Ketanji Brown Jackson (Wikipedia)

CNN reports the U.S. Supreme Court has curbed the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to broadly regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants.

The decision is a major defeat for the Biden administration’s attempts to slash emissions at a moment when scientists are sounding alarms about the accelerating pace of global warming.

In addition, the court cut back the agency’s authority in general invoking the so-called “major questions” doctrine — a ruling that will impact the federal government’s authority to regulate in other areas of climate policy, as well as regulation of the internet and worker safety.

The ruling was 6-3. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the conservative majority, with the three liberal justices dissenting.

The decision is one of the most consequential cases for climate change and clean air in decades.

Also, Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the 116th justice of the Supreme Court, making history as the first Black woman to serve on the highest court of the nation.

Jackson was confirmed by the Senate in April and is filling the seat of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.
Though her addition to the bench won’t change the ideological balance of the court, it marks a significant historic milestone for the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary.

Governor Kathy Hochul delivers first State of the State

Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her first State of the State address Wednesday.

Hochul is proposing a $10 billion plan to grow the state’s health care workforce by 20% over the next five years, saying the pandemic worsened long-simmering staffing problems.

That includes more than $4 billion to support wages and bonuses for workers in health care and $2 billion for improved health care infrastructure.

Hochul spoke before a limited, socially distant audience in the Assembly chamber at the New York State Capitol in Albany amid the worst surge in coronavirus infections since the virus first hit the state in the spring of 2020.

She also announced initiatives including a proposal to invest $1 billion in electric vehicle infrastructure in coming years and up to $500 million in offshore wind port infrastructure to meet the requirements of a sweeping state law calling for 70% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

Hochul urged voters this November to approve a now-$4 billion bond act funding environmental projects, including climate change mitigation.

She’s also proposing $2 billion for road and bridge repairs, with a focus on replacing structures vulnerable to flooding.

To help ease the economic pain of the pandemic, Hochul wants to speed up a planned phase-in of $1.2 billion in middle class tax cuts that began in 2018. She also wants $1 billion in property tax rebates for more than two million middle-and low-income individuals.

Hochul proposed nearly $1 billion in funding for tax credits, seed funding and reduced interest rate loans for small businesses. She wants to boost broadband subsidies and access by drawing on $1 billion in public and private investments.

And with New York’s eviction moratorium set to expire mid-January, Hochul wants to offer free legal assistance for upstate New Yorkers. She said the state could help stave off homelessness through a five-year, $5 billion plan to build 100,000 affordable homes in urban and rural areas.

Hochul has vowed to restore trust in state government. She wants to replace JCOPE, the state’s ethics enforcement agency, with a rotating board of five members made up of 15 state-accredited law school deans or their designees. She also wants to limit certain statewide elected officials, including the governor, to two terms and put a ban on them earning outside income.

Other initiatives including making the state’s tuition assistance program available to part-time students and a Jails to Jobs initiative to help incarcerated people get and keep employment.

She said New York should address the uptick in gun violence by boosting funding for community prevention programs and gun-tracing efforts with neighboring states.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY-23) joined several other lawmakers from both sides of the aisle Wednesday in introducing a bipartisan piece of legislation known as the Energy Sector Innovation Credit Act. According to Reed, the legislation is designed to encourage U.S. energy market innovation and ensure future generations have clean air to breath and clean water to drink.

“Our climate is changing. There is no denying this,” Reed said. “We must unleash the greatest asset we have available to prevent this pending crisis – the power of American ingenuity and innovation. This tactic has proven time and time again to solve world problems – and this situation will be no different.”

The legislation is designed to helps cutting-edge technologies break into the market, with the tax credits being phased down as each technology becomes commercially viable. Reed said the tax legislation will help bring new technologies to the market to quickly and cheaply reduce global emissions, while ensuring the United States remains a leader on clean energy technology development and deployment.

“By offering a tax incentive for new energy technologies we will increase energy on the grid, ensure unneeded energy is not financially rewarded and thus unnecessarily produced, help cutting-edge technologies break into the market, incentive older energy sources to innovate and slash global emissions,” Reed said.

The proposed legislation is a further sign by Reed that he believes Climate Change is real and the new technology will help to reduce the environmental and climate footprint from humans. But while he acknowledges the climate is changing and that man is at least partly responsible, he told WRFA on Wednesday afternoon that he won’t go so far as to say humans deserve all the blame.

“I think there’s a legitimate debate as to, ‘Is it 100% man-made, is it X% naturally occurring in a combination with man-made activity?’ But I do believe man has contributed to it. I don’t deny that and never have,” Reed said. “That being said, we can have a fight about what is the cause of climate change or, what I believe is more productive, can we put ideas on the table that are going to solve the issue of climate change and clean up our environment, clean up our air, clean up water, and clean up our back yard.”

