Washington Post: We're Learning a Lot of Things About Who's Using Uber
Users of ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft are far more likely to be Democrats than Republicans, but that doesn't mean they welcome regulations on the services they love.
Despite their typical embrace of regulation, Democratic users of the services are much more likely than not to oppose taxi-like regulations on the apps, according to a new Pew Research Center poll. Just 30 percent support similar regulations while 54 percent oppose them -- sentiment that cuts across political lines even as the majority of users are Democrats.
New York Times: State Officials Investigated Over Their Inquiry Into ExxonMobil’s Climate Change Research
Since last November, a growing number of state attorneys general have been pointing their fingers at ExxonMobil, investigating whether the energy company’s research about climate change conflicted directly with its public statements on the issue.
But now the accusers are being accused, with a battle being waged over principles of free speech, government overreach and collaboration with activist organizations.
Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas, sent a letter on Wednesday to the New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, demanding all communications since 2012 between his office and climate change activist organizations.
Fortune: GM's Planned Chevy Bolt EVs Are Spotted in San Francisco
Several Chevy Bolt EVs -- the all-electric car that isn’t supposed to go into production until October -- were spotted on Wednesday driving around San Francisco.
SpiedBilde, a company that specializes in photographing car prototypes, caught the vehicles on camera. The images were then published by tech news site The Verge.
The cars had sensors and cameras on the roof, the kind of tech typically used in autonomous vehicles. But it was unclear whether the vehicles were in self-driving mode.
Bloomberg: Obama’s Modest Biofuel Quota for 2017 Blasted by Producers
The Obama administration tried to strike a cautious compromise Wednesday in setting quotas for a controversial renewable fuels program that pits Big Oil against Corn Belt interests.
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed compelling refiners to blend 18.8 billion gallons of biofuel into the U.S. gasoline and diesel supply next year, with no more than 14.8 billion gallons of that coming from conventional corn-based ethanol. The overall number -- which is higher than oil companies wanted but lower than what biofuel producers sought -- represents a modest increase over the 18.11 billion gallons of total renewable fuels the agency required for 2016.
Microgrid Knowledge: Storm-Struck PECO Proposes Two Integrated Community Microgrids
Plagued by power outages due to storms, PECO on May 18 filed a plan with Pennsylvania regulators to build two integrated community microgrids for a high-density neighborhood with an 8.6 MW load.
“Severe weather is a leading cause of power outages in PECO’s service territory. For example, as a consequence of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, approximately 850,000 PECO customers experienced interruptions of service, some for as many as eight days,” said the Exelon subsidiary in a filing before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.