The Biden administration’s new vehicle rules accelerate electrification just as artificial intelligence and manufacturing are spiking electricity demand. With utilities doubling their forecasts for new power demand in the next five years, ensuring grid stability will require much more power supply. Thankfully, President Richard Nixon laid out the blueprint for solving this problem with nuclear energy over 50 years ago.
Read MoreConservAmerica President Jeff Kupfer sat down recently with Roosevelt Conservation Caucus member and Ranking Member on the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW). Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). Sen. Capito was also a recipient of ConservAmerica’s Congressional Leadership Award. Among many topics, Jeff and Sen. Capito covered movement of the Senators ADVANCE Act (Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act of 2023), along with the LNG export ban, and burdensome regulatory requirements.
Read MoreConservAmerica, along with C3 Solutions and American Conservation Coalition, submitted comments this week to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on whether the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) In-Use Locomotive Regulation meets the criteria for a waiver of federal preemption under section 209 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). Approving the waiver would allow California and other states to mandate zero emissions locomotives even though these technologies are not available to meet the nation’s rail transportation needs.
Read MoreWe have often seen how overly aggressive environmental regulations can hinder economic growth and innovation – and contrary to their purported goals - even increase pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now weighing whether to allow California to move forward with strict emissions standards for locomotives that unfortunately would have economic ramifications well beyond the state’s borders and likely increase emissions.
In general terms, California’s standards require the use of zero-emissions locomotive engines by 2030. As a practical matter, this can be achieved only through the use of technologies – either hydrogen fuel cell or battery electric – that are both prohibitively expensive and cannot be deployed at scale within the proposed compliance timeframe.
Read MoreEnergy leaders, dignitaries, and policy makers from 85 countries descended upon Houston last month for CERAWeek 2024 where the focus on energy transition and reduction in global carbon emissions has grown in urgency.
President Biden has made CO2 reductions one of his Administration’s top policy priorities with an ambitious goal of net zero by 2050. Over the next 10 years, the federal government will spend well over $500 billion through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and CHIPS law to curb CO2 emissions.
Read MoreIn the aftermath of the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident, then-Senator Joe Biden voted for a “temporary pause” on reactor permitting, despite no credible evidence of public harm from radiation. Although the measure failed, the nuclear industry never recovered from this political overreaction based on exaggerated fears. Forty-five years later, President Biden has unilaterally ordered a “temporary pause” on the permitting of liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals – a move the Washington Post editorial board aptly labeled “a win for political symbolism, not the climate.”
Read MoreConservAmerica is pleased to announce the launch of its new Roosevelt Conservation Fellowship program, which welcomes inaugural fellows Patrick Hynes and Alina Clough. This initiative aims to bring new voices and perspectives to the dialogue on commonsense, market-based solutions for today's pressing environmental issues.
"We believe that the key to addressing environmental and energy challenges lies in collaboration and fresh thinking," said ConservAmerica President Jeff Kupfer.
Read MoreIn 2016, after a lengthy permit approval process, the United States exported its first cargo of liquified natural gas from the lower 48 states. Since then, the U.S. has leapfrogged every other country to become the world’s largest exporter of LNG.
But in in January, following the same playbook that President Barrack Obama used for LNG and the Keystone XL Pipeline during his 2012 reelection campaign, President Joe Biden announced a “temporary pause” on LNG export approvals.
Read MoreConservAmerica is pleased to announce the launch of a new website dedicated to taking a critical look at the plight of our oceans and its inhabitants.
“Decades of overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution, and, more recently, the impacts of a warming ocean are being felt around the globe,” said ConservAmerica Legal Counsel Brent Fewell. “The goal of this site is to provide timely and relevant information on our oceans, focusing specifically on one simple and cost-effective solution that we believe should be explored – Ocean Iron Fertilization.
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