Although automakers had agreed to a 50-state standard, Trump’s unexpected victory last year gave them an opening to plead that the 2022-25 rules are unrealistic. During an era of historically low fuel costs, motorists are opting for SUVs and other relatively low-mileage vehicles, which also are the most profitable to produce and sell.
Assemblyman Jose Medina (D-Riverside) says the Rams — and at least five other large developers whose projects were approved by similar means in recent years — have been able to spend significant sums of money to ignore state environmental laws. He’s authored new legislation to block future developers from doing what the Rams did, by prohibiting local governments from approving projects without an exhaustive environmental review.
The U.S. Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice saying it plans to review greenhouse gas standards for cars and light trucks sold between 2022 and 2025. President Donald Trump has signaled he wants to roll back the regulations amid complaints from U.S. automakers that the standards are too costly and cumbersome, and was expected to announce the review in Detroit on Wednesday.
As California lawmakers debate the future of the state’s battle against global warming, there’s one politically sensitive issue they’ll have to consider: gas prices. . . drivers could see the price per gallon of gasoline increase by 45 cents. A separate policy, known as the low-carbon fuel standard, is also expected to increase gas prices.
A legislative hearing is scheduled for Wednesday on Brown’s effort to expand cap and trade, which requires companies to buy permits to release greenhouse gas emissions.
Small business owners frequently cite regulations as one of the largest obstacles in operating their company. Every four years, the National Federation of Independent Business asks small business owners to evaluate and rank 75 potential business problems. In 2016, they told us that their second biggest problem was “unreasonable government regulations.”
In lieu of steep menu price increases, many independent and regional chain restaurants in states including Arizona, California, Colorado and New York are adding surcharges of 3% to 4% to help offset rising labor costs. Industry analysts expect the practice to become widespread as more cities and states increase minimum wages.
Getting people out of their cars in favor of walking, cycling or riding mass transit will require the development of new, closely packed housing near jobs and commercial centers at a rate not seen in the United States since at least before World War II, according to a recent study by permit and contractor data analysis website BuildZoom.
But the 11-2 vote by the South Coast Air Quality Management District board left intact controversial plans for pollution reduction from the region’s ports and warehouse centers to be achieved through voluntary compliance with industry.
Regional cap-and-trade schemes are always going to struggle for viability, but California’s might be the worst of the lot. It’s been gasping for air since its inception, and there’s no sign that the state is capable of turning this green policy disaster around.
The California Supreme Court says the public has the right to access emails and text messages about government business sent on California officials’ private accounts. . . The use of private email accounts by public officials has faced scrutiny in recent years, with some using it as a way to avoid disclosure. Many states treat those emails as public records.
The ARB was offering 43.7 million tons of state-owned emission allowances, but sold just 602,340 tons of advance 2020 allowances, which means the state will see only $8.2 million, rather than the nearly $600 million it could have received from a sellout.
Republicans chose the damaging 13 rules based on a conventional reading of the CRA, which allows Congress to override regulations published within 60 legislative days, with simple (50-vote) majorities in both chambers. Yet the more scholars examine the law, which had only been used successfully once before this year, the clearer it is that the CRA gives Congress far more regulatory oversight than previously supposed. . . A third discovery could be the most important. The opening words of the CRA read: “Before a rule can take effect” the federal agency in question must submit a Congressional report. No one has tested the legal limits of this provision, but a fair reading suggests the Trump Administration could declare any rule for which a report has not been submitted to be null and void.
The gas, nitrogen trifluoride, or NF3, is a key chemical agent used to manufacture certain types of photovoltaic cells for solar panels, as well as semiconductors and LCD flat screens. . . NF3 is thought to be 17,200 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Nearly two-thirds of the Europe’s renewable energy comes from burning wood. No, this isn’t some time capsule report from 500 years ago—that’s actually what the European Union is doing to meet its vaunted climate targets.