With two weeks left in the legislative session, Senate leader Kevin de León is making a new effort to unsnarl a two year budget gridlock over money generated from the state's cap-and-trade program. The $1.2-billion spending plan would include money for cleaner cars, energy efficient upgrades and urban parks. [node:read-more:link]
The Mendota Hills wind farm could be the first in the nation to decommission its entire fleet of turbines and replace a portion of them with upgraded models. Dallas-based Leeward Renewable Energy, which owns the wind farm, has requested a special-use permit from the Lee County Board to remove its 63 turbines in the southeast region of the county and build between 33 and 35 new structures. [node:read-more:link]
According to EIA data, ethanol production averaged 1.029 million barrels per day (b/d)—or 43.22 million gallons daily. That is up 11,000 b/d from the week before and tied for the largest total on record. The four-week average for ethanol production remained unchanged at 1.012 million b/d for an annualized rate of 15.51 billion gallons. [node:read-more:link]
Nuclear power was born in the Midwest, and helped fuel the region’s once-vibrant manufacturing sector for decades. But the Midwest’s cheap power prices and, in some states, deregulated markets make it hard for nuclear to compete with cheaper natural gas and renewables. [node:read-more:link]
In August 2006, a handful of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states signed an amended memorandum of understanding that would lay the groundwork for the first multi-state carbon-trading scheme in the U.S. A decade after that agreement, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, has cut CO2 emissions from generation sources in those states by 50 million short tons, or 36 percent, from 2008 to 2014. Nine states currently participate, including all of New England, Delaware, Maryland and New York (New Jersey pulled out in 2011). [node:read-more:link]
After analyzing data from Weather Energy, the environmental group WWF Scotland announced that wind turbines generated more than 100 percent of the total amount of electricity used in the country on Aug. 7. [node:read-more:link]
The coal industry has been painted with a bleak brush in recent years. Production has plummeted. Plants have closed. Jobs have been lost. But in Delta County, one organization is targeting unemployed coal miners in the hope of transitioning them into the solar industry — and leaving politics out of the conversation. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment in April gave the Paonia-based solar organization a $401,000 matching grant as part of the WORK Act, legislation passed in May 2015 that aims to fill skills gaps in Colorado industries. [node:read-more:link]
With the extension of California’s landmark climate change law stalled, a legislative plan is emerging to significantly up the ante on California’s commitment to electric vehicles by requiring that 15 percent of all new automobiles be emission-free within a decade. Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, D-Los Angeles, told The Associated Press on Friday that she’ll introduce legislation next week to ramp up the pressure on carmakers. Automakers that fail to sell enough electric vehicles would be required to make payments to rivals that do or pay a fine to the state. [node:read-more:link]
The Wyoming legislature did something no other state has done, the concluded they owned the wind and with great efficiency for a conservative state not traditionally tilted toward burdening the energy industry, they did something no other state has done, before or since: They taxed it. In the four years since Wyoming began taxing power generated by wind turbines, it has collected a little less than $15 million in revenue. [node:read-more:link]
The North Dakota Department of Health is investigating an oil spill on a western North Dakota butte where oil is seeping out of a hillside. Karl Rockeman, director of the Division of Water Quality, said late Friday that oil was discovered to be seeping out of the hillside in multiple locations. The company has recovered 504 barrels, or 21,168 gallons, of oil and 120 barrels, or 5,040 gallons, of produced water from holes drilled into the subsurface of the site. The total size of the spill is still being determined. “It may be larger than that yet as well,” Rockeman said. [node:read-more:link]
