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Daily Archives: February 14, 2018

OECD – Taxing Energy Use 2018

Taxing Energy Use 2018 – Companion to the Taxing Energy Use Database You do not have access to this content. 14 Feb 2018. Pages: 47. ISBN: 9789264289635 (PDF) ;9789264289437(print). http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264289635-en

“Emissions from energy use cause environmental and health damages and they also contribute to climate change. By charging for these damages, taxes on energy use can reduce excessive emissions, while raising revenue that can be used to fund vital government services. This report assesses the magnitude and coverage of taxes on energy use – carbon taxes and other specific taxes on energy use – in 2015, across different countries and selected country groups, six sectors and five main fuel groups. It also considers change in effective tax rates on energy use between 2012 and 2015. The analysis is based on the OECD’s Taxing Energy Use database, a unique dataset to compare coverage and magnitude of specific taxes on energy use across 42 OECD and G20 economies, which together represent approximately 80% of global energy use and CO2-emissions associated with energy use.”

guardian – German cities to trial free public transport to cut pollution

The Guardian: ““Car nation” Germany has surprised neighbours with a radical proposal to reduce road traffic by making public transport free, as Berlin scrambles to meet EU air pollution targets and avoid big fines. The move comes just over two years after Volkswagen’s devastating “dieselgate” emissions cheating scandal unleashed a wave of anger at the… Continue Reading

NBC – Twitter deleted 200,000 Russian troll tweets. Read them here.

“NBC News is publishing its database of more than 200,000 tweets that Twitter has tied to “malicious activity” from Russia-linked accounts during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. These accounts, working in concert as part of large networks, pushed hundreds of thousands of inflammatory tweets, from fictitious tales of Democrats practicing witchcraft to hardline posts from… Continue Reading

At least 100 White House officials served with ‘interim’ security clearances until November

CNN: “Nearly a year into President Donald Trump’s administration, senior-level staffers — including Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Rob Porter — remained on interim clearances even as other senior advisers were granted full security access, according to information obtained by CNN from a US government official. Having interim clearance can hamper a staffer’s ability to… Continue Reading

Poll reveals Americans are hitting their breaking point on the environment

ThinkProgress: “Americans’ dissatisfaction with the quality of the environment is at an all-time high, Gallup reported Monday. In a poll of 1,024 Americans conducted last month, 45 percent said they were satisfied with “the quality of the environment in the nation,” while 52 percent said they were dissatisfied. This is the lowest level of satisfaction and… Continue Reading

GPO Issues Digital Release of Federal Register for the 1960s

“The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) and the National Archives’ Office of the Federal Register (OFR) digitally release historic issues of the Federal Register from 1960-1969. The complete collection of issues of the Federal Register from 1960 to the present is now available digitally on GPO’s govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/FR. This project is digitizing a total of… Continue Reading

U of M crowdsourcing project transcribes Supreme Court justices’ handwritten notes

University of Minnesota News: “…If you have ever wanted to be a fly on the wall during deliberations by U.S. Supreme Court justices or travel back in time to witness Supreme Court decisions, a new crowdsourcing project led by researchers at the University of Minnesota and Michigan State University allows you to do just that.… Continue Reading