Nov 8, 2017

Washington energy veterans launch new firm

Amy Harder, author of Generate

Four Washington veterans are today launching a new energy and environmental consultancy, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The firm, called COEFFICIENT Group, brings together a rare mix of expertise that cuts across fossil fuels, climate change and, yes, the political aisle too. The group's formation is hyper relevant with the energy and environmental worlds scrambling to respond to President Trump as he unwinds most of what his predecessor did in this area.

The people behind the firm:

Tom Lawler, a former top adviser to Sen. Tom Carper (D., Del.)
Cameron Prell, a lawyer whose expertise includes clean energy and climate issues
Frank Fannon, most recently a top executive in the Washington office of BHP Billiton, one of the world's biggest mining and petroleum companies
Tom Hassenboehler, former top Republican energy adviser for the House Energy and Commerce Committee

One level deeper: The firm isn't shying away from work that includes both traditional energy and climate change. It has big goals to address issues as wide ranging as climate finance to digitization of the energy industry. It will also do more traditional government relations work.

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Updated 2 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 5 a.m. ET: 12,051,561 — Total deaths: 549,735 — Total recoveries — 6,598,230 — Map.
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 5 a.m. ET: 3,055,144 — Total deaths: 132,309 — Total recoveries: 953,420 — Total tested: 37,532,612 — Map.
2020: Houston mayor cancels Texas Republican convention.
Public health: Deaths are rising in hotspots — Déjà vu sets in as testing issues rise and PPE dwindles.
Travel: United warns employees it may furlough 45% of U.S. workforce — How the pandemic changed mobility habits, by state.
Education: New York City schools will not fully reopen in fall — Harvard and MIT sue Trump administration over rule barring foreign students from online classes.

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Sam Baker, Andrew Witherspoon

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Coronavirus cases rise in 33 states

Data: The COVID Tracking Project, state health departments; Map: Andrew Witherspoon, Sara Wise, Naema Ahmed, Danielle Alberti/Axios

The coronavirus pandemic keeps getting worse, all across the country. Thirty-three states saw their caseloads increase this week, continuing a scary nationwide trend that’s been getting worse since mid-June.

Why it matters: The U.S. is right back in the situation we were afraid of earlier this year, with a rapidly spreading outbreak, strained hospitals, and projections of more than 200,000 deaths by the end of the year.

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Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Photo: Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

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