Discover the Latest News and Initiatives for a Sustainable Future

SOLAR: A company encourages Black farmers in the Southeast to lease some of their property for solar projects to add a new source of income. (Civil Eats)

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ALSO:

• Solar manufacturer Qcells’ new recycling deal will allow reclamation of more than 95% of a solar module’s value as the company builds a Georgia factory to produce 3.3 GW of panels annually, in addition to an existing 5.1 GW plant. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Florida lawmakers consider a bill backed by Florida Power & Light to allow utilities that build solar, especially in rural areas, to avoid paying some taxes. (Miami Herald)

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OIL & GAS:

• Production in the Permian Basin surges as companies ramp up operations in response to rising oil prices. (Axios)
• The $26 billion Diamondback-Endeavor merger underscores recent consolidation in the Permian Basin’s oil and gas industry, as just 10 companies will now control the equivalent of more than 6.4 million barrels of oil per day. (Financial Times)
• Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announces a $100 million bond allocation for Chevron to expand a renewable diesel plant. (news release)

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PIPELINES:

• A federal appeals court again rejects landowners’ challenge to the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s use of eminent domain. (Reuters)
• An investigation shows how a playbook developed by TransCanada against protestors in the fight over the Keystone XL pipeline has been weaponized against activists trying to block the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Grist)

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RENEWABLE GAS: Florida lawmakers consider legislation to allow utilities to charge customers for “renewable gas” projects, but clean energy advocates warn the move could keep the state tied to gas combustion and fossil fuels. (WLRN)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blames electric vehicles for a 20% year-over-year increase in the cost of auto insurance. (Florida Politics)

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NUCLEAR: Virginia lawmakers advance legislation to allow Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy to recover costs from developing small modular nuclear reactors. (Virginia Mercury)

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CLEAN ENERGY: A Texas county board votes to approve agreements that clear the way for an energy company to build a hydrogen plant, solar farm and wind farm totalling 1,500 MW. (KVII)

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GRID:

• Residents of Lubbock, Texas, are overwhelmed with the choice of more than 30 power providers after the city shifts from exclusive service by its municipal utility to the state’s deregulated energy market. (Texas Tribune)
• North Carolina approves a deal to award Siemens Energy nearly $10 million if it meets hiring and investment goals in a new expansion to make large transformers for the power grid. (Raleigh News & Observer, WBTV)

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EMISSIONS: A Texas oil and gas company will pay $4 million for air pollution violations due to improper storage at 23 facilities in Texas and New Mexico. (USA Today)

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CLIMATE: New research from Virginia Tech and a federal agency shows much of the East Coast is sinking due to groundwater depletion, compounding the concurrent problem of rising sea levels. (New York Times)

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COMMENTARY: Time is running out for Georgia lawmakers to push Georgia Power to store its coal ash more responsibly and to take action against a mining threat to the Okefenokee Swamp, writes a publisher. (Georgia Recorder)

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OIL & GAS: California regulators propose halting issuance of new permits for hydraulic fracturing and other oil and gas well stimulation treatments, citing widespread public concern over the impacts. (Courthouse News)

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ALSO:

• Colorado lawmakers plan to introduce a bill that would ban new oil and gas drilling by 2030 and require companies to pay more to plug spent wells. (Colorado Sun)
• A California county chooses a national nonprofit to plug and reclaim oil and gas wells. (Lompoc Record)  
• New Mexico lawmakers advance legislation that would increase oil and gas royalty rates on new state land leases. (NM Political Report)

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STORAGE: Federal regulators advance a proposed 1,200 MW pumped hydropower storage project in Washington state, raising concerns among tribal nations and environmentalists. (OPB)

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SOLAR:

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom shortens the permit appeal period for a proposed solar installation on federal and private land in the southern part of the state. (Desert Sun)
• Arizona ranchers, developers and land managers work to minimize solar installations’ impacts to wildlife and their habitat. (New York Times)
• The U.S. Energy Department seeks developers for a commercial solar project on federal lands at a former nuclear weapons test site in Nevada. (Reuters)
• An Oregon agrivoltaics researcher predicts a proposed 500 MW solar installation on a Wyoming ranch would improve forage for the landowner’s sheep. (Cowboy State Daily)
• A developer begins construction on a 377 MW solar plus 300 MW battery storage installation in Arizona. (Solar Quarter)

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CLEAN ENERGY:

