Virginia’s State Air Pollution Control Board on Wednesday voted 4-3 to exit a regional carbon emissions reduction program, a move backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) but rebuked by the state General Assembly. The board, a majority of whom are Youngkin appointees, voted at the Wednesday meeting in favor of withdrawing from the Regional Greenhouse…
Author: Zack Budryk
Biden administration announces $115M to upgrade Jackson, MS, water infrastructure
The White House on Tuesday announced the Biden administration will award $115 million to Jackson, Miss., to upgrade the decaying water infrastructure that has led to multiple water crises in recent years. In the statement Tuesday, President Biden credited bipartisan legislation he signed in December for the funds, singling out the work of Rep. Bennie…
Biden administration announces $2.6 billion toward coastal climate resilience
The Commerce Department on Monday announced it will put $2.6 billion toward coastal climate resilience in funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The funds, announced on a call with press Monday, will include about $400 million for tribal communities in support of habitat restoration, fish hatcheries and Pacific salmon. and those in the direct…
Supreme Court won’t review ruling barring offshore fracking in California
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined a request by the oil industry to review a lower court ruling barring fracking off California’s shore. In 2014, the Environmental Defense Center sued to halt offshore fracking in federal waters off the Golden State. Four years later, Judge Philip S. Gutierrez of the Central District of California,…
Georgia senators raise First Amendment concerns around arrests of Atlanta forest-defender bail fund organizers
Both of Georgia’s Democratic senators expressed concerns Sunday over the arrest of three organizers of a bail fund for protesters against a planned police training facility in the city’s forest. Last week, Atlanta police and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents charged the three with charity fraud and money laundering in connection with the bail fund…
Arizona seeks to avert groundwater disaster
Arizona is facing a severe water shortage that is threatening growth in the Phoenix area — a development that could serve as a harbinger for the region. Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) and other state officials late Thursday said overuse of water and the drought mean that some 4.9 million acre-feet of water will not be…
Debt ceiling deal gives Republicans energy win
Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter {beacon} Energy & Environment Energy & Environment The Big Story Debt deal gives GOP a win on energy. Is there still room for a bipartisan agreement? Republicans secured long-sought energy permitting overhauls in the deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, while Democrats relinquished an electrical transmission…
Biden administration bars oil and gas drilling within 10 miles of Chaco Canyon
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Friday announced new protections for New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park, barring oil and gas development for 20 years within a 10-mile radius of the area. The announcement follows what the department said was an extensive period of consultation between tribal nations and Haaland, the nation’s first Senate-confirmed Indigenous…
Arizona restricts some new development over groundwater concerns
Arizona officials announced Thursday that the state will impose restrictions on some new construction in the Phoenix area due to receding groundwater, the latest impact of the decades-long drought that has scorched the Western U.S. In the Thursday announcement, the state’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) said the Phoenix area, the most populous in the…
Here’s how the debt ceiling bill would change the US energy permitting process
In a major win for the fossil fuel industry and pro-industry lawmakers like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the debt ceiling deal lawmakers are racing to pass and send to President Biden’s desk for a signature overhauls the federal permitting process for major energy projects. The bill, which the House advanced on Wednesday night and the…