The daily business briefing: January 9, 2018

Regulators reject Rick Perry's proposal to subsidize coal plants, Google engineer fired over his gender memo sues company, and more

Rick Perry in Washington
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

1. Regulators reject Perry's plan to boost coal industry

Federal regulators on Monday rejected Energy Secretary Rick Perry's proposal to subsidize struggling coal and nuclear plants. The decision marked a setback for the Trump administration's push to revive the coal industry, which has declined over the last decade as power companies shifted to cheap natural gas and renewable energy. Perry argued in September that losing coal plants could threaten the power grid's "reliability and resiliency." Federal Energy Regulatory Commission members rejected that logic. "There is no evidence in the record to suggest that temporarily delaying the retirement of uncompetitive coal and nuclear generators would meaningfully improve the resilience of the grid," wrote Commissioner Richard Glick.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.