Back
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The U.S. EPA announces nearly $1 billion in grants for schools to replace diesel buses with electric and low-emissions vehicles, with a vast majority going to schools in low-income, rural and tribal communities. (Guardian)
ALSO:
CLEAN ENERGY: Upfront cost is the biggest barrier to home energy upgrades like swapping out gas stoves, while lowering energy costs and environmental impact is a top motivator, a survey finds. (Canary Media)
CLIMATE:
OIL & GAS:
HYDROGEN:
CARBON CAPTURE: The U.S. EPA’s decision last month to hand over carbon capture permitting to state officials in Louisiana has environmental advocates worried that economic considerations will trump public health. (Grist)
STORAGE: A subsidiary of LG Energy Solution plans to build 10 grid-scale battery storage projects in the U.S. this year following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. (Utility Dive)
SOLAR: Hawaii advocates say lower payments for customers’ surplus rooftop solar power could incentivize customers to install arrays for their own use rather than exporting to the grid, imperiling the state’s energy transition. (Hawaii Public Radio)
UTILITIES: Following the defeat of a ballot measure to replace Maine’s investor-owned utilities with a consumer-owned power company, policymakers and advocates explore new ways to improve service. (Maine Morning Star)
COAL: Two years later, West Virginia lawmakers have yet to act on a workgroup’s recommendations for revitalizing devastated coalfield communities. (Mountain State Spotlight)
COMMENTARY: Solar farms built beyond a certain size have the ability to affect cloud cover and weather, impacting solar power production in faraway areas, two researchers find. (The Conversation)
SOLAR: Hawaii advocates say lower payments for customers’ excess rooftop solar could incentivize customers to only install arrays for their own use and avoid exporting to the grid, imperiling the state’s energy transition. (Hawaii Public Radio)
WIND: A nonprofit seeks additional historic protections for a World War II Japanese incarceration camp in Idaho, with a goal of halting the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project. (Boise State Public Radio)
CLEAN ENERGY: Alaska lawmakers are set to consider bills related to community solar, sustainable energy loans and clean energy standards for utilities this legislative session. (Alaska Public Media)
OIL & GAS:
COAL: Wyoming considers partnering with a mining company to explore using coal in asphalt. (Cowboy State Daily)
ELECTRIFICATION:
NUCLEAR: Oregon small modular nuclear reactor startup NuScale says it laid off 154 workers as part of its shift from its research phase to commercialization of its technology. (Oregonian)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
GRID:
CRITICAL MATERIALS: The U.S. Supreme Court rejects Alaska’s bid to review the U.S. EPA’s denial of the proposed Pebble copper and gold mine, dealing a blow to the state’s efforts to revive the project. (E&E News)
FOSSIL FUELS: Massachusetts officially allows seven municipalities to test banning oil and gas hookups in most construction and notable renovation projects. (Boston Globe)
UTILITIES: Connecticut utility regulators form a program to financially help eligible groups — like environmental justice communities or small businesses — participate in public utility proceedings. (CT News Junkie)
WIND: Maine lawmakers consider how to ease the process for getting a major wind farm off the ground in rural Aroostook County now that utility regulators are seeking to rebid the project. (Bangor Daily News)
GRID:
SOLAR:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Philadelphia’s municipal vehicle fleet reached 250 electric models in 2023, but thousands more city vehicles still run on gasoline. (WHYY)
BUILDINGS: Although more extreme weather events are hitting Maine, only 1% of homeowners have flood insurance. (Portland Press Herald)
POLICY:
STORAGE: Analysts predict the federal climate package will drive a record-breaking year for battery installations, with Texas and California continuing to lead the industry’s growth. (S&P Global)
TRANSPORTATION:
OIL & GAS:
SOLAR: A federal program meant to expand low-income community solar may face challenges verifying income and building trust in communities that have largely been left out of the clean energy transition. (Energy News Network)
BUILDINGS:
WIND: The offshore wind industry looks to rebound in 2024 after a year of canceled contracts and missed launch dates. (E&E News)
GRID: The U.S. Department of Energy will release up to $70 million for public and private entities, universities and national laboratories to advance grid security and resilience research. (Utility Dive)
CLIMATE:
COAL ASH: The U.S. EPA’s assessment of coal ash as more carcinogenic than previously realized could shift North Carolina’s plans to clean up the substance in Chapel Hill and at least 70 other sites around the state. (NC Newsline)
OIL & GAS: The U.S. Energy Department approves a $189 million loan to build a real-time laser monitoring network to track methane emissions from oil and gas facilities in Colorado, New Mexico and other states. (Reuters)
ALSO: New Mexico regulators agree to plug and reclaim a Texas company’s 300 idle oil and gas wells and allow the operator to reimburse the state over the next several decades. (KOAT 7)
NATURAL GAS: New Mexico regulators begin hearings on a controversial proposed natural gas storage facility in Rio Rancho. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
NUCLEAR:
CLIMATE:
SOLAR:
TRANSPORTATION: A proposal to establish a half-cent sales tax to fund road repairs, carpool lanes and expanded public transit in San Diego County qualifies for the Nov. 5 ballot. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
CARBON CAPTURE: A California county proposes charging companies a per-acre fee for sequestering captured carbon. (Bakersfield Californian)
COMMENTARY:
