Energy News
Southern governors lift driver rules after gas spill
PennEnergy | Posted on September 20, 2016The governors of three Southern states are lifting restrictions on the number of hours that truck drivers delivering fuel can work, hoping to prevent shortages in both states after the shutdown of a pipeline that spilled at least 252,000 gallons of gasoline in rural Alabama. Governors can suspend federal transportation regulations during emergencies. Colonial Pipeline has said most of the leaked gasoline is contained in a retention pond near the city of Helena and there's no public safety concern. The spill was first detected on Sept. 9, but it's not clear when it began. The company increased its estimate of the spill's size on Friday, saying it was between 252,000 and 336,000 gallons. Colonial doesn't expect to fully reopen the pipeline until next week. The pipeline runs from Texas to New Jersey, supplying fuel to states in the Southeast and on the East Coast.
Wind energy group drops $375K on Kansas airwaves, looks ahead to elections
The Topeka Capital Journal | Posted on September 20, 2016A new national nonprofit group is spending $375,000 on advertising in Kansas over the next two months to make the case for wind energy production, a purchase that hints at future electoral influence. American Wind Action, founded three months ago, already has a seven-figure budget. Its largest advertising purchase to date is in Kansas, where it will roll out television, radio and digital ads across the state in September and October.
Massachusetts governor Baker orders new rules to reduce greenhouse emissions
Boston Globe | Posted on September 20, 2016Governor Charlie Baker signed an executive order directing state officials to develop regulations for specific, annual reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by next summer. The order comes on the heels of a court ruling that the state has not done enough to meet its obligations under the state’s 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, which requires Massachusetts to cut its greenhouse gases 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Baker also directed officials, in the order, to develop a statewide plan for “adaptation and resiliency” in the face of expected sea level rise and anticipated growth in wildfires and extreme weather events.
Most states on track to meet emissions targets they call burden
Reuters | Posted on September 20, 2016The 27 states challenging Obama’s Clean Power Plan in court say the lower emissions levels it would impose are an undue burden. But most are likely to hit them anyway. Already, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma and South Dakota appear to be meeting the CPP's early targets. And changes in the power market, along with policies favoring clean generation, are propelling most of the rest toward timely compliance, according to researchers, power producers and officials, as well as government filings reviewed by Reuters. We are seeing reductions earlier than we ever expected,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said in an interview. “It’s a great sign that the market has already shifted and people are invested in the newer technologies, even while we are in litigation.” States engaged in the legal battle that is set for an appellate court hearing later this month say their concerns go beyond whether they can meet the mandate. The states, most of them led by Republican governors, say they object to what they view as federal overreach by Obama and the Democrats and want to maintain flexibility to make energy decisions at the state level that reflect changing market conditions. Cynthia Coffman, attorney general of Colorado, said her state’s likely ability to comply with the CPP’s mandate “truly is not the issue." "We don't have anything against clean air," Coffman said. "That really doesn't factor into my decision to say the federal government has gone beyond its legal authority.” Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said that he sees the Clean Power Plan as a form of federal “coercion and commandeering” of energy policy and that the state should have “sovereignty to make decisions for its own markets.”
Midwest governors send letter to EPA seeking ethanol changes
Lincoln Journal Star | Posted on September 20, 2016ebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and six other Midwest governors have sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency seeking regulation changes intended to increase sales of gasoline blended with a higher percentage of ethanol. Ricketts along with the governors of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota sent a letter Tuesday to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy requesting new standards that would allow stations to sell more gasoline blended with 15 percent ethanol rather than the current standard of 10 percent ethanol. The letter says the current setup "is stifling the widespread adoption" of E15 ethanol blends. The governors — five Republicans and two Democrats — are all from leading ethanol-producing states. The letter was also sent to President Barack Obama.
The standoff between Big Oil and Big Corn
NYTimes | Posted on September 19, 2016A decade ago, lawmakers in Washington tried to address a trifecta of thorny challenges with one simple fix that has turned out to be anything but easy to assess. The problems: an overreliance on foreign oil, rising greenhouse gas emissions and tepid economic growth. A decade ago, lawmakers in Washington tried to address a trifecta of thorny challenges with one simple fix that has turned out to be anything but easy to assess. The problems: an overreliance on foreign oil, rising greenhouse gas emissions and tepid economic growth. The solution: the Renewable Fuel Standard, commonly known as the ethanol mandate. Enacted in 2005 and expanded two years later, the legislation required that refiners blend an increasing amount of biofuel into the gasoline that powers most American cars. Indeed, depending on whom you ask, the Renewable Fuel Standard is either one of the best policy decisions to come out of Washington in decades or a special-interest boondoggle that costs taxpayers billions of dollars and harms the environment.
Study Says Influx of Dead Trees Can Be Handled Through Co-Burning
25 X 25 Blog | Posted on September 19, 2016Researchers at the University of Wyoming say a vast number of trees killed by a bark beetle population that is rapidly expanding due to higher temperatures could be sustainably co-fired in coal plants. The researchers assessed the availability and economics of co-firing beetle-kill biomass with coal in power plants in the western United States and concluded that “[s]ince biomass may be considered carbon neutral under careful management, co-combustion of biomass with coal provides power plants a way to meet emission reduction requirements, such as those in the EPA Clean Power Plan (CPP).” They note that cost has been a barrier to co-firing, “but the economics are altered by emission reduction requirements,” such as the guidelines proposed under the Clean Power Plan, which is currently on hold pending resolution of a lawsuit, probably later next year.
Minnesota, 7 other states' renewable energy subsidies under fire at WTO
Brainerd Dispatch | Posted on September 13, 2016ndia has complained to the World Trade Organization about support given to the renewable energy industry in eight U.S. states, the WTO said. The complaint alleges the states of Minnesota, Washington, California, Montana, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan and Delaware prop up their renewables sector with illegal subsidies and domestic content requirements - an obligation to buy local goods rather than imports.
In South Dakota - Public opposition has helped block three proposed wind farm projects in past 8 months
Mitchell Republic | Posted on September 13, 2016Public outcry may have stopped another area wind project in its tracks. The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission will consider approving the withdrawal of a permit to build a 100-turbine wind farm in Charles Mix and Bon Homme counties after hearing significant resistance from the surrounding communities.
State owned Alaska Railroad to become first in U.S. to haul liquefied natural gas
Alaska Dispatch News | Posted on September 13, 2016Looking for new business opportunities to counter a drop in revenues, the Alaska Railroad Corp. this month will become the first railroad in the U.S. to ship liquefied natural gas, in a demonstration project that could help deliver cheaper energy to Fairbanks. The state-owned railroad has signed an agreement to borrow two LNG containers from a company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, owned partly by Hitachi in Japan.