A Nevada advisory panel is recommending the state adopt a mileage-based road usage charge for zero-emission vehicles, creating a new transportation funding source to help replace declining gas tax revenue.
Under the panel’s recommendations, the per-mile road usage charge would initially apply to zero-emission vehicles but be extended to all new vehicles by 2035, replacing the state fuel tax.
And as a shorter-term measure, the panel said, the state should charge a special fee for registering electric vehicles until the road usage charge is in place.
The Nevada Sustainable Transportation Funding Advisory Working Group approved the recommendations during a virtual meeting on Wednesday. The group’s recommendations will be included in a report to the state legislature ahead of the 2023 session.
Assembly Bill 413 of 2021 directed the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) to convene an advisory working group to study and make recommendations on sustainable funding options for the state’s transportation needs. The 29-member group started meeting in July 2021. (See. Nev. Looks to Other States for Ways to Replace Gas Tax Revenues.)
As cars become more fuel-efficient and more drivers switch to electric vehicles, the state is worried about the impact on gas tax revenue. Since 2010, fuel tax deposited in the State Highway Fund has dropped from 1.27 cents per vehicle mile driven to 1.03 cents per mile, according to a draft version of the working group’s report.
“Like all states, Nevada is heavily dependent on fuel taxes to generate funding for highways, bridges, local roadways, and activities related to maintaining and operating these facilities,” the draft report said.
Much of Nevada’s gas tax goes into the State Highway Fund, which is used to pay for highway construction, maintenance and repair. The NDOT-managed road system will need about $17 billion over the next 10 years, but funding from state and federal sources for that period is estimated at $11 billion, leaving a $6 billion gap.
Fixed or Mileage-based Fees
The working group recommended that the road usage charge give electric vehicle drivers an option to pay either a fixed annual fee, allowing unlimited mileage, or a charge based on actual miles traveled.
That’s similar to the system used in Utah, where owners of electric or hybrid cars pay an alternative-fuel vehicle fee on top of the regular annual registration fee. But EV owners can choose to pay per mile instead of the alternative fuel vehicle fee. The per mile fee is capped at the amount of the alternative-fuel vehicle fee.
This year, Utah’s flat registration fee for an electric vehicle is $123 and the charge per mile is 1.52 cents.
In addition to the road usage charge, the working group is recommending other ways to boost revenue for transportation projects. Those include increasing vehicle registration fees; indexing fuel taxes to keep up with construction cost increases; and allowing counties to adjust their portion of the gas tax for inflation.
The working group considered several other revenue-raising measures but decided to not recommend them for further analysis at this time. Those included an EV battery tax, a tire tax and a parcel delivery fee.
Other State Programs
Oregon rolled out the nation’s first road usage charge program in 2013, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). Participants in the voluntary program, called OReGO, may drive gas-powered or electric vehicles. The per-mile charge is 1.9 cents. Drivers of gas-powered vehicles who participate in the program receive a credit for gas tax when they pay at the pump. EV drivers are eligible for reduced registration fees.
In 2020, Virginia started imposing an annual highway use fee on EVs, alternative fuel vehicles and vehicles with a fuel economy of 25 miles per gallon or more. In July, Virginia gave drivers who pay the annual highway fee another option: participating in the mileage-based Mileage Choice Program. Participants install a device in their cars to track mileage.
At the federal level, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 established two new grant programs for exploring road usage charges as a replacement for the gas tax, NCSL said.
The Strategic Innovation for Revenue Collection program will support pilot projects proposed by states, metropolitan planning organizations or local governments. With $15 million set aside for each of five fiscal years, the program will focus on road usage charge issues such as data privacy, administrative costs, implementation and equity.
The IIJA will also establish a pilot program for a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee, which could potentially be used to bolster the federal Highway Trust Fund.
FERC last week approved Vistra Corp.’s request to bypass MISO’s generator interconnection procedures to quickly add battery storage projects at two retiring fossil fuel plants (ER22-2632).
Vistra was seeking a waiver of MISO’s replacement generator rules so it could add 37-MW battery storage projects to partially replace output at two power plants in Illinois: its Joppa Power Plant, owned by the company’s Electric Energy Inc. subsidiary, and the Edwards Power Plant.
Ordinarily under its replacement generation rules, MISO requires the same generation owner to assume ownership of existing interconnection rights for a new facility. In its Nov. 8 order, FERC permitted Vistra to circumvent that requirement and allowed two subsidiaries — Joppa BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems) and Edwards BESS — to assume the existing rights without entering the RTO’s interconnection queue.
