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16 projects are on the way. Will the grid fail?
In May of last year, a ring of explosives planted around the base of two 500-foot concrete cooling towers at what was once the largest coal-fired power plant in New England brought them down. The demolition of the Brayton Point Power Station was the stunning first act of a national energy drama playing out before the residents of Somerset, Mass. The second act — still unfolding slowly —- started with a proposal for the Anbaric Renewable Energy Center on the cleared site. It includes plans for a refurbished seaport, facilities for making and assembling parts of offshore wind turbines, and a state-of-the-art electric cable connection to bring in the electricity from multiple wind farms at sea. [ read more … ]
Decarbonization
Report: ‘Total decarbonization’ would create 25M jobs
“Rapid and total decarbonization” of the U.S. economy, by tripling the size of the electric grid and replacing nearly every fuel-burning machine with an electric one, would create 25 million U.S. jobs, according to a new report. It was written by San Francisco-based energy researchers Saul Griffith and Sam Calisch, who argue that both climate change and the wave of coronavirus unemployment can be solved with an all-out, multitrillion-dollar effort like the one that helped America win World War II. [ read more … ]
Markets
Pandemic hammers oil earnings as drillers brace for more
The oil industry had one of its worst financial quarters ever as the coronavirus pandemic spread — and the world’s top oil companies say they’re preparing for the downturn to last as long as 18 months. The four supermajor oil producers that reported earnings last week — Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Total SA, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. — lost a combined $36.1 billion from April to June. [ read more … ]
Refiners Retrench as Demand for Gasoline, Jet Fuel Shrivels
U.S. consumption of gasoline and distillates including diesel has rebounded from its April trough to more than 90% of year-ago levels, Energy Information Administration data show. But demand for jet fuel remains anemic, at little more than half of last year’s level, a sign that global oil demand is likely to remain depressed for years. World-wide, fuel makers have coped by processing far less crude, shutting down some facilities and constraining spending. This year’s average global refinery utilization rates are expected to be the lowest in 37 years, according to the International Energy Agency. Refiners typically make less money when they operate well below capacity because the cost of running their facilities doesn’t decline by much. [ read more … ]
FirstEnergy
How FBI says Larry Householder plotted return to power with utility company’s support
The vehicle rolled up outside a Worthington library last September amid an ugly battle to repeal House Bill 6. Matt Borges, a lobbyist and former Ohio Republican Party chairman, was at the wheel. Executives for an Ohio public utility company that pushed for the legislative $1.3 billion energy subsidy were passengers. The group was headed to an airport but detoured to the library because company brass wanted to see one of the people gathering signatures to put the fate of H.B. 6 in the hands of Ohio voters — an effort that could kill the bailout that energy companies ultimately spent more than $60 million to secure. [ read more … ]
Ohio coal giant Murray Energy is $100K dark money donor ‘Company B’ in federal probe
Now-bankrupt Ohio coal giant and House Bill 6 supporter Murray Energy Corp. provided $100,000 in “dark money” involved in the alleged racketeering and bribery scheme that ensnared former House Speaker Larry Householder and four others. The criminal complaint states “Dark Money Group 1,” previously identified by The Dispatch and The Cincinnati Enquirer as the for-profit company Hardworking Ohioans Inc., spent nearly $1.5 million to support Householder’s Republican candidates in the 2018 general election. [ read more … ]
California Clean Truck Rule
Lawsuit targets historic clean truck rule
An industry group has filed the first lawsuit over California’s aggressive new electric truck rule. The complaint from the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, filed Friday in state superior court in Fresno, challenges the legality of the Advanced Clean Trucks regulation. The California Air Resources Board voted last month to adopt the rule, which would require that truck manufacturers sell a certain percentage of zero-emissions trucks in the state starting in 2024 [ read more … ]
Natural Gas
As natural gas bans go national, can cities fill the gap?
In July, a climate task force convened by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden embraced a 2030 goal of zeroing out greenhouse gas emissions from all new buildings. The plan followed a wave of climate activism targeting buildings, which are often the biggest source of urban emissions as they draw electricity from the grid and guzzle natural gas for heat. Dozens of cities in California and Massachusetts have sought to restrict the use of gas in new structures, provoking pushback by oil and gas associations, utilities, and other groups. [ read more … ]
EVs
GM, EVgo to install 2,700 electric-vehicle charging stations
General Motors Co. and EVgo, a public electric-vehicle charging network, are joining forces to add 2,700 electric-vehicle fast-chargers to the network to spur adoption of the vehicles across the U.S. The installation, which will take place in the next five years, will triple the size of EVgo’s charging network with charging stations being added in 40 metropolitan areas to provide charging access to potential electric-vehicle drivers who rent their homes and can’t install chargers, who live in apartments or condos, or who don’t have charging stations at work. [ read more … ]
Campaign 2020
Oil donors flock to Trump as Biden hardens climate stance
With former Vice President Joe Biden leading most polls to be the next president of the United States, oil lobbyists have been careful to focus on their common ground with the Democratic nominee. Behind the scenes, however, oil executives are writing checks to President Donald Trump with greater zeal than they did four years ago, as Biden campaigns on a climate plan that seeks to eliminate carbon emissions by mid-century. [ read more … ]
How Joe Biden decided to go big on climate change
Joe Biden and his campaign spent months crafting a surprisingly ambitious climate plan — one meant to win over voters once skeptical of the former vice president’s White House bid.
Biden’s $2 trillion proposal, released last month, comes as part of an effort to lock down support from a diverse group of climate activists, labor leaders, advocates against pollution that disproportionately hurts people of color, and young voters once energized by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brady Dennis and I reported this weekend. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.