"Among the fuzzy pledges President Trump has made in his energy plans, his idea to pay for a $1 trillion public infrastructure program with a bonanza of fossil fuel mining and drilling revenue stands out as particularly far-fetched."
Democrats and Republications may agree on a vast federal program to build and repair the nation's crumbling infrastructure, but still uncertain is what will be built, how it will be paid for and who will vote for it. TipSheet looks at the politics of public works (what journalists used to call "pork").
While resurrecting the declining U.S. coal industry, as promised by the new administration, is probably not possible, it may not stop a lifting of the moratorium on coal leasing on federal lands. TipSheet looks at how the issue moved front and center, and whether the move would help coal country.
"President Donald Trump’s team has compiled a list of about 50 infrastructure projects nationwide, totaling at least $137.5 billion, as the new White House tries to determine its investment priorities, according to documents obtained by McClatchy’s Kansas City Star and The News Tribune."
"A group of senior Senate Democrats on Tuesday unveiled their own $1 trillion plan to revamp the nation’s airports, bridges, roads and seaports, urging President Trump to back their proposal, which they say would create 15 million jobs over 10 years."
"President Trump upended America’s traditional, bipartisan trade policy on Monday as he formally abandoned the ambitious, 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership brokered by his predecessor and declared an end to the era of multinational trade agreements that defined global economics for decades."
At a time when government information may be harder than ever to access, WatchDog offers a unique guide to leaks that reporters can offer potential whistleblowers. Also in the latest column, sealed records on a weedkiller-cancer connection, secret talks on coal-ash regs and more.
"A total of 640 businesses and investors sent a letter to President-elect Trump and Congress on Tuesday, strongly urging continued investment in the clean energy sector. The letter, coordinated by the nonprofit group Ceres, which works with investors and companies to promote sustainability, contains big tech names like Adobe, SalesForce, eBay, HP, SolarCity, Symantec and Tesla."
"Energy companies and their executives have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into political action committees run by or supporting President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. And now Pruitt is getting extra help from a new nonprofit that doesn't have to disclose its donors."
"China will plow 2.5 trillion yuan ($361 billion) into renewable power generation by 2020, the country's energy agency said on Thursday, as the world's largest energy market continues to shift away from dirty coal power towards cleaner fuels."
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