Vistra explained that the storage ownership should remain separate because the projects’ investors did not bargain for liability of retiring fossil fuel generation. FERC agreed and said Vistra requested the one-time waiver in good faith.
“We find that Vistra’s request does not raise queue-jumping concerns because the necessary transfers do not involve unaffiliated entities outside of the interconnection queue, and Vistra pledges that Joppa BESS and Edwards BESS will maintain ownership until the energy storage facilities reach commercial operation, consistent with the transferability restriction,” the commission said.
Joppa, with six coal units totaling 948 MW of capacity and five gas units with 239 MW of capacity, closed in September. The 560-MW coal-fired Edwards facility is slated to idle Jan. 1. Both plants are closing to settle complaints of excessive pollution brought forward by environmental organizations.
Vistra is developing the storage projects under Illinois’ Coal-to-Solar Energy Storage Grant Program, part of the state’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. The company will receive $81 million over 10 years to build the two facilities, which are supposed to enter commercial operation no later than June 1, 2025, in order to stay grant-eligible.
Vistra said if it had been forced to enter the projects into MISO’s generator interconnection queue, it would miss the grant deadline. It currently takes about three years for a generator to complete the queue, though MISO is working to minimize the wait.
In a concurrence, FERC Commissioner Allison Clements said the “effect of granting this waiver is that a brownfield site of existing generation on the transmission system can be expeditiously re-used.”
Clements called for a re-examination of RTO rules that restrict a generation owner’s ability to hand over their interconnection rights to unaffiliated entities. She said the waiver “highlights the increasingly strained reasoning underpinning the transferability restrictions in MISO’s and other transmission providers’ generator replacement rules.”
“No part of those rules is more in need of reconsideration than these transferability restrictions, which, at best, appear to impede beneficial commercial transactions and, at worst, may unduly discriminate against non-incumbent generation owners,” Clements wrote.
Voters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a tax increase to fund efforts to reduce the city’s carbon footprint, voting more than two to one for a 1-mill hike in property taxes for the next 20 years.
The tax will add $153 annually for an average property with a taxable value of $153,000 (half of the average fair market value of $306,000). In 2021, Ann Arbor property owners paid 50 mills.
Mayor Christopher Taylor, who was re-elected on Tuesday, said he was “incredibly excited about what we can accomplish” with the funding and “proud” that the city became the sixth locality in the U.S. to adopt a tax to fight climate change. (See Ann Arbor Mayor Confident Voters Will Pass Climate Tax.)
The tax proposal, which will raise about $7 million in its first year, passed on a vote of 37,451 to 15,244. The proposal won a majority of votes in every one of Ann Arbor’s 53 precincts.
Taylor, who introduced the ordinance to the city council in 2021, said city voters “understand that climate change is real and that everyone has to take action” to combat its effects.
The city has a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2030.
Missy Stults, the city’s sustainability director, said there was a lot of work to do to “achieve this audacious and scientifically accomplishable goal.” She said she would begin working on funding proposals and present them for the city council to consider in the 2023 budget.
Of the projected $7 million raised by the new tax, $2 million is anticipated to go for renewable energy projects; $1 million will go for expanded composting; $1 million to develop more cycling and walking projects and $1 million will go for electrification projects, including building electric vehicle chargers. About $700,000 will focus on projects assisting low-income residents, with another $500,000 going to cut down on energy waste and another $500,000 for neighborhood resilience projects, including tree planting and developing rain gardens.
NiSource said last week that it intends to sell up to a nearly 20% stake in its Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) subsidiary to cover the costs of grid modernization and its push to net-zero emissions.
During NiSource’s annual investor day at the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 7, CEO Lloyd Yates said the company is willing to part with a 19.9% interest in NIPSCO. That will foot the bill for a 2040 net-zero emissions goal and approximately $15 billion in grid and gas infrastructure modernization and clean energy investments over the next five years.
NiSource plans to open the sale in the first quarter next year.
Yates said NiSource will “remain committed” to its NIPSCO operations, but it needs to improve a balance sheet that has been “constrained” for 20 years, forcing the company to issue equity. With a minority sale, Yates said NiSource wouldn’t have to issue equities through 2025.
