Administration

The Biden administration announced this week that it will cut the cost of building wind and solar on US public land by 50%. In a statement, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced: The new policy will reduce rents and fees substantially and enhance rate predictability for wind and solar developers. On average, the expects rents and fees to decrease by over 50% due to lower acreage rents and a standard megawatt fee that promotes more efficient wind and solar or hybrid projects on public lands.   The DOI…

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US Vice President Kamala Harris and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan are today launching the Clean School Bus program, a part of President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, from a high school in Falls Church, Virginia. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 authorizes the EPA to offer rebates to replace diesel school buses with what the EPA calls “clean and zero-emission (ZE) models.” Electric buses will be prioritized over alternative fuels. The first round of the…

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration on Monday plans to announce steps aimed at addressing the U.S. shortage of entry-level homes, including expanding federally backed financing for affordable housing and directing grants toward localities that encourage construction.Each regulatory move is technical and modest, though the administration hopes they will collectively dent the estimated shortage of millions of homes over the coming years. “While the policies cover a wide range of issues and agencies, most are intended to do…

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration canceled plans to auction drilling rights in three regions off the U.S. coastline later this year, adding more friction to an uneasy relationship with the oil industry during a period of high gasoline prices.The decision to cancel lease sales for two regions in the Gulf of Mexico and one off the coast of Alaska leaves oil-and-gas companies facing a blackout period of unknown length for access to new drilling spots in valuable offshore acreage. A five-year schedule for offshore lease…

So far, President Biden’s legacy on climate change is pretty insubstantial. There’s time to change that if he can quickly make much better use of his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The president put nearly all his hopes for climate action into passing his Build Back Better legislation through Congress. That bill would have spent $550 billion on clean energy and electrified transit. It failed to garner a majority in the Senate, and due to continuing reticence about the measure on the part of more conservative…

The U.S. is looking to accelerate its quantum computing and post-quantum security push as it works to remain resilient in the face of the breakneck speed of research in the field. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed two directives relating to the quantum push - an Executive Order creating the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee, as well as a memorandum. Both aim to outline the U.S. priorities' in quantum computing leadership and the hardening of its information systems against quantum-based attacks on its…

The Biden administration set a goal of permitting 25 gigawatts (GW) of solar, onshore wind, and geothermal energy on public lands by 2025. It’s well on its way to exceeding that goal. 25 GW by 2025 clean energy – and then some In January 2022, the White House reported that since President Joe Biden took office, his administration had approved 18 onshore projects totaling 4.175 GW (including eight located on public lands and 10 with interconnection lines on public lands) and initiated processing of another 54…

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday issued fresh warnings that new 5G wireless service could still disrupt flights, saying there were "big differences" between US aviation protections and those used in France.Late Thursday, the FAA launched a dedicated webpage on 5G and aviation safety raising questions about potential impact on sensitive airplane electronics like altimeters.This week, AT&T and Verizon agreed to adopt similar precautions to those in France. On Monday, the carriers said they would…