CLIMATE: President Trump signs an executive order to undo Obama-era climate change initiatives, telling coal miners, “you’re going back to work.” (Vox, New York Times)
ALSO:
• California’s governor calls Trump’s executive order a “colossal mistake” that will serve to mobilize environmentalists; experts say the order “is pretty much irrelevant” in a state that is already below 2031 emissions targets. (Los Angeles Times)
• Citing a study paid for by the coal lobby, The Trump administration says the Clean Power Plan “puts the economy at risk,” but others say it would have lead to long-term energy savings. (E&E News)
• Cities and states — even some led by Republicans — vow to press on with the clean energy transition. (Washington Post)
• European Union leaders criticize Trump’s anti-climate executive order, as the country’s Paris climate commitments move further out of reach. (Guardian, New York Times)
• Experts say environmental groups and progressive states’ upcoming legal challenge to President Trump’s effort to ultimately repeal federal climate protections will be “slow and protracted.” (Climate Central)
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UTILITIES: Electric utilities will keep transitioning toward green energy, regardless of what happens to the Clean Power Plan, according to a survey of more than 600 electric utility professionals across the U.S. (Utility Dive)
COAL:
• Universities in the Southeast are researching whether coal mine waste could offer rare earth elements for clean energy and other applications. (Southeast Energy News)
• How Trump’s latest executive order could impact the coal industry. (Associated Press)
NUCLEAR: Toshiba’s U.S. nuclear unit, Westinghouse Electric, files for bankruptcy with a possible net loss of $9 billion. (Reuters)
FRACKING: Maryland passes legislation to ban fracking in the state, and Gov. Larry Hogan has promised to sign the bill into law. (ThinkProgress)
SOLAR: The federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) is a driving force behind North Carolina’s solar boom and a nuisance for electric utilities like Duke Energy. (Reuters)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric car maker Faraday Future cancels plans to build an assembly plant in California. (Los Angeles Times)
GRID: A new analysis finds 21 states have 20 MW or more of energy storage in the works. (Greentech Media)
COMMENTARY:
• President Trump’s latest executive order lifts a temporary halt on new leases for mining coal on public lands – a move that’s expected to cost taxpayers and benefit coal executives, says the Director of Policy for the Public Lands at the Center for American Progress. (ThinkProgress)
• Trump’s executive order will hurt the environment and the health of Americans, says the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. (CNBC)