skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

An Alabama man who spent more than 40 years behind bars speaks out, Florida natural habitats are disappearing, and spring allergies hit hard in Connecticut.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

After another campus shooting, President Trump says people, not guns, are the issue. Alaska Sen. Murkowski says Republicans fear Trump's retaliation, and voting rights groups sound the alarm over an executive order on elections.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Money meant for schools in timber country is uncertain as Congress fails to reauthorize a rural program, farmers and others will see federal dollars for energy projects unlocked, and DOGE cuts threaten plant species needed for U.S. food security.

Despite SCOTUS EPA Decision, ID Moves Toward Clean Energy

play audio
Play

Wednesday, July 13, 2022   

The busy season of U.S. Supreme Court decisions has come to an end, and among the policies justices struck down is the federal government's ability to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants. But what does it mean for Idaho?

Justices ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency needs approval from Congress to address something big and new such as climate change, reversing the agency's attempt to regulate coal-fired power plants. The decision places more responsibility on states to govern carbon emissions.

Marie Kellner, conservation programs director for the Idaho Conservation League, said her group is disappointed with the decision, but notes it may not affect Idaho's trajectory much.

"Here in Idaho, we're moving in the right direction and I actually don't have a lot of concern that this opinion is going to change or reverse that direction, because the the market's already making it happen," she said. "We're moving in that way."

Idaho Power, which serves 600,000 customers across southern Idaho and eastern Oregon, has already committed to providing 100% clean energy by 2045. Avista, which has 400,000 electric customers in the Northwest, similarly plans to provide 100% clean power by 2045.

Last year, renewable energy generated nearly three-quarters of Idaho's in-state electricity - but that's mainly from hydropower, according to the Energy Information Administration. Still, Kellner said, the Supreme Court's EPA decision will have some impact on the state. She noted that climate and air pollution don't recognize state boundaries.

"These are collective problems for all of humanity, and this decision made it that much harder for the states, the utilities, the regulators that had not yet made clean energy commitments," she said. "This allows them a little more time to be reliant on these fuels that are making people sick, and that are heating up the world."

Despite the ruling, the Biden administration has said it's still aiming to cut fossil-fuel emissions completely from the electricity sector by 2035.

Disclosure: Idaho Conservation League contributes to our fund for reporting on Energy Policy, Environment, Public Lands/Wilderness, Water. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
Congressional researchers said more than 25 million American households report forgoing food and medicine to pay their energy bills. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress is joining advocates for energy assistance across the country to warn a dangerous situation is brewing for…


Environment

play sound

Teams of researchers and volunteers will fan out at dawn Friday with their smartphones and binoculars on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus for …

Social Issues

play sound

Indiana lawmakers approved a bill Tuesday to eliminate judgeships in eleven mostly rural counties as part of a statewide judicial reallocation…


The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system has an enrollment of around 270,000 students, spread across 33 campuses. (Adobe Stock)

play sound

For Minnesota households planning future college enrollment, there is a good chance tuition will cost more, as public campuses facing tighter budgets …

Environment

play sound

Communities in southern and eastern Montana were connected to passenger rail lines running from Chicago to Seattle until 1979. An effort to fund the …

The United States is the third-largest pork producer in the world and already exports around one-third of the pork it produces domestically. (Chayakorn/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

By Seth Millstein for Sentient.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collabor…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Today marks the last day of Black Maternal Health Week, a nationally and internationally recognized observance that serves to build community …

Social Issues

play sound

According to state data, as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, face cuts, Michigan's most vulnerable stand to lose …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021