(Reuters) - California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed a bill requiring the state to source electricity from exclusively carbon-free sources by 2045, a move aimed at combating climate change that clashes with U.S. President Donald Trump’s pro-fossil fuel policies.
FILE PHOTO: California Governor Jerry Brown delivers his final state of the state address in Sacramento, California, U.S., January 25, 2018. REUTERS/Fred Greaves/File Photo
The law makes California the largest global economy to commit to 100 percent clean energy. Hawaii is the only other U.S. state to set a similar goal.
“There is no understating the importance of this measure,” Brown said at a signing ceremony in Sacramento surrounded by state lawmakers.
The law sends a message that California supports the global Paris agreement to fight climate change, he said. Trump withdrew from the accord last year over concerns that it would hurt the U.S. economy, making the United States the only country to do so.
“We are going to meet the Paris agreement and we’re going to continue down that path to transition our economy to zero carbon emissions,” Brown said.
Brown’s signing came days before he hosts a gathering of local, international and business leaders in San Francisco to highlight the urgency of addressing climate change.
California has repeatedly clashed with the federal government’s policies on climate change, immigration and other issues since Trump became president.
The bill received strong support from environmental activists, renewable energy companies and public health groups. The state’s biggest utilities, however, opposed the measure.
Utility Pacific Gas & Electric said the law could raise customer bills and make the grid less reliable. “If it’s not affordable, it’s not sustainable,” utility spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo said in an emailed statement.
The clean energy bill, known as SB 100, passed the legislature last month.
The law requires utilities to source 60 percent of their power from renewable energy by the end of 2030, up from a prior goal of 50 percent. By 2045, all of the state’s electricity must come from renewable or other zero-carbon sources.
In 2017, 32 percent of California’s retail electricity sales were served by renewable energy facilities, according to the California Energy Commission.
Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Richard Chang
SEPTEMBER 10, 2018 / 5:30 PM / UPDATED 5 HOURS AGO
House Republicans release second round of proposed tax cuts
1 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday released plans for a second round of tax cuts, which follow comprehensive tax legislation enacted in December.
FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Capitol Building is lit at sunset in Washington, U.S., December 20, 2016. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
The three pieces of legislation proposed by Republicans on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee would make permanent lower individual rates, eliminate the maximum age for some contributions to retirement accounts and allow new businesses to write off more start-up costs, among other provisions.
(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Monday cleared the way for Missouri to enforce state laws requiring doctors who perform abortions to be affiliated with hospitals and abortion clinics to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis overturned a 2017 ruling that blocked enforcement of those laws and opened the door for more abortion providers to operate in the state, which at the time had only one.
Monday’s decision comes in a 2016 lawsuit filed by affiliates of the women’s health organization Planned Parenthood in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that year that struck down similar abortion restrictions in Texas.
SPONSORED
The Missouri laws require doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at local hospitals, which can be difficult to obtain, and for abortion clinics to have costly hospital-grade facilities to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers.
The court said it did not have enough information to determine how easily abortion clinics could obtain waivers from the licensing rules and whether those requirements posed an undue burden on clinics.
U.S. Circuit Judge Bobby Shepherd, who wrote the opinion, said the lower-court judge also erred by not considering the state’s arguments about the benefits of the provision requiring doctors who perform abortions be affiliated with hospitals.
“Invoking the Constitution to enjoin the laws of a state requires more than ‘slight implication and vague conjecture,’” Shepherd wrote. “At a minimum, it requires adequate information and correct application of the relevant standard.”
The lawsuit was filed by Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region.
Planned Parenthood in a statement said the ruling threatens to shut down abortion services at one of Missouri’s two clinics that can provide it.
Missouri’s attorney general did not respond to a request for comment.
Abortion and the landmark 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade that legalized the procedure have been a central issue in the U.S. Senate confirmation process for Republican President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Some states are passing restrictive abortion laws in anticipation they will be upheld by an increasingly conservative Supreme Court.
“Look no farther than Missouri to see what kind of harm courts can inflict on women’s rights and freedoms,” Dawn Laguens, executive vice president, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.
Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Cynthia Osterman
Recent Comments