The Independent: Coal Will Be One of the Cleanest Uses of Technology That We Have, Says Sean Spicer

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that the U.S. would produce "clean coal" and that rolling back regulations from coal plants would be done in a way that was "environmentally friendly."

He told reporters that the Environmental Protection Agency, which will be led by Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt who once sued the same agency, will liberate coal plants so that they can stay open and keep existing jobs.

When asked by a local news reporter in Virginia about residents’ concerns about the impact to the environment, he replied: "I think when you hear him talking about coal specifically, it’s under the guise of clean coal, and I think the [technologies] we’re able to utilize these days make it one of the cleanest uses of technology that we have."

Teslarati: Elon Musk Is the King of Job Creation

Since the launch of Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity, serial tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s companies have consistently created thousands of high-paying jobs worldwide. SpaceX has grown from a small team of engineers working out of a warehouse to a global team of over 5,000 employees. Similarly, Tesla has gone from a garage operation in Palo Alto to an operation consisting of over 18,000 employees worldwide. SolarCity, backed by Musk and founded by his cousins, was acquired in 2016 by Tesla and employs over 12,000 workers.

Musk’s role in job creation has had a deep impact on thousands of lives, and on a global scale. Between all of his companies, Musk employs over 35,000 employees globally, of which 30,000+ are in the U.S.

New York Times: ‘A Conservative Climate Solution’: Republican Group Calls for Carbon Tax

A group of Republican elder statesmen is calling for a tax on carbon emissions to fight climate change.

The group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, with former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Henry M. Paulson Jr., a former secretary of the Treasury, says that taxing carbon pollution produced by burning fossil fuels is “a conservative climate solution” based on free-market principles.

Mr. Baker is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, Jared Kushner, the senior adviser to the president, and Gary D. Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, as well as Ivanka Trump.

Crain's NY Business Op-Ed: A Revolution in Getting Power to the People

Audrey Zibelman, who chairs the New York Public Service Commission, is moving on next month to run Australia's electricity grid system. But she will leave an important legacy here: a foundation for the most significant transformation in New York's electric power system in two decades. When her successors complete the job, New Yorkers will enjoy unprecedented new choices for how they meet their electricity needs -- and set an example for the nation on how to build a clean, resilient, and more affordable energy system.

Three years ago, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Zibelman launched an initiative to address climate change and modernize our electricity system. What followed was a regulatory proceeding called Reforming the Energy Vision, or REV. It is far from done, but REV is leading toward a new role for electric distribution companies that gives customers opportunities to participate in the electric power system in new ways, delivered by innovative companies in the advanced energy industry.

Bloomberg: Wind Overtakes Coal Power in Europe as Turbines Head Offshore

Wind farm developers installed more power than any other form of energy last year in Europe, helping turbines to overtake coal in terms of capacity, industry figures show.

European wind power grew 8 percent, to 153.7 gigawatts, accounting for 16.7 percent of installed capacity and overtaking coal as the continent’s second-biggest potential source of energy, according to figures published Thursday by the WindEurope trade group. Gas-fired generation retained the largest share of installed capacity.