The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on June 3 announced a slew of measures to bolster the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, program in pursuit of climate goals set out in the Clean Air Act. The final standards require blending of 20.63 billion gallons of renewable fuels into gasoline and diesel this year, slightly lower than…...
The New York legislature on June 2 passed a bill aimed to stop cryptocurrency mining operations that use fossil fuels to power their facilities. The bill would amend the existing Environment Conservation Law to ban operations that use “proof-of-work authentication” methods to validate blockchain transactions. Proof-of-work authentication methods refer to consensus algorithm in a block-chain…...
The U.S. Energy Department’s Loan Program Office issued a request for information on June 1 to update and improve its Title XVII Innovative Technologies Loan Guarantee Program intended to support early commercial use of advanced technologies. The agency seeks feedback from various stakeholders including developers, investors, government agencies, academia, and impacted communities. The input will…...
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on May 31 proposed offshore wind lease sales on the Outer Continental Shelf Offshore California. The initiative is in continuation of the agency’s previous 25 active leases in Atlantic Oceans which lie in the region of Massachusetts to North Carolina. This proposed lease sale offer is first of its…...
The U.S. Energy Department’s $6 billion nuclear credit program, the pursuit for carbon-free generation to meet climate goals, and technological advancements are reigniting support for nuclear power. The global impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine has also escalated the importance of national security considerations in energy policies including a discussion about the role of nuclear power.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on May 26 granted final approval for PacifiCorp’s 416-mile Energy Gateway South Transmission line that is designed to give the western United States greater access to solar, wind, and geothermal. Around 183 miles of the line are in Utah, with the remaining distributed among Wyoming and Colorado. According…...
The U.S. Supreme Court on May 26 rejected a petition from a coalition of states led by Louisiana to block the use of the social cost of carbon, or SCC, estimates that federal agencies were directed to incorporate in their environmental analyses of major actions by an executive order that President Joe Biden issued in…...
Several states that have ambitious clean energy and emissions reduction mandates are investigating the role of natural gas in the shift to a low-carbon power system. Actions at the federal level, spurred by the Biden administration’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, are also catalyzing efforts to decarbonize the gas system.
The thirty-first quarterly carbon auction held by California and Quebec sold all of the more than 58.3 million carbon permits offered for current emissions at a price of $30.85 per allowance, above the floor price of $19.70, according to the results released on May 26 by the California Air Resources Board. The settlement price is…...
Droughts in California are expected to reduce the state’s summer electricity generation from hydroelectricity, according to a May 26 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The impact of drought is projected to cut hydropower generation by nearly 50 percent, in comparison to normal precipitation conditions. The agency, in its report titled “Short-Term Energy Outlook…...