• Amazon agrees to begin purchasing clean energy to power its Oregon data centers and donate $1.2 million to a nonprofit that installs rooftop solar. (Oregonian)
• A New Mexico lawmaker proposes establishing a solar and wind component manufacturing tax credit to lure businesses to the state. (KUNM)

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BIOFUELS: Nevada advocates push back on a proposal to harvest pinyon and juniper trees to produce methanol, saying the long-term damage to forest ecosystems outweighs any short-term carbon emission reductions. (Los Angeles Times)

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HYDROPOWER: California’s grid operator says a series of recent storms should boost this summer’s output from the state’s hydroelectric facilities. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

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GRID:

• Western utilities consider competing options for establishing a regional transmission organization. (E&E News)
• California’s grid operator seeks federal regulators’ permission to cancel this year’s interconnection study so it can deal with a “tsunami” of existing requests. (Utility Dive)

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UTILITIES: Wyoming lawmakers are set to consider several bills aimed at keeping utility rates affordable, but critics say the proposed legislation may only sow confusion. (Wyoming Public Radio)

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POLITICS: Utah lawmakers advance a proposal to overhaul the state’s energy policy and prioritize fossil fuel generation over clean energy. (Deseret News)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Colorado awards a town and nonprofit $185,000 to purchase 50 electric bicycles for low-income residents. (Steamboat Pilot)

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COAL: A freight train derails in northern California, spilling an undetermined amount of coal into the Feather River. (CBS Sacramento)

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SOLAR: A Minnesota solar nonprofit matches socially conscious investors’ cash with lower-income homeowners to spread the benefits of clean energy in a Minneapolis neighborhood. (Energy News Network)

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ALSO: Solar output is poised to steadily grow in South Dakota after the state’s first utility-scale project came online in late 2023. (PV Magazine)

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ELECTRIFICATION: A proposed ordinance would make Chicago the first major Midwestern city to ban natural gas hookups in most new construction. (Grist)

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POLITICS: Nebraska lawmakers advance a bill that would end nonpartisan elections to the state’s two largest public power districts as supporters decry outside political contributions to clean energy supporters. (Lincoln Journal Star)

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PIPELINES:

• In a blow to carbon pipeline opponents, North Dakota regulators are set to rule that the agency’s decisions in pipeline siting applications supersede local ordinances. (Bismarck Tribune)
• Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says she is open to future but not retroactive policy changes to how state regulators review carbon pipeline applications. (Radio Iowa)

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CLEAN ENERGY: Michigan’s sweeping new climate and renewable energy laws will help increase the amount of federal clean energy funding that flows to the state, experts say. (Michigan Advance)

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UTILITIES:

• A financial audit of two large West Virginia utilities found that customers’ rates did not include charges linked to the House Bill 6 bribery scandal in Ohio. (WTRF)
• Public Utilities Commission of Ohio staff members allowed AEP officials to redact parts of an audit into the operations of two coal plants that are being subsidized by HB6. (Checks and Balances Project)

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STORAGE: Indiana regulators approve plans for a 200 MW battery storage facility that’s expected to come online by the end of the year. (Vincennes PBS)

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WIND: North Dakota regulators are holding a hearing today on plans for a 200 MW, $316 million wind project in the heart of the state’s coal country. (North Dakota Monitor)

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EFFICIENCY:

• Worker shortages create challenges for Michigan’s weatherization goals as hundreds of millions of federal dollars flow in for efficiency upgrades. (Bridge)
• Ameren Missouri files plans with state regulators that would provide $205 million in rebates until 2027 for various residential and business energy efficiency programs. (FOX 2)

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BIOGAS: Minnesota county officials will hold public hearings in the coming weeks on plans for a $13.9 million renewable natural gas pipeline. (West Central Tribune)

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COMMENTARY:

• Instead of mandates preventing new construction to exclude natural gas hookups, Illinois lawmakers should incentivize the move and convince people the switch is in their interest, an editorial board writes. (Chicago Sun-Times)
• The leader of an Illinois union representing energy workers raises concerns about state regulators’ recent decision rejecting grid investment plans from ComEd and Ameren. (Chicago Sun-Times)

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CLIMATE: National business and agricultural groups sue California over new laws requiring large companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions and other climate-related data, saying they overstep federal regulatory authority. (Associated Press)

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OIL & GAS:

• New Mexico lawmakers advance a proposal to raise future oil and gas royalty rates for drilling on state land. (NM Political Report)
• A company abandons its oil shale-related western Colorado water rights, citing adverse economic conditions. (Aspen Journalism)

