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NUCLEAR: Connecticut legislators mull studying the possibility of adding new nuclear capacity at the Millstone Station plant. (New Haven Register)
BUILDINGS: Providence’s city council passes a new ordinance requiring municipal buildings reach carbon neutrality by 2040. (Providence Journal)
SOLAR:
CLEAN POWER: New York City finds it feasible to develop solar and battery storage at Rikers Island, an infamous prison slated for closure, as well as install offshore wind power transmission equipment. (The City)
POLICY: A hearing on New York’s new emissions reduction scoping plan sees supporters and detractors argue for and against accelerated climate action. (Auburn Citizen)
TRANSIT: Some Maryland lawmakers want to block the possibility of funding a high-speed train between New York City and Washington, D.C., although the legislation is stalled in committee. (Capital News Service)
FOSSIL FUELS:
GRID: Connecticut legislators hear testimony on a proposal to study the impact of large data centers on the state’s power grid, but supporters of such facilities say studies will just delay development. (CT Mirror)
GEOTHERMAL:
UTILITIES: Iberdrola, a Spanish energy major with a majority stake in Avangrid, wants to buy out the remaining shares in the Connecticut-based utility. (Hartford Business Journal)
GRID: Conservation groups file a new lawsuit seeking to halt construction on a nearly completed $650 million transmission line that would cross a national wildlife refuge across the Mississippi River. (WPR)
ALSO:
TRANSPORTATION: The founder of an electric bike-sharing company is determined to make the operation successful in Youngstown, Ohio, by scaling appropriately and focusing on community needs. (Energy News Network)
PIPELINES:
CLEAN ENERGY:
SOLAR: A Detroit neighborhood is removed from consideration for a series of city-backed solar projects amid local opposition. (Planet Detroit)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: EV startup Rivian pauses construction on a $5 billion manufacturing plant in Georgia to instead produce a new model at an existing plant in Illinois. (Associated Press)
COAL: Republican lawmakers in four Midwest states are part of a movement to pass legislation that props up retiring coal plants, even though ratepayers may foot the bill as coal fails to compete on price with clean energy. (E&E News)
EFFICIENCY: Seven years after buying a dilapidated Detroit duplex for $1,700, a homeowner completes a $275,000 renovation into a net-zero home for low-income renters. (Planet Detroit)
COMMENTARY: Michigan State University researchers say Detroit residents are more likely to support solar projects in the city if they can benefit financially. (The Conversation)
CLIMATE: President Biden highlights his climate policies in his State of the Union address, tying Inflation Reduction Act incentives to a wave of clean energy manufacturing projects and jobs. (E&E News)
ALSO: Two new analyses conclude this winter’s record-breaking warmth was driven by climate change, which combined with an El Niño weather pattern made the season unrecognizable in parts of the world. (New York Times)
OIL & GAS:
GRID: Advocates say grid-enhancing technologies can help squeeze more capacity out of existing U.S. transmission lines and reduce bottlenecks as more clean energy comes online. (States Newsroom)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
UTILITIES: Xcel Energy acknowledges its power poles likely sparked the largest wildfire in Texas history, though denies it was negligent in maintaining its facilities. (Texas Tribune)
SOLAR: New York City finds it feasible to develop solar and battery storage at Rikers Island, an infamous prison slated for closure, as well as install offshore wind power transmission equipment. (The City)
STORAGE: Advocates say Hawaiian Electric’s plan to slash residential battery program incentives could imperil the state’s energy transition and lead to more power outages. (Grist)
TRANSPORTATION: The founder of an electric bike-sharing company is determined to make the operation successful in Youngstown, Ohio, by scaling appropriately and focusing on community needs. (Energy News Network)
BIOFUELS: Advocates say a California program allowing dairies to sell carbon credits for producing biofuels from manure incentivizes factory farming and its environmental impacts. (Sierra)
COMMENTARY: A California columnist considers the pros and cons of public power agencies after Warren Buffett questions the financial viability of investor-owned utilities in the West. (Los Angeles Times)
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: The dwindling population of a historic Alabama community founded by former enslaved people fights the two-mile expansion of a rail line in a neighborhood already besieged by industrial pollution. (Next City/Reckon)
