HAPPY TUESDAY! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of the latest energy and environment news. Here are some photos from around the world showing cities hit by record-setting snowstorms.
Please send tips and comments to Rebecca Beitsch at rbeitsch@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow her on Twitter: @rebeccabeitsch. Reach Rachel Frazin at rfrazin@digital-staging.thehill.com or follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin.
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THE RESULTS ARE IN: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it is changing the way it evaluates risk from introducing chemicals, following a new report that criticized the agency’s approach under the Trump administration.
The new report, released Tuesday by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, said that the approach outlined in a 2018 guidance document “does not meet the criteria of ‘comprehensive, workable, objective, and transparent.’”
Read more about the report and the EPA’s move here.
NO THANKS! Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who announced a 2022 Senate bid earlier this month, said in a statement Tuesday that he will not accept donations from the fossil fuel industry in his run.
Fetterman said in the statement obtained by The Hill via email that he had signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, under which candidates vow not to accept more than $200 from executives, lobbyists or PACs connected to the oil, gas or coal industries.
“I never have and never will take a dime from the fossil fuel industry,” Fetterman, who signed a similar pledge in his 2018 lieutenant governor run, said in a statement.
Read more about the commitment here.
SUIT UP: A group of 15 attorneys general is petitioning the courts to block the Biden administration from fulfilling automakers’ last minute request to the Trump administration to limit penalties for those who do not meet emissions standards.
A Jan. 14 rule from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) approved automakers’ request to delay taking into account inflation when fining car manufacturers for failing to comply with federal emissions regulations.
Read more about the lawsuit here.
COMING SOON, TO A HOUSE FLOOR NEAR YOU: Next Wednesday, the House is expected to vote on a package of bills on public lands and waters, according to the chamber’s Natural Resources Committee
In a statement Tuesday, the committee said that the package would include bills introduced in the last Congress and this year. It will include measures aimed at conservation in Arizona, Colorado, California and Washington state.
WHAT WE’RE READING:
Trump’s California water plan troubled federal biologists. They were sidelined, The Sacramento Bee and The Guardian report
150 years of spills: Philadelphia refinery cleanup highlights toxic legacy of fossil fuels, Reuters reports
Biden aims to isolate China on coal — but it could blow back on the U.S., Politico reports
ICYMI: Stories from Tuesday and the long weekend…
15 states sue over Trump plan to limit penalties on automakers failing to meet emissions standards
Democrats propose executive actions on electric vehicle acquisitions
Photos from around the world show cities hit by record-setting snowstorms
Texas storm could spark increase in gas prices
IBM pledges net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030
Oklahoma bill would push mountain lion hunting in response to increased sightings
Bill Gates: Rich nations should move to ‘100 percent synthetic beef’
Fetterman pledges not to accept fossil fuel money in Pennsylvania Senate race
7.1 magnitude earthquake hits Japan
Trump EPA ripped over approach to chemical risk evaluations in new report