The Bureau of Land Management on Feb. 26 concluded that lifting an Obama-era moratorium on federal coal leasing will not have significant impact on cumulative greenhouse gas emissions compared to waiting for the pause to expire. The move responds to a court decision issued last April, finding that former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s order, which…
The twenty-second quarterly carbon auction held by California and Quebec sold all of the nearly 57.1 million carbon permits offered for current emissions at a price of $17.87 per allowance, above the floor price of $16.68, according to the results released on Feb. 26 by the California Air Resources Board. The current allowance price is…
The Michigan Public Service Commission on Feb. 20 sent DTE Electric Company back to the drawing board on its long-term resource plan, citing fundamental flaws including lack of competitive bidding for supply-side resource additions. The agency recommended that DTE issue a request for proposals for new generation, and raise the proposed energy efficiency targets. Considering…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Feb. 20 issued a series of orders to narrow the resources exempt from the New York grid operator’s buyer-side market power mitigation rules. The agency dismissed a complaint from the Public Service Commission and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority seeking an exemption for electric storage…
The U.S. Agriculture Department on Feb. 20 announced a goal to boost biofuel production efficiency and competitiveness to achieve market-driven blend rates of 30 percent of transportation fuels by 2050. The goal is part of a department-wide initiative, which aims to increase farm production by 40 percent, while cutting the sector’s environmental footprint by 50…
The North Dakota Public Service Commission on Feb. 19 granted a permit allowing Energy Transfer Partners to add a pump station designed to increase the capacity of its Dakota Access Pipeline from 600,000 barrels per day to up to 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day. The 1,172-mile pipeline, which has been operating since…
Utility-scale wind generators accounted for 70 percent of the 3.1 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity in Michigan last year, according to a Feb. 18 report by the state’s Public Service Commission. Across the state, new wind and solar projects are expected to add more than one gigawatt of new, utility-scale electricity generation in 2020 and…
The U.S. is projected to export more crude oil and petroleum combined than it imports until 2050, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook 2020. In two scenarios, one with more oil and gas supply and the other with higher oil prices, the agency expects the nation to become a net exporter…
The NY Green Bank’s fourth quarter of 2019 was the strongest to date, adding nearly $118 million to its portfolio, according to a Feb. 14 announcement. With portfolio commitments exceeding $909 million, the bank has spurred $2.4 billion in clean energy investments. The bank was established in 2013 to alleviate market barriers, motivating private sector…
The New York State Public Service Commission approved the first phase of the New York Power Authority’s Moses-Adirondack Smart Path Reliability Project, which is designed to improve the reliability and resilience of the electric system in Upstate New York, according to a Feb. 6 news release. The project will rebuild facilities that are well past…
Virginia lawmakers passed the Clean Economy Act on Feb. 11 that sets the state on the path to carbon-free power by 2050, establishes a mandatory renewable portfolio standard, adopts an energy storage deployment target, and strengthens energy efficiency requirements. Among the major provisions, the legislation replaces the existing voluntary renewable energy portfolio system program with…
The U.S. Energy Department announced funding for cost-shared projects focused on developing the critical components required under its Coal FIRST initiative and transformational coal-fired systems, according to a Feb. 7 news release. The initiative aims to develop modular coal-based power plants built with advanced methods to meet the requirements of the evolving electric grid. The…