COAL: Kentucky lawmakers advance a bill to form a commission charged with assessing energy generation and demand, likely adding yet another obstacle for utilities who want to retire aging and inefficient coal-fired power plants. (Associated Press)
WIND: Dominion Energy will pay a Virginia city and historic lighthouse nearly $1 million to compensate for affecting their ocean views as it builds a sizable offshore wind farm. (Virginian-Pilot)
NUCLEAR: Virginia lawmakers consider two proposals to let utilities charge ratepayers to develop advanced nuclear reactors, with the bills applying separately to Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy, along with some other differences. (Virginia Mercury)
SOLAR: A Texas-based automotive supplier will source power from a 2.6 MW solar array on neighboring land in one of the state’s first three-party energy purchase agreements. (KABB)
CLIMATE:
OIL & GAS: Mexico stands to become a major player in the global market for liquified natural gas, but the Biden administration’s pause on permitting LNG export facilities in the U.S. has delayed that prospect and given climate activists more time to fight back. (Inside Climate News)
PIPELINES: A Canadian pipeline operator announces it will spend $500 million to expand its network and storage facilities along the Gulf Coast after raising its projected profits from purchasing three gas utilities from Dominion Energy. (Reuters)
EFFICIENCY:
EMISSIONS:
GRID: The Midcontinent Independent System Operator proposes a second round of transmission upgrades across the Midwest costing as much as $23 billion, but advocates question whether the plan sufficiently anticipates future clean energy needs. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: A North Dakota utility says a massive new cryptocurrency data center is straining a power line, which has cost it $18 million in demand charges, much of which gets passed on to customers. (Bismarck Tribune)
CARBON CAPTURE:
NATURAL GAS:
POLLUTION: Multiple Midwest states join a lawsuit challenging a new EPA rule tightening standards for particulate pollution. (Associated Press)
SOLAR:
BIOENERGY:
TRANSPORTATION: Rapid City, South Dakota’s city council passes a resolution in support of a proposed passenger rail expansion that would connect the city to Sioux Falls and Denver. (Rapid City Journal)
COMMENTARY: A Kansas advocate says the state’s lack of a comprehensive energy plan has made this year’s legislative debate feel “a lot like a dysfunctional road trip.” (Kansas Reflector)
EMISSIONS: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approves new rules requiring public companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, but will exclude emissions that come from the use of their products. (Grist)
ALSO: Ten states immediately launch a lawsuit challenging the new rule, with opposition from business groups likely to follow. (The Hill)
CLIMATE:
COAL: Several states consider giving regulators more power to step in when coal plants are slated for retirement, with sponsors of legislation contending coal is necessary as renewables expand and electric rates rise. (E&E News)
GRID: The Midcontinent Independent System Operator proposes a second round of transmission upgrades across the Midwest costing as much as $23 billion, but advocates question whether the plan sufficiently anticipates future clean energy needs. (Energy News Network)
OIL & GAS: Mexico stands to become a major player in the global liquified natural gas market, but the Biden administration’s pause on permitting LNG export facilities has delayed that prospect and given climate activists more time to fight back. (Inside Climate News)
POLLUTION:
EFFICIENCY:
GRID: A report predicts energy-intensive semiconductor manufacturing facilities planned for Arizona and Idaho could strain power grids and increase demand for fossil fuel-generated electricity. (Verge)
CARBON CAPTURE: South Dakota lawmakers pass three bills regulating carbon pipelines, but remain divided on whether the new rules — praised by the ethanol industry — go far enough to protect landowners. (South Dakota Searchlight)
SOLAR: A New Hampshire legislative proposal would streamline the interconnection process for solar projects, which right now varies depending on the utility for projects larger than 100 kW. (Energy News Network)
UTILITIES:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
POLICY: Maryland’s legislature quickly approaches its deadline to advance legislation to the next chamber, but several energy bills — including one to restrict what homeowner associations can do about a home’s solar or electric vehicle installation plans — have already done so. (RTO Insider, subscription)
STORMS:
TRANSIT:
