News
Category:
Energy Policy and USA
A ruling by a federal court in the Midwest may force California to buy renewable energy from out of state whether it wants to or not, potentially spurring energy development in the desert areas east of the California state line. The decision found that Michigan laws favoring in-state renewable energy generation are unconstitutional.
Also filed under [
Transmission]
A federal appeals court found last week that it's unconstitutional for Michigan to discriminate against out-of-state renewable electricity - a decision being described as giving a major edge to clean power in the legal fight over the future of the U.S. grid.
Also filed under [
Transmission|
Michigan]
Lamar Alexander urges doubling research and development
May 31, 2013 by Dave Flessner in Times Free Press
May 31, 2013 by Dave Flessner in Times Free Press
Alexander criticized proposals for nationwide renewable portfolio standards and repeated his opposition to continued federal subsidies for wind power, which he said has already received $16 billion in subsidies since 2009. Congress just granted another year of production tax credits for wind energy that is projected to cost the treasury another $12 billion.
The overall direction of the market, however, has been down. You can get a sense of the amount of money that has been lost by investors from the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, which tracks the performance of publicly traded green energy stocks ranging from solar and wind to rare earth minerals and water companies. The market value of the companies in the index has fallen from a peak level of $231 billion in late December 2007 to about $108 billion today, a decline of 53 percent.
U.S. States turn against renewable energy as gas plunges
April 23, 2013 by Christopher Martin in Bloomberg News
April 23, 2013 by Christopher Martin in Bloomberg News
Sixteen of the 29 states with renewable portfolio standards are considering legislation that would reduce the need for wind and solar power, according to researchers backed by the U.S. Energy Department. North Carolina lawmakers may be among the first to move, followed by Colorado and Connecticut. ...Repealing the state's RPS policy "would help increase disposable income, attract more business investment and make energy more affordable for consumers."
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies]
The conflicts are bound to grow as renewable projects spread, some environmental advocates say.
"Certainly, there's going to be a lot more wind farms than there have been historically," ABC spokesman Bob Johns said. "And the problem is that we have seen no reason to believe that areas of conflict are being avoided - in fact, quite the opposite. They're walking right into it, leading with their chin on some of these."
Also filed under [
Impact on Landscape]
The modern environmental movement has rolled over to become an outlet for loggers, energy firms and car companies to plug into. It is now primarily a social media platform for consumerism, growth and energy production - an institutionalized philanderer of green illusions. If you need evidence, just go to any climate rally and you'll see a strip mall of stands for green products, green jobs and green energy. These will do nothing to solve the crisis we face, which is not an energy crisis but rather a crisis of consumption.
Exelon falls from green favor as chief fights wind aid
April 1, 2013 by Jim Snyder & Julie Johnsson in Bloomberg News
April 1, 2013 by Jim Snyder & Julie Johnsson in Bloomberg News
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies]
"I will continue my efforts to get rid of the 20-year-old, multi-billion-dollar subsidy for unreliable, expensive wind energy that stands no chance of powering our nation's 21st century economy." ...Perhaps just as important, Alexander said, wind turbines would scar the mountaintops of Tennessee, the only place in the state where they can work.
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Tax Breaks & Subsidies|
Tennessee]
US FERC takes Idaho PUC to court over wind power qualifying facility contracts
March 25, 2013 by Esther Whieldon in Platts
March 25, 2013 by Esther Whieldon in Platts
FERC claims the PUC violated the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act when it held that Idaho Power was not obligated to buy from a number of wind generators because the utility did not sign the QF contracts prior to December 14, 2010, which was when the QF qualification threshold dropped to 100 kW from 10 MW.
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Idaho]
A rapid expansion of renewable power would be complicated and costly. Using large amounts of renewable energy often requires modifying national power grids, and renewable energy is still generally more expensive than using fossil fuels.