According to a media release sent out on Wednesday morning, supporters of the Energy Sector Innovation Credit include several national organizations and agencies, including Southern Company, ClearPath Action, United States Energy Association, the American Public Power Association, Bipartisan Policy Center, and Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, among others.

More details on the bill are available online.

On Monday, the Governor also issued a letter to Acting Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Andrew Wheeler urging him to abandon the EPA’s proposed replacement of the Clean Power Plan to prop up the coal industry.

“The future of our environment, our economy and our children is at stake, and New York will not let President Donald Trump take us backward. Today I am proud to announce that New York will join the Powering Past Coal Alliance to share our expertise and experience and continue to lead the fight against dirty and dangerous fossil fuels,” Governor Cuomo said. “With our bold mandate to close all coal-fired power plants by 2020 and our nation-leading commitment to renewables, we are already at the forefront of the clean energy revolution and we will not go back.”

“As the Trump administration works to roll back our progress when it comes to our environment, Governor Cuomo and I are fighting to protect it,” said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. “New York is proud to join governments and organizations across the world as part of the Powering Past Coal Alliance to end the use of traditional coal power. The Alliance is another step in advancing New York’s aggressive clean energy goals and ensuring our climate is protected and safe.”

The response from the governor is due to the Trump administration’s plan to roll back the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s efforts to slow global warming.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration came out with new rules scaling back Obama-era constraints on coal-fired power plants, striking at one of the former administration’s legacy programs to rein in climate-changing fossil-fuel emissions.

The Environmental Protection Agency called the Obama-era regulations on coal power plants “overly prescriptive and burdensome.”

The Trump administration plan broadly increases the leeway given states to decide how and how much to regulate coal power plants. The EPA says it “empowers states, promotes energy independence, and facilitates economic growth and job creation.”

Meanwhile, the Powering Past Coal Alliance, launched by the UK and Canada on the margins of COP 23, is a coalition of governments, businesses, and other organizations to lead the rest of the world in ending the use of traditional coal power. The Alliance is committed to taking action to accelerate clean growth and climate protection through the rapid phase-out of traditional power.

FIGHTING THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY WITH ‘CLEAN ENERGY’ INITIATIVES

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo

Delivering on the Governor’s 2016 State of the State pledge to go coal-free by 2020, Governor Cuomo in May directed New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to propose regulations will tighten the state’s CO2 Performance Standards for Major Electric Generating Facilities by establishing CO2 emission rate requirements for existing major electric generating facilities. The state stands ready to help workers and communities transition to a clean energy future through the Governor’s Clean Climate Careers initiative and the Electric Generation Facility Cessation Mitigation Fund created to address the needs of the local communities affected by any closures, as well as a host of clean energy programs to support transitioning these plants away from coal.

After the federal government announced its intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, New York joined with California and Washington State to form the U.S. Climate Alliance to uphold the goals of the agreement. The U.S. Climate Alliance has grown to include 17 governors representing nearly half U.S. gross domestic product.

New York has also established a Clean Energy Standard for half of its electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030, complementing Governor Cuomo’s ambitious Reforming the Energy Vision strategy (REV). The governor’s office says REV is building a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system for all New Yorkers by stimulating investment in clean technologies like solar, wind, and energy efficiency. The REV strategy is intended to ensure New York State reduces economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and achieves the internationally-recognized target of reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050.

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo

ALBANY – Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday signed into law the Community Risk and Resiliency Act to strengthen New York State’s preparedness for the effects of climate change and help protect communities against severe weather and sea level rise.

The Community Risk and Resiliency Act requires State agencies to consider future physical climate risks caused by storm surges, sea level rise or flooding in certain permitting, funding and regulatory decisions (A06558/ S06617-B). The standards would apply to smart growth assessments, siting of wastewater treatment plants and hazardous waste transportation, storage and disposal facilities, design and construction regulations for petroleum and chemical bulk storage facilities and oil and gas drilling permits, and properties listed in the state’s Open Space Plan, as well as other projects.

In addition, the State Department of Environmental Conservation will adopt official projections for sea level rise by January 1, 2016 and update the projections every five years.

According to the governor, the Community Risk and Resiliency Act advances a number of recommendations of the NYS 2100 Commission, which the Governor convened after Superstorm Sandy to develop more resilient infrastructure systems across the state.

The Governor signed the legislation in conjunction with Climate Week 2014 in New York City, which features more than 100 events, including the United Nations Climate Summit.