The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy notified the Earth Observations community that a draft of the congressionally-mandated National Plan for Civil Earth Observations will be released for a short national review period in Summer 2023.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office expanded the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program to include innovations in any economic sector that are designed to make progress toward achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, increased the filing limitations for petitions under the program, and extended the duration of the program.
DOE issued an interim final rule establishing regulations necessary to implement the Energy Implementation Reinvestment Program and other categories of projects authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) for Energy Policy Act Title XVII loan guarantees; revising provisions directly related to DOE’s implementation of the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program as expanded by the IRA; amending provisions to conform with the broader changes to the program; and revising certain sections for clarity and organization.
HUD and USDA announced and seek comment on a preliminary determination regarding energy efficiency standards for new construction of HUD- and USDA-financed housing as a first step to require compliance with these standards in HUD and USDA housing covered by the Energy Independence and Security Act.
The Rural Utilities Service solicited letters of interest for loan applications to finance power generation projects for renewable energy resource (RER) systems or energy storage systems that support RER Projects, announced the application process for those loans, and provided deadlines for applications from eligible entities under the Powering Affordable Clean Energy Program.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed to implement §307 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act and amend Regulation Z to address how the Truth in Lending Act applies to Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) transactions to account for the unique nature of PACE.
The U.S. Geological Survey announced that it, in collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada and Mexico’s La Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, will undertake a two-year regional assessment of biodiversity and climate change, culminating in the first-ever assessment report addressing these two challenges together for the United States, Canada, Mexico, U.S. territories, and Freely Associated States.
NRC issued Revision 2 to Regulatory Guide 1.89, “Environmental Qualification of Certain Electric Equipment Important to Safety for Nuclear Power Plants,” which provides guidance that the staff of NRC considers acceptable to meet regulatory requirements for environmental qualification of certain electric equipment important to safety.
DOE seeks comment regarding the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management’s methane mitigation technologies and point source carbon capture research and development activities and regulation of natural gas imports and exports; specifically, the Department seeks information on strategies and technologies that natural gas and liquefied natural gas companies are deploying or could deploy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants.