Governors Wind Energy Coalition
DOE program may save or thwart Biden’s energy plan Source: By David Iaconangelo, E&E News reporter • Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), President Biden’s nominee for secretary of Energy. Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS/Newscom
A Department of Energy program considered critical to President Biden’s clean energy agenda is changing focus and may open the administration to political attack, analysts say.
When Biden was vice president, the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) distributed tens of billions of dollars in loans and loan guarantees intended to scale up new clean technologies. The office helped launch the first utility-scale wind and solar farms in the country. And it made a $535 million loan to Tesla Inc., now the world’s most valuable automaker, to open its first factory in Silicon Valley.
Source: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News via Getty Images
Much like the last time Democrats took control of the White House, President Joe Biden may find himself needing to support increased access to a controversial resource to achieve key policy goals.
For former President Barack Obama, that resource was natural gas a pivotal part of shifting the U.S. power sector away from coal-fired generation and to curb the sector s greenhouse gas emissions. For Biden, mined battery metals will likely be needed to accomplish signature climate policies, such as mass deployment of electric vehicles.
Federal mineral mining financing has already been freed up by the outgoing Trump administration, the prospects of green stimulus appear poised to ratchet up demand for mined materials, and environmental permitting for mining looks unlikely to change.
A customer demonstrates mobile payment at a ChargePoint CT4000 charging station. The Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) map charts the way to 100 percent electric vehicle sales by 2030.
A coalition of auto, energy, and charging infrastructure companies have released an outline of plans for the U.S. to move toward all-EV sales by 2030. The Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA)’s roadmap pinpoints specific policies to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in the consumer and commercial vehicle markets. As an association recommendation, the ZETA plan is necessarily wonky as its six primary pillars encompass 34 specific policy proposals. Those pillars are:
1. Light-Duty Electric Vehicle Consumer Adoption
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Lobbying group unveils policy agenda to speed transition to EVs
Audrey LaForest
Print
In its policy platform, the association urges Congress to approve $30 billion over the next 10 years in funding for public EV charging infrastructure.
The Zero Emission Transportation Association is proposing several federal policies to accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles in the U.S. and maintain the nation s global leadership in the technology.
The association, which launched in November to advocate for all vehicles sold by 2030 in the U.S. to be electric models, unveiled the federal recommendations in a policy agenda released Jan. 12.
As part of its platform, the group is proposing federal law makers: