Former EPA administrator and climate advisor Gina McCarthy was a key backer of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The law set the country on an aggressive march toward greenhouse gas emission reductions, including advancing wind and solar. By some estimates, the green energy credits in the law alone will cost $3 trillion over their lifetimes.
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China is planning to restrict exports of a key mineral needed to make weapons while a U.S. company that could be reducing America’s reliance on foreign suppliers is languishing in red tape, energy experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Chinese government announced on August 15 that it will restrict exports of antimony, a critical mineral that dominates the production of weapons globally and is essential for producing equipment like munitions, night vision goggles and bullets that are essential to national security, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Perpetua Resources, an American mining company, has been navigating red tape for years to develop a mine in Valley County, Idaho, that could decrease reliance on the Chinese supply of antimony, but the slow permitting process is getting in the way, energy experts told the DCNF.
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In a recent interview, World Energy Council Secretary General Angela Wilkinson told me that one of the main impediments to the energy transition today is a lack of what she calls “systems thinking.”
“Energy transitions are a change in the organization of society,” she pointed out. “They’re not a simple case of swapping out one technology for another and everything else stays the same. Yet, we have this very simplistic narrative that we can take the oil system, we can put renewables in, it’s going to happen immediately, and nothing else will change. It’s like saying we’re going to take your thighbone out, but we’d like you to run a marathon.”
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Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote confirmed Judge Loren AliKhan to the federal bench for life after AliKhan helped along a defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump. Ironically, according to Politico, Harris has expressed support for President Biden’s plans to impose term limits on Supreme Court justices who at the moment, like AliKahn, enjoy lifetime tenure.
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Several financial backers of centrist organization No Labels are questioning its potential third-party ticket’s viability as the 2024 election draws nearer, Politico reported Monday.
No Labels has been teasing a “unity ticket” for roughly a year as an alternative to both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, but has yet to make it official or pick a candidate. After former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia declined to run, multiple No Labels donors voiced concern to Politico over whether the group has waited too long to make a move, and questioned if they should continue to financially support it.
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The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has been scrutinizing the intersection of electric vehicle mandates and supply chains to meet them, and how EV subsidies could empower China, which controls a lot of those supply chains.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., chair of the committee, said he doesn’t have any problem with electric vehicles.
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Republicans appear to be in a strong position to take back control of the Senate in 2024, where they only need to flip two seats, with numerous vulnerable Democrats set to appear on the ballot amid a contentious presidential election.
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