Court orders DOE to implement efficiency standards
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Last week, a federal court ordered the Department of Energy to implement energy efficiency standards that had been approved by the Obama administration but were put off by the Trump administration.
The order came as a result of a lawsuit filed by the attorney generals in California Xavier Becerra, and New York Eric Schneiderman.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that DOE must promptly publish finalized energy efficiency standards for four products: portable air conditioners, uninterruptible power supplies, air compressors, and commercial packaged boilers.
“(The) ruling means that the Trump administration may no longer block common-sense energy efficiency standards. This is a tremendous victory for the American people and for our planet,” said Attorney General Becerra in a statement. “The California Department of Justice will continue to hold the Trump administration, indeed all polluters, accountable. The stakes could not be higher – climate change is the most important global environmental issue of our time. Our citizens have a right to be part of the climate change solution.”
Energy efficiency standards are estimated to have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 98.8 million tons within the last 30 years. That is comparable to taking more than 21 million cars off the road for one year. Consumer savings are estimated to be $8.4 billion.
The energy efficiency standards were approved by the Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency at DOE in December 2016. As is required, the standards then underwent two procedural steps. First, they were subjected to a 45-day period for submission of correction requests. Once this period closed, the DOE had a 30day period to submit these rules for publication in the Federal Register, making the rules legally enforceable. The DOE failed to complete this final step.
“The Trump administration has made a point of rolling back basic, common-sense energy efficiency standards — putting polluters before everyday New Yorkers and Americans,” Schneiderman said in a written statement. “Our coalition of attorney generals has made clear that we’ll use every tool at our disposal to protect our public health, our environment, and consumers’ pocketbooks. Today’s court decision is an important victory in fighting back against the Trump administration’s ‘polluter first’ agenda. We will continue to fight to ensure the Trump administration meets its obligations to New Yorkers and the law.” GOP on climate Despite the scientific consensus regarding the effect of humans on climate change, many Republicans in Congress have continued to deny or ignore the role of human activity has played, but last week GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska pushed her colleagues to acknowledge and address the impacts of Climate Change.
According to the Washington Examiner, Murkowski who is the chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee challenged her colleagues during a speech at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Winter Policy Summit.
“We have to have a better discussion about climate change and the responses to it,” Murkowski said. “We have to not be afraid to use terms that some might say, that’s politically charged. Why is it politically charged to say climate change? I see in my state the impact we have from warming temperatures.”
In the past, some lawmakers such as Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma have gone as far as calling climate change a hoax, the same term President Donald Trump used during his campaign, but Murkowski didn’t mince words and stated that human-caused climate change is a fact.
“It is a fact when we see habitats changing because temperatures are warmer. It is a fact when sea ice that is multi-year ice is no longer in a place where it has historically been. Working toward our energy future, we must be reducing emissions that contribute to climate change,” Murkowski said. “This conversation is difficult. We all know it’s difficult. We have to stop making it harder. Let’s stop making it harder.”