EPA moves quickly to finalize climate actions

CLIMATE: Biden administration officials are working to finalize key climate policies before the end of the term, including granting California the ability to set tougher vehicle emission standards and completing a study on LNG export rules that could help defend them in court. (Washington Post)

ALSO:

• Climate advocates who helped shape the Inflation Reduction Act discuss ways the U.S. can continue cutting emissions under a Trump administration, as climate groups say they’re better prepared to defend existing policies than they were during Trump’s first term. (Canary Media, Inside Climate News)
• “Fundamental market forces are at play” that will prevent the Trump administration from reversing course on the clean energy transition, experts say. (Grist)

OVERSIGHT:

• Trump is considering reappointing agency leaders from his first term, as his transition team hopes to avoid the legal and procedural missteps that characterized his 2017 efforts to roll back environmental protections. (The Hill, New York Times)
• Current EPA staffers ​“are preparing for the worst” amid the incoming administration’s plans to gut the agency and replace scientists and other experts with political loyalists. (The Guardian)

OFFSHORE WIND: Donald Trump’s opposition to offshore wind will create headwinds for the industry, but is unlikely to stop projects already under construction or thwart development in the long term, experts say. (Associated Press)

NUCLEAR: Big tech companies’ plans to revive nuclear plants will be difficult without regulatory and financial support from the U.S. government, and President-elect Trump has sent mixed signals about whether he would support a nuclear revival. (Vox, Utility Dive)

PUBLIC LANDS:

• The Biden administration proposes tighter restrictions on oil and gas drilling, clean energy development and mining on federal lands in an effort to protect the imperiled greater sage grouse. (Associated Press)
• The incoming Trump administration plans to shrink two national monuments in Utah shortly after taking office, which will open hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land to oil and gas drilling and uranium and coal mining. (New York Times)

GRID: Federal regulators approve grid operator PJM’s request to delay its next power supply auction in order to address concerns that the market’s structure is driving up prices. (E&E News, subscription)

TRANSPORTATION: California air regulators vote to tighten the state’s low carbon fuel standards in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions even though the changes could lead to higher gasoline prices. (Associated Press)

COMMENTARY: A journalist says Trump’s first term didn’t have a major impact on global emissions, and future action will depend heavily on whether China sees a strategic advantage in taking the lead on climate. (The Guardian)