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The Trump administration on Jan. 23 finalized a regulation replacing the 2015 "Waters of the U.S." rule.
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The Department of Energy on Jan. 15 finalized a "process" regulation it said would streamline rulemakings for energy-efficiency standards, but the rule is likely to face litigation from opponents.
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The Trump administration's Jan. 9 proposal to speed up and revamp environmental studies for energy and infrastructure projects under the National Environmental Policy Act is likely to be challenged in court if it is finalized.
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A 2.2-percent reduction in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions for the year just ended was forecast Dec. 30 by the Energy Information Administration.
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Pacific Gas & Electric will need to use public-safety power shut-offs for about five more years before improvements in system technology and vegetation management allow the utility to largely stop the practice as a safety measure in connection with wildfires, PG&E Corp. CEO Bill John…
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The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Dec. 12 sent five energy bills to the Senate floor on voice votes, including legislation authorizing competitive grants for efficiency upgrades and renewable-energy projects at K-12 schools.
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A federal trade court on Dec. 5 issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration's withdrawal of a tariff exemption for imported bifacial solar-photovoltaic panels.
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A group of electric utilities on Nov. 25 filed suit to challenge the Trump administration's rule blocking California from setting its own tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions standards and zero-emission vehicle sales mandates.
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The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Nov. 19 reported out the nominations of Dan Brouillette to head the Department of Energy and James Danly to fill a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission vacancy.
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Energy Secretary nominee Dan Brouillette has promised to keep Bonneville Power Administration privatization proposals "off the table," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said at Brouillette's Nov. 14 confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
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President Donald Trump on Nov. 7 nominated Dan Brouillette, the Department of Energy's No. 2 executive, to succeed outgoing DOE Secretary Rick Perry. Trump had indicated his intent to nominate Brouillette when Perry announced his plan last month to resign before the end of the year.
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A split between automakers on regulating tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions broke into the open Oct. 31 when a coalition of manufacturers including Toyota, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler formally moved to intervene on the Trump administration's side in litigation against the administration'…
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A federal appeals court on Oct. 25 rejected California's challenge of the Environmental Protection Agency's first step toward revising tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions standards.
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President Donald Trump on Oct. 18 indicated he plans to nominate Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette to succeed Rick Perry as head of the Department of Energy.
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A federal appeals court on Oct. 10 upheld a 2018 lower-court ruling ordering the Department of Energy to publish four final energy-efficiency standards in the Federal Register.
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James Danly, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's general counsel for the last two years, is President Donald Trump's choice to fill a FERC vacancy, the White House said Sept. 30.
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Seventeen states, including six in the West, on Sept. 25 filed suit to contest the Trump administration's revision of rules for implementing the Endangered Species Act.
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A divided Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Sept. 19 proposed sweeping revisions to rules for implementing the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, drawing cheers from utility groups, an attack from the Solar Energy Industries Association, and a caution flag from an industrial-custo…
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The Trump administration on Sept. 12 finalized repeal of the 2015 "Waters of the U.S." rule, reverting to previous regulations.
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The Department of Energy on Sept. 5 took two actions to loosen lighting efficiency standards.
The Department of Justice is investigating four automakers for signing a deal with California officials in July to strengthen tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions regulations.
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The Environmental Protection Agency on Aug. 29 proposed dropping methane control standards for upstream oil and gas production facilities.
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The Environmental Protection Agency on Aug. 20 issued revised guidance that officials said would ease “planning burdens” on states developing plans to reduce regional haze caused by emissions from power plants and other industrial facilities.
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Twenty-two states, six cities and the District of Columbia on Aug. 13 sued in federal appeals court to challenge the Affordable Clean Energy rule, the Clean Power Plan replacement that the Environmental Protection Agency finalized on June 19.
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The Environmental Protection Agency on Aug. 9 proposed a rule that would limit states’ review process of Clean Water Act certifications for energy and other infrastructure projects to one year.
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The Senate Environment and Public Works committee on July 30 unanimously reported out a five-year, $287-billion transportation bill that would authorize $1 billion in competitive grants for charging and fueling infrastructure for electric, hydrogen and natural gas-fueled motor vehicles.
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Four automakers have reached a “framework agreement” with California officials on greenhouse gas emissions standards, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced July 25.
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The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and utility trade groups went to court to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order No. 841 that cleared the way for energy storage resources to buy and sell energy, capacity and ancillary services in organized who…
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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on July 10 issued an order that could lead to a $6-million fine for alleged market manipulation by energy trading firm Vitol.
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Additional federal financial-security requirements for electric utilities to ensure they can cover the costs of cleaning up spills of coal ash and other hazardous substances are unnecessary, the Environmental Protection Agency said July 2.
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The House on June 25 passed its second fiscal year 2020 “minibus” budget bill, including increased appropriations for the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency.
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States said June 19 they will go to court to fight the Affordable Clean Energy rule that the Environmental Protection Agency finalized as a replacement for the 2015 Clean Power Plan, which EPA’s action formally repealed.
An agreement between congressional leaders and President Donald Trump on Jan. 25 to temporarily end the partial federal shutdown—which largely idled the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies—was passed in the Senate and House, with Trump’s signat…
Environmental Protection Agency Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said Jan. 16 he still hopes EPA and California can resolve their dispute over tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions standards.
The House on Jan. 11 passed legislation funding the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency, the last of four appropriations bills that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) teed up this week to fund agencies idled by the partial federal shutdown. The outlook for Senate action, how…
The House of Representatives on Jan. 3 passed legislation to reopen idled federal agencies, including the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency, but the White House threatened vetoes.
China and South Korea vowed to fight at the World Trade Organization to counter 30 percent tariffs on imported crystalline solar-photovoltaic cells and modules that President Donald Trump approved Jan. 23.
Grid operators are likely to bring up regionally specific approaches for strengthening system resilience, two members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said at a Jan. 16 forum at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
The grid-resilience debate stirred up by Energy Secretary Rick Perry moves to the California Independent System Operator and other centralized wholesale power markets, following the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s unanimous rejection Jan. 8 of Perry’s proposal to compensate coal and n…
West Coast elected officials vowed to fight the Interior Department’s Jan. 4 proposal to open Pacific waters under federal control to new offshore oil and natural gas leasing.
FERC Commissioner Norman Bay on Jan. 26 announced he will leave his post as chair of the commission on Feb. 3. President Donald Trump the same day named Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur acting chair.
Federal energy policy is about to experience a dramatic shift. The incoming Trump administration taking office Jan. 20, along with the Republican-controlled 115th Congress, is taking aim at the Obama administration’s energy-policy regulations, and plans to boost domestic energy production—es…
The House on Jan. 6 passed legislation, HR 26, requiring congressional approval of rules imposing compliance costs exceeding $100 million per year, a day after passing a bill, HR 21, which would allow lawmakers to overturn multiple regulations at once through a Congressional Review Act resolution.
