Parts Per Billion

Shortly after taking office, President Joe Biden gave his federal agencies numerous climate-related tasks to complete within the first few months of his presidency—like making a plan to buy more electric vehicles or stand up a youth-led climate corps.

By and large, the agencies have accomplished few if any of these tasks so far.

On today's episode of our weekly podcast, Parts Per Billion, Bloomberg Law White House reporter Courtney Rozen talks about why the executive branch is missing all of these climate deadlines and about why this does not necessarily spell doom for Biden's larger, long-term climate goals.

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It's no secret that the coal industry is struggling, with renewable energy continuing to get cheaper and a glut of natural gas flooding the market. The governors of some coal-producing states are now trying to halt this downward spiral by taking their neighbors to court.

On this episode of our environmental podcast, Parts Per Billion, Bloomberg Law correspondent Tripp Baltz outlines the arguments these states are making. He says these Republican-led states are blaming the potential shuttering of coal-fired power plants on renewable energy mandates pushed by, as one governor put it, "woke, overzealous regulators."

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Electric vehicles have slowly been gaining market share over the past few decades. But Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) says car buyer tax credits that recently expired must be reinstated to accelerate this trend.

On this episode of Parts Per Billion, our weekly environmental podcast, Kildee speaks with Bloomberg Tax's Kaustuv Basu about how Democrats in the House, Senate, and White House are crafting a bill that would not only bring back these tax credits but also change who can take advantage of them. He also talks about how U.S. automakers need EV incentives to avoid once again falling behind their foreign competitors.

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The average road and bridge in the U.S. is in poor shape, and has been for some time. That could pose a serious obstacle for the makers of electric heavy-duty trucks—and for the states that have laws mandating their adoption in the coming decades.

Currently, a battery that can power one of these trucks would add more than two tons to the weight the vehicle. And data about how much damage this could do to the country's highway infrastructure is spotty at best.

On this week's episode, Bloomberg Law reporter Emily C. Dooley talks about her recent story on the electric truck industry. She says the industry, and electric vehicle regulators, are banking that technological advancements will make these batteries lighter in the coming decades. If not, Dooley says, electric vehicle adoption goals may be very, very difficult to achieve.

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It's almost impossible for Democrats to pass any legislation through Congress without all 50 Democratic Senators signing on. That means Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), arguably the most conservative Democrat in the chamber, is very, very powerful.

On this episode of our weekly environmental podcast, Parts Per Billion, we talk to Bloomberg Government's Kellie Lunney, who recently traveled to the Mountain State to learn about what Manchin's constituents want him to do to on fossil fuels and other climate policies. Lunney says Manchin, and his also-very-powerful counterpart, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. Va.), may not actually block every piece of climate legislation that the Senate will consider.

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The Endangered Species Act typically wasn't used to go after people who run wild animal petting zoos. But that was before "Tiger King."

Today on our weekly environmental podcast, Parts Per Billion, Bloomberg Law's Maya Earls talks about how the Netflix show has led activist groups, and even some federal agencies, to think differently about how to use decades-old environmental statutes in new ways.

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Michael Regan is the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency and Bloomberg Law's Stephen Lee had an exclusive interview with him this week.

On this episode of our weekly podcast, Parts Per Billion, Stephen tells us what he learned from speaking with Regan and about the background of this not very well known cabinet official. Stephen also talks about why Regan is prioritizing tighter limits on auto emissions, an about face from the policies of his predecessor.

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Record-low prices gave the fossil fuel industry a horrible year financially in 2020. But Kirkland & Ellis, the law firm that handled a huge percentage of the industry's bankruptcy filings, made money hand over fist.

On today's episode of Parts Per Billion, we hear from Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom, who analyzed a database of large bankruptcy filings and found that this firm soared above its rivals in 2020 thanks to the energy industry's slump.

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Industrial sites in Texas spewed much more air pollution than normal as a result of the frigid temperatures there last month and the ensuing infrastructure failures.

What kind of liability will these sites face from these emissions? Probably not much, according to Bloomberg Law's Jennifer Hijazi. The environmental reporter joins our weekly podcast, Parts Per Billion, to talk about the "act of God" provisions in state and federal air pollution regulations that shield emitters from penalties and fines, and about whether these provisions may tighten under the Biden administration.

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To an outsider, it seems like the state of Texas now has no choice but to make huge changes to its energy policies, with last week's freeze-induced power outages and utility failures becoming nothing short of catastrophic. But Rachel Adams-Heard isn't too sure about that.

The Bloomberg News energy reporter and Texas native says, after the state finishes cleaning up from this disaster, it may very well decide the costs of bolstering its power grid against another deep freeze are simply too high.

On this episode of our weekly environmental podcast, Parts Per Billion, Rachel talks about all the system failures that led to last week's catastrophe and why the Lone Star state must decide just how far it's willing to go to prevent this from happening again.

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