OFFSHORE WIND: Northeast fishers have about three months to apply for compensation if their business was impacted by Vineyard Wind construction, with much of the money earmarked for Massachusetts workers. (CAI)
EDUCATION: A high school-aged youth coalition pushes New Hampshire legislators to incorporate climate and environmental education in school curricula. (In-Depth NH)
SOLAR: California regulators side with utilities and propose rejecting a community solar-friendly tariff policy pushed by advocates, lawmakers and pro-solar groups, potentially killing efforts to revamp the state’s community solar market. (Canary Media)
ALSO:
UTILITIES: An Oregon jury orders PacifiCorp to pay more than $42 million to victims of the 2020 Labor Day fires blamed on the utility’s equipment. (Associated Press)
HYDROGEN: Xcel Energy pauses a plan to blend hydrogen with natural gas in its distribution system following opposition from residents and advocates. (CPR)
MINING:
DIVESTMENT: Oregon lawmakers pass a bill that would divest the state’s public employee retirement fund from nearly $1 billion in coal-related investments. (Oregon Capital Chronicle)
COAL: A company plans to demolish Alaska’s only coal loading facility, likely permanently ending the state’s coal export industry. (KTOO)
POLITICS: Wyoming’s senate passes language that would strip an agency of funding that has gone toward Gov. Mark Gordon’s “all of the above” energy strategy. (Wyoming Public Radio)
CLIMATE: The Biden administration awards $38 million to Oregon for resilience measures that can better protect residents from climate change-exacerbated wildfires. (KOIN)
GEOTHERMAL: Hawaii launches a statewide search for potential geothermal energy sources using federal COVID relief funds. (KHON)
GRID:
NUCLEAR: California advocates urge federal regulators to order Diablo Canyon nuclear plant to close immediately due to the “unacceptable risk” of a seismically induced accident. (Tribune)
HYDROPOWER: Data show Northwest hydroelectricity facilities generated less power in 2023 than in the last 20 years due to low winter snow levels. (KUOW)
TRANSPORTATION:
COMMENTARY: A Colorado advocate urges state lawmakers to fashion policies aimed at accelerating residential building electrification. (Colorado Newsline)
During a summer’s afternoon in 2022, a 450-foot fireball exploded at a liquefied natural gas terminal south of Houston, rocking sunbathers on Quintana Beach, adjacent to the Freeport LNG terminal, and rattling homes for miles around.
Eighteen months later, residents around the plant have yet to receive any information directly from Freeport LNG about what caused the explosion, or what to do if it were to happen again, said Melanie Oldham, one of the founders of Better Brazoria, an environmental and public health advocacy group who felt the blast in her living room, 3 miles from the terminal.
John Allaire frequently hears the internal alarms go off at Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal, just a mile from his home on the Gulf Coast in southwest Louisiana, but he never knows what’s causing them. He said when he asked about the alarms, a Venture Global executive told Allaire to call 911 if he was concerned.
The Biden administration recently paused permitting for new LNG terminals to consider the macro implications such as climate change and national security of the U.S. becoming the world’s largest exporter of the super chilled, super condensed methane gas. But those living near the eight terminals already operating in the U.S. and the seven that are under construction have more immediate concerns — their safety.
Unlike other industrial facilities, such as chemical plants and oil refineries, LNG operators don’t have to share with the general public information such as what chemicals are being used onsite and how an accident could impact the people who live around the facility.
“If people knew the risks around LNG, there would be so much public outcry that this buildout wouldn’t happen,” said Naomi Yoder, who researched the safety of LNG facilities as a staff scientist at the environmental watchdog Healthy Gulf.
The LNG industry says its operations are safe. On the website for the Center for LNG, a lobbying group, three paragraphs explain the safety of the emerging export industry. It points out that the U.S. Energy Department itself says “The physical and chemical properties of LNG render it safer than other commonly used hydrocarbons.” The Center for LNG did not respond to multiple requests for more information on LNG safety.
But the information needed for the public to verify that claim is often confidential because LNG terminals are considered critical infrastructure and could be terrorist targets. Companies also can shield information they consider to be trade secrets.
