Latest news with #EnergyPolicyActof1992
Epoch Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Energy Department Proposes to Slash 47 Rules Amid Deregulatory Push
The Department of Energy (DOE) on May 12 proposed to eliminate or roll back 47 regulations in what it called the first step in America's 'largest deregulatory effort in history.' The move is expected to save the nation $11 billion by eliminating regulations that it said were 'driving up costs' and 'lowering quality of life' for the people, 'Thanks to President Trump's leadership, we are bringing back common sense—slashing regulations meant to appease Green New Deal fantasies, restrict consumer choice, and increase costs for the American people,' DOE Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. The proposals, The department proposed streamlining administrative procedures for natural gas imports and exports, as well as the authorization process for transmitting electric energy to other countries. DOE also proposed removing certain products, including portable air conditioners, fans, and blowers, from the list of covered products under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Related Stories 5/5/2025 3/25/2025 It also sought to rescind regulations for loans for minority business enterprises seeking DOE contracts, along with reporting requirements and DOE review for voluntary greenhouse gas reporting. The move came just days after President Donald Trump In his 'Efficiency standards render other American appliances like clothes washers and dishwashers less useful, more breakable, and more expensive to repair,' the president stated. 'The federal government should not impose or enforce regulations that make taxpayers' lives worse.' The memo directs Wright to review and rescind rules limiting water use in showerheads, faucets, dishwashers, toilets, urinals, and washing machines, or return these rules to the bare minimum required by the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, warned that the DOE's proposals could increase the operating costs of products targeted for rollbacks. 'If this attack on consumers succeeds, President Trump would be raising costs dramatically for families as manufacturers dump energy- and water-wasting products into the market,' deLaski said in a Joseph Lord contributed to this report.
Epoch Times
11-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Trump Moves to Rescind Appliance Efficiency Standards
President Donald Trump on May 9 moved to rescind appliance energy efficiency standards, calling them 'unnecessary radical green agenda policies.' In a 'Water conservation requirements for faucets, showers, bathtubs, and toilets ... make bathroom appliances more expensive and less functional.' ''Efficiency' standards render other American appliances like clothes washers and dishwashers less useful, more breakable, and more expensive to repair. The Federal Government should not impose or enforce regulations that make taxpayers' lives worse.' The memo orders Energy Secretary Chris Wright to review and rescind rules limiting water use in showerheads, faucets, dishwashers, toilets, urinals, and washing machines, or return these rules to the bare minimum required by the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The affected program is best known by the name Energy Star, a program handled by the EPA in coordination with the Department of Energy. Under the program, the EPA establishes energy efficiency guidelines, and appliances in a given category that meet these specifications can display the ENERGY STAR logo. Trump said that this would help to increase the effectiveness of bathroom products, saying that standards imposed in the aftermath of the 1992 legislation had reduced consumer choice and made products less functional compared to before the legislation. Related Stories 5/7/2025 4/9/2025 'Efficiency standards render other American appliances, like clothes washers and dishwashers, less useful, more breakable, and more expensive to repair,' the White House said in a 'Ultra-efficient washing machines cost at least $100 more according to the Department of Energy. Updated dishwasher regulations caused those appliances to take two hours or more to complete a normal load of dishes—about twice the time of pre-standards models.' Earlier, on Jan. 20, Trump signed an Executive Order to 'safeguard the American people's freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances, including but not limited to lightbulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, gas stoves, water heaters, toilets, and shower heads.' The same day, Trump signed several measures passed by Congress under the Congressional Review Act repealing rules from President Joe Biden's administration related to energy efficiency. The measures repealed regulations on gas water heaters and walk-in coolers and freezers, as well as energy conservation standards for some appliances and some consumer products and commercial freezers. 'It's all about common sense,' Trump said while signing the legislation flanked by Republican lawmakers. The rescission comes amid an ongoing 'reorganization' of the Environmental Protection Agency under Director Lee Zeldin. In a video, Zeldin said that prior to the Trump administration, the regulatory agency was spending $63 billion 'including all sorts of political green slush funds'—while it cost just around $8 billion to $10 billion to run the agency. 'This reorganization will bring much needed efficiencies to incorporate science into our rulemakings and sharply focus our work on providing the cleanest air, land, and water for our communities. It will also save at least $300 million annually for the American people,' Zeldin said. Such an exclusive focus on air, land, and water cleanliness marks a departure from the climate activism that has defined the agency in the past, and fits into Trump's larger commitment to reducing regulations that the president said harm American energy production and use.
Forbes
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
How Former Senator Johnston Changed Energy Policy In The U.S.
