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POLICY: As Vermonters struggle to pay for climate-related disasters, many state representatives are supporting legislation to make the fossil fuel industry pay into a climate change “superfund.” (WCAX, VT Digger)
ALSO: Connecticut has begun offering payments to help environmental justice and ratepayer groups participate in utility regulatory proceedings, but nonprofits say the program is only the first step toward encouraging more diverse participation. (Energy News Network)
PIPELINES:
FOSSIL FUELS:
BUILDINGS:
CLIMATE:
OFFSHORE WIND: Two small New York businesses — an efficiency component manufacturer for coal plants and an ironworks — describe how the offshore wind development push benefits them, as well as the workforce development challenges of working offshore. (RTO Insider, subscription)
CLEAN ENERGY: Sunderland, Vermont, becomes the southern half of the state’s first “green procurement town,” meaning it plans to opt for carbon-free alternatives for equipment, services and power. (news release)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: In Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, an armored truck company receives about $1.3 million in state-directed Volkswagen settlement funds to replace six diesel trucks with battery-electric models and install charging infrastructure. (Lehigh Valley Live, news release)
Connecticut’s utilities commission is the latest to begin offering payments to help environmental justice and ratepayer groups participate in regulatory proceedings.
The Stakeholder Group Compensation Program was required to take effect this month as part of an energy consumer protection bill passed by the state legislature last year. It seeks to encourage more diverse engagement in proceedings on utility regulation, which can set direction for grid resiliency, rate relief, clean energy development, corporate accountability, storm response and more.
In a Jan. 3 decision and new online guidance, the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) says each eligible stakeholder group can apply for up to $100,000 at a time. Each docket is limited to $300,000 in funding across all groups, with $1.2 million total available per year.
The program covers groups and nonprofits representing at least one of a few types of utility customers: a person living in a designated environmental justice community; a “hardship” case, defined as someone seeking to reinstate shut-off electric or gas service in winter who cannot pay their bill; or a small business.
“The process of engaging with proceedings at public utility commissions across the nation is historically exclusive,” wrote Jayson Velazquez, the climate and energy justice policy associate with the nonprofit Acadia Center, in comments on the PURA docket creating the new program. “Compensation can play a significant role in ensuring diverse stakeholders are included in proceedings, specifically at PURA.”
Groups that might use the program say this approach, which has also been contemplated at the federal level, is an important step forward — and they argue that more can be done to encourage inclusive engagement in regulators’ work on climate and economic justice issues.
Mark LeBel, a senior associate with the Regulatory Assistance Project, a nonprofit energy consulting firm, said the concept of intervenor compensation dates back decades and goes hand-in-hand with other consumer protection initiatives, like citizen utility boards and stronger ratepayer advocate offices.
The idea is regaining steam amid a trend toward more attention on equity and the overall mechanics of utility regulation, LeBel said.
“Each state spends implicitly millions of dollars to support utility regulatory participation,” he said. “It’s a perfectly reasonable idea to apply a version of that to other parties, including those in need.”
Six states have similar, active programs: Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Wisconsin and California, the largest such program in the country with $10 to $15 million in payouts per year, according to a 2021 report from the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. A handful of other states have authorized such a program but don’t use it in practice, the report said.
Perfecting the scope of these programs can be tricky, LeBel said. In designing rules and setting funding levels, legislators and regulators may choose either to target money narrowly to the groups that need it most — or to cast a wider net to a range of stakeholders.
Lillian Brough, associate director of the Connecticut-based energy nonprofit Efficiency For All, noted this trade-off as she reviewed the new PURA program’s details.
Brough said her organization’s executive director Leticia Colon de Mejias, a longtime Connecticut environmental justice advocate, has participated in several PURA proceedings over the years, but they don’t have designated staff or resources for this complex work and can’t currently prioritize it as a result.
This means the new compensation program could greatly benefit Efficiency For All in theory, Brough said, especially “if we were fully funded in other areas,” such as in their energy efficiency workforce training program.
In practice, however, Brough saw a range of barriers to actually applying for and using the new funding to participate in PURA work — including a tight application window of two weeks at the beginning of a case, potentially onerous rules for proving a group needs funding up-front rather than reimbursement after the fact, and the challenge of writing an itemized budget ahead of time with limited PURA experience.