NATURAL GAS: An energy company shutters a natural gas power plant in southern California after a city lobbies for decades to have it decommissioned. (Daily Breeze)
ALSO:
OIL & GAS:
BIOFUELS: Portland, Oregon, approves three proposed biodiesel pipelines at a fossil fuel terminal on the Willamette River as part of a company’s agreement to phase out crude oil storage at the facility. (Oregonian)
POLLUTION:
SOLAR: California advocates ask an appeals court to rehear their challenge of the state’s new net-metering policy slashing compensation for energy generated by rooftop solar. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
CLIMATE: A federal report finds the waters off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands registered the warmest winter temperatures in over a century, making the ecosystem a “bellwether for climate change.” (Alaska Beacon)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Federal labor regulators accuse California electric vehicle startup Lucid of illegally firing two employees for joining the United Auto Workers union. (Los Angeles Times)
URANIUM: The federal Bureau of Land Management permits a uranium mining company to begin exploratory drilling just outside Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah. (Mining Technology)
PUBLIC LANDS: The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on a proposal to lift some environmental protections from 28 million acres in Alaska. (Nome Nugget)
COMMENTARY: A California energy columnist urges readers to see the world through “climate-colored goggles” because human-caused global warming is pressing, immediate and terrifying. (Los Angeles Times)
HYDROGEN: The Treasury Department’s new hydrogen tax credit guidelines appear to favor Texas and states in the Midwest and Southwest, where wind and solar can be built quickly and cheaply. (Canary Media)
ALSO: The new hydrogen incentive rules raise questions about how the federal government will measure the industry’s emissions and account for the use of nuclear power and carbon capture in hydrogen production. (E&E News)
SOLAR: First Solar enters two deals to sell $700 million worth of tax credits, a first-of-its-kind transaction that will let the U.S. solar panel manufacturer quickly bring in money from the federal domestic production incentives it could otherwise only use to trim its tax bill. (Canary Media)
WIND:
STORAGE:
CLIMATE: A judge rejects a U.S. Justice Department bid to dismiss an Oregon youths’ lawsuit alleging federal policies contribute to human-caused climate change, allowing the case to move forward. (OPB)
CARBON CAPTURE: Communities across south Louisiana organize to oppose at least 20 underground carbon dioxide storage projects in the planning or development stages that also include a sprawling network of pipeline expansions. (Floodlight/WWNO)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Georgia saw a surge of electric vehicle and battery-related investment in 2023, driven by ongoing construction at Hyundai’s electric vehicle factory and amplified by federal funding and tax credits. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Savannah Tribune)
OIL & GAS: New Mexico lawmakers consider legislation that would ban new oil and gas drilling and phase out most existing production within one mile of schools and daycare centers. (Associated Press)
EFFICIENCY:
WIND: Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities build a utility-scale wind turbine in Kentucky to test the potential for wind power in the state. (Kentucky Lantern)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
SOLAR:
CARBON CAPTURE: Communities across south Louisiana organize to oppose at least 20 underground carbon dioxide storage projects in the planning or development stages that also include a sprawling network of pipeline expansions. (Floodlight/WWNO)
OIL & GAS:
GRID:
CLIMATE: A federal report on damage done by 2022’s Hurricane Ian finds newer homes survive better than older homes, with newer roofs as the single most important upgrade in damage assessments. (Miami Herald)
CLEAN ENERGY: A South Korean electronics company announces it will invest $700 million into West Virginia to develop renewable energy, telehealth and other technologies. (Associated Press)
HYDROGEN: Newly proposed rules governing development of the “green hydrogen” industry appear to favor Texas and states in the Midwest and Southwest, where wind and solar can be built quickly and cheaply. (Canary Media)
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: The U.S. EPA awards $50 million to environmental and climate justice organizations from New Orleans and Houston to reduce greenhouse gases and clean up their communities. (Verite News)
OVERSIGHT: Louisiana Gov.-elect Jeff Landry names an oil and gas industry executive to head up the state’s Department of Natural Resources. (NOLA.com)
WORKFORCE: A Texas nonprofit trains workers for the solar industry as part of its mission of “disrupting poverty through green career training.” (Dallas Free Press)
COMMENTARY: Louisiana is gearing up for a legal fight against a federal policy that could dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions even as the state tries to preserve its coastline against rising seas, writes a columnist. (NOLA.com)
Communities in southern Maine are collaborating on a pilot program that aims to help residents overcome cost and logistical barriers to accessing climate-friendly home energy upgrades.
Five towns and two regional nonprofits received a three-year, $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program in late 2023. The budget for the program is now being finalized for launch this summer or fall.
The grant will fund AmeriCorps members to provide one-on-one energy coaching for residents. These “navigators” will help identify the best cost- and emissions-cutting retrofits for each home, and will help residents apply for a range of accompanying tax credits, rebates and other incentives. The grant also includes about $500,000 to directly offset residents’ remaining costs.
