The smokestack of the Wheelabrator incinerator, a waste recycling facility that converts trash into energy. Photo by Joe Ryan/Capital News Service. The years-long effort in Maryland to cut ...

While the U.S. federal government has clean energy targets, they are not binding. Most economically developed countries have mandatory policies designed to bolster renewable electricity production.

Republican legislators in Montana, Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri are separately trying to weaken or dismantle the renewable portfolio standards in their states, which are seen as crucial to U.S.