy policies and programs to a full week, with NetZero Insider reporters covering new announcements almost daily.
Our K Kaufmann had a super busy week, beginning on Monday with President Joe Biden’s announcement of $7 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act for 60 programs that will bring clean solar power to low-income homeowners and communities across the country.
K also covered two big announcements from EPA: first, a competitive funding opportunity for close to $1 billion to help replace diesel- and gas-guzzling heavy-duty vehicles with zero-emission battery or fuel cell vehicles; and the agency’s long-awaited final rule on cutting carbon dioxide emissions at existing coal plants and new natural gas plants.
Meanwhile, offshore wind reporter John Cropley was in New Orleans for the Oceantic Network’s International Partnering Forum, where Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced a five-year schedule for up to a dozen offshore wind lease auctions and an update of its regulations for renewable energy development in U.S. waters.
And NetZero’s Ayla Burnett laid out the different arguments and perspectives now being raised as California regulators and policymakers grapple with how to calculate the public health, social and other “nonenergy benefits” of the state’s push to produce 100% of its electricity from carbon-free generation by 2045.
In our curated content, the attorneys general of 23 states have petitioned EPA to back off its use of “disparate impacts” when regulating pollution, according to a report on Floodlight.
Inside Climate News has two reports on the push-pull going on at the state level over the $4.6 billion in Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) that EPA is expected to award later this year. First, Virginia could score anywhere from $2 million to $500 million for programs that could provide state subsidies for zero-emission vehicles and fund renewable energy projects for homes and businesses, but the local gas industry is pushing back on such measures.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon (R) has already told EPA that the state will not be applying for CPRG funds, but two tribes and the state capital, Cheyenne, are eligible to apply on their own and are submitting applications to use the federal dollars for microgrids for remote tribal areas and to put solar panels on city-owned grazing land.
All that and more in this week’s Intelligence Report:
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