“Our industry is going through massive change as technologies evolve and as customer expectations evolve, so we’ve refreshed our mission, vision and values,” Yates said. “We’ll need to drive supportive regulatory and legislative policies, favorable stakeholder environments and advances in technologies that are not currently economical to achieve, but we are optimistic.”
Yates said NiSource’s reworked business strategy should “drive a compelling total shareholder return of 9 to 11% annually.” He initiated a strategic business review of the utility when he became CEO in February.
NiSource’s new direction is “well positioned to drive long-term value for all stakeholders,” Yates said. He said the review identified about $30 billion worth of total long-term investment opportunities over the next decade.
“We have a long runway of investment opportunities and the ability to grow over a long-term horizon,” he said. “While the energy transition presents great opportunities, there’s a threat to those who don’t continue to move forward in a way that creates value. The actions we are taking help insulate NiSource from these threats.”
Shawn Anderson, senior vice president of strategy and chief risk officer, said a minority interest sale is NiSource’s best path forward.
“There’s a good precedent in the industry of this type of transaction being completed successfully. And it’s a very efficient means of financing our business,” he said.
Anderson also said affordability will be a focus during NiSource’s energy transition. He said through 2027, the company anticipates “low, single digit” increases in customer bills caused by energy efficiency measures, a disciplined operations and maintenance plan, commodity prices leveling off and an expanded customer base.
NiSource’s extensive natural gas infrastructure is “a critical component” to accelerated decarbonization, Anderson said. It will provide reliable baseload generation and be ideally situated for conversion to renewable natural gas or green hydrogen, he said
NiSource plans to retire its coal generation units by the end of 2030 and thereafter draw on a 51% mix of renewables and 35% natural gas generation. Energy efficiency, demand response and capacity purchases will make up the remainder.
By the end of 2025, NiSource expects to have spent $2.2 billion on renewable generation.
“We’re making the fastest transition away from coal. Seventy-four percent coal to zero in a single decade. A 90% reduction in emissions by 2030, including the 58% reduction we’ve already achieved. And now a goal of net zero by 2040,” Anderson said.
MISO appears likely to use a system support resource (SSR) designation to keep a Wisconsin coal plant operating past its planned suspension date unless stakeholders come up with a viable alternative.
During a West Technical Study Task Force teleconference Friday, MISO’s Huaitao Zhang said staff uncovered unresolved thermal overloading and steady state voltage issues on 12 constraints if Manitowoc Public Utilities’ Lakefront 9 unit is allowed to begin its suspension as planned on Feb. 1, 2023. The 63-MW coal-fired unit began commercial operations in 2006.
The grid operator will collect stakeholders’ input on alternative mitigation plans to the SSR agreement through Nov. 18. However, it says alternative solutions are scarce because there are too few resources nearby to employ generation redispatch, no new generation projects in the works, no contracted demand side management programs in the area, and zero available transmission reconfiguration options.
“Lakefront 9 will need to be designated as an SSR unless feasible alternatives are identified and can be implemented prior to the planned suspension date,” Zhang said.
Staff noted that some transmission projects on the horizon will improve system performance enough to terminate the SSR. The earliest is expected to be in service by early April 2023, not soon enough to avoid an SSR.
Clean Grid Alliance’s Natalie McIntire asked whether MISO studied using synchronous condensers as a potential interim solution or considered converting the plant itself into a synchronous condenser. Zhang said MISO hadn’t contemplated that.
Stakeholders on the teleconference did not offer any other alternatives.
The RTO uses SSR agreements as a last-resort measure to keep generators online past their retirement dates and sustain system reliability.
Zhang told McIntire that MISO’s proposal to require retiring or suspending generation to give a year’s notice instead of the currently required six months will allow staff to solicit solutions earlier in the process, giving them more time to identify feasible alternatives. (See MISO Stays Course on Sharpening Generation Retirement Studies.)
MISO members have proposed that the grid operator resurrect the Stakeholder Governance Working Group (SGWG) that formerly managed its Stakeholder Governance Guide.
Ameren’s Ray McCausland, the Reliability Subcommittee’s chair, proposed reviving the small stakeholder working group next year during a Steering Committee teleconference Thursday. He said he would like to put the governance guide’s control “back in the hands of the stakeholders.”
The SGWG serves as an outlet to discuss changes to the guide, provides governance training and offers an open forum for stakeholders to discuss governance concerns. The guide defines stakeholder committee elections, meeting structure and expected conduct, voting procedures, agenda management and the creation of new stakeholder groups.