“The pilot program, as we envision it, will remove the up-front capital barrier and help homeowners navigate the process with confidence,” said Kendra Amal, the town manager in Kittery, one of the towns participating in the grant. “We expect to see a significant increase in the number of households able to make energy-reducing and cost-saving improvements to their homes through this program.”
Kittery joins the towns of Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Wells and Ogunquit in working with Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission on the project, along with York County Community Action Corporation. SMPDC will host the AmeriCorps navigators, while the county action agency will set up a new Southern Maine Energy Fund to help pay for projects and will provide energy services staffers to oversee actual retrofits and installations.
“We’ve heard from all of our communities that home weatherization and heat pumps are really important, but they didn’t feel like they could do it themselves,” said SMPDC sustainability coordinator Karina Graeter. “(This program) provides the opportunity for these smaller communities that don’t have their own sustainability staff or their own capacity to undertake big outreach and education efforts … to try and address the energy issues that have been shown to be really important to the community.”
Maine relies more on home heating oil than any other state, and residential emissions are the state’s top contributor to climate change after transportation. In recent years, Maine has been nationally lauded for successful efforts to incentivize efficient electric heat pumps as a replacement for oil. State heat pump and weatherization rebates can total thousands of dollars per project, especially for lower-income people, and federal tax credits can offer thousands more.
But even hefty incentives may not cover everything, and energy bill savings from these upgrades can take months or years to materialize — meaning many people still can’t afford remaining project costs, said Amal and Graeter.
During Kittery’s climate action planning process, the town discovered that many residents weren’t taking advantage of state energy rebates, Amal said. And costs were not the only problem; Amal said residents also cited “the confusing and often rigid process required to qualify” for incentives as another reason they chose not to pursue home efficiency or electrification work.
“There are so many great incentives out there, but they’re always sort of changing depending on what funding is available, you know, who’s running the program,” said Graeter. “Helping people navigate that requires a certain amount of skill and knowledge.”
The program’s navigators will be trained to help residents make the most of these complex offerings, she said.
The grant proposal envisions connecting with interested residents through whatever way they reach out to a participating group, whether it’s via the county agency or a town. Residents of any income would be paired with a navigator, who would answer their questions, assess their needs and provide technical assistance on designing a project with the greatest energy savings impact.
For low- and moderate-income families, the program would also provide instant rebates to offset upfront project costs. The county agency’s energy technicians would do the actual installation work on the project and follow up on other assistance options, including tax credits as needed.
In the next six months of setting up the program, Graeter said her cohort plans to seek inspiration from other regional groups — like the county agency partnering on the grant, or WindowDressers, which builds heat-saving window inserts for low-income people — to design a community engagement approach that will reach the most people.
“The idea is to have a ‘no wrong path’ sort of option for people; meeting people where they’re at in terms of their energy needs, and figuring out what assistance they need most,” she said.
The participating towns have been working toward this program for years, since initially collaborating to fund Graeter’s position at SMPDC, Graeter said. This regional approach lets them learn from each other and build on shared progress rather than duplicating effort, she said.
Amal noted that the pilot nature of the program also aims to help officials evaluate impact and potentially scale up similar efforts elsewhere in the state.
Graeter stressed that the grant doesn’t seek to replace federal energy tax credits or existing state programs offered by Efficiency Maine, the quasi-governmental agency that oversees Maine’s energy incentives.
“Our focus is really to increase access to those programs, and then provide some additional financial support to help bridge the gap between current incentives and the true cost of these upgrades, which is always shifting and changing,” she said.
OIL & GAS: A $25 million federal grant allowed Michigan to plug 200 orphaned oil and gas wells in 2023, nearly half of all known orphaned wells in the state. (MLive)
WASTE-TO-ENERGY: Youngstown, Ohio, officials halt plans for a facility that would convert recycled tires into synthetic gas in a neighborhood of predominantly Black residents. (Inside Climate News)
PIPELINES:
GRID:
SOLAR: Officials in southern Illinois advance plans to purchase a vacant, 123-acre cemetery that’s owned by the state for a solar project. (FOX 2)
RENEWABLES: Indiana-based NiSource sells a minority stake in its utility NIPSCO for $2.16 billion that executives say will help the utility invest in more renewables. (Times of Northwest Indiana)
COAL: The owner of North Dakota’s largest coal plant, which is set to close in the coming years, expands a partnership to recycle more byproducts from coal burning for future uses. (Bismarck Tribune)
OVERSIGHT: The U.S. Supreme Court and federal district courts are weighing several cases this year that could significantly limit federal energy regulators’ ability to oversee climate and infrastructure policy. (E&E News)
WIND: Consumers Energy begins operating a 72-turbine, 201 MW wind project in central Michigan. (FOX 17)
EMISSIONS: A northern Michigan city hopes to reduce its local methane emissions by enrolling more restaurants in a composting program that diverts food waste from landfills. (WDIV)
UTILITIES: Minnesota utilities continue seeking rate increases for grid investments and clean energy as inflation on services remains stubborn for consumers. (Star Tribune)
.svg)