Even some of the computer models used to determine the risks of potential accidents at LNG terminals are proprietary. So scientists such as Jerry Havens — a professor emeritus of chemical engineering at the University of Arkansas who worked on the original safety standards for LNG import terminals — can’t verify their findings. And Havens is skeptical.
“What it means is that these places are being built shiny and new and approved with 1,100 and 1,200-page reports. But they are neglecting a major hazard. These calculations need to be checked.”
The risks around the terminals are made even more opaque by the fact the LNG industry is regulated by three federal agencies: the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the U.S. Coast Guard.
One of those agencies, PHMSA, is using regulations from the 1980s — before the United States started exporting LNG and when the fuel was mainly used as a backup for gas-fired power plants.
“There’s not sufficient information to know what the full risks are, and the repercussions of no one understanding are huge,” said Elizabeth Calderon, an attorney for Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest environmental law organization.
The secrecy around the safety information for LNG terminals is a contrast from refineries or petrochemical plants that are regulated under the federal Emergency Planning Community Right to Know Act. Under that law, facilities that handle chemicals are required to prepare risk management plans for the Environmental Protection Agency. Portions of those plans, including off-site scenarios, are made available for the public to view at federal courthouses.
But in 1998, the EPA exempted facilities “used to liquefy natural or synthetic gas or used to transfer, store, or vaporize LNG in conjunction with pipeline transportation” because the facilities are not considered “stationary.” PHMSA confirmed it does not enforce the Right to Know Act.
PHMSA and FERC do require developers and owners of LNG facilities to create and regularly update their emergency response plans, but the public availability of those plans on FERC’s website is uneven. Some, like for Freeport LNG, are available and updated regularly. But others, such as for the operating Corpus Christi LNG, could not be found by Floodlight.
And while 11 pages of its 170-page plan for under-construction Venture Global Plaquemines is publicly available, not even a redacted version could be found for Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass terminal, which is already operating. The information that is available in those plans, and in material distributed by companies such as Freeport LNG emphasize the low risk of an accident.
Yoder said ideally, the plans would contain a “worst case scenario” for the LNG storage tanks and tankers that describes a potential blast radius and risks to people within each radius.
“All the important stuff is redacted,” said James Hiatt, a fisherman and environmental activist who lives in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. “They tell us that all of it is proprietary information and it’s national security. They won’t tell us what the risk is. People deserve to know if they are safe in their homes.”
Dick Gremillion, director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for Calcasieu Parish, says he isn’t overly concerned with the risks of LNG compared with the multiple other refineries and petrochemical facilities in the Lake Charles area. The region is home to several oil refineries, including one lightning struck in 2023, and chemical plants, where explosions are common.
Chuck Watson, founder of Enki, a company that models the risks of natural and manmade hazards, agrees the likelihood of an LNG accident is quite low. But, he added, “The problem is if you have an accident, the consequences are quite high.”
A 2009 report from the Congressional Research Service suggests the safety record of the industry is mixed. It cites 13 serious accidents in the world involving LNG, including a 2004 fire at a terminal in Algeria that killed 27 workers. The report concludes that import terminals pose safety challenges because “LNG is inherently hazardous and its infrastructure is potentially attractive to terrorists.”
Regional concerns about LNG have been heightened by a string of incidents at facilities since the U.S. began exporting the fuel in 2016. The 2022 accident south of Houston, in which a segment of pipe exploded, occurred because Freeport failed to identify hazards or to implement changes from a 2021 hazard analysis. Worker fatigue from overtime was listed as a contributing cause.
In 2018, PHMSA ordered Cheniere Energy to shut down two LNG tanks at its Sabine Pass, Texas, plant and fined it for failing to deal with known leaks in its double-hulled tanks. And in 2022, Calcasieu Pass was cited by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality for exceeding permitted release levels 139 times.
“Operational problems, procedures, lack of controls, proper controls, lack of adequate training. These types of things keep happening at LNG facilities,” Allaire said. “The potential is there. There is human error and these kinds of things keep happening. Something is going to happen here in the U.S.”
