Brief #148 – Environment Policy
By Jacob Morton
On August 16, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, H.R. 5376. The new law is a scaled-back version of the Biden administration’s Build Back Better Act, intended to reduce the national deficit and lower inflation while investing in domestic energy production, creating jobs, and lowering healthcare drug costs. Here is a look at how the new law impacts U.S. environmental and climate policy.
Brief #145 – Environmental Policy
By Jacob Morton
On June 30th, the US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 vote, issued a ruling to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions released by power plants that burn fossil fuels. The Court’s conservative majority argues that only Congress has the power to make such grand regulations, even though Congress already granted the EPA this authority. Dissenting liberal justices say the conservative majority is making up rules to protect Big Coal.
Brief #143 – Environmental Policy
By Jacob Morton
The Biden administration replaces corrupt policy and outdated technology to save consumers money and help fight climate change. Reintroducing new energy efficiency standards for light bulbs previously initiated in 2007, but shot down by the Trump administration in 2019, Biden’s Department of Energy says goodbye to the inefficient and outdated incandescent light bulb.
Brief #139 – Environment
By Jacob Morton
Agroforestry is an ancient agricultural system that not only produces food, but “supports biodiversity, builds soil horizons and water tables, and sequesters carbon from the atmosphere.” In 2023, our current Farm Bill will be up for renewal, meaning Federal legislators will have the opportunity to reevaluate how we choose to financially support our food and agricultural industries and services. As legislators prepare to craft and vote on the next Farm Bill, we must press our representatives to support funding for agroforestry projects and farm system transitions.
Brief #137 – Environment Policy
By Jacob Morton
he Biden administration announced its plan to spend $5 billion to install electric vehicle (EV) charging stations along the nation’s highways. Biden’s plan will extend over five years, providing funding directly to states that submit their own plans for developing their portion of what the administration calls an “Alternative Fuel Corridor,” that would connect forty states along interstate highways across the country. The plan seeks to build half a million charging stations by 2030 so that owners of electric vehicles will be able to find a charging port anywhere within 50 miles of their location across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Brief #135 – Environment Policy
By Jacob Morton
A new study published by the Health Effects Institute shows that Federal air pollution regulations are not doing enough to protect our elders from serious illness and death. The recent report published by HEI shows that Americans 65 and older are still at risk of death from exposure to fine soot pollution in the air, even at the levels allowed by the Federal government.
Brief #128 – Environment Policy
By Jacob Morton
At the UN’s COP26 Climate Summit earlier this month, representatives from 197 nations gathered in Glasgow, Scotland with the goal of collectively accelerating global efforts towards achieving the climate goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The focus of the conference centered around three major pillars of climate change action: Adaptation, Finance, and Mitigation. Here are the key takeaways.
Brief #133 – Environment Policy
By Jacob Morton
The world’s coral reefs are dying, and humans are to blame. 14 percent of the world’s coral reefs perished within just ten years from 2009 to 2019, says a report released earlier this month by the International Coral Reef Initiative, a partnership of countries and organizations that works to protect the world’s coral reefs. The cause? Climate change. If we act now, we may have a chance at redemption.
Brief #128 – The Environment
By Jacob Morton
A new report from the Department of Energy shows that solar power has the potential to generate 40% of the nation’s electricity by 2035 and outlines how the nation could move toward producing up to 45% of its electricity from solar power by 2050. The climate crisis suggests this is more than necessary, it is imperative. But does the country have what it takes to make it happen.
Brief #125 – Environment
By Jacob Morton
Democrats in Congress are looking to pass two landmark legislations, the “Hard” and “Soft” infrastructure bills. One is bipartisan, the other is not. Both have significant climate and environmental implications. Will these two bills usher in a new era of climate stewardship for the United States, or will they continue to line the pockets of the fossil fuel industry?