LAWS
Until December 2020, no climate change laws had been passed under the Trump administration.
On December 27, 2020, however, Trump signed a $900 billion stimulus package bill. Buried in that bill, as David Roberts explains, is a bill which will reduce the use of hydrofluorocarbons. If this were the only energy provision in the bill, that still would make it one of the biggest climate stories of the year. And, according the The Atlantic, tacked onto the text were several energy and environment bills that will steer the federal ship of state toward decarbonization. The bill extends tax credits for renewable energy and carbon capture, it funds energy-efficiency projects, and it recommends—in a legally nonbinding way—that the Department of Energy prioritize projects that will help generate 100 percent of U.S. electricity through “clean, renewable, or zero emissions energy sources.”
On June 30, 2021, President Biden signed legislation that will vigorously regulate climate-warming methane leaks from the oil and gas industry, a move supporters say is key to achieving his ambitious climate goals. The Senate vote in April was largely along party lines with three Republican Senators voting in favor of the resolution. In June the House had twelve Republicans joining the Democrats in favor. The signed resolution reverses an Environmental Protection Agency methane rule finalized last year and leaves in place a stricter 2016 EPA rule, finalized during the Obama administration.
06/30/21
S.J.Res. 13, which nullifies the EEOC rule titled “Update of Commission’s Conciliation Procedures”; S.J.Res. 14, which provides for Congressional disapproval of the Environmental Protection Agency rule relating to “Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards…
By Ellie Potter
06/30/21
President Joe Biden signed a resolution into law that repealed a Trump-era methane rule rollback on the oil and gas sector, after the measure passed both chambers of Congress with some bipartisan support.
06/30/21
Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement today after President Joseph R. Biden signed into law a resolution that disapproves the Methane Rescission Rule, through use of the Congressional Review Act. The disapproval…
By Jeff Brady
06/30/21
President Biden has signed legislation that will more vigorously regulate climate-warming methane leaks from the oil and gas industry, a move supporters say is key to achieving his ambitious climate goals. Earlier this month, House…
By Kate Sullivan
06/30/21
President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a bill repealing a Trump-era rule that rolled back regulations on methane emissions -- a particularly potent greenhouse gas believed to contribute significantly to the climate crisis -- from…
By Valerie Volcovici
06/25/21
The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted 229-191 to nullify the Trump administration's 2020 rollback of regulations to curb the emissions of greenhouse gas methane from oil and gas infrastructure, following a similar move…
By Mark Agerton, Ben Gilbert and Jim Krane
06/12/21
Global CO2 releases have risen by more than 50% since 1992, the year of the U.N.’s first climate summit. Three decades of failure show that stanching CO2 emissions is arguably the toughest collective problem humanity…
12/21/20
It is a $2.3 trillion[1] spending bill that combines $900 billion in stimulus relief for the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States with a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill for the 2021 federal fiscal year (combining 12…
By Greg Iacurci
12/28/20
The Covid relief package would dramatically cut use of a planet-warming chemical found in refrigerants. It would also funnel billions into clean energy like wind and solar.
By Ledyard King
12/27/20
The mammoth spending bill Congress approved Monday to curb the spiraling pandemic and prevent a government shutdown carries another description: a substantial step to confront climate change.
By Ed Pilkington
12/24/20
Activists say $900bn stimulus package will help the Biden administration ‘build back better’ at home and abroad joe Biden’s pledge to make the climate emergency a top priority of his administration from day one has received a…
By Coral Davenport
12/21/20
The legislation calls for cutting the use of powerful planet-warming chemicals common in air-conditioners and refrigerators.
By RACHEL FRAZIN
12/14/20
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate Floor on Monday that a bipartisan energy bill will be included in an appropriations bill to fund the government.
