In the news today…
Coal:
- E&E Greenwire reports President Trump did not mention coal during the State of the Union, but coal supporters dismissed the idea they have been forgotten.
- Gillette News Record reports a bill aimed to shield against collateral damage from the coal industry’s decline passed the Wyoming Senate Wednesday. Senate File 159 proposes to strong-arm utilities like Rocky Mountain Power away from closing their coal-fired power plants in Wyoming. They should sell them instead, the bill contends.
Climate:
- CNN reports Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced their Green New Deal resolutions, which lay out a goal to transition the United States off fossil fuels and toward 100 percent renewable and zero-emission resources, as well as to create millions of high-paying jobs. The resolutions also call for investment in renewables, zero-emission vehicles, energy efficiency improvements and smart power grids.
- Independent Record reports Montana lawmakers are considering two bills to tax carbon pollution, and not surprisingly owners of Colstrip Power Plant say the measures would kill the facility.
- E&E Daily reports the panel that House Democrats created to combat global warming is called the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, but the fossil fuel connections of the members named yesterday suggest to some environmentalists a certain lack of urgency.
- Axios reports a small bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday that would support the build-out of technology capturing carbon dioxide emissions.
Energy Policy:
- E&E Daily reports House and Senate lawmakers this week introduced more than a dozen bills related to energy and the environment. Many of the bills are returning from prior sessions of Congress, as members look to get an early start on a host of priorities.
World News:
- The Guardian reports one of the UK’s last seven coal power stations will close this year after half a century of generating electricity, as the polluting fuel continues its rapid decline in the energy mix.
- E&E Energywire reports an Australian minerals company says it’s close to perfecting processes for tapping a huge new source of electric vehicle battery materials — recovering critical metals and minerals from conventional mining waste and spent batteries.