Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., talks to reporters about the expansive agreement reached with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., that they had sought for months on health care, energy and climate issues, and taxes on higher earners and corporations, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 28, 2022.
FILE - Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., speaks to reporters outside the hearing room where he chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, at the Capitol in Washington, July 19, 2022. Manchin announced Wednesday, July 27, that he had reached an expansive agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer which had eluded them for months on health care costs, energy and climate issues, taxing higher earners and large corporations and reducing federal debt.
President Joe Biden speaks about the economy during a meeting with CEOs in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Thursday, July 28, 2022. Biden was updated on economic conditions across key sectors and industries.
FILE - A man wears a face mark as he fishes near docked oil drilling platforms, Friday, May 8, 2020, in Port Aransas, Texas. The Biden administration is proposing up to 10 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one in Alaska over the next five years. The announcement on Friday, July 1, 2022, said fewer lease sales or even zero could occur, with a final decision not due for months.
FILE - Wind turbines are silhouetted against the rising sun Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021, near Spearville, Kan. The Supreme Court decision June 30, 2022, restricting the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency may mean continued pollution from power plants in states that are not switching to cleaner energy. But many states are switching and experts say they'll remain free to keep cleaning up their electrical grids under the new decision.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An unexpected deal reached by Senate Democrats would be the most ambitious action ever taken by the United States to address global warming and could help President Joe Biden come close to meeting his pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, experts said Thursday, as they sifted through a massive bill that revives action on climate change weeks after the legislation appeared dead.
The deal announced late Wednesday would spend nearly $370 billion over 10 years to boost electric vehicles, jump-start renewable energy such as solar and wind power and develop alternative energy sources like hydrogen. The deal stunned lawmakers and activists who had given up hope that legislation could be enacted after West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said he could not support the measure because of inflation concerns.
Clean energy tax credits and other provisions in the 725-page bill could "put the U.S. on track to reducing emissions by 31-44% below 2005 levels in 2030,'' according to an analysis released late Thursday by the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm.
Additional action by the Biden administration and Democratic-controlled states could “help close the rest of the gap to (Biden's) target of a 50-52% cut in emissions by 2030,'' said Ben King, the group's associate director.
But approval of the bill is far from certain in a 50-50 Senate where support from every Democrat will be needed to overcome unanimous Republican opposition. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who forced changes in earlier versions of the plan, declined to reveal her stance Thursday.
In the narrowly divided House, Democrats can lose no more than four votes and prevail on a possible party-line vote.
Still, Biden called the bill “historic” and urged quick passage.
“We will improve our energy security and tackle the climate crisis — by providing tax credits and investments for energy projects,'' he said in a statement, adding that the bill “will create thousands of new jobs and help lower energy costs in the future.''
Environmental groups and Democrats also hailed the legislation.
"This is an 11th-hour reprieve for climate action and clean energy jobs, and America’s biggest legislative moment for climate and energy policy,'' said Heather Zichal, CEO of America's Clean Power, a clean energy group.
"Passing this bill sends a message to the world that America is leading on climate and sends a message at home that we will create more great jobs for Americans in this industry,'' added Zichal, a former energy adviser to President Barack Obama.
Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president of the League of Conservation Voters, summed up her reaction in a single word: “Wow!”
Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., tweeted that she was "stunned, but in a good way.''
Manchin, who chairs the Senate energy panel, insisted that he had not changed his mind after he told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer two weeks ago that he could not support the bill because of inflation concerns.
"There should be no surprises. I’ve never walked away from anything in my life,'' he told reporters on a Zoom call from West Virginia, where he is recovering from COVID-19.
Manchin said called the bill an opportunity “to really give us an energy policy with security that we need for our nation” while also driving down inflation and high gasoline prices.
The bill, which Manchin dubbed the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” includes $300 billion for deficit reduction, as well as measures to lower prescription drug prices and extend subsidies to help Americans who buy health insurance on their own.
Besides investments in renewable energy like wind and solar power, the bill includes incentives for consumers to buy energy efficient appliances such as heat pumps and water heaters, electric vehicles and rooftop solar panels. The bill creates a $4,000 tax credit for purchases of used electric vehicles and up to $7,500 for new EVs.
The tax credit includes income limits for buyers and caps on sticker prices of new EVs — $80,000 for pickups, SUVs and vans and $55,000 for smaller vehicles. A $25,000 limit would be set on used vehicles.
