{"id":1138620,"date":"2021-12-21T17:04:19","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T22:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1138620"},"modified":"2021-12-21T17:04:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T22:04:23","slug":"democrats-demand-federal-probe-into-oil-gas-industry-over-life-threatening-environmental-justice-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-demand-federal-probe-into-oil-gas-industry-over-life-threatening-environmental-justice-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Demand Federal Probe Into Oil, Gas Industry Over \u2018Life-Threatening Environmental Justice Issue\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrats-demand-federal-probe-into-oil-gas-industry-over-life-threatening-environmental-justice-issue%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1138620&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A group of House Democrats from New York called for a federal investigation Tuesday into the role \u201cpeaker\u201d power plants have in contributing to air pollution.<\/p>\n<p>The three Democrats led by Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney <a href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/sites\/democrats.oversight.house.gov\/files\/2021-12-21.CBM%20et%20al%20to%20Dodaro-GAO%20re%20Peaker%20Plant.pdf\">requested<\/a> the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a federal watchdog, to probe how peaker plants are more harmful and generally used more frequently in low-income communities. Other Oversight Committee members, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Yvette Clarke, a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, were also signatories on the letter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAddressing the use of peaker plants, which can emit twice the carbon and up to 20 times the nitrous oxides of a typical plant while operating significantly less efficiently, represents a high-impact opportunity to reduce climate risks and tackle a life-threatening environmental justice issue,\u201d the New York Democrats wrote to GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe request GAO\u2019s assistance in reporting on key data to assess damage, uncover health burdens, calculate economic costs, and identify alternative solutions to the use of peaker power plants,\u201d they wrote. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/28\/katie-porter-climate-change-oil-gas-house-oversight-committee\/\">(RELATED: Congresswoman Stands Near Her Gas-Powered Minivan While Using Candy, Rice To Prove Oil Companies Are Bad)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So-called peaker plants are power plants, often fueled by <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/30\/united-states-paris-accords-donald-trump-joe-biden-emissions\/\">natural gas<\/a>, that are used when energy demand surpasses usual levels, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencepolicycircle.org\/38-the-peakers-the-role-of-peaking-power-plants-and-their-relevance-today\">according<\/a> to the environmental group Science Policy Circle. These plants are also less efficient and produce more emissions since they need to restart when turned to for energy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7341214\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"32\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7341214\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steam rises from a power plant in 2018 in New York City. (John Moore\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleanegroup.org\/ceg-projects\/phase-out-peakers\/\">more than<\/a> 1,000 peaker plants in the U.S. with many concentrated in major cities such as New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Millions of Americans, often of lower socioeconomic status, live in the immediate vicinity of such plants, the three Democrats wrote in their letter to the GAO.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cResearch into the relationship between the federal real property and operational footprint and the market for peak electricity is also an opportunity to review how agencies apply environmental guidance,\u201d Maloney, Ocasio-Cortez and Clarke wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The congresswomen asked GAO to examine the current status of peaker plants across the country and their effect on surrounding communities. They argued the watchdog\u2019s findings could be helpful in protecting their constituents\u2019 health and combating climate change.<\/p>\n<p>Maloney, Ocasio-Cortez and Clarke didn\u2019t immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats on the Oversight Committee and House Science, Space and Technology Committee are already <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/27\/democrats-ro-khanna-carolyn-maloney-oversight-committee-big-oil-disinformation\/\">probing<\/a> the <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/12\/03\/democrats-oil-gas-industry-investigation-emissions-methane\/\">fossil fuel industry<\/a> over an alleged climate change \u201cdisinformation\u201d campaign and whether energy firms have properly shared emissions data. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/12\/16\/elizabeth-warren-securities-exchange-commission-probe-chevron-oil-executive-salary\/\">asked<\/a> the Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 16 to investigate how fossil fuel companies compensate executives.<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A group of House Democrats from New York called for a federal investigation Tuesday into the role \u201cpeaker\u201d power plants have in contributing to air pollution.The three Democrats led by &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1138620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1138620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1138620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1138620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1138620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}