Michael Copley
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
During the government shutdown last fall, the Energy Department announced it was canceling more than $7 billion in grants that it said don't address the country's energy needs and aren't economically viable.
Critics said the move was aimed at punishing Democratic-leaning states during a political fight.
District Judge Ahmet Mehta has ruled the Energy Department violated the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law.
The ruling applies to seven grants, totaling $27.6 million, some of which was earmarked for electric vehicle charging programs.
The Energy Department didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Dominion's offshore wind facility was one of five projects targeted by the Interior Department's latest stop-work order as the Trump administration escalates its attacks on the offshore wind industry.
The Interior Department said the construction pause would give the government time to work with project developers to address national security concerns raised in a recent classified report.
Dominion said in a federal lawsuit that its project has already undergone an extensive national security review and that the pause is costing the company more than $5 million a day.
The project is expected online next year, generating enough electricity to power around 660,000 homes.
The EPA says tighter limits it put on fine particle pollution called soot were unlawful because it didn't conduct a thorough review required by the Clean Air Act.
The EPA said in a filing to the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit that it finalized the regulation last year without considering the costs it would impose.
on things like power plants and factories.
The agency said in a statement that implementing the rule would cost Americans hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars.
Environmental groups said abandoning the regulation of toxic particles would lead to more cases of asthma, heart disease, and early deaths.
The final deal doesn't say anything about phasing out fossil fuels, the main driver of global warming.