Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 24, 2023

Utilities and grid operators prepared for the storm as it was coming down the pike, but they still underestimated the energy demand it would trigger, as well as the number of outages at fossil fuel power plants—mainly natural gas-fired, plus some coal-fired plants. See my colleague Julie McNamara’s blog for caveats about hydrogen.)

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Fossil Fuels 2014 Climate Change Electricity 206

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 21, 2023

While industry tried to paint hydrogen combustion engines as a “bridge” technology to hydrogen fuel cells, their own presentations undermined that very point—instead, this path is a clear dead end. We need to make sure regulators like EPA and CARB restrict its usage before it gains a fossil-fueled foothold in the marketplace.

Technology 255

Technology Technology Fossil Fuels Electricity 255

Union of Concerned Scientists

JUNE 13, 2022

I was invited to speak at a panel discussion last Wednesday as part of The Economist ’s annual Sustainability Week, titled “What technologies are needed to avert a climate disaster?” True to the theme, I was asked about which technological innovations would be necessary to save our planet. And yet, we aren’t.

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Technology Technology Climate Change Fossil Fuels 232

Legal Planet

MAY 29, 2024

To his credit, EPA Administrator Michael Regan recognizes this and has prioritized the regulation of forever of chemicals across multiple EPA programs since taking over at EPA. Indeed, the PFAS disaster points once again to the failure of our laws regulating toxic chemicals, which were intended to avoid just these sorts of problems.

Regulations 200

Regulations Toxic Substances Control Act Law Fossil Fuels 200

Enviromental Defense

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

Canada needs to take more action to transition away from fossil fuels Statement from Aly Hyder Ali, Oil and Gas Program Manager Ottawa | Traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People – We applaud today’s report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which sends a clear signal: the era of fossil fuels is ending.

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Fossil Fuels Clean Energy Government 2030 71

Legal Planet

OCTOBER 26, 2023

CARB’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) seeks to incentivize the production and sale of alternative, lower emissions transportation fuels in order to displace conventional fossil fuels. To identify which fuels should be promoted, CARB calculates the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels.

Regulations 271

Regulations Greenhouse Clean Air Act Politics 271

Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 4, 2024

That 2013 headline resulted from the first effort to quantify emissions from the ‘carbon majors’ —fossil fuel companies and cement manufacturers whose businesses have contributed an outsized amount of heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere. Nearly two-thirds of industrial heat-trapping emissions can be traced to just 90 entities.

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Fossil Fuels Climate Change 2013 2015 221

Enviromental Defense

AUGUST 23, 2021

In addition, we already have regulations in place to achieve methane reductions, so we are essentially subsidizing compliance with existing rules. million for other categories of support to fossil fuels. In some cases, these funds even went to paying companies to comply with existing regulations.

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Fossil Fuels 2025 2020 Government 134

Legal Planet

AUGUST 2, 2023

Image via PickPik On May 23, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposed emission limits and guidelines for carbon dioxide from fossil fuel-powered plants. That does not mean, however, that states and utilities are similarly constrained from generation shifting as they develop ways to comply with the federal regulations.

Carbon Dioxide 185

Carbon Dioxide Fossil Fuels Clean Air Act Nitrogen Oxides 185

Enviromental Defense

JUNE 13, 2023

March was a tight competition between fossil fuel pipeline, extraction, and oil and gas production companies for who could get the most face time with the federal government. Fossil fuel transportation firm Pembina Pipeline Company had the most lobby meetings in March. and Enbridge Inc. with 10 meetings each.

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Fossil Fuels Government Climate Change Natural Resources 87

Environmental Progress

JANUARY 20, 2022

We believe we must take a science-based approach and prioritize policies and technologies that enable us to liberate nature and elevate humanity. In order to steer investment toward environmentally sustainable activities, the European Union launched the Taxonomy Regulation framework to define activities deemed sustainable.

Fossil Fuels 52

Fossil Fuels Regulations Waste Technology 52

Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 29, 2024

Most of these pieces were about the company’s support for a seemingly independent network of anti-regulation, “free-market” nonprofits that spread falsehoods about the reality and seriousness of climate change. I’m not aware of anything the fossil fuel industry gets that I would characterize as a subsidy.” His reply ?

