Author

Jacob Fischler

Jacob Fischler

Jacob covers federal policy as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., responds to reporters' questions about a White House meeting with Democratic congressional leaders, Jan. 24, 2023. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

U.S. Senate leader calls for safety audit into all major railroads after Ohio derailment

By: - March 15, 2023

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called Wednesday for the federal authority responsible for determining the causes of transportation casualties to investigate the safety culture at all major North American freight railroads. Following the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment that caused a toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, Schumer, a New York Democrat, said […]

General Motors Co. announced plans to double revenue by 2030 with new battery-electric vehicles and hopes to surpass leading electric carmaker Tesla with the release of a new $30,000 electric SUV. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

States to receive $2.5B from feds for electric vehicle charging infrastructure

By: - March 14, 2023

The federal government will send $2.5 billion over the next five years to states, local governments and tribes to build electric vehicle charging infrastructure, Biden administration officials said Tuesday. The new Charging and Fueling Infrastructure grant program, which was authorized by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, will spend $2.5 billion over five years to build […]

Phillip A. Washington speaks at a nomination hearing with the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Capitol Hill on March 1, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Head of Denver airport doesn’t need waiver to lead the FAA, Biden administration says

By: - March 10, 2023

President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration — the CEO of Denver International Airport — does not need a congressional waiver to allow him to serve in the role, the U.S. Transportation Department’s top lawyer said in a Thursday letter to Congress. Federal law requires the FAA administrator to be a civilian […]

The sun sets on a wetland northwest of Hartford, South Dakota. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

U.S. House votes to roll back Biden’s WOTUS rule

By: - March 10, 2023

The U.S. House voted Thursday to undo a Biden administration definition of wetlands that allows for regulations on private lands. The chamber approved, 227-198, a resolution to roll back the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s broader definition of what qualifies as “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, for the purposes of federal regulation under the […]

Norfolk Southern's Atlanta headquarters. (John McCosh/Georgia Recorder)

Norfolk Southern CEO apologizes for Ohio crash, but won’t back bipartisan rail safety bill

By: - March 9, 2023

The CEO of Norfolk Southern, the railroad operating the train that last month derailed and spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, apologized for the derailment at a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday, but declined solicitations to endorse a bipartisan rail safety bill. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw opened his testimony to the Senate Environment and […]

Phillip A. Washington speaks at a nomination hearing with the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Capitol Hill on March 1, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

U.S. Senate Democrats back FAA nominee, despite GOP attacks at confirmation hearing

By: - March 1, 2023

Republicans on a U.S. Senate panel raised several objections Wednesday to President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, while Democrats indicated their support and called the objections “fake scandals” meant only to create a political controversy. The Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee’s confirmation hearing for Phil Washington, CEO of Denver International Airport, […]

An aerial view of a cornfield. (Getty Images)

Ethanol touted at U.S. Senate hearing for possible national clean fuels standard

By: - February 15, 2023

A national clean transportation fuel standard should include enough flexibility to allow for biofuels and other non-electric-vehicle solutions, bipartisan members of a U.S. Senate panel said Wednesday. The United States doesn’t have a national clean fuels standard, though senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee hinted that one may be in the works.  Members […]

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon on Feb. 5, 2023, off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. U.S. fighter aircraft operating under U.S. Northern Command authority engaged and destroyed a high-altitude surveillance balloon over U.S. territorial waters at the order of President Joe Biden and with the full support of the Canadian government. (Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

Midwestern, Western states in spotlight after mystery flying objects shot down by military

By: and - February 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — Military posts in Midwestern and Western states played key roles in the unprecedented downings of multiple unmanned aerial objects over the North American continent this weekend. Members of Congress and governors from the states involved and from both parties have shared information about the downings on Twitter and in statements, in some cases […]

The sun sets on a wetland northwest of Hartford, South Dakota. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

Longtime tensions over federal wetlands rule return in U.S. House hearing

By: - February 8, 2023

A U.S. House panel renewed the decades-long fight Wednesday over how standing waters on farmland and other private property should be defined and regulated by federal authorities, with Republicans calling for a pause until the U.S. Supreme Court can provide more clarity. The definition of so-called Waters of the United States, or WOTUS — wetlands […]

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy listen on Feb. 7, 2023, in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.(Photo by Jacquelyn Martin-Pool/Getty Images)

Biden in State of the Union address draws boos and shouts from a combative GOP

By: and - February 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden began his State of the Union address Tuesday — his first to a divided Congress — with an appeal to bipartisan priorities, but later criticized parts of the GOP agenda and got a sense of Republicans’ appetite for conflict during one combative stretch. Biden opened the 72-minute speech with an […]

U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas. (U.S. House photo)

New U.S. House Natural Resources chair opposes limits on fossil fuel development

By: - January 30, 2023

The incoming chairman of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee wants to allow more mining and believes technology — not limitations on fossil fuel production — is the best way to address climate change. As part of their organization of the chamber they now control, U.S. House Republicans selected Arkansas’ Bruce Westerman to lead the […]

In an aerial view, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage at the Bryan Mound site is seen on Oct. 19, 2022, in Freeport, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

GOP U.S. House passes bill opening more public land to development if reserve oil is tapped

By: - January 27, 2023

U.S. House Republicans passed a bill Friday to force the White House to make more federal land and waters available for oil and gas development if the president orders the withdrawal of more oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The bill, passed 221-205, mostly along party lines, would strip the president’s power to remove oil […]