Havens, the retired chemical engineering professor, has been sounding the alarm for years on one specific accident that could happen at a liquified natural gas LNG terminal — a vapor cloud explosion in zero wind conditions. These can occur when a large amount of flammable refrigerants, which are used to superchill the gas, leak and create a cloud of vapor.
Without wind to disperse the gas, the clouds can become larger and more dangerous. If ignited, these vapor clouds can explode at a much higher pressure than a typical chemical explosion
The industry acknowledges the potential for vapor cloud explosions in permit applications and environmental impact statements. In almost every case, the risk of vapor cloud explosions is limited, according to those analyses, because it would stay within the perimeter of the terminals.
But Havens argues those calculations don’t, among other things, account for zero or low wind conditions.
“The risk has been calculated away,” Havens said. “They are actually ignoring a catastrophic risk.”
A British industrial safety agency says the risks of such explosions can be reduced by installing a small number of sensors.
PHMSA has commissioned research into the issue and says the concerns about vapor cloud explosions in zero-wind conditions might be addressed as part of its long-promised update to LNG safety regulations. The agency says its notice of proposed rulemaking for those updates will be issued in May, but it has promised the updated rules for at least two years.
When LNG import facilities were being proposed in the early 2000s, there was a public outcry over the potential that terrorists could target the ships as they traveled through populated areas. The Coast Guard and state and local police responded by escorting the tankers in and out of Boston Harbor with machine guns.
Along the Gulf Coast, however, the presence of Coast Guard escorts is not evident, said Allaire, who can watch the tankers pass by his property two or three times a week.
The Coast Guard requires each LNG owner to develop safety plans, including having an incident commander aboard each vessel in the event of an accident. The agency, however, did not directly answer whether it still escorts LNG tankers, saying it screens every vessel for safety or security risk and conducts operations to address identified risks.
Watson, the risk modeler, is concerned about yet another danger: leaking LNG onto the water. When the gas, which is supercooled to -260 F, hits the warm water, the gas could warm and rapidly expand, creating a shock wave that could travel miles. If that gas ignited, it would cause vast destruction, Watson warns.
Watson conducted risk modeling for the Elba LNG terminal downriver from Savannah, Georgia. He found if there were a major rupture of a tanker ship or storage tank, heat from the resulting rapid phase transition could cause second degree burns up to 1.5 miles away.
Confusion around which federal agency regulates which aspect of the LNG industry makes it hard for the public to get information, said Yoder, who is now GIS data manager at the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University.
“Honestly, when we asked PHMSA about the emergency response plans and about the risk assessments, they’re like, ‘OK, talk to FERC,’ ” Yoder said. “And then when we asked FERC, they say ‘You need to talk to PHMSA,’ and then we go back to PHMSA. They say, ‘Oh, well actually you should talk to OSHA.’ I mean it’s just absurd.”
Although “the law is not very clear on who has what authorities,” former FERC chair Richard Glick insists the overlap does not create blindspots in regulation.
But Glick said he wasn’t aware until shortly before he left FERC in 2022 how little residents around the terminals know about emergency planning.
“The developer and the government are naturally concerned about making sure that certain information is unavailable to terrorists,” he said.
“On the other hand, people who live in these communities have very legitimate reasons to be concerned about these facilities — whether it be evacuation plans, whether it be just plans about what’s going to be put in there, what the dangers of explosions, and all sorts of other potential issues are,” Glick added. “In my opinion, they weren’t necessarily receiving the information they should receive.”
Floodlight is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misstated James Hiatt’s parish of residence.
When conveyor belt manufacturer Wire Belt opened its new facility in Bedford, N.H., last fall, the company looked forward to saving money and fighting climate change with a 2,400-panel solar array installed on the roof.
Four months later, however, Wire Belt’s solar panels lie dormant as the company waits for its utility to hook the project up to the grid. It’s an example of the often long and unpredictable interconnection delays facing large solar projects in New Hampshire and nationwide.
Wire Belt president Jon Greer was among those who testified at a January hearing in support of state legislation that aims to streamline this connection process, a proposal that is receiving broad support from climate advocates and the business community, including companies like Wire Belt, whose monthly power bills approach $60,000.
