CLIMATE: President Obama will sign an executive order today ordering federal government agencies to slash their greenhouse gas emissions. (The Hill)
ALSO: Oil, gas and coal development on America’s public lands could undermine the Obama administration’s plans for combating climate change because of their significant share in rising methane emissions. (Fuel Fix)
POLLUTION: With pollution costs factored in, gasoline would cost an extra $3.80 per gallon, coal 24 cents more per kilowatt-hour and natural gas another 11 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to new research. (Guardian)
CARBON TRADING: New Jersey lost millions of dollars in potential revenue when Governor Chris Christie pulled out of a northeast’s cap-and-trade program, according to the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. (Newark Star-Ledger)
SOLAR: The municipal utility in Georgetown, Texas, population 50,000, will get all of its power from renewable resources when SunEdison completes solar farms in West Texas slated to generate 150 megawatts. (Bloomberg)
ALSO: Residential solar financing company Sunnova announced Wednesday its EZ Own program, under which customers make monthly payments to buy a home solar system with no money down. (Renewable Energy World)
BIOMASS: The city of LaPine, Oregon, is looking for a power company to buy the electricity from its proposed 25-megawatt wood-burning plant. (The Columbian)
EFFICIENCY: Maine’s Public Utility Commission has cut energy efficiency funding from $60 million to $22 million, which many fear will raise electricity bills. (Portland Press Herald)
OFFSHORE DRILLING:
• Federal officials brought in $539 million in high bids Wednesday for 169 leases to drill for oil and natural gas in almost 1 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico. (The Hill)
• Permitting offshore drilling along the East Coast could lead to a catastrophic oil spill that would devastate the economies in states where tens of millions of people live, opponents said at public hearing Wednesday. (Associated Press)
• A fracking-friendly bill under consideration in Ohio’s legislature would exempt oil and gas operations from providing hazardous chemical information directly to local authorities and emergency responders. (Midwest Energy News)
• Washington’s Governor Jay Inslee says the state can’t block the Port of Seattle’s controversial decision to lease mooring of Shell Oil’s Arctic drilling fleet. (The Seattle Times)
KEYSTONE XL: Friends of the Earth is filing a Freedom of Information Act request for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private emails regarding the Keystone XL pipeline. (The Hill)
POLITICS: As Jeb Bush tests the waters for a 2016 presidential run, top energy officials from the last Bush administration are ready to pitch in. (E&E Daily)
NEW MEXICO: New Mexico’s senate stopped a bill from advancing that would have reduced a mandate for utilities to provide 20 percent of their electricity from renewable energy by 2020. (Associated Press)
COMMENTARY: Not a single governor has stepped forward to answer Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s call to “just say no” to Clean Power Plan because states are awakening to attractive clean energy options that can build their economies. (Huffington Post)