"Pacific Gas & Electric Co. could receive up to $15 billion in federal loans to help the utility modernize its power grid and expand clean energy infrastructure across central and northern California, officials announced Tuesday."
The fossil fuel industry’s outsized climate policy role in the U.S.’s most populous state is the core of award-winning coverage from investigative journalist Aaron Cantú for nonprofit newsroom Capital & Main. In the new Inside Story Q&A, Cantú shares some of what challenged him in his reporting, what surprised him most and a lesson learned.
"The Biden administration’s decision to include restrictions in the auction of oil drilling rights in part of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is legally vulnerable as the state looks to the next administration to allow more oil development."
"The Biden administration will double tariffs on certain solar panel components that are made in China, it announced Wednesday."
"President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he planned to expedite federal regulatory approvals, including all environmental permits, for any company or individual proposing to invest $1 billion or more in a construction project."
"Global accord lets oil firms sue over green policies. Pact signatories agree to reforms. Eleven European countries have quit treaty."
"As sea levels rise and natural disasters become more intense, homes in low-lying coastal areas or tinder-dry mountains are starting to lose value. That’s a problem for the finances of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises that back half of the nation’s outstanding mortgages — and keep the residential real estate market liquid by buying mortgages from banks and repackaging them into securities."
"If all 15 liquefied natural gas plants in Texas and Louisiana open, reductions in overall U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would slow"
"Copper will play a central role in the energy transition. These startups are working on a cleaner way to extract it."
"Concern over the climate crisis may evaporate in the White House from January, but its financial costs are now starkly apparent to Americans in the form of soaring home insurance premiums – with those in the riskiest areas for floods, storms and wildfires suffering the steepest rises of all."
