| Judges Hear Clean Power Plan Arguments: Executive authority and the scope of the Clean Air Act were the focus of the oral arguments on the Clean Power Plan. While tough questions were asked of both sides, supporters of CPP remain confident that the judges (six out of 10 of whom were appointed by Democrats) will uphold the rule. Providing additional context, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer and Edward Markey released a report, “The Brief No One Filed,” detailing the connections of the challengers of CPP with the fossil fuel industry, which gave over $107 million to authors of briefs opposing the rule. (News: New York Times $, AP, Bloomberg, Greenwire $, Washington Post $, Reuters, Wall Street Journal $, The Hill, Politico Pro $, Utility Dive, Courthouse News, KTVQ, Maine Public Radio. Commentary: The Hill, Sen. Edward J. Markey & Rep. Jared Huffman op-ed; Fusion, Ari Phillips column; ThinkProgress, Ian Millhiser analysis)
Trump Campaign Wobbles on Climate: Donald Trump’s campaign manager said Trump believes climate change is “naturally occurring” after he denied calling it a “hoax” in Monday’s presidential debate. This stance runs somewhat at odds with that of vice presidential nominee Mike Pence who said the same day that human activities have “some impact” on the climate. The 82-second coverage of climate issues during the debate, which became a major moment, has generated more calls for a climate question in the next debate. (News: CNN, ThinkProgress, AP, The Hill, TIME, New York Times $, Clean Technica, Business Insider. Commentary: Grist, Rebecca Leber column; Washington Post, Chris Mooney column $; Washington Post, Philip Bump column $; ThinkProgress, Joe Romm column; Grist, Emma Foehringer Merchant column; New York Magazine, Eric Levitz column)
App Compares EVs and Hybrids on Fuel and Cost Efficiency: Electric vehicles and hybrids are among the least expensive options on the market, a new analysis of 125 popular cars in the US shows. The results, which were also incorporated into an app, reveal that some of today’s cars already meet the emission-reduction targets set by the US for 2030-2050, though the average car sold is about 50 percent above the 2030 target. Interestingly, some traditional cars outperform the hybrids, depending on a variety of factors. (New York Times $, NPR, UPI, Guardian, Vox) |