Even with the restrictions, the credits should help stimulate already rising electric vehicle sales, said Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst for Edmunds.com. Electric vehicles accounted for about 5% of new vehicle sales in the U.S. in the first half of the year and are projected to reach up to 37% by 2030.
The bill also invests over $60 billion in environmental justice priorities, including block grants to address disproportionate environmental and public health harms related to pollution and climate change in poor and disadvantaged communities.
Beverly Wright, executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, called the bill a step forward, but said she was concerned about tax credits for “polluting industries” such as coal, oil and gas. “We need bolder action to achieve environmental and climate justice for ourselves and future generations,'' she said.
The bill would set a fee on excess methane emissions by oil and gas producers, while offering up to $850 million in grants to industry to monitor and reduce methane.
The bill's mixture of tax incentives, grants and other investments in clean energy, transportation, energy storage, home electrification, agriculture and manufacturing “makes this a real climate bill,'' said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. “The planet is on fire. This is enormous progress. Let’s get it done.”
But not all environmental groups were celebrating.
The deal includes promises by Schumer and other Democratic leaders to pursue permitting reforms that Manchin called “essential to unlocking domestic energy and transmission projects,'' including a controversial natural gas pipeline planned in his home state and Virginia. More than 90% of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline has been completed, but the project has been delayed by court battles and other issues.
The pipeline should be “at the top of the heap” for federal approval, Manchin said, and is a good example of why permitting reform is needed to speed energy project approvals. Manchin, a longtime supporter of coal and other fossil fuels, said environmental reviews of such major projects should be concluded within two years, instead of lasting up to 10 years as under current practice.
"Other countries around around the world — developed nations — do it extremely well, and they do it in a very short period of time. We should be able to do the same,'' he said.
While permitting reforms would be considered in separate legislation, the budget deal would require the Interior Department to offer at least 2 million acres of public lands and 60 million acres of offshore waters in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska for oil and gas leasing each year. If Interior fails to offer minimum amounts for leasing, the department would not be allowed to grant approvals to any utility-scale renewable energy project on public lands or waters.
That requirement "is a climate suicide pact,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group.
“It's self-defeating to handcuff renewable energy development to massive new oil and gas extraction,'' Hartl said, adding that new fossil fuel leasing required under the bill would “fan the flames of the climate disasters torching our country.''
But an oil industry group blasted the bill as punitive and inflationary.
"We are very concerned about this bill's potential negative impact on energy prices and American competitiveness, especially in the midst of a global energy crisis and record high inflation,” said Anne Bradbury, CEO of the American Exploration and Production Council, which represents independent oil and natural gas companies.
AP reporters Tom Krisher in Detroit and Drew Costley in Washington contributed to this story.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Gov. Doug Burgum says a crypto mining company is planning to redevelop a northeastern North Dakota anti-ballistic missile site abandoned in the 1970s into data center that may be used for the mining of bitcoin and other digital currencies. Bitzero announced last month that it planned to make North Dakota its headquarters for North American operations. The company says within three years it intends to build 200 megawatts of data centers in the state and is involved in a joint venture to become an assembly and distribution hub for graphene battery technology. Bitzero is backed by strategic investor and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary.
Democratic lawmakers are widening their scrutiny into the role of tech companies in collecting the personal data of people who may be seeking an abortion, as lawmakers, regulators and the Biden administration grapple with the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling ending the constitutional protections for abortion. In a new volley of congressional letters, six House Democrats have asked the top executives of Amazon’s cloud-service network and major cloud provider Oracle about the companies’ handling of consumers’ location data from mobile phones, and what steps they have taken or planned to protect the privacy rights of individuals seeking information on abortion.
A Pennsylvania-based convenience store chain is agreeing to pay $8 million to several states over a 2019 data breach that involved some 34 million payment cards, The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office said on Tuesday that Wawa Inc. didn't take reasonable security measures to prevent hackers from installing malware that is thought to have collected card numbers, customer names and other data. Wawa is agreeing to new policies to toughen its security efforts to combat data breaches. The settlement was made with attorneys general in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
Movie fighter pilots are depicted as highly trained military aviators with the skills and experience to defeat adversaries in thrilling aerial dogfights. New technologies, though, are set to redefine what it means to be a “Top Gun." Algorithms, data and machines are taking on a bigger role in the cockpit. Such changes are hinted at in the movie “Top Gun: Maverick.” The future for fighter pilots was on display this week at the Farnborough International Airshow, near London. Drones have been used extensively in the war between Russia and Ukraine and other modern conflicts. At the Farnborough show, experts said the future of air warfare is likely to be manned and unmanned aircraft working together.
