skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Bay State Bracing for New D.C. Wind & Solar Political Climate

play audio
Play

Monday, June 5, 2017   

BOSTON -- Despite President Trump pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, New England states and many Americans continue to embrace the idea of renewable energy.

Forty years ahead of Environmental Protection Agency predictions, output from renewable energy has doubled. Nearly 20 percent of electricity in the U.S. now comes from renewable resources, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Trump is not the first president to try to put the brakes on renewable energy, said Peter Shattuck, director the Acadia Center's Clean Energy Initiative. When the George W. Bush administration pulled back on renewable energy, he said New England governors responded with the nation's first mandatory climate program for power plants.

Shattuck said he expects New England will push back again.

"Backsliding by the Trump administration certainly doesn't help,” Shattuck said, "but a lot of the fundamentals of clean energy, wind and solar, are taking off on their own; and a lot of the policy incentives are dictated at the state level."

Shattuck said Massachusetts is the biggest solar market in New England and legislative proposals already are pending to increase the state's current pledge to obtain 25 percent of the state's power from renewable sources by 2022.

In 2012, a report by the Energy Information Administration predicted the country would see wind and solar power providing 15 percent of total energy by 2035. Ken Bossong, executive director at the SUN-DAY campaign, said the nation currently is ahead of that prediction, but the momentum that has been gained could be lost because of the latest developments in Washington.

"If anything, it's clearly more of a problem today,” Bossong said; "and certainly with the Trump administration it's a serious concern just because there's not the support that we had just a year ago from the White House for addressing this problem. "

Bossong said solar power is utilized by 1.2 million households in America, either from solar panels installed on rooftops or by homeowners tapping in to nearby solar energy sources.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021