“How am I supposed to know my budget if I don’t know how much lawyers are going to cost, how many hours it’s going to take, how many people — I don’t know unless I’ve already participated,” Brough said.
In its online guidance, PURA says the new funding may be used for “reasonable attorneys’ fees, reasonable expert witness fees and other reasonable costs for preparation and participation in Authority proceedings.”
In all, Brough felt the new program would fit best for larger or better funded organizations — those with firsthand knowledge of what participation requires, such as hiring attorneys and expert witnesses or translating questions and comments in and out of regulatory jargon. In some states, like California, certain frequent utility intervenors make this kind of funding a major recurring part of their budgets.
Though the PURA program nominally seeks to benefit the ratepayers and communities that are the most disenfranchised, Brough argued that many smaller groups representing these people may be too overstretched to even navigate the application process.
In the Acadia Center’s comments on the new program’s docket, Velazquez said PURA should also begin a broader look at equity and inclusion across all of its work, similar to a docket now underway in Hawaii.
Brough also raised concerns about what LeBel of the Regulatory Assistance Project said is a relatively common feature of these compensation schemes: To get paid, groups must make a “substantial contribution” to the proceeding.
The PURA order creating the program says regulators will define this case-by-case, but emphasizes an intervenor’s active engagement throughout the process and its capacity to provide “unique or meaningful” facts and perspectives — contributions that “substantially assist the Authority in its decision making.”
Brough said she would worry about subjective interpretations of this leading to further disenfranchisement: “Like, ‘you came to all the meetings, but you didn’t say as much as we wanted, or we didn’t agree with you, or you caused a ruckus, so you can’t have the money.’ So that’s a problem.”
LeBel said ideally such requirements as part of these programs will be relatively loose and forgiving, a low bar designed to prevent funds from going to waste.
PURA’s order points to the program’s basis in utility rates in explaining this approach: “The cost of stakeholder group compensation is ultimately borne by ratepayers, and the substantial contribution requirement ensures that the interests of customers are meaningfully being represented in exchange for that compensation,” the commissioners wrote in their order.
In their comments on the docket, Connecticut’s utilities sought more clarity on the timing of this cost recovery process and its application to gas companies as compared to electric utilities. PURA did not appear to adopt the utilities’ requested changes on this issue in its final order.
“While PURA did not grant our reasonable request on full cost recovery, we look forward to having more stakeholders participate in the regulatory process and share their views, as we always value and appreciate feedback from our customers,” said Eversource spokesperson Jamie Ratliff in a statement.
The Connecticut gas and electric companies owned by Avangrid, including United Illuminating, said in a statement from spokesperson Sarah Wall Fliotsos that they “appreciate the creation of a program that will provide underrepresented groups greater voice in the important issues the energy industry currently faces, including grid modernization and the transition to a clean energy future.”
Last week, the Biden administration announced a big boost for the country’s burgeoning electric vehicle charging network. The U.S. Department of Transportation picked 47 EV charging projects to receive nearly $623 million in funding under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.
The projects include a $15 million network of chargers across Maine, $51.5 million for alternative fuel corridors in Puerto Rico, and a $67.8 million for electric truck and other chargers in New Mexico.
The funding is a much-needed stimulus for the U.S. charging network, which remains spotty in much of the country. So far only New York and Ohio have opened charging stations using bipartisan infrastructure law funding, and a handful of other states have broken ground on their EV projects, the Associated Press reports. As of last January, there were only about 20,000 publicly accessible, high-speed Level 3 chargers across the country.
But by 2050, the National Renewable Energy Lab estimates the country will have another 40 million EVs on the road. That means we’ll need at least 182,000 Level 3 chargers across the country by 2050 to accommodate them — and a lot more private and government funding to get them all built.
📉 Power emissions fall: U.S. power sector emissions dropped 8% in 2023 from the year before, largely thanks to a record number of new solar and utility-scale battery installations and a decline in coal use. (Canary Media)
🥶 Gas’ winter worries: An environmental group’s new report warns about the vulnerability of gas plants during extreme temperatures and cautions against the “vicious cycle” of investing in new gas-fired resources. (Utility Dive)
🌪️ Billion-dollar climate disasters: The U.S. saw a record number of billion-dollar disasters last year, facing 28 instances of intense flooding, tornadoes, and other severe weather. (Yale Climate Connections)
💰 Utilities’ roundabout influence: An investigation finds power companies have courted and at times co-opted more than two dozen Black civil rights leaders in the Southeast to help divert attention from environmental harms related to fossil fuel plants. (Capital B/Floodlight)
📹 Subscribing to climate denial: YouTube creators that have long pushed climate skepticism now seek to discredit renewable energy and other climate solutions. (CNBC)
😶🌫️ Cooking with gas? Testing reveals gas stoves release hazardous levels of pollutants that can be harmful to vulnerable populations, but protective measures can reduce those risks. (Washington Post)
🏠 Clean energy’s equity shortcoming: Low-income households could benefit most from clean energy upgrades such as heat pumps and solar panels but often don’t have access to financing or government incentives to afford them. (New York Times)
⛰️ A coal-to-solar solution: An energy company’s plan to build a solar farm on a mountaintop removal mine site in Kentucky could become a model to repurpose environmentally disturbed sites in Appalachia for renewables. (Daily Yonder)
GAS: Vermont’s top court dismisses a lawsuit against the state’s main gas utility that sought to prevent it from buying and distributing methane from a large New York landfill, a plan criticized by some as a greenwashing scheme. (Seven Days)
ALSO: Three oil tankers catch fire in Epping, New Hampshire, leading to a massive response from neighboring fire departments. (WMUR)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
SOLAR:
CLEAN ENERGY: Rhode Island’s Block Island is now running on only renewable energy, roughly six years after it became home to the country’s first offshore wind farm. (news release)
CLIMATE: A new study shows how New England states have seen a precipitous drop in snowpack since the 1980’s, a problem evident at the region’s mountain resorts, which increasingly rely on making their own snow. (Boston Globe, Stowe Reporter)
POLICY:
GRID: Relatively few power outages are being reported this morning across the region even though thousands lost power over the weekend amid a major winter storm. (PowerOutage.US, In-Depth NH, WGRZ, )
AFFORDABILITY: Connecticut politicians debate whether to direct surplus state funds to help shrink the unmet residential demand for heating bill financial assistance. (CT Mirror)
COMMENTARY: A New Hampshire farmer details how climate change has “upended” standard seasonal weather patterns over the past four decades and how that impacts his business. (Concord Monitor)
EMISSIONS: The EPA proposes new rules that would charge oil and gas producers methane emissions fees starting at $900 per metric ton and rising to $1,500 by 2026. (The Hill)
ALSO: Advocates celebrate proposed U.S. EPA restrictions on pollution from waste-to-energy facilities but say they don’t go far enough to combat environmental justice concerns. (Inside Climate News)
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CLEAN ENERGY:
GAS:
PIPELINES:
SOLAR: Xcel Energy’s plan to replace one of the country’s largest coal plants with solar on the same site is meant to minimize economic losses for the local Minnesota community. (Inside Climate News)
CLEANTECH: Massachusetts’ booming clean tech economy is expanding, and politicians, including the state’s governor, are looking at how to keep that growth in state. (Boston Globe)
WIND: A northern California port commits to using electricity instead of diesel to power a planned terminal that would serve the offshore wind industry. (JPR)
CARBON CAPTURE: California’s petroleum companies look to survive the transition from fossil fuels by establishing a carbon management industry that stores captured greenhouse gasses in depleted oil fields. (Los Angeles Times)
TRANSITION: An energy company’s plan to build an 800 MW solar farm on a 27,000-acre mountaintop removal mine site in Kentucky could become a model to repurpose environmentally disturbed sites in Appalachia for renewables. (Daily Yonder)
ALSO: Federal investigators will look into Appalachia’s “zombie mines,” where coal production has ceased but which companies say are “active” to avoid reclamation costs. (Inside Climate News)
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
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CLIMATE:
UTILITIES: Arkansas power and natural gas utilities respond to state regulators’ questions about their plans to use federal funding for energy efficiency and grid infrastructure projects. (Arkansas Business)
POLITICS: Activists wielding leaf blowers gather outside the Virginia Capitol to lobby for legislation that would let local governments regulate gas-powered blowers. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
COMMENTARY: An environmental justice advocate calls for pop star and real estate developer Pharrell Williams to consider the risk of climate gentrification to nearby Black neighborhoods as he moves forward with projects in coastal Virginia. (Daily Press)
EQUITY: Low-income households could benefit most from clean energy upgrades such as heat pumps and solar panels but often don’t have access to financing or government incentives. (New York Times)
SOLAR: The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts 79 GW of new solar capacity will come online through the end of 2025, potentially making it the top source of power growth over the next two years. (Utility Dive)
STORAGE: Federal analysts also predict energy storage on the grid will nearly double this year, from 17.3 GW now to 31.1 GW by December. (Canary Media)
OIL & GAS:
HYDROGEN: The Biden administration’s proposed hydrogen incentive rules place strict emissions limits on green hydrogen producers but lack standards for natural gas-sourced blue hydrogen. (Canary Media)
COAL:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
CLIMATE: Climate-fueled storms, flooding and rising sea levels are bound to drive coastal U.S. residents inland, but elderly people are likely to be left behind, a study finds. (Grist)
POLITICS: The planned departure of several longtime U.S. House and Senate members who have played key roles in energy policy raises concerns about brain drain with the loss of their institutional knowledge on issues. (E&E News)
COMMENTARY: A clean energy columnist calls on journalists to stop sensationalizing clean energy-related bird deaths, pointing to a study finding oil and gas drilling is more harmful to avians than wind turbines. (Los Angeles Times)
GEOTHERMAL: Boston’s mayor briefly mentions a major new utility project in her State of the City speech: the city’s first networked geothermal heating and cooling system, to be developed by National Grid in the Franklin Field neighborhood. (WCVB)
BUILDINGS: In her annual speech, Boston’s mayor also announced a new program to ban new city-owned buildings from using fossil fuels. (Boston Globe)
GRID:
FOSSIL FUELS: PJM Interconnection wants Talen Energy to postpone the planned decommissioning of two units at a 840 MW coal, oil and gas-fired Maryland power plant, citing pending transmission upgrades. (POWER Magazine)
CLEAN ENERGY:
OFFSHORE WIND: A Rhode Island senator proposes a new federal bill to clarify and streamline the offshore wind development pipeline process. (ecoRI)
REGULATION:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
CLIMATE: Maine’s state climatologist says climate change is the main reason every season over the last century has seen more precipitation. (Portland Press Herald)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Virginia schools have used federal funding, public-private partnerships and direct purchases to become the state with fourth highest number of electric school buses despite limited state funding for bus electrification. (Energy News Network)
ALSO:
SOLAR:
OIL & GAS:
FINANCE: An investigation finds that half the funds banned by Texas for “boycotting” fossil fuel industries actually invested a combined $5 billion directly into oil and gas, and two thirds of such funds have more than $13 billion invested in Texas-based companies. (Bloomberg)
STORAGE: An energy company begins operation of a 150 MW battery storage system in Texas. (Houston Chronicle)
GRID:
CLIMATE: Data shows the average temperature in 2023 was Texas’ hottest ever, clocking 3.5 degrees above the average for the 20th century. (Texas Tribune)
COMMENTARY:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Biden administration awards $623 million for 47 electric vehicle charging projects across the country, with the money set to fund 7,500 new charging ports. (Associated Press)
ALSO:
EMISSIONS: U.S. power sector emissions dropped 8% in 2023 from the year before, largely thanks to a record number of new solar and utility-scale battery installations. (Canary Media)
CLIMATE:
CLEAN ENERGY: The world’s renewable energy capacity skyrocketed in 2023, growing at its fastest pace in 20 years, the International Energy Agency says. (Guardian)
OIL & GAS:
BUILDINGS:
SOLAR:
POLITICS: Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy says long-stalled energy project permitting reform will likely only happen as part of a bipartisan “grand bargain” that would need to include more precise pollutant measurements. (The Hill)
PIPELINES: After failed efforts to change state law, Iowa lawmakers suggest that blocking the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines may require intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
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