Trump’s White House Will Have to Go Green Under DC’s New Clean Energy Plan

The bill is now on the mayor’s desk.

Shealah Craighead/White House

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The DC Council on Tuesday passed one of the nation’s most ambitious clean energy bills to date, yet another sign that while the Trump administration moves backward on climate action, cities and states are continuing to move forward, even in the president’s own backyard.

The Clean Energy DC Act, approved in a unanimous vote by the council, requires the District to run on 100 percent renewable energy by 2032. That means the White House will have to comply as well.

Last month, Donald Trump questioned the findings of a massive federal report warning of economic and environmental disaster if the United States does not reduce its fossil fuel dependence. His administration has continued to try to find ways to prop up the coal industry and ignore climate science as it rolls back clean energy efforts.

Still, over 90 US cities have committed to 100 percent renewable energy on various timelines, according to the Sierra Club. In 2015, Hawaii became the first state to make the commitment, and California followed suit in September, both aiming to be carbon neutral by 2045. A handful of cities are already running on all renewable energy, including Burlington, Vermont, and Aspen, Colorado.

The DC bill also establishes new energy efficiency standards for buildings and incentivizes the use of clean cars. The bill will raise a current electric and natural gas surcharge in the District to finance energy projects and support low-income residents during the transition to clean energy.

Council members introduced the Clean Energy DC Act in June, and in November, the council unanimously passed the legislation in a preliminary vote. Now that the council has approved the bill a second time, it’s headed to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s desk for a signature.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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