David Schnare: We're putting global warming on trial in Colorado
March 22, 2013 in Energy Policy Center
March 22, 2013 in Energy Policy Center
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Colorado]
Federal agency undermining state offshore wind plans, backers say
March 3, 2013 by Maria Gallucci in InsideClimate News
March 3, 2013 by Maria Gallucci in InsideClimate News
Tensions are building between the struggling U.S. offshore wind industry and the federal agency that oversees it.
Industry leaders worry that a new federal program designed to spark offshore wind construction could end up killing proposals that have been in the works for years.
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Offshore Wind]
Ralls can question U.S. over forced wind farm sale, judge say
February 23, 2013 by Andrew Zajac in Bloomberg News
February 23, 2013 by Andrew Zajac in Bloomberg News
Jackson threw out the bulk of Ralls’s lawsuit against the Obama administration, which focused on whether the president exceeded his power by ordering the company, an affiliate of China’s Sany Group Co., to sell the wind farm assets. “The statute expressly authorizes the president to do what he deems necessary to accomplish or implement the prohibition."
Also filed under [
Oregon]
Federal agency slammed over 'secretive' eagle-wind energy policy proposal
February 19, 2013 by Chris Clarke in Rewire
February 19, 2013 by Chris Clarke in Rewire
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering eliminating most public oversight of wind turbine impacts on protected bald and golden eagles by offering developers 30-year permits to kill eagles by accident, as opposed to the current 5-year permits. What's more, they're shaping the implementation of that proposed policy change in a series of private "stakeholders'" meetings to which the public is not invited.
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Impact on Birds]
Green energy standards hitting blockades; Kansas is now resistant
February 19, 2013 by Ken Silverstein in EnergyBiz
February 19, 2013 by Ken Silverstein in EnergyBiz
Renewable Portfolio Standards are coming under attack. The latest locale is Kansas, where the Republican-led legislature says that green energy mandates are distorting markets. ...It's all part of the national discussion over whether requiring utilities to either procure or to produce a percentage of their offerings from sustainable sources is a good thing.
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Kansas]
Europe consuming more coal
February 8, 2013 by Petra Krischok in Jaenschwalde and Eliza Mackintosh in Washington Post
February 8, 2013 by Petra Krischok in Jaenschwalde and Eliza Mackintosh in Washington Post
One big part of the problem, experts and officials say, is Europe's cap-and-trade system, which aims to reduce European Union-wide industrial greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020. The system is the centerpiece of Europe's green policies. But the program, which charges industries for permits to emit greenhouse gases, no longer serves as a major disincentive to pollute.
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Europe]
Wind, solar groups quit ALEC as conservative powerhouse targets clean-energy programs
January 31, 2013 by Hannah Northey in E&E News
January 31, 2013 by Hannah Northey in E&E News
The American Wind Energy Association and the Solar Energy Industries Association joined the industry-backed coalition for a year because they wanted a "seat at the table" ...But the groups decided to drop out after ALEC adopted the "Electricity Freedom Act" model bill in October, which would end requirements that utilities generate a set amount of electricity from renewable sources.
Despite dawn of a new term, forecast cloudy for energy and enviro issues
January 22, 2013 by Nick Juliano, Jean Chemnick and Phil Taylor in E&E News
January 22, 2013 by Nick Juliano, Jean Chemnick and Phil Taylor in E&E News
Fresh off their successful push to extend a key tax break in the PTC, wind industry lobbyists are beginning to prepare for the tax reform fight. But the push for some longer-term certainty will proceed without at least one key ally in Congress.
Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) says the one-year extension and expansion of the PTC that were included in this month's "fiscal cliff" legislation should be sufficient for the industry.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies]
Interior designates Arizona lands for solar, wind development
January 18, 2013 by Brian Scheid in Platts
January 18, 2013 by Brian Scheid in Platts
Following a three-year environmental analysis, the Obama administration Friday designated 192,100 acres of public land in Arizona as potentially suitable for utility-scale solar and wind energy development.
Also filed under [
Arizona]