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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Feds Squash Reporting Rule for Energy Savings

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Friday, December 5, 2008   

Seattle, WA - The State of Washington, and many individual households, are working hard to improve their energy efficiency - and they'd probably like to think the federal government is doing the same.

In fact, federal law requires federal agencies to buy the most energy-efficient appliances and fixtures possible.
However, we won't know if they're doing that or not, because a new rule that would make them report these purchases, and any exceptions, has been dropped by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The reporting rule was to be finalized this month. Emma Cheuse, an attorney for the law firm Earthjustice, says no reason was given for scrapping the reporting rule, just before Thanksgiving.

"We don't know why that is, but as a result, it just makes it harder for the public, and those of us who are worried about energy costs and the big picture budget at the federal level, to make sure we're doing everything we can."

This instance, Cheuse adds, is only part of a flurry of federal rule changes that have been frustrating to government watchdog groups.

"This is just one of a number of things that the outgoing administration is doing at the very last minute. We have to make sure that 'midnight regulations' don't prevent us from making the really critical progress we need to make, on environmental issues and energy saving."

The OMB's position is that it is minimizing paperwork for the agencies. But Cheuse believes the federal government should be leading by example to save money and energy - and she says being able to prove it, to Congress and the public, is part of that. She points out that the law to purchase energy-saving computers, lighting, and so on, is still in effect. Taxpayers can only hope the feds are watching their own utility bills, and taking energy conservation seriously.



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