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Clean Energy Boom Runs Into Drill Baby Drill; Lee Zeldin; Nuclear Test | | | | |
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| Welcome back: The final version of President Trump's tax-and-spend legislation, which he signed into law Friday, delivers significant tax advantages to some industries while rescinding them for others. Solar and wind developers now have a 12-month runway to start new projects. After that, they won't qualify for special tax credits. Factories that make renewable equipment, such as solar panels, should see a short-term bump in orders as developers try to beat the clock. Beyond that, customers may simply buy from China instead. The megabill will quickly end subsidies of up to $7,500 for purchasing or leasing an electric vehicle, denying the credit for purchases after Sept. 30. That poses a challenge for automakers—from Tesla and Ford to BMW and Hyundai—that are already struggling to sell EVs in the U.S., where they have stalled at about 8% of the new-car market. An earlier version of the bill had kept subsidies for EVs in place into 2026. Oil-and-gas lobbyists have called the legislation a home run. It mandates new lease sales on public land and in federal waters in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico—which the U.S. now calls the Gulf of America—as well as in Western states. Lower royalty rates are reinstated, and the bill augments subsidies for projects that capture carbon and use it to recover more oil. Oil-and-gas producers will also be able to deduct certain drilling and development costs. Read on for more on this story and other sustainability news. | |
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The Moment the Clean-Energy Boom Ran Into 'Drill, Baby, Drill' | |
| |  | | Credits for home solar panels are slated to end soon. Photo: Allen G. Breed/Associated Press | | | | |
| Southern Energy Management is bracing for whiplash. The Raleigh, N.C.-based home-solar-panel installation company grew steadily in recent years, thanks in part to tax credits in former President Joe Biden's landmark 2022 climate law, the WSJ's David Uberti reports. Now, Chief Executive Will Etheridge says his 190-person company's residential solar sales could plunge in 2026 by as much as half. President Trump's megabill, which he signed into law Friday, ends the subsidies later this year. Etheridge's plans to buy more supplies from factories in North Carolina and elsewhere are on hold. Biden's climate law threw subsidies behind wind and solar power, electric vehicles and other green projects that federal forecasters said would total nearly $400 billion. Outside analysts projected the ultimate spending would be even greater. Investors jumped into renewables stocks, while local governments and labor unions clamored for new projects. Trump's "big, beautiful bill" will turn off that spigot as part of a push to extend the tax cuts enacted in his first term. Credits for EVs and home solar panels are slated to end in the coming months. Incentives to develop or produce renewable energy will wind down within years. | |
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Who is Lee Zeldin? The EPA's New Boss Embracing Deregulation | |
| |  | | Lee Zeldin says the EPA can protect the environment while also boosting the economy. KENT NISHIMURA/REUTERS | | | | |
| The Environmental Protection Agency's core mission has been fairly straightforward since it was founded 55 years ago: protect human health and the environment. Not anymore. The new EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, added four new mandates: pursue energy dominance, streamline permitting, make America the world's AI capital and restore auto jobs. Zeldin says he doesn't see a conflict between the agency's longtime mission to provide clean air, land and water and a pro-industry agenda, the WSJ's Scott Patterson and Kris Maher write. "I don't accept that it's a binary choice between protecting the environment and growing the economy," Zeldin said in an interview. "At the Trump EPA, we choose both, and that's something that we're very proud of pursuing." Zeldin's approach aligns with President Trump, who campaigned on bringing a "golden age" of prosperity to America by unleashing its energy resources and slashing regulations. Inside the EPA, though, employees are alarmed by the sudden shift to ease rules on U.S. industries, trim the agency's workforce and cut back on important research programs. Environmentalists argue Zeldin is taking the EPA further away from its mandate to protect the environment. | |
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| | | 500,000 | | Carbon credits acquired by Restoration Climate and the Ethereum Climate Platform in a deal with Boomitra, a California-based Earthshot Prize winner, in what is one of the world's largest soil carbon removal transactions to date. | | | | |
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Trump Wants to Expand Nuclear Power. It Won't Be Easy. | |
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| President Trump wants the U.S. power industry to go nuclear. His recent executive orders aim to quadruple nuclear-power generation in the next 25 years, the WSJ's Josh Ulick and Jennifer Hiller write. For most of the past three decades, the industry has been managing ever-older assets instead of building new reactors. Developers are counting on a supply-chain revival and will have to prove they can deliver on time and on budget to drive interest in the sector. New York hopes to get the ball rolling. Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled plans last week to build a large nuclear-power facility. The project could be sizable enough to help jump-start domestic construction and test Trump's promise to expedite permitting. The easiest place to build a new reactor is likely at an existing nuclear plant. The Energy Department last year identified sites in 28 states that have the room for additional reactors. In addition, 11 recently retired nuclear-power sites in 11 states could potentially accommodate new projects. For more graphics on challenges facing the U.S. nuclear industry, click here. | |
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- Trump faces crucial week for reaching trade deals. (WSJ)
- Mars launches $250 million sustainability solutions fund. (ESG Today)
- How the anti-ESG movement is reshaping corporate sustainability reports. (Trellis)
- EPA puts on leave 139 employees who spoke out against policies under Trump. (AP)
- Brazil's U.N. climate summit chief defends Petrobras oil expansion. (FT)
- Biggest climate fund approves record allocations as U.S. withdraws. (Bloomberg)
- Vatican publishes new mass on caring for the environment. (NYT)
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