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This climate approach could win John Roberts’ approval
Roberts last month penned the opinion in the landmark climate case West Virginia v. EPA that knocked down the Obama administration’s approach to regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. But some lawyers think he signaled a willingness to allow another option — one that some environmentalists have been pushing for more than a decade as it’s been ignored or rejected by past administrations. Roberts wrote that “capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible ‘solution to the crisis of the day.’” [ read more … ]
Wind Energy
MidAmerican Energy Abandons Plan To Add 30 Wind Turbines, Madison County Residents Celebrate: ‘How Awesome’
On Saturday, landowners in the county who had leased their property for a wind project being pushed by MidAmerican Energy Company, received letters informing them that the company was abandoning plans to add 30 wind turbines to the controversial Arbor Hill wind project. The cancellation appears to end a multi-year battle between the company, a subsidiary of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, and angry county residents who united to oppose the landscape-blighting project. The battle included a court fight in which the company sued the county as part of an effort to force it to accept more wind turbines. Had MidAmerican chosen to build those 30 turbines, it may have been entitled to tax credits worth about $81 million. [ read more … ]
Climate
Heat to wane in Northeast as Pacific Northwest prepares to roast
Heat alerts blanket the Pacific Northwest, including much of Oregon and Washington state, where temperatures are set to spike to 110 degrees in the days ahead. Northern California will be affected, as well, the atmospheric blowtorch coming as fires torch the Golden State, including the swiftly moving Oak Fire, whose explosive growth has triggered numerous evacuations and a state of emergency. Daily high temperatures about 10 to 20 degrees above average will persist through at least the end of the workweek, with elevated highs sticking around into the weekend. Several records will be set. Heat index values could reach dangerous levels. [ read more … ]
As a heat wave blankets much of the U.S., utilities are managing to keep up, for now
With a record-setting heat wave scorching much of the U.S. and expected to stretch into next week, electrical utilities are maneuvering to keep up with demand. The warnings of possible rolling blackouts for this summer haven’t come to pass. But tens of millions of people in numerous states across the country are under heat warnings or advisories, and the task of powering air conditioners on overdrive hasn’t been easy. [ read more … ]
Al Gore compares climate inaction to Texas school shooting
“The climate deniers are really in some ways similar to all of those almost 400 law enforcement officers in Uvalde, Texas, who were waiting outside an unlocked door while the children were being massacred. They heard the screams, they heard the gunshots, and nobody stepped forward,” Gore told NBC’s Chuck Todd, referring to May’s elementary school shooting, in which a gunman killed 21 students and teachers.” Confronted with this global emergency, what we’re doing with our inaction and failing to walk through the door and stop the killing is not typical of what we are capable of as human beings,” he continued. [ read more … ]
Natural Gas
Could gas leak fixes thwart climate goals?
The tension surrounding pipeline replacements and clean energy is part of a broader debate on the future of the natural gas system that heats many homes and businesses across the United States. About a dozen states have set goals to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in less than 30 years — and analysts say meeting those targets will likely mean using less natural gas. Gas utilities may ultimately have “a much smaller role” in the overall energy system of states that hit those targets, said Adithya Bhashyam, a hydrogen analyst at BloombergNEF. That means that today’s installed pipes — often made of durable, long-lasting plastic materials — could become “stranded assets,” left unused before their decadeslong life span is over. [ read more … ]
Can EPA cut CO2 from gas plants in regulatory ‘new world’?
Last month’s Supreme Court decision left EPA with a conundrum: how to meaningfully cut carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s fleet of natural gas power plants without risking another reversal in court. Limited technological options and a mountain of legal uncertainty make taming CO2 emissions from existing gas plants a difficult task. But it is one the Biden administration will have to grapple with to have any chance of delivering on its promise to cut power-sector emissions 80 percent by the end of this decade. [ read more … ]
EVs
Tesla Looks to Open Its EV-Charging Network
Tesla is trying to tap into public funding to build electric-vehicle chargers, as it moves to open some of its U.S. Supercharger network to EVs made by other manufacturers. The EV-market leader is bidding for a portion of billions in federal and state dollars that are up for grabs in coming years as the Biden administration, auto makers and many states try to accelerate a fast-charger build-out along highways to reassure drivers that they can travel without fear of losing power. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.