The Trump administration plans to withdraw and rewrite a 2015 rule aimed at limiting hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” on public lands, the Interior Department indicated in court filings. The move to rescind the 2015 regulation, which has been stayed in federal court, represents the latest effort by the new administration to ease restraints on oil and gas production in the United States. [node:read-more:link]
Not long ago, major electric utilities in much of the Southwest seemed bent on chasing rooftop solar companies out of the region. They saw the booming industry as a threat to their profits and sought rate changes that would make solar panels less financially attractive to homeowners. The electric companies advocated slashing the compensation those customers get for sending their excess power to the grid and adding new fees to their electric bills.Because the electric companies are monopolies, state regulators have to approve such changes. [node:read-more:link]
The Oklahoma House has approved legislation to roll back a state tax credit for the wind energy industry.The House passed the bill Thursday by a vote of 74-24 and sent it to the Senate for consideration.The bill modifies the tax credit for electricity generated by zero-emission facilities like wind turbines. It says facilities must be in operation by July 1 in order to qualify for the credit, instead of the current deadline of Jan. 1, 2021.Gov. Mary Fallin proposed eliminating the wind tax credit to increase revenue amid a projected $868 million budget shortfall next year. [node:read-more:link]
California saw another three months of weak demand for pollution permits amid persistent uncertainty about the future of the state’s cap on carbon emissions, according to state data. California will take in only about $8 million from an auction that could have generated $592 million or more if all permits were sold. The program is a prime funding source for projects including high-speed rail and transit construction. For years, each quarterly auction consistently generated hundreds of millions of dollars. [node:read-more:link]
New Mexico has benefited from its renewable energy production tax credit, which has supported more than 11,000 jobs and represents $1.6 billion in economic activity, according to a new report. The report, released by Family Businesses for Affordable Energy this week, says the state has established has "a robust renewable energy generation sector with enormous potential for growth" and clean power is a wise investment for New Mexico. The credits are set to expire next year. [node:read-more:link]
Consumers have seen flat or declining energy costs as renewable energy becomes a greater part of the energy mix of Minnesota and the nation. That’s one of the findings in the annual 2017 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance in partnership with the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. [node:read-more:link]
A coalition of the nation’s top biofuels advocates united together as Fuels America resolved to reject a move by Carl Icahn (Eye’-Kahn), owner of CVR Refining, to destabilize the Renewable Fuels Standard. They’ve also severed ties with the Renewable Fuels Association. Fuels America says it represents diverse groups that are working to protect America’s Renewable Fuels Standard. [node:read-more:link]
Oklahoma wind developers are fresh off a record-setting year. Only Texas installed more wind capacity in 2016, a fact that thrusts the Sooner State's power markets into a sudden transition and is agitating opponents along the way. Wind barely registered in Oklahoma a decade ago, but it now accounts for 20 percent of the state's electricity generation.Instead of celebrating, industry leaders find themselves facing a torrent of anti-wind legislation in Oklahoma City, the state capital. [node:read-more:link]
The Environmental Protection Agency Thursday announced it was withdrawing a request that operators of existing oil and gas wells provide the agency with extensive information about their equipment and its emissions of methane, undermining a last-ditch Obama administration climate change initiative. [node:read-more:link]
President Trump recently signed an executive order demanding that any new oil pipelines on U.S. soil are built with American steel — but that apparently doesn't go for the controversial Keystone XL project, according to a report. Trump reignited the Keystone development in a January executive action that ordered the Secretary of Commerce to ensure that all pipeline projects "use materials and equipment produced in the United States." But a White House spokeswoman told Politico that the Keystone XL is apparently exempt from the order [node:read-more:link]
