CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• The EPA is considering excusing Alaska from its climate change regulation of power plants, the agency chief told Senator Lisa Murkowski Wednesday. (Alaska Dispatch News)
• A low-carbon future is “inevitable,” and the EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan will provide market certainty for utilities as they continue to transition, Administrator Gina McCarthy said. (Bloomberg BNA)
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) grilled EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy Wednesday during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s subpanel with authority over the EPA’s budget. (The Hill)
ALSO:
• The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted Wednesday to delay the Obama administration’s landmark climate rule for power plants and let states opt out of complying with it. (The Hill)
• New Orleans-based utility giant Entergy Corp. is puzzling out how it would respond should the proposed Clean Power Plan survive legal challenges. (EnergyWire)
• California’s governor issued an executive order Wednesday sharply ramping up this state’s already ambitious program aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions. (The New York Times)
CONSERVATION: New York City officials on Wednesday weighed a bill to limit internal and external light use in many commercial buildings when empty at night. (The New York Times)
COMMENTARY: In California and around the world, water supply and carbon-based energy production are locked in a destructive feedback cycle. (Bloomberg View)