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Fossil Fuels Climate Change 2007 Carbon Emissions 337

Legal Planet

MARCH 21, 2024

Conservative groups have claimed since then that virtually every government regulation raises a major question. None of these apply to the new car rule: The new rule is based on a legal provision that EPA has applied for decades to regulate cars, rather than an obscure and rarely used legal provision. The rule is not unprecedented.

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Clean Air Act Regulations Air Pollution 2016 289

Legal Planet

DECEMBER 18, 2023

Methane is at the top of the list of those gases, and reducing emissions will require a global effort to regulate methane emissions from coal mines as well as oil and gas operations. Fossil fuel subsidies. In particular, it leaves almost no room for any use of fossil fuels that results in emissions of carbon dioxide.

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Fossil Fuels Carbon Dioxide Paris Agreement Greenhouse 194

Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

California’s transportation fuel policy is knee deep in cow poop, and it’s not a good look. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is considering amendments to its Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) regulation, but indicated they have no plans to address the problems caused by counter-productive subsidies for manure biomethane.

Fossil Fuels 254

Fossil Fuels Regulations Renewable Energy Carbon Dioxide 254

Legal Planet

APRIL 3, 2023

EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act (CAA) A. Investment and incentives for clean technologies under the Inflation Reduction Act. Nuclear power regulation D. FERC pipeline regulation (natural gas and hydrogen). California authority to regulate new vehicles D. Social Cost of Carbon D.

Law 203

Law Endangered Species Act Clean Air Act Biofuels 203

Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 1, 2022

That’s because the case, which was about the nature and scope of EPA authority in regulating carbon emissions from existing power plants, turned on a rule that does not exist. Because while this decision does still recognize EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, it simultaneously sharply curtails the agency’s ability to do so.

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Fossil Fuels Clean Air Act Clean Energy Greenhouse 254

Union of Concerned Scientists

JUNE 14, 2023

Those currently operating fossil fuel plants generate 25 percent of U.S. First, the court did not question the EPA’s authority to regulate power plant carbon emissions. global warming pollution, second only to the transportation sector. EPA Supreme Court decision in 2022. There are two key takeaways from West Virginia v.

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Fossil Fuels Carbon Emissions Nitrogen Oxides Clean Air Act 204

PA Environment Daily

MAY 3, 2024

On April 30, Senate Bill 1174 (Stefano-R-Fayette) was reported out of the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee with unanimous Republican support that would allow any “public utility” to petition the Public Utility Commission to waive any law, regulation or policy under the Commission’s jurisdiction, if it benefits ratepayers.

Regulations 115

Regulations Law Natural Gas Fossil Fuels 115

Legal Planet

AUGUST 6, 2023

However, it’s a disappointment to the initiative’s proponents and to a larger group of environmental advocates who seek to promote California’s quick transition from reliance on heavily-polluting and climate-damaging fossil fuels to renewable energy resources. Measure Z never took effect.

Law 130

Law Fossil Fuels Renewable Energy Regulations 130

Legal Planet

AUGUST 5, 2021

A big shift to renewables could leave stranded assets — existing fossil fuel plants that the utility will no longer get paid for using. In much of the country, those wholesale transactions are under the control of regional transmission organizations established by federal power regulators, but that’s not true everywhere.

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Fossil Fuels Regulations Clean Energy Renewable Energy 297

Enviromental Defense

AUGUST 10, 2023

The first draft of the Clean Electricity Regulations, released today, will deliver significant emissions reductions. Battery and other storage technology have come a long way in recent years and can be counted on to balance out supply and demand and Canada has a solid base of hydro generation to build upon.

Electricity 52

Electricity Regulations Fossil Fuels Solar Power 52

Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

In December, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service proposed regulations governing implementation of the 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit , passed as part of 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act. In particular, emissions loopholes related to biomethane and fugitive methane (i.e.,

Fossil Fuels 244

Fossil Fuels Waste Regulations Electricity 244

Enviromental Defense

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

In this year’s edition of World Energy Outlook , the International Energy Agency showed that with the rapid roll out of renewable energy technologies, the demand for fossil fuels – gas, coal and oil – will peak this decade. These wildfires are the result of producing and burning fossil fuels. This is a big deal.

Fossil Fuels 101

Fossil Fuels Renewable Energy Greenhouse Government 101

Legal Planet

AUGUST 15, 2022

As the market for emission-reducing technologies grows, there’s an increased incentive to invest in R&D. New technologies in turn drive more business, creating a “virtuous circle” of feedback between expanding markets and increased innovation. Subsidies indirectly promote stronger regulation.

