Gov. Rick Snyder Outlines Broad Vision for Michigan's Energy Policy

Gov. Rick Snyder set a broad vision for Michigan's energy policy that involves a more flexible range of renewable energy goals to be achieved by 2025.

“No More Solyndras Bill” is back

It appears that the rebellion by some Republican Congressmen last week against the “No More Solyndras Bill” has been “dealt with” by Republican leadership. No details have emerged on how much blood was shed in putting down the rebellion.

The bill is named for a solar manufacturer that received a $500 million dollar loan guarantee and later filed for bankruptcy. Republicans have spent a year and a lot of money trying to find wrongdoing by the White House. They found none so they are trying to end of the loan programs all together.

House of Representatives passes bill to choke off Energy Department financing

Republicans in the House of Representatives quietly passed 13 provisions last week that would choke off Energy Department financing for existing clean energy and efficiency programs.

The House adopted the amendments on June 6 as part of its 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. The proposed cuts reflect a broader trend. As the Tea Party reshapes the GOP, opposition to policies that reduce climate-changing gases and stoke the clean energy economy is soaring.

GOP congressional reps ‘energized’ over legislation

Three Republican members of the Colorado congressional delegation have proposed three bills to streamline and enhance domestic energy production. But critics of the so-called “Three Stooges” of energy bills say the proposed legislation moves away from long-term solutions in the name of a quick political opportunity to attack President Barack Obama’s administration and Democratic proposals in a tightly contested election year.

70% of Americans oppose federal subsidies for fossil fuels

A survey by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication shows that about 70% Americans oppose federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry (coal, oil, and natural gas), including majorities of republicans, democrats, and independents.




This is good news for the Obama Administration, which is expected to repeal more than $4 billion a year in subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.

 Currently, the U.S. government provides about $10 billion a year in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. 

U.S. and Chinese energy policy: Chinese carbon caps

While U.S. Republican presidential candidates are vying for who will dismantle the EPA fastest upon winning the election and dismissing air pollution as liberal propaganda, China is considering a cap on greenhouse gases.

China has long surpassed the United States in funding for green technology, has recently instituted a solar feed-in tariff, and, in a further display of reasonableness, is now, at least, discussing a "campaign to limit the absolute amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted by certain industries in certain regions," according to a senior climate official, as reported in the China Daily.

Energy bills vetoed by Schwarzenegger fit the floor once more

Dozens of proposals vetoed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are zooming through the Legislature anew, with the ruling Democrats hoping Jerry Brown will sign them.

But getting the governor on board may not be easy.