Offshore Wind & Enviro. Justice

Biden Administration Declares Initiatives for Offshore Wind

On March 29, Nationwide Local weather Advisor Gina McCarthy, Inside Secretary Deb Haaland, Vitality Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met with state officers, trade executives, and labor leaders to announce new leasing, funding, and targets to speed up and deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. Based on the Division of Vitality, this might assist 45,000 jobs, generate sufficient electrical energy to energy over 10 million American properties, and keep away from 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The Administration additionally introduced a brand new Wind Vitality Space between Lengthy Island and the New Jersey coast, a Discover of Intent (NOI) to organize an Environmental Affect Assertion (EIS) for Ocean Wind, a Discover of Funding Alternative for port authorities and different candidates to use for $230 million for port and intermodal infrastructure-related initiatives by way of the Port Infrastructure Growth Program, the award of $8 million to fifteen offshore wind analysis and growth initiatives that had been chosen by way of a aggressive course of, a truth sheet to facilitate entry for the offshore wind trade for $3 billion in funding by way of the Progressive Vitality Mortgage Assure Program, a Memorandum of Settlement with offshore wind growth firm Ørsted to share bodily and organic knowledge in Ørsted-leased waters topic to U.S. jurisdiction, and a request for analysis proposals to assist greater than $1 million in grant funding to enhance understanding of offshore renewable vitality for the advantage of a range of stakeholders together with fishing and coastal communities.

Learn extra from the White Home by clicking HERE.

Photo voltaic Vitality Will get Increase from DOE

In assist of President Biden’s objective of a 100% clear electrical energy grid by 2035, the Division of Vitality has introduced a brand new goal to chop the price of photo voltaic vitality by 60% throughout the subsequent ten years, along with almost $128 million in funding to decrease prices, enhance efficiency, and pace the deployment of photo voltaic vitality applied sciences. DOE is accelerating its utility-scale photo voltaic 2030 value goal by 5 years – setting a brand new objective of driving down the present value of 4.6 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to three cents/kWh by 2025 and a couple of cents/kWh by 2030. New funding helps two supplies used to make photo voltaic cells: perovskites and cadmium telluride (CdTe) skinny movies, and contains $40 million for perovskite R&D, $3 million for a brand new Perovskite Startup Prize, $20 million CdTe skinny movies, $7 million for initiatives to extend the lifetime of silicon-based PV techniques, $33 million for concentrating solar-thermal energy (CSP) advances, and $25 million to reveal a next-generation CSP plant.

Further background, together with funding alternative data, will be discovered HERE.

White Home Declares Environmental Justice Advisory Council Members

In assist of President Biden’s Government Order on “Tackling the Local weather Disaster at Residence and Overseas”, the White Home has introduced the members of the White Home Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) who will present recommendation and proposals to the Chair of the Council on Environmental High quality (CEQ) and the White Home Environmental Justice Interagency Council on the way to present and historic environmental injustices. With backing and administrative assist supplied by the Environmental Safety Company, WHEJAC will complement the continued work of the Nationwide Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), a federal advisory committee established in 1993 to offer recommendation and proposals on environmental justice points to the Administrator of the EPA.   

For the complete checklist of members, click on HERE.

President Biden Invitations World Leaders to April Local weather Summit

Forty world leaders have been invited by President Biden to attend his “Leaders Summit on Local weather” scheduled for April 22 and 23 forward of the United Nations Local weather Change Convention (COP26) this November in Glasgow. Based on the White Home, “The Summit will reconvene the U.S.-led Main Economies Discussion board on Vitality and Local weather, which brings collectively 17 international locations liable for roughly 80 % of worldwide emissions and world GDP.  The President additionally invited the heads of different international locations which might be demonstrating robust local weather management, are particularly susceptible to local weather impacts, or are charting modern pathways to a net-zero economic system.  A small variety of enterprise and civil society leaders may also take part within the Summit.”

Click on HERE to learn extra, together with the checklist of invited leaders.

New Senate Carbon Seize Laws

Sens. Smith (D-MN) and Capito (R-WV) have launched the Carbon Seize Utilization and Storage Tax Credit score Amendments Act. The bipartisan laws would lengthen “start development” by 5 years, enable for direct fee of carbon seize credit, improve assist for direct air seize of CO2 from the environment, enable the 45Q credit score to offset tax obligations because of the Base Erosion Avoidance Tax (BEAT), and revise the 48A tax credit score to make it work for CCUS retrofits.

To learn extra, together with a invoice abstract and legislative textual content, click on HERE.

Local weather Change Schooling Act Reintroduced in Home & Senate

Sen. Markey (D-MA), Rep. Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Brownley (D-CA), have reintroduced the Local weather Change Schooling Act, which might create a grant program on the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to help state and native training companies enhance local weather literacy, in addition to establishments of upper training {and professional} associations. The laws is meant to make sure that college students in any respect age ranges are taught about local weather adaptation and mitigation; local weather resilience; and the consequences of local weather change on the setting, vitality sources, and social and financial techniques, together with environmental and local weather justice. The invoice would assist skilled growth for lecturers; science, know-how, well being and engineering training; the event of local weather literacy curricula; and enhance the standard of and entry to coaching and certification for jobs that incorporate local weather mitigation. The Local weather Change Schooling Act authorizes $50 million a 12 months from 2021 by way of 2026 to be appropriated to NOAA to determine the Local weather Schooling program workplace and administer the grant program.