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Fossil Fuels 2030 Politics Renewable Energy 249

Enviromental Defense

MAY 17, 2024

Fossil Fuel Companies are to Blame It’s clear that global warming is bringing hotter and drier weather. And over 75 per cent of greenhouse gas pollution comes from producing and burning fossil fuels. Decades of obstruction by the fossil fuel industry have led us to the hotter and more extreme weather.

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Fossil Fuels Renewable Energy Government 2024 139

Legal Planet

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

The second trend is technological. Internal combustion engines have seen significant, though incremental, technological improvements, which have been driven by tougher emission standards and fuel economy rules. But EV batteries are a new technology, with much more room for development. The final trend is ideological.

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Fossil Fuels 2011 Carbon Emissions Technology 246

Legal Planet

MAY 19, 2023

In 2016 Monterey County voters passed Measure Z, a citizen initiative intended to bar the drilling of new oil and gas wells in the county and ban the use of fracking technology for existing wells in Monterey County. The oil and gas industry, led by Chevron U.S.A.,

Law 211

Law Fossil Fuels Climate Change Regulations 211

Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 9, 2024

There are ways to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the climate crisis—or at least nudge them in the right direction—in addition to government regulation. Are there any for banks or other financial institutions that fund fossil fuel companies that could make a difference?

Fossil Fuels 210

Fossil Fuels Government Clean Energy Politics 210

Legal Planet

DECEMBER 19, 2023

I attended the conference as part of the UCLA Emmett Institute’s delegation, which hosted a side event on the implications of new monitoring technologies for methane. Jurisdictions announced new methane regulations COPs are usually the place where governments announce their recent environmental laws and regulations.

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Paris Agreement 2030 Regulations Waste 173

Legal Planet

APRIL 25, 2024

And they will raise other arguments — primarily, that the technologies that EPA is relying on to reduce emissions aren’t ready for prime time. Circuit views regulations as presumptively valid because they come from a coequal branch of government, so it is stingy about granting preliminary injunctions. But opponents are not convinced.

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Clean Air Act Regulations Air Pollution Carbon Emissions 227

Legal Planet

MAY 11, 2023

Today’s the day for the long-awaited release of Environmental Protection Agency regulations to tackle planet-warming pollution by the nation’s power plants. The EPA is proposing a new standard for fossil fuel-fired power plants to avoid 617 million metric tons of carbon dioxide through 2042. Four years later under George W.

Clean Air Act 211

Clean Air Act Carbon Emissions Greenhouse Fossil Fuels 211

Legal Planet

APRIL 25, 2024

First, EPA’s preferred technology to limit carbon emissions — carbon capture and storage (CCS) — isn’t just pie in the sky. 379, EPA also points out that even without any regulation EPA’s model shows that some plants will install CCS and run at high capacity.

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Clean Air Act Carbon Emissions Pollution Control Regulations 200

Union of Concerned Scientists

MAY 9, 2024

As the Biden administration works to finalize implementation guidance for the new clean hydrogen production tax credit , 45V, the fossil fuel industry and a select set of other industry actors are aggressively lobbying to loosen the rules—while everyone else is scrambling to stop them. Here’s why. Extremely generous.

Clean Energy 293

Clean Energy Fossil Fuels Electricity Carbon Emissions 293

PA Environment Daily

DECEMBER 2, 2023

Note: In December, 2022, DEP finalized regulations reducing volatile organic compounds and methane from existing conventional and unconventional oil and gas facilities. The conventional regulations were challenged in Commonwealth Court by conventional oil and gas operators. [The Read more here. [In Read more here.]

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Regulations Air Pollution Natural Gas Carbon Dioxide 100

Legal Planet

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

should prop up fossil fuels, constrain renewables wherever possible, and claw back the federal government’s historic investments in clean energy, while reinvesting in nuclear energy and new nuclear weapons. will see a substantial buildout of new nuclear power based on current technologies and economics.

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2024 Fossil Fuels 2025 Nuclear Power 270

Legal Planet

DECEMBER 16, 2021

Utilities were famously set in their ways, using nineteenth century technologies to produce and deliver their products. The key to getting climate change under control is to rapidly decrease the user of fossil fuels. Technological changes. Only specialists really paid much attention. All that has changed dramatically.

Law 187

Law Fossil Fuels Regulations Electricity 187