Latest news with #EnergyCommittee
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bucking trends, Topsham approves a smaller budget for next year
May 29—Topsham residents approved all articles up for vote at the annual town meeting Wednesday night, including those outlining the municipal budget for the upcoming fiscal year and the new Climate Action Plan. Voters backed a municipal budget totaling $14.13 million during the meeting at the Mt. Ararat High School Forum. The budget reflects a 2% decrease in municipal spending from the current fiscal year, which was kept low by cutting paving projects and contributions to reserve funds. The municipal budget plus the county tax and Topsham's contribution to Maine School Administrative District 75 make up the total town budget. The SAD 75 budget, which totals $57.88 million with contributions from four towns, will go to referendum vote on June 10. Within the proposed municipal budget, police is the highest-spending department at $2.55 million, followed by EMS and fire, public works, and capital programs. The town plans on funding a community paramedic position in the fire department this year, a post that has existed for two years but was previously funded by a grant. The Climate Action Plan, developed by the town Energy Committee with input from residents, is an outline for town projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase resilience to climate change. "Any project that looks promising will be presented to the Select Board for the intention of creating better preparedness, a healthier environment as well as monetary savings," Energy Committee Vice Chairperson Nick Whatley said during Wednesday's meeting. The plan calls for Topsham to adopt state goals on climate change, including decreasing greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 45% by 2030 and 80% by 2050, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. It also proposes several actions that town government can adopt to reach these goals, from investing in sustainable transportation and renewable energy to updating town properties with climate-friendly heat pumps, appliances and lighting. Copy the Story Link
E&E News
16-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
GOP plan would let oil, carbon pipelines use eminent domain
A House Republican proposal to extend federal eminent domain power to developers of oil, hydrogen and carbon dioxide pipelines would rewrite decades of oversight — and likely anger a swath of rural voters. The proposal was rolled out as one small part of the GOP party-line megabill that the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced this week. Easing regulatory requirements on pipelines has already drawn the ire of environmental groups, who oppose new fossil fuel projects. The fate of the reconciliation bill remains up in the air, meaning the pipeline provision could still be altered or deleted. Advertisement But moving to broaden companies' ability to take property from unwilling sellers stands to upset rural Republicans who have increasingly protested the use of eminent domain by private pipeline builders. In particular, landowner opposition in Iowa and South Dakota has derailed a 2,500-mile carbon dioxide pipeline network proposed for six states in the Midwest. Opponents see the reconciliation proposal as an effort to revive the project from Summit Carbon Solutions.
Wall Street Journal
13-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
GOP Mega Bill's Details Are Out. Now the Fighting Begins.
WASHINGTON—Republicans looking to muscle through tax cuts and spending reductions in President Trump's sprawling 'big, beautiful' bill got an instant reminder Tuesday of how hard it will be. Dozens of protesters, many in wheelchairs, crowded the hallways outside the House Energy and Commerce Committee to protest proposed cuts to the Medicaid program, just as the panel was gathering to advance its portion of the plan. GOP spending hawks lobbed shots at the package for failing to do enough to rein in rising federal deficits. And Republicans with concerns related to imperiled energy projects in their districts or the revised cap on state and local tax decisions registered their own complaints.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hickenlooper: Trump cuts will bring pain to Republicans later
Sen. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday that the Trump administration's broad cuts to federal programs will come to hurt farmers, veterans and food stamp recipients — and Republicans will come to regret it. 'If these cuts continue and suddenly farmers aren't going to be able to get crop insurance, right, for their crops, that's going to cripple small farmers way more than the big guys,' the moderate Colorado Democrat said at POLITICO Playbook's First 100 Days breakfast series Tuesday. 'I guarantee you that will get connected to all these other cuts, and there will be a lot of people showing up at their Republican House member saying, 'How can you support this?'' he added. Hickenlooper also predicted that Trump's moves to clamp down on clean energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act as part of his 'national energy emergency' would be counterproductive — and hurt the Republican districts benefiting most from the dollars. 'We are by far the largest producer of energy in the history of the world on a per capita level,' said Hickenlooper, a member of the Energy Committee. 'But those things freezing so much of the Inflation Reduction Act is like cutting off your nose to spite your face.'
Politico
25-02-2025
- Business
- Politico
Hickenlooper: Trump cuts will bring pain to Republicans later
Sen. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday that the Trump administration's broad cuts to federal programs will come to hurt farmers, veterans and food stamp recipients — and Republicans will come to regret it. 'If these cuts continue and suddenly farmers aren't going to be able to get crop insurance, right, for their crops, that's going to cripple small farmers way more than the big guys,' the moderate Colorado Democrat said at POLITICO Playbook's First 100 Days breakfast series Tuesday. 'I guarantee you that will get connected to all these other cuts, and there will be a lot of people showing up at their Republican House member saying, 'How can you support this?'' he added. Hickenlooper also predicted that Trump's moves to clamp down on clean energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act as part of his 'national energy emergency' would be counterproductive — and hurt the Republican districts benefiting most from the dollars. 'We are by far the largest producer of energy in the history of the world on a per capita level,' said Hickenlooper, a member of the Energy Committee. 'But those things freezing so much of the Inflation Reduction Act is like cutting off your nose to spite your face.'
