Enabling Pollution vs. Accelerating Cleantech
I was scrolling through our most popular articles of the past week on CleanTechnica.com, and was pondering the theme of the week. The thing that jumped out to me was how some places and policymakers are choosing to simply enable and increase pollution while others are choosing to accelerate cleantech development and adoption.
The most popular article of the week was actually just a press release from the Sierra Club. But it was a shocking one. Apparently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (emphasis added there) is proposing “cutting the public out of air pollution permits for ‘minor sources,’ which include the large diesel generators that many data centers in Texas use,” as the Sierra Club summarizes. Shocking. Brazen policy from the agency that is supposed to protect our air and water to make it easier for polluters to pollute. What a backwards, harmful direction this country has taken under corrupt and ignorant pro-pollution elderly men.
Speaking of that administration and the Republican-controlled Congress that ended EV tax credits for U.S. consumers, the largest state in the Union has decided to try to big up the baton for its residents and help them buy more electric vehicles. Granted, the policy is a bit limited compared to the U.S. legislation that was killed by Republicans in Washington, D.C., but it has some interesting elements as well. For example, it is focused on getting people into EVs who haven’t made the switch yet and only offers those people the subsidy. (I think that’s actually a wise use of the state’s dollars, especially since EV owners are almost guaranteed to buy another EV anyway because of the big benefits an EV provides drivers.) The legislation also includes special loopholes for California-based companies, which doesn’t include Tesla but does include Rivian and Lucid. Interesting….