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FOSSIL FUELS: Wyoming awards $157 million to six projects aimed at developing cleaner uses for fossil fuels. (Casper Star-Tribune)

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COAL: Utah lawmakers introduce bills aimed at keeping coal plants running longer, but consumer advocates worry they could drive up rates. (Salt Lake Tribune)

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MINING:

• Southeastern Utah residents push back on a proposed in-situ copper mining operation, saying it could taint drinking water wells. (Times-Independent)
• A mining company proposes exploratory drilling for uranium near Arches National Park in Utah. (Times-Independent)
• The U.S. Geological Survey partners with the Havasupai Tribe to study uranium mining’s human health impacts near the Grand Canyon in Arizona. (news release)

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UTILITIES:

• Democratic California lawmakers propose rolling back legislation requiring electric and gas utilities to develop income-based rate plans, saying it didn’t receive enough debate before passing in 2022. (KCRA)
• California’s investor-owned utilities ask federal regulators to reverse their finding that Pacific Gas & Electric isn’t eligible for a regional transmission organization incentive. (Utility Dive)
• Montana regulators plan to probe utilities’ power generation decisions during a cold spell that sent electricity demand soaring earlier this month. (Daily Montanan)  

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WIND: California regulators advance a proposed 60 MW floating wind turbine installation off the central coast that would power a U.S. Space Force base. (Offshore Wind)

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GRID:

• Arizona advocates and tribal nations look to push federal land managers and a developer to reroute a portion of the SunZia transmission line through the ecologically and culturally significant San Pedro River Valley. (NOEMA)
• A Western grid coalition looks to produce an “actionable” interregional transmission study to guide regional grid integration and expansion. (RTO Insider, subscription)

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POLLUTION: Republican Utah lawmakers push back on state regulators’ proposal to limit gas-powered lawn equipment use in some areas when air quality is bad, saying it would restrict freedoms. (Salt Lake Tribune)

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HYDROGEN: Wyoming awards a company $16 million for its proposed coal-to-hydrogen conversion plant with carbon capture and sequestration. (Power)

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COMMENTARY: A former Arizona utility regulator says the state’s rapid adoption of grid-scale battery storage stabilizes the grid and gives consumers more energy options. (Arizona Republic)

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PIPELINES: Iowa lawmakers consider a bill that would give them power to block attempts by developers to secure eminent domain for a carbon pipeline. (Des Moines Register)

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ALSO:

• A Sierra Club official says instead of relying on carbon pipelines to offload their emissions, ethanol plants should make operational changes that cut emissions. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
• North Dakota’s congressional delegation calls on the Biden administration to allow uninterrupted operations of the Dakota Access pipeline, claiming ongoing environmental reviews are redundant. (Grand Forks Herald)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Steel highway guardrails are not designed to withstand the force of electric vehicles, which are typically heavier than gasoline-powered cars, according to Nebraska researchers’ crash test data. (Associated Press)
• Missouri’s St. Louis County will use $735,000 in federal funding to grow its electric vehicle fleet and install 41 charging ports at county facilities. (FOX 2)
• Supply and demand and the boom and bust nature of mining has sent lithium prices plummeting in recent months, creating another potential challenge to the electric vehicle industry. (E&E News)
• The chairs of two U.S. House committees want the Biden administration to investigate four Chinese companies they say are involved with a planned Ford battery plant in Michigan. (Reuters)

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GRID:

• Transmission constraints in grid operator MISO’s system in 2022 cost wind generators $800 million while incumbent generators maintained profits of nearly $1 billion, a University of Michigan researcher finds. (Utility Dive)
• FirstEnergy says its smart grid technology allowed it to quickly and narrowly shut off power for emergency officials responding to last year’s train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, allowing it to avoid widespread outages. (WKBN)

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OVERSIGHT: Documents show that Ohio regulators accepted utility companies’ claims of trade secrets to protect information about coal plant operations, even though the data was publicly available in some cases. (Checks & Balances Project)

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BIOGAS: Environmental and farming groups say a 28-mile, $13.9 million renewable natural gas pipeline planned to serve four large dairies would lead to further consolidation in the agriculture sector. (Star Tribune)

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EFFICIENCY: Energy efficiency has had a big year in Michigan as a new state law requires all utilities to offer energy-saving programs, federal rebates help offset residential investments, and Detroit starts measuring use in large buildings. (Planet Detroit)

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