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Wind farms boost tax base for local U.S. governments -Moody’s
Wind farms have boosted local tax bases and generated new revenue as they expand across the United States, especially for rural areas, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report on Monday. “What we’re seeing is wind farms generate new operating revenues, lower the tax burden for local residents,” Moody’s analyst Frank Mamo told Reuters. “In many cases, local governments are using this new money to address what was a growing backlog of deferred capital expenditures.”
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DOE’s coal crusade keeps the heat on FERC
Cracks in the public relationship between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy were on display last week with dueling comments from a DOE spokesperson and one of FERC’s five commissioners. FERC is getting accustomed to high-profile critics. Since its rejection in January of a DOE proposal to subsidize economically struggling coal and nuclear plants, FERC has been bashed by former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and powerful coal tycoon Bob Murray, among other critics close to the White Hous [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
Green issues rule California’s ‘most interesting’ race
While the governor’s race has sucked up most of the political oxygen in California, the battle for lieutenant governor is turning into one of the most unpredictable statewide contests this year. And it is being waged on environmental issues, with leading contenders touting key endorsements and pledging to fight President Trump’s plan to open up the coast to new offshore drilling and withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. [ read more … ]
Iowa Supreme Court declines to hear appeal in turbine case
The state Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from an energy company ordered to remove three wind turbines in northeast Iowa, handing another victory to a group of local residents fighting the project. Tuesday’s decision leaves in place an order that Mason Wind and Optimum Renewables must take down the 445-foot turbines built in 2016 for an estimated $11 million, The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported. Mason Wind was ordered to take down the turbines after property owners and city officials accused the company of violating county zoning laws. [ read more … ]
Iowa governor signs utility-backed energy savings bill
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who as lieutenant governor shepherded an energy plan that championed energy efficiency, signed a utility-backed bill Friday that instead scales back energy savings programs. The Republican governor, who is seeking re-election, signed Senate File 2311 against the urging of environmental and consumer advocates who argued the bill would increase utility bills and cost the state jobs.
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A steel town that voted for Trump is banking on renewables
In this prairie community, where the Sangre de Cristo Mountains rise to meet the parched expanse of the Southern Plains, blue-collar workers whose grandfathers toiled for generations in steel mills are making wind turbines and installing solar panels. The world’s largest wind turbine tower factory has sprouted up on the southern bank of the Arkansas River, alongside the blackened smokestacks and furnaces of a steel mill once owned by John D. Rockefeller. Nearby, a solar farm touted as the largest east of the Rocky Mountains encircles a massive coal plant, the Comanche Generating Station. [ read more … ]
British Sun Beats Natural Gas to Provide Most Electricity in U.K.
Britain got a glimpse of its green future as the sun provided more power to households than any other energy source over a rare, sunny holiday weekend. Solar generation rose to 8,728 megawatts at 2 p.m. on Sunday, just shy of the record of 8,910 megawatts on May 26 last year. The sun provided 26.9 percent of electricity supply, just beating natural gas, while coal output was zero, according to data from utility Drax Plc. [ read more … ]
The man who could replace Scott Pruitt
The man poised to take the reins at the Environmental Protection Agency if Scott Pruitt falls to scandal is a longtime Washington insider and coal lobbyist who would pursue the same anti-regulation agenda — only without all of Pruitt’s baggage. [ read more … ]
What Trump’s decision on Iran nuclear deal means for oil prices
President Trump has until May 12 to choose whether to scrap the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions, but the uncertainty over his decision is already roiling the Iranian economy and international oil markets. Since December, Iran’s currency has lost one-third of its value. Foreign investors, who have been jittery ever since Trump took office, have delivered only a fraction of their commitments. And while the Iranian economy has generated 600,000 jobs a year since the nuclear deal took effect in 2016, unemployment isrunning at an all-time high [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.