Despite the widespread backlash to North Carolina’s anti-trans bathroom law and the resulting political chaos there, politicians in other states are gearing up for what could be similar battles in 2017.

Most states tackling the issue wouldn’t exactly replicate North Carolina’s law — some are getting creative with their proposed mechanisms for determining bathroom access based on gender.

Lawmakers in Alabama, Missouri, South Carolina, and Washington have filed their own so-called bathroom bills for the next legislative session, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. And Texas’ lieutenant governor has said passing similar legislation will be one of his top priorities, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Bathroom bills failed in 13 states this year, including Missouri, South Carolina, and Washington. Legislation wasn’t resolved in four other states. South Dakota lawmakers passed anti-trans legislation that the governor vetoed.

Alabama

Alabama’s bill would require buildings with multiple-occupancy bathrooms to either have facilities designed to be used by people of the same gender or to have an attendant stationed at the door to monitor the appropriate use of the facility.

Missouri

Missouri legislation would require restrooms, locker rooms, […]

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The 500e Credit: FCA

“Second wave” electric cars– Fiat 500es, Cadillac ELRs and even Tesla Model Ss– are starting to return to dealerships after their first owners are done leasing them. Now apparently those dealerships are wholesaling these vehicles for, like, nothing.

Say it’s 2016 and you lease a 2016 Honda Civic for three years. 2019 comes around, your lease is up and the dealership takes the car back.

Donald Trump has promised to unleash an energy revolution by extracting billions of dollars in untapped fossil fuels and gutting incentives to invest in renewable energy. With the nominations of Rex Tillerson, Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke, and Rick Perry to his Cabinet, the President-elect is poised to do more damage to America’s environmental legacy—and future—than any other leader in recent memory.

Despite Trump’s untraditional approach to choosing Cabinet officials, nothing about their nomination is accidental. Each of them offers a range of qualifications and connections that, together, form a unified front against climate progress, human health, and energy security.

Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State

Image: Evan Vucci/Associated Press

With Trump’s earlier nomination of Pruitt, a fossil fuel-friendly politician, Trump decided to quit with the subtlety and nominated a literal oil magnate, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, to serve as Secretary of State. While much of the early opposition to Tillerson’s nomination has focused on his close ties to Russia—Tillerson received the Russian “Order of Friendship” from Vladimir Putin—Tillerson’s potential to do lasting damage […]

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2016 is shaping up to be a milestone year for energy, and when the final accounting is done, one of the biggest winners is likely to be solar power.

For the first time, more electricity-generating capacity from solar power plants is expected to have been built in the U.S. than from natural gas and wind, U.S. Department of Energy data show.

Though the final tally won’t be in until March, enough new solar power plants were expected to be built in 2016 to total 9.5 gigawatts of solar power generating capacity, tripling the new solar capacity built in 2015. That’s enough to light up more than 1.8 million homes.

The solar farms built in 2016 were expected to exceed the 8 gigawatts of natural gas power generating capacity and the 6.8 gigawatts of wind power slated for construction this year. No new coal-fired power plants were planned in 2016.

“If 2016 planned additions pan out as operators initially expected for 2016, it would mark the first year that solar was the largest source of capacity,” said Tim Shear, an economist for the […]

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