McCausland said the group’s reinstatement w have stakeholders and the Advisory Committee’s member representatives exercising more control over guide changes. Currently, edits to the guide are routed only through the Advisory Committee.
McCausland said the Stakeholder Governance Guide used to be a more “dynamic” document that changed more often on stakeholders’ input. “That’s not necessarily the case anymore,” he said.
McCausland suggested that the group meet twice per year to review the governing document and discuss changes.
The Steering Committee plans to vote on restarting the group during its February meeting.
Regulatory commissions in nine Southern and Midwest states faced voters Tuesday, with incumbents winning reelection in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Montana and the Dakotas and losing or trailing in Arizona and Nebraska.
Louisiana
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Mike Francis (R) bested a three-person field with 59% of the vote in his southwest Louisiana district, but incumbent Lambert Boissiere III is headed for a runoff against an environmental advocate, having failed to gain 50% of the vote in his District 3 election.
Boissiere, who has served on the PSC since 2005, took 43% of the vote in a five-person race, falling short of an outright win in the jungle primary. Davante Lewis secured 18% of the vote to advance to the Dec. 10 runoff against Boissiere.
Keep the Lights On, a super PAC aligned with the Environmental Defense Fund, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking Boissiere in the primary, NOLA.com said. Buoyed by donations from Entergy and others in the industry he regulates, Boissiere outspent Lewis, who is backed by the progressive group Voters Organized to Educate.
Texas
Republican Wayne Christian cruised to reelection for a second six-year term on Texas’ Railroad Commission, defeating Democratic challenger Luke Warford. With 88% of the vote counted Wednesday morning, Christian had a lead of 55% to Warford’s 40%.
Christian currently serves as the chair of the RRC, the state agency that regulates the state’s massive oil and gas industry. He has said his top three priorities for his next term are to increase domestic production of oil and natural gas, fight what he calls “the Biden administration’s overreach” and secure U.S. energy independence.
The RRC and its history of lax oversight found itself the subject of legislative oversight in the aftermath of the February 2021 winter storm, when freezing temperatures cut into the state’s natural gas production. Warford sought to link the power grid’s failure to Christian’s leadership of the commission.
The agency recently enacted new rules to prevent natural gas producers from having power cut off during weather emergencies, which helped contribute to fuel shortages at power plants during the storm.
The GOP swept the statewide ballot, as it has since 1994. Dawn Buckingham (R) will become the first woman elected as land commissioner, beating back a challenge by Democratic conservationist Jay Kleberg, whose family owns the storied King Ranch. Kleberg said that accepting the reality of climate change would allow him to use the agency’s assets to respond to hurricanes and other natural disasters, food, energy and wildlife diversity problems.
Oklahoma
Republican Kim David was elected to replace term-limited Dana Murphy on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. She outpolled Warigia Margaret Bowman (D), who teaches energy law at the University of Tulsa, by a 63%-30% margin.
A real estate agent and property manager, David was term-limited as a state senator.
Murphy, a familiar presence on SPP’s Regional State Committee, fell victim to a state constitutional amendment in 2020 that limited commission members to two terms. Murphy was first elected in 2010. She ran for lieutenant governor in 2018.
Arizona
Republican candidates Kevin Thompson and Nick Myers have taken a slim lead in the race for two seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission. With about 66% of the ballots counted as of early Wednesday morning, Thompson and Myers have 26% and 25.9% of the vote, respectively. Sandra Kennedy (D), the only incumbent on the ballot, trails with 24.9%.
If Thompson and Myers hold on to their leads, it would increase the ACC’s Republican majority to 4-1, leaving Anna Tovar as the lone Democrat. She is up for re-election in 2024. A $460 million rate case from Arizona Public Service awaits the new commission.
Montana
Incumbent Randy Pinocci (R) won a second four-year term to the state’s Public Service Commission. He won 97% of the vote in an uncontested race, having beaten a Republican challenger during the primary. Pinocci will be unable to run again for eight years, under Montana state rules.
Montana PSC candidate Ann Bukacek | Bukacek campaign
Ann Bukacek (R) is leading the race to replace PSC vice chair Brad Johnson, who is term-limited. Bukacek leads Democrat John Repke, 55%-45%, with 26 of 102 precincts reporting full results.
Bukacek, a doctor, campaigned on preserving and expanding hydroelectric and coal-fired power, using the slogan