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House Democrats float sweeping green energy bill
House Ways and Means Democrats released a broad draft energy tax package that would extend and revise a host of renewable, clean energy and efficiency incentives. The “Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act,” offered by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, along with other committee Democrats, responds to months of pent-up desire from outside groups and their congressional allies to legislate on energy taxes. In a statement, Thompson called the bill “a comprehensive approach to addressing the threat of climate change through our tax code.” [ read more … ]
Wind Energy
With Gore, New Jersey announces aggressive wind energy goals
New Jersey is doubling down on expanding its wind energy production, and then some. Flanked by former Vice President Al Gore, a longtime climate activist, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order Tuesday that commits the state to produce 7,500 megawatts of electricity through wind energy by 2035. That’s more than double the 3,500 megawatt goal Murphy set for 2030. Murphy said if the goal is realized, wind energy could power half the state’s energy needs and about 3.2 million homes.
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Offshore wind companies team up to appease fishing industry
Five offshore wind developers released a joint plan this morning to coordinate turbine placement in the shallow waters off New England, in a bid to ease fishermen’s concerns and win over federal regulators.
Turbine siting has emerged as one of the key sticking points as offshore wind developers move to install steel towers in the ocean. Fishermen and other mariners have raised concerns about the orientation of the towers, as well as the distance between them. [ read more … ]
Wind output to jump 37% because of climate shift — study
Global wind speeds are picking up after decades of stalling, creating the potential for wind turbines to increase average output 37% in the next five years, according to a new study. The study, published yesterday in the journal Nature Climate Change, said the rise in wind speeds comes after three decades of a gradual slowing, a phenomenon called global terrestrial stilling. Because of a pick-up in wind speed, researchers estimated that a typical wind turbine would have generated approximately 17% more energy in 2017 than in 2010. Average wind speeds in northern midlatitude regions — where most turbines are located — during the same time frame increased roughly 7%. [ read more … ]
EVs
EV groups, air officials back Calif. tailpipe rules
Electric vehicle groups and California air regulators last week waded into a legal fight over the federal government’s efforts to prevent the Golden State from setting its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions from cars. The National Coalition for Advanced Transportation, a group that supports electric vehicle infrastructure, hitched onto lawsuits launched by states and green groups against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s move to preempt California’s ability to set stricter vehicle emissions limits than those imposed by the federal government. [ read more … ]
‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’ star issues new warning
Chelsea Sexton gained fame as one of the main characters in the blockbuster 2006 documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” Last month, E&E News caught up with her in Los Angeles, where she opined that, despite their big new promises, the automakers could kill the electric car again. “It’s not a rolling snowball,” she said. [ read more … ]
RTOs
PJM taps former Texas utility, natural gas provider exec as CEO
PJM Interconnection’s Board of Managers has appointed Manu Asthana as its new president and CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2020, the grid operator announced Monday. Most recently, Asthana served as president of Direct Energy Home, combining Direct Energy’s retail electricity and home-services businesses in North America. The electric and natural gas provider serves 3.4 million customers. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
Exxon decries ‘coordinated attack’ from N.Y., Mass.
Counsel for Exxon Mobil Corp. last week told federal judges that legal challenges launched by New York and Massachusetts against the oil giant amount to a “coordinated, ongoing assault” on the company’s First Amendment protections. Exxon filed its letter Friday with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is hearing a case the oil firm filed against Attorneys General Maura Healey of Massachusetts and Letitia James of New York. [ read more … ]
Beyond coal and oil: Wyo. faces crisis
With its coal sector crumbling, Wyoming is leaning heavily on its oil industry to make up the difference. But experts are signaling that the boom times are truly over for Wyoming’s fossil fuel-dependent economy, and some politicians are taking note. Though largely off the national radar, the nation’s least populous state is ground zero for a rapidly evolving energy transition its politically conservative leaders don’t really want, driven by markets out of their control. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.