Senator J Bennett Johnston of Louisiana pictured in Washington, March 19th 1979. (Photo by ... More UPI/) Anyone wondering about a career as a U.S. senator might want to study the life and times of Sen. J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), who died March 25 at the age of 92. To me, he embodied the best of the Senate that was. Johnston was both a patriotic American and a loyalist to the state that sent him to Congress. He also was bipartisan, curious and totally on top of his subject. His legislative milestones endure, from natural gas and oil deregulation to the electricity and environmental structure of today. Johnston was an exemplar of the art of the Senate, when it was correctly known as the world's greatest deliberative body. He was chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and, as such, was a major player in the shaping of energy and environmental policy. He was a Democrat who worked across the aisle. Oddly, his most contentious relationship might have been that with President Jimmy Carter. They clashed over a water project on the Red River in Louisiana: Carter thought it was too expensive, but Johnston argued that it was needed. He admired President Bill Clinton for his brilliance. In the aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident, he worked with President Ronald Reagan to establish the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations to save nuclear power from those who wanted to eliminate it. Like other distinguished chairmen, Johnston recognized two fealties: to his state and to the nation. I watched Johnston all his years as Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman, and I came to revere and admire him as a great gentleman, a great patriot and a great senator. Johnston was neither flashy nor loud, but he was effective. The New York Times said of him that he was a notable exception, compared with the noisy and controversial political heritage of Louisiana, which included such notables as Huey and Earl Long and Edwin Edwards. Johnston was instead 'a quiet intellectual with finely honed political judgments who grasped the technical intricacies of energy exploration and production and could also lucidly discuss astrophysics, subatomic particles and tennis serves.' Thomas Kuhn, a former longtime president of the Edison Electric Institute, said Johnston had a lasting impact on environmental and energy policy during his 24 years in Congress with the Clean Air Act of 1990 and the Energy Policy Act of 1992. When the Energy Policy Act was working its way through Congress, I saw Johnston at work up close. He invited me, as the founder and publisher of The Energy Daily, and Paul Gigot, then a Washington columnist for The Wall Street Journal and later its editorial page editor, to lunch in a small private dining room in the Senate. Johnston was low-key yet forceful in seeking our support for the bill. I asked him, 'Who is carrying your water on this one?' He responded in an endearing and lonesome way, 'I'm afraid I am.' And carry it he did until it became law. On another occasion, when President George H.W. Bush's nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court was bogged down with Anita Hill's allegations of impropriety by the nominee, Johnston told me, 'I'm going to vote for him. I think when he looks in the mirror in the morning, he will see a black face and he will do the right things.' Maybe not Johnston's best call. While Kuhn may have met Johnston as a lobbyist, they became close friends and tennis partners. Kuhn told me Johnston was so passionate about tennis that he had a court built atop the Senate Dirksen Office Building. Among others, he would play tennis there with fellow Louisiana Sen. John Breaux. Johnston was also passionate about Tabasco sauce and carried a bottle with him at all times. Kuhn remembered this about his friend, 'He was well-liked by everyone and had a great sense of humor. And he got things done on a bipartisan basis — a skill that is sorely missed in today's Washington.'
Forbes
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Memories Of Johnston: A Great Senator, When Senate Was Great
Senator J Bennett Johnston of Louisiana pictured in Washington, March 19th 1979. (Photo by ... More UPI/) Anyone wondering about a career as a U.S. senator might want to study the life and times of Sen. J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), who died March 25 at the age of 92. To me, he embodied the best of the Senate that was. Johnston was both a patriotic American and a loyalist to the state that sent him to Congress. He also was bipartisan, curious and totally on top of his subject. His legislative milestones endure, from natural gas and oil deregulation to the electricity and environmental structure of today. Johnston was an exemplar of the art of the Senate, when it was correctly known as the world's greatest deliberative body. He was chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and, as such, was a major player in the shaping of energy and environmental policy. He was a Democrat who worked across the aisle. Oddly, his most contentious relationship might have been that with President Jimmy Carter. They clashed over a water project on the Red River in Louisiana: Carter thought it was too expensive, but Johnston argued that it was needed. He admired President Bill Clinton for his brilliance. In the aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident, he worked with President Ronald Reagan to establish the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations to save nuclear power from those who wanted to eliminate it. Like other distinguished chairmen, Johnston recognized two fealties: to his state and to the nation. I watched Johnston all his years as Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman, and I came to revere and admire him as a great gentleman, a great patriot and a great senator. Johnston was neither flashy nor loud, but he was effective. The New York Times said of him that he was a notable exception, compared with the noisy and controversial political heritage of Louisiana, which included such notables as Huey and Earl Long and Edwin Edwards. Johnston was instead 'a quiet intellectual with finely honed political judgments who grasped the technical intricacies of energy exploration and production and could also lucidly discuss astrophysics, subatomic particles and tennis serves.' Thomas Kuhn, a former longtime president of the Edison Electric Institute, said Johnston had a lasting impact on environmental and energy policy during his 24 years in Congress with the Clean Air Act of 1990 and the Energy Policy Act of 1992. When the Energy Policy Act was working its way through Congress, I saw Johnston at work up close. He invited me, as the founder and publisher of The Energy Daily, and Paul Gigot, then a Washington columnist for The Wall Street Journal and later its editorial page editor, to lunch in a small private dining room in the Senate. Johnston was low-key yet forceful in seeking our support for the bill. I asked him, 'Who is carrying your water on this one?' He responded in an endearing and lonesome way, 'I'm afraid I am.' And carry it he did until it became law. On another occasion, when President George H.W. Bush's nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court was bogged down with Anita Hill's allegations of impropriety by the nominee, Johnston told me, 'I'm going to vote for him. I think when he looks in the mirror in the morning, he will see a black face and he will do the right things.' Maybe not Johnston's best call. While Kuhn may have met Johnston as a lobbyist, they became close friends and tennis partners. Kuhn told me Johnston was so passionate about tennis that he had a court built atop the Senate Dirksen Office Building. Among others, he would play tennis there with fellow Louisiana Sen. John Breaux. Johnston was also passionate about Tabasco sauce and carried a bottle with him at all times. Kuhn remembered this about his friend, 'He was well-liked by everyone and had a great sense of humor. And he got things done on a bipartisan basis — a skill that is sorely missed in today's Washington.'