Sen. Kevin Avard, chairman of the Senate energy and natural resources committee, who introduced the bill, said it’s time to fix the system.
“We just want to make sure that the people who took advantage of solar have the opportunity to utilize the good clean energy, hopefully at a lower price,” Avard said.
Currently, utilities determine their own process for approving interconnection requests for projects larger than 100 kilowatts. The bill calls for the New Hampshire Department of Energy to draft and assess rules that would create a uniform policy for all utilities to use, with the goal of making the process smoother and more predictable.
“Right now there are no guardrails, no timelines, there’s no real obligation to hurry,” said Sam Evans-Brown, executive director of the nonprofit Clean Energy New Hampshire. “This is where, if you’re a regulated monopoly, regulators are supposed to step in.”
Wire Belt is not the only business feeling discouraged. Russ Greenlaw, senior vice president of sales for the Associated Grocers of New England, explained at the hearing that the delays make it difficult for members to commit to spending money on solar developments when it is so unclear when they would be able to see benefits to their bottom line.
“There’s just a complete lack of clarity and predictability around the process,” said Heidi Kroll, director of government relations for New Hampshire law firm Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell.
Interconnection issues are not limited to New Hampshire. Though each state has its own approach, the basics are the same: New renewable energy projects that want to hook up to the grid have to submit interconnection requests to the utility. The utility evaluates the project and its impact on the grid, then decides whether any upgrades are necessary to accommodate the new power source before approving it for connection.
Residential arrays and other small projects are often approved quickly: Eversource, which serves 71% of New Hampshire’s households, expects to receive as many as 5,000 interconnection requests this year and to approve 95% of them within days.
However, in New Hampshire and many other states, the surge in larger renewable energy developments has created logjams in this process as utilities try to figure out how much the grid can bear and how to accommodate additional power — how to balance the benefits of renewable energy supply with the strain the new generators put on the grid.
“Interconnection is one of the biggest barriers right now to getting clean energy done,” Evans-Brown said.
And most states do not yet have systems in place that are keeping up with these challenges. Freeing the Grid, a nonprofit initiative that grades states on their interconnection policies, found that only six states — none in New England — and the District of Columbia scored above a C. New Hampshire was among the 17 states earning a D.
Eversource, New Hampshire’s largest utility, has a queue of just under 100 projects needing further study. Unitil, which serves about 10% of the state’s customers, has four larger projects in the waiting line — three since the fall and one since late spring — representing the significant majority of the pending load.
New Hampshire has taken early steps to address its interconnection problem. In July 2022, the legislature asked the state to investigate and make recommendations. The resulting report, released in December 2023, concluded that there are indeed “considerable technical, operating, processing, and procedural challenges,” to adding growing amounts of renewable energy to the grid.
The report called for the creation of two working groups — one focused on technical and engineering problems and solutions, and another for administrative and process issues — to further assess the situation and provide solutions.
For many stakeholders, however, this proposed approach is not nearly robust enough, prompting a bipartisan group of legislators to back the current bill.
The original bill would have required the state to begin a rulemaking process within 45 days and adopt final rules by the end of 2024. This timeline, however, would not have been possible within the department’s rulemaking process, said Joshua Elliott, director of the energy department’s division of policy and programs. The legislation was then amended to call for “a proceeding to examine and assess draft rules to be adopted” rather than a final rulemaking.
“The bill as introduced was not implementable,” Elliott said. “As amended, the bill both gives the department the resources to accomplish this task and a timeline that is implementable.”
Some advocates, however, aren’t convinced that the amended bill has enough specificity and force to make the needed difference.
“It is not explicitly clear that a rulemaking is required, and it doesn’t give any deadline,” Evans-Brown said. “It was a valuable hearing — that’s a big step — but I am very skeptical that the [department] is taking this problem seriously.”
The Senate’s energy and natural resources committee voted unanimously in mid-February to recommend passage of the amended bill, and legislators are eager to see it passed and hopefully help ease a longstanding problem.
“What’s the pause, what’s the hiccup?” Avard said. “It’s nothing complicated.”
Editor’s note: The headline on this article was updated to clarify that interconnection delays are only affecting projects over 100 kW.
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