During the global outbreak of COVID-19 America's energy producers are pitching in to help our communities. We'll be doing our best to amplify these great stories made possible by America's producers.
America's energy infrastructure firing on all cylinders to help out communities in need.
"The small impact from the lockdown on particulate matter, however, reminds us that our air is very clean and dramatically better than in the past, and that adding even more costly regulations would likely provide limited benefit."
Iowa Business Daily (5/12/20) reports: "U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley says he backs taxpayer subsidies of wind farms because they are good for his home state of Iowa. But today, some 30 years after Grassley conceived the federal wind tax credit program, which birthed rows of turbines across the country’s emptiest spaces, he has another, somewhat improbable cheerleader: China. China’s curious role in support of taxpayer wind energy subsidies in the U.S. is now raising suspicion, as Grassley tries to convince Trump administration officials that their COVID-19 stimulus measures should include a boost to his beleaguered wind program...According to an analysis last year by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC), which goes to 'corporations who either erect new wind turbines or refurbish turbines.' has cost U.S. taxpayers $65.1 billion. A huge chunk of that taxpayer money has gone directly to companies in which the largest shareholder is the Communist Party of China (CCP)."
The next flu season will be rough with no heat.
E&E News (5/18/20) reports: "New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and New Jersey blocked key water permits Friday for a controversial multistate natural gas pipeline, handing climate activists a victory and setting the stage for a standoff with EPA ahead of a rollout on Clean Water Act guidance. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's decision deals a blow to Williams Cos., which is pushing to build the $1 billion Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project to expand its existing 10,000-mile interstate transmission Transco pipeline system in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Williams has said the project is critical for supplying an additional 400 million cubic feet of natural gas per day — enough to serve 2.3 million homes — in time for the 2021 winter heating season. But the New York DEC said it was denying a required Clean Water Act Section 401 certificate for the project based on regulators' concerns about water quality surrounding construction."
Team Trump is making it easier to do good.
Bloomberg (5/15/20) reports: "The EPA is modifying one of its rules to increase the supply of products to clean food-contact surfaces due to disinfectant shortages during the coronavirus crisis. The temporary changes target sanitizers containing isopropyl alcohol, the primary ingredient in rubbing alcohol, and a widely used disinfectant within pharmaceutics, hospitals, and electronics manufacturing, the Environmental Protection Agency said Friday. The agency said it amended the rule based on feedback from the food manufacturing and preparation industries. Those industries told the agency they’re struggling to find enough sanitizers to use while processing low-moisture products like cereal, flour, and industrial baked goods. The move follows some of the supply change flexibility the EPA offered in a temporary amendment last month that allowed disinfectant producers to make certain changes to their formulations and manufacturing facilities without waiting for EPA approval. The EPA also said it added isopropyl alcohol to the list of active ingredients considered to be commodity chemicals under the temporary amendment. Isopropyl alcohol products shouldn’t be applied directly to food, the agency cautioned. Instead, they should be used to sanitize equipment and surfaces used in food manufacturing and preparation."
