CLIMATE:
• Senate Democrats are calling for an investigation into a questionnaire that Donald Trump’s transition team sent to the Energy Department, asking for names of employees who worked on climate change. (Washington Post)
• ExxonMobil shifted its public position away from climate change denial under the leadership of Rex Tillerson, whom Donald Trump has tapped to be secretary of state. (The Hill)
• Leaked documents reveal that Tillerson was the director of a U.S.-Russian oil firm. (The Guardian)
CARBON TAX:
• Nearly half of Republicans would support a “revenue neutral” carbon tax, according to a new survey. (CNBC)
• The governor of Washington is proposing a new carbon tax that would raise billions for education in the state. (Associated Press)
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• State regulators approve a $130-million project to deploy 7,500 vehicle charging stations throughout Northern California. (Los Angeles Times)
• Tesla says it will impose a fine on drivers who leave their cars parked at Supercharger stations after charging is complete. (Christian Science Monitor)
SOLAR: How New Mexico’s largest city is pursuing a goal of 25 percent solar energy without any help from the state. (Politico)
WIND: Despite a history of opposing wind farms, Donald Trump may have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by purchasing wind energy to power one of his Manhattan hotels. (Mother Jones)
UTILITIES:
• Environmental groups speak out against the possibility of a new natural gas plant in Oregon, saying it would lock the state into “decades of climate-disrupting fossil fuel energy.” (Portland Business Journal)
• An oil-fired power plant in Maine will begin operating the largest battery project in New England. (Portland Press Herald)
GRID: A provision to provide over $300 million in funding for microgrid development was cut from a recent energy bill in Illinois, but one project is still pushing forward in Chicago. (Midwest Energy News)
NUCLEAR: Federal regulators extend the operating license of a Michigan nuclear plant for another 20 years. (Toledo Blade)
COAL:
• Cases of advanced black lung disease in Appalachia are at least 10 times higher than federal numbers indicate, according to a recent investigation. (NPR)
• Donald Trump’s pick for interior secretary could revive plans for a controversial coal-export terminal in Northwest Washington state. (McClatchy)
• The EPA wants to appeal an October ruling that requires it to calculate how many coal jobs are lost due to air pollution regulations. (Associated Press)
• President Obama’s mine safety chief explains how fatality and injury rates in the mining industry have reached historic lows. (Greenwire)
POLLUTION:
• A new EPA rule would require 14 older power plants in Texas to be retrofitted to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. (Texas Tribune)
• Three years after a pipeline break in North Dakota, less than a third of an 840,000-gallon oil spill has been cleaned up. (Associated Press)
OIL & GAS: Energy industry leaders in Colorado denounced the idea of the University of Denver divesting from fossil fuels, saying the move would be “a political stunt.” (Denver Post)
PIPELINES:
• A proposed natural gas pipeline would cut through a section of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, threatening protected forest land. (Huffington Post)
• About 1,000 Dakota Access Pipeline protesters remain at a camp in North Dakota. (Reuters)
POLITICS: States with higher carbon emissions were far more likely to vote for Donald Trump. (The Atlantic)
COMMENTARY: Donald Trump’s administration should work to promote nuclear energy. (National Review)