The German government plans to reduce incentive payments for buyers of electric cars and end subsidies for buying plug-in hybrids at the end of this year. The government had announced shortly after taking office in December that, starting in 2023, it would only provide payments for electric vehicles that “demonstrably have a positive climate-protection effect.” At present, buyers of electric-only cars are eligible for incentives of up to 6,000 euros ($6,100) and people who buy plug-in hybrids can get up to 4,500 euros ($4,570). Starting in January, German government incentives for electric and fuel-cell cars will be cut to $4,570 for vehicles that cost up to $40,500 and to $3,045 for cars costing up to $66,000.
The state of Georgia and local governments are giving Hyundai Motor Group incentives worth $1.8 billion to build electric vehicles in the state. That's according to the signed agreement disclosed by state officials Friday. The company announced in May that it will invest $5.5 billion in its first U.S. plant dedicated to electric vehicles near Savannah. It's the largest economic development deal in Georgia's history, with a promise of creating 8,100 direct jobs. State officials for the first time Friday disclosed tax breaks and other incentives being given to close the deal with Hyundai. The package comes to nearly $228,000 per job.
A joint venture between General Motors and South Korean battery company LG Energy Solution is set to receive a $2.5 billion loan from the Energy Department to build battery cell factories for electric vehicles in three states. The Energy Department says it has made a conditional commitment to lend the money to Ultium Cells. The loan could help Ultium finance three lithium-ion battery plants planned in Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, bolstering Biden administration efforts to promote electric vehicles and reduce dependence on China for critical components. The director of Energy’s Loan Programs Office said Tuesday the loan would “help build a domestic supply chain to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles."
The University of Pikeville will receive a $4.4 million grant to support construction of an agritech research and education center in eastern Kentucky. State officials say the UPIKE Ag-Tech Innovation Center of Excellence will be located at the Kentucky Enterprise Industrial Park at Marion Branch in Pikeville. The project will be matched with $5.75 million in local funds. Gov. Andy Beshear announced the grant award on Wednesday. Officials say the project aims to promote job growth by bringing innovative industry to the area while enhancing educational opportunities for UPIKE students.
Union Pacific will spend more than $1 billion to upgrade 600 of its old diesel locomotives over the next three years and make them more efficient. The move will accelerate the pace of upgrades UP already planned to make and help the railroad cut roughly 210,000 tons of carbon emissions each year which is the equivalent of taking 45,000 cars off the road. The railroad estimates that the upgrades will improve the fuel efficiency of these long-haul locomotives by up to 18%. To accomplish that, locomotive manufacturer Wabtec will spend eight weeks overhauling the locomotives' engines and installing new software and electronic controls.
Shares are mostly higher in Asia after the Federal Reserve ratcheted up its campaign against surging inflation by raising its key interest rate three-quarters of a point. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority matched that with an increase of its own. Oil prices pushed higher while U.S. futures edged lower. The Fed’s latest hike lifts the benchmark short-term rate to its highest level since 2018. The S&P 500 gained 2.6% and the technology heavy Nasdaq jumped by the most in over two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also closed higher. Strong earnings from Google's owner Alphabet, Microsoft and other companies helped lift investors’ mood.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., talks to reporters about the expansive agreement reached with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., that they had sought for months on health care, energy and climate issues, and taxes on higher earners and corporations, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 28, 2022.
FILE - Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., speaks to reporters outside the hearing room where he chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, at the Capitol in Washington, July 19, 2022. Manchin announced Wednesday, July 27, that he had reached an expansive agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer which had eluded them for months on health care costs, energy and climate issues, taxing higher earners and large corporations and reducing federal debt.
President Joe Biden speaks about the economy during a meeting with CEOs in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Thursday, July 28, 2022. Biden was updated on economic conditions across key sectors and industries.
FILE - A man wears a face mark as he fishes near docked oil drilling platforms, Friday, May 8, 2020, in Port Aransas, Texas. The Biden administration is proposing up to 10 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one in Alaska over the next five years. The announcement on Friday, July 1, 2022, said fewer lease sales or even zero could occur, with a final decision not due for months.
FILE - Wind turbines are silhouetted against the rising sun Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021, near Spearville, Kan. The Supreme Court decision June 30, 2022, restricting the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency may mean continued pollution from power plants in states that are not switching to cleaner energy. But many states are switching and experts say they'll remain free to keep cleaning up their electrical grids under the new decision.
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