On September 17, 2014, the Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing titled “Reforming America’s Outdated Energy Tax Code” to discuss possible reforms to the U.S. energy tax policy. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) underscored the need for predictable, level playing-field tax policy that puts renewables on the same footing as other…...
NY Governor Cuomo has announced nine awards to recognize leadership and excellence in building energy performance under the 2012 BuildSmart NY Initiative. On September 15, 2014, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the first BuildSmart NY Awards for outstanding energy efficiency solutions in public buildings to bring down operating expenses, save taxpayer money, and…...
The 25th RGGI carbon auction, which marks RGGI’s sixth full year, sold allowances at $4.88 each, generating approximately $87.83M. On September 5, 2014, the nine member states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) released results of their 25th carbon auction (Auction 25) held on September 3. Auction 25 offered 17,998,687 allowances at a reserve…...
The New York Department of Public Service (DPS) staff has issued a Straw Proposal on achieving the Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) Track One goals. The straw proposal reaffirms the initial April 24 proceeding which identified utilities’ role in managing a distributed system platform (DSP) and growing the state’s existing Distributed Energy Resource (DER) assets. Despite…...
On August 7, 2014, California and Quebec held a successful practice joint carbon emissions allowance auction in preparation for the first ever cross-border auction on November 2014. Despite varied participation levels in Quebec’s first four auctions, activity is expected to increase with program maturity and the upcoming 2015 compliance deadline.The programs – under the Western…...
California’s eighth quarterly carbon allowance auction signals a positive trend, with Advance allowance sales at 70 percent compared to 44 percent in the previous auction. On August 21, 2014, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released results of its eighth quarterly carbon allowance auction held on August 18. CARB offered allowances under Current Auction (2014…...
Federal lands contain significant oil and gas reserves, however federal staffing resource challenges have led to decreases in resource development and delayed state and federal revenue. The proposed BLM Permit Processing Improvement Act of 2014 (S. 2440) has significant bipartisan support, and its passage would expand and extend upon the current federal land permitting program…...
The United States is set to begin construction this year on its first offshore wind farm – the Cape Wind Project, led by Cape Wind Associates, LLC – located off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The 130-turbine, 468 MW Cape Wind Project would more than quadruple Massachusetts’ current wind power capacity (Figure 1),…...
Rhode Island’s climate law prioritizes climate adaptation, emissions reduction, and institutional design to address climate change. The Resilient Rhode Island Act of 2014 (H 7904) is the state’s first climate bill and aims to make the state economy and society resilient to the effects of a changing climate. Signed into law on July 2, and ceremonially signed on August 1,…...
During a Trade and Investment Mission to Mexico, California Governor Brown signed agreements with Mexico to enhance cooperation on environmental issues and encourage cross-border clean energy investments. On July 28, 2014, California Governor Edmund G. Brown, Mexico’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Undersecretary Rodolfo Lacy, and Mexican National Forestry Commission Director General Jorge Rescala…...
DOT has released a rulemaking proposal for safe rail transportation of flammable material based on new Bakken crude oil data. On July 23, 2014, the Department of Transportation (DOT) released a rulemaking proposal to improve rail transportation safety for crude oil, ethanol, and other flammable materials. The proposal includes a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)…...
NASA has launched a new mission to measure global distribution of carbon dioxide sources and sinks. On July 2, 2014, the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) launched the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) dedicated to study the Earth’s carbon dioxide (CO2) sources and sinks. The observatory, launched on a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from…...