Free Republic

At #COP28 , I joined President @EmmanuelMacron & other leaders to proudly announce the United States is joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance. We will work with partners around the world to phase out unabated coal, an absolutely essential step for keeping 1.5 C within reach.

A proposed Department of Energy rule would phase out the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to remove less energy-efficient bulbs from the market. Current standards require light bulbs to be at least 45 lumens, the unit used to measure brightness, per watt. Under the proposed update, first reported by CNN, the standard would be more than doubled to more than 120 lumens per watt. Commonplace 60-watt equivalent lightbulbs would only require a maximum of 6.5 watts, according to an analysis by the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP). “Today’s announcement is the latest...

Following a slowly growing national movement, Pennsylvania may be ready to try the idea of charging drivers a mileage-based fee to make up millions in transportation revenue lost to more fuel-efficient hybrid and electric cars. Melissa J. Batula, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s acting executive deputy secretary, said the department is working with the General Assembly to draft legislation establishing fees for those who pay little or nothing toward road maintenance. That’s because the state gets about 75% of its road money from the gasoline tax. A commission appointed last year by Gov. Tom Wolf recommended a series of steps...

Northern Indiana’s electric utility will delay the phaseout of a major coal plant due to the uncertainty created by a federal investigation into solar panel part manufacturers, the utility’s parent company said this week. In an earnings report for the first quarter of 2022, NiSource, the parent company of the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, said the ongoing Commerce Department investigation has created “uncertainty and delays” in the solar panel industry.

New York City has a plan to phase out COVID-19 vaccine passports and mandates in the coming weeks, said Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday.“I can’t wait to get it done … I’m not going to get ahead of the science because I’m ready to get ahead of all of this and get back to a level of normalcy,” Adams said in response to a question about whether his office will phase vaccine passports out.The Democrat mayor did not provide a firm timetable on when vaccine passports would be rescinded. However, Adams’s comment was the most definitive that he’s made about...

Under banners: “Without good work, no good climate! We are speaking out for our jobs,” as many as 20,000 mine workers took part in demonstrations organized by the IG BCE and Verdi trade unions on Wednesday in Bergheim near Cologne, Germany. IG BCE President Michael Vassiliadis has been a member of the coal commission since the summer. He called for a more respectful approach toward mine workers, akin to the attitude shown environmentalists campaigning to save the ancient Hambach forest. “The actions of forest conservationists are given maximum understanding,” Vassiliadis told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “But employees’ concerns are often...

Earlier on Wednesday, Glenn Beck’s website TheBlaze.com broke the news that Beck show would be eventually phased out of the Fox News Channel’s lineup. On his Wednesday afternoon show, Beck explained to viewers the reason behind his departure and admitted some other things about the content of his character. “I want to take a couple of minutes and address something personal between you and me,” Beck said. “This is something that, something that I have been thinking about for a very long time. When Fox was generous enough to offer me the time at 5:00, I originally didn’t take them...

Three years after he led the charge to require consumers to ditch their comfortable old incandescent lights in favor of those twisty CFL bulbs, Rep. Fred Upton now wants to be the man to help undo that law as the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That about-face is not unique among lawmakers looking to atone for stances they've taken over the past decade as they seek to gain top posts in a decidedly more conservative Republican Congress, but his reversal underscores how intent the GOP is on proving it has broken with past practices. "We have...

In a few weeks the US Congress is likely to vote to phase out the standard incandescent lightbulb within a decade. The frantic race to see who can best appease the global warming alarmists will claim another victim, the friendly glow of the direct descendant of Thomas Edison's filament-based light bulb.   Why would the humble lightbulb, a staple commodity that has raised the standard of living throughout the world, be in the bullseye?  It was the incandescent electric light bulb that abolished the tyranny of the night. Our 19th and 20th century ancestors believed it one of the greatest...

  For Immediate ReleaseApril 15, 2006 President's Radio Address       Audio      In Focus: Jobs and Economy      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Monday is Tax Day, and that means many of you are busy finishing up your tax returns. The good news is that this year Americans will once again keep more of their hard-earned dollars because of the tax cuts we passed in 2001 and 2003. An important debate is taking place in Washington over whether to keep these tax cuts in place or to raise your taxes. For the sake of American workers and their families, and for our...

BERLIN (AFP) - Germany disconnected the first of 19 nuclear power plants due to be shut down, two years after deciding to abandon atomic energy, in a highly symbolic move for environmental activists. "The reactor is shut down," a spokesman for the E.ON energy company announced Friday just after the plant was officially taken off Germany's electrical grid at around 8:30 am (0730 GMT). No special buttons were pushed or cables cut at the Stade plant near the northern port city of Hamburg. "It was just like for a routine maintenance check," the spokesman said. Stade was brought into service...

<p>WASHINGTON — The government's so-called "death tax" may be on its way out the door, but don't look for the tax bite to completely disappear. States, wary of losing out on easy money, are stepping into the breach to make sure they don't lose their share.</p>