Congress returned from August recess to an overflowing fall agenda. However, Majority Leader Schumer has not mentioned a permitting reform bill in his legislative priority list. Moreover, Sen. Manchin has backed David Rosner to fill the vacant seat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). On the local level, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced the operation of New York’s first state-owned utility-scale energy storage system in North Country. Finally, the United Nations issued its first report card on the 2015 Paris Agreement and found that countries have only made limited progress in reducing the effects of global warming.
To read Akin’s most recent climate policy update, please click here.