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Developers Propose Wind Farms Off Long Island, Martha’s Vineyard
German developer PNE Wind AG and Norway’s Statoil ASA are asking the U.S. government to open additional sites for offshore wind farms off the coasts of New York and Massachusetts. The sites south of Long Island, New York, and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, are near existing areas already designated for offshore development, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said in a statement Friday. The unsolicited requests for offshore leases come amid growing interest in developing clean energy off the U.S. Atlantic coast. [ read more … ]
BOEM to lease more areas off Mass.
The Interior Department plans to open new waters off Massachusetts to offshore wind development, after two companies submitted unsolicited requests to lease the area. The lease areas total more than 380,000 acres. PNE Wind USA Inc. and Statoil Wind both expressed interest in the same area, prompting Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to decide to proceed with the competitive leasing process, according to an email sent today to stakeholders. PNE Wind proposed projects in two lease areas that would generate 400 megawatts each, with as many as 50 turbines in each location. Statoil — which bid a record $42.5 million last year to win a lease off New York — wants to build a wind farm on one lease area that would initially generate as much as 600 MW. [ read more … ]
Four-Year U.S. Wind Forecast Sees Quarter-Million Jobs, 35 GW Of New Wind
The expansion of American wind power is poised to drive 248,000 jobs and $85 billion dollars in economic activity over the next four years, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), citing a new report from Navigant Consulting. [ read more … ]
Behind the Quiet State-by-State Fight Over Electric Vehicles
When Georgia repealed its generous $5,000 tax credit on electric vehicles in July 2015, and instead slapped a $200 registration fee on electric cars, sales quickly tumbled. In the month before the repeal, nearly 1,300 electric vehicles were sold in the state. By August, those sales had all but evaporated — to just 97 cars. It was a hint of what would come. Today, the economic incentives that have helped electric vehicles gain a toehold in America are under attack, state by state. [ read more … ]
In 1st Budget, Trump to Push Conservative View of Government
People familiar with the budget who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the public release say the White House is seeking a 30 percent cut from an Energy Department office that promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy. The office has funded research on projects such as LED light bulbs, electric trucks, advanced batteries and biofuels. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is targeted for at least $700 million in cuts from its current $2.1 billion budget, said Scott Sklar, chairman of the steering committee of the Sustainable Energy Coalition. The Energy Department could see steep cuts for its 17 national laboratories, which conduct cutting-edge research on topics from nuclear power to advanced materials for energy generation, storage and use. [ read more … ]
Trump’s Climate Views: Combative, Conflicting and Confusing
Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, drew criticism on Thursday for saying that carbon dioxide was not a primary contributor to global warming, contradicting years of established science. But his boss, President Trump, has similarly raised doubts about the cause of global warming and has said a great deal more on the subject — as part of an argument, an applause line, a punch line or an insult. But what do his many comments reveal about his actual thinking? In 2009, he joined some 50 business leaders in signing a full-page advertisement in The New York Times calling for “meaningful and effective measures to combat climate change.” More recently he has referred to climate change as a hoax or a joke. [ read more … ]
DOE may be prime target for Trump budget cutters
A primary spending guideline for the Trump transition team, the budget proposals of the Heritage Foundation, called for the elimination of six DOE offices and programs for a savings of nearly $4 billion, including the clean energy and efficiency projects under the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and others in the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Six other programs would get reduced funding, lowering the DOE budget by an additional $2 billion, under the Heritage plan. [ read more … ]
Editorial: Renewable energy growing in Kansas
Kansas now proudly can wear the label of a “green” state, after Westar Energy announced this past week that it can generate more than half of its yearly energy needs from renewable resources such as wind and solar. The addition of the Western Plains Wind Farm near Spearville brings to 10 the number of farms providing energy to Westar. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.