Greens wage letter-writing campaign with Senate vote imminent

Two resolutions that would scuttle the Obama administration’s carbon rules for power plants are on the Senate schedule and could see a vote as early as this week, the sponsors of the measures said yesterday evening. The resolutions would kill U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from existing power plants and the agency’s rule for reducing emissions from new or modified plants. Under the Congressional Review Act, they require a simple majority for passage in the Senate. [ read more … ]

Green groups step up messaging against CRA votes

Environmental groups are waging an all-out campaign against the latest congressional attempts to kill the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, launching ads and polls this week in support of the carbon rule. As part of that effort, the Sierra Club will unveil print and digital ads Sunday urging Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) to reject Congressional Review Act resolutions that would block U.S. EPA’s finalized rule to reduce emissions at new and existing power plants.
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Governor Brown Takes Climate Message to World Stage

World leaders have vowed to go forward with a summit in Paris in two weeks, where they’ll be hashing out a much-anticipated agreement to combat climate change. And among the heads of state and dignitaries, you’ll also see California’s Governor Jerry Brown. Brown will be making the case that what California does matters to the rest of world. He’s been spearheading a separate international agreement to cut emissions – not with other countries, but among regional governments like states and provinces. [ read more … ]

MidAmerican building tallest land-based wind turbine in Iowa

MidAmerican Energy says it’s building the tallest land-based wind turbine in the nation in southern Iowa.

The Des Moines-based power company will get the added height by building the wind turbine tower from concrete instead of steel, a first for the company. The extra 100-plus feet enables the turbine to capture more wind energy, the utility said. “Generally speaking, the higher the altitude, the greater the wind resource available,” said Mike Gehringer, MidAmerican’s vice president of renewable energy. [ read more … ]

South Dakota PUC approves construction permit for wind farm near Newell

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission has approved a construction permit for a 103-megawatt wind farm about 10 miles northeast of Newell. The Willow Creek Wind Energy Facility to be built by Wind Quarry LLC will include 45 wind turbines and will interconnect to a 115-kilovolt transmission line owned by the Western Area Power Administration. Construction of the wind farm and substation could begin next month, and the farm could be operational as early as December 2017. [ read more … ]

The Harder Texas Wind Blows the Further Power Prices Plunge

Texas can thank record wind output for a slump in power prices to the lowest in five years. On-peak power at the North hub, which includes Dallas, slid $4.08, or 23 percent, to $13.51 a megawatt-hour for the hour ended at 4 p.m. local time from Nov. 13, grid data compiled by Bloomberg show. It’s headed toward the lowest full-day average since at least Nov. 9, 2010. [ read more … ]