Republicans eye permitting reform, with or without Democrats

PERMITTING: Republican supporters of energy permitting reform are strategizing on how to push the legislation through in 2025 if they can’t broker a deal with Democrats during the lame-duck session. (E&E News)

FINANCE:

• A federal green bank program could survive the next four years, assuming the Trump administration follows the law, as its funding has already been formally committed and is supporting projects in red and blue states. (Canary Media)
• In response to a request from New York City’s comptroller, JPMorgan Chase discloses its ​“green financing ratio,” saying it spent $1.29 supporting clean energy last year for every dollar it spent financing fossil fuel projects. (Utility Dive)

SOLAR:

• As U.S. businesses brace for the impact of broad tariffs promised by President-elect Trump, the solar industry offers a playbook for how companies with the resources can mostly avoid paying them. (The Guardian)
• U.S. corporations are commissioning record levels of combined solar and storage deployments, with large tech and retail companies leading the way, according to a new industry report. (Solar Power World)

OFFSHORE WIND:

• Industrial unions are emerging as a somewhat unlikely source of support for offshore wind and may be uniquely positioned to help defend the nascent industry’s momentum under a second Trump presidency. (Grist)
• “We’ll show them”: Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey vows to move forward with the state’s offshore wind plan despite anticipated obstacles from the incoming Trump administration. (NBC Boston)

OIL & GAS: 

• The Biden administration is preparing a draft rule that could dramatically reshape how companies are held accountable for offshore oil well cleanups — if the Trump administration doesn’t rewrite it. (E&E News)
• Experts say Donald Trump’s promises to push the oil and gas industry to ramp up production are likely to collide with a global crude glut and companies wary of falling prices. (Bloomberg)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• A Washington state report finds property owners can generate far more revenue leasing pastures and cropland for wind and solar development than from farming the same parcels. (Capital Press)
• Ann Arbor, Michigan, will launch its voter-approved ​“sustainable energy utility” by assembling an initial 20 MW of demand and financing various renewable energy, storage and efficiency projects. (Canary Media)

CLIMATE: A firm that helps real estate, insurance and financial companies predict how climate models could result in local impacts develops a tool to measure how resilient and at-risk U.S. cities are to climate change. (Washington Post)

POLITICS: While most climate advocates view Trump’s reelection as a tragedy, some conservatives in the space say they are excited about the potential of permitting reform and an ​“all-of-the-above” approach to lower emissions. (Heatmap)