U.S. energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) will remain largely unchanged through mid-century, according to projections in the Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook 2019. Assuming no changes to current laws and regulations, the agency projects that carbon dioxide emissions will be 5,019 million metric tons in 2050, or 4% below their 2018 value, as emissions associated with coal…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Feb. 26 that it will not revise the existing standard for sulfur dioxide, a harmful pollutant emitted from coal-fired power plants and industrial sources, citing scientific evidence that found the current limits sufficient to protect public health. The existing standard, established in 2010 under the Obama administration, is 75…
The eighteenth quarterly carbon auction held by California and Quebec sold all 80,847,404 carbon permits offered for current emissions at $15.73, above the floor price of $15.62, according to the results released on Feb. 27 by the California Air Resources Board. The auction sold about 66 percent of the permits offered for 2022 emissions at…...
Southern California Gas Company will pay $119.5 million to compensate for the methane emissions from a major gas leak at the Aliso Canyon storage facility in October 2015, according to a Feb. 25 press release from the California Air Resources Board. The settlement, approved by the Los Angeles Superior Court, will fully mitigate the 109,000 metric…
The Connecticut Light and Power Company submitted its final procurement plan for the approval of 15-year contracts to purchase class I renewable energy credits from renewable energy projects in the state, totaling $2.83 million per year in contract commitments from low emissions renewable energy projects and $5.6million per year for medium and large zero emission projects. The company’s Year…
The California Public Utilities Commission has begun developing a policy framework on decarbonizing buildings as part of its ambitious goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, according to a Feb. 8 order. The Commission recognizes that the state’s ambitious 2030 greenhouse gas reduction goals cannot be achieved with 100 percent renewable energy alone since 25 percent…
The Virginia legislature approved a bill that would prohibit the governor or any state agency from participating in a regional carbon market, without a two-thirds majority vote from both the legislative chambers. The state is considering its own proposed cap-and-trade rule designed to link with the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, the nation’s…...
Democratic Senator Ed Markey and Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a Green New Deal resolution on Feb. 7 setting out the goals and aspirations of the ambitious plan which seeks to tackle the nation’s contribution to climate change by making it carbon free over just a decade. The resolution calls for unprecedented, World War II-style mobilization of the U.S. economy…
U.S. electric power sector emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and carbon dioxide (CO2) will remain mostly flat through 2050, assuming no changes to current laws and regulations, according to the EIA’s recently released Annual Energy Outlook 2019. Regulation has greatly contributed to the decline of pollutants like SO2 and NOx from the electric…
The Joint Committee on Carbon Reduction unveiled legislation on Feb. 4 that would establish the Oregon Climate Action Program to place a cap on greenhouse gas emissions for entities whose annual emissions exceed 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The bill would set an annually declining emissions budget, starting in 2021 to put the…...
Montana House Lawmaker Mary Dunwell, a Democrat, introduced legislation on Jan. 14 that would impose a carbon tax of $10 per metric ton on large emissions sources from 2020, increasing annually by $1, plus the rate of inflation. The bill would set an emissions reduction goal of 25 percent by 2035, and 50 percent by…...
Democratic Governor Tom Wolf issued an executive order on Jan. 8 requiring the state to work toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2025, and 80 percent by 2050, relative to 2005 levels. By setting goals in line with the 2015 Paris climate agreement, Pennsylvania joins a growing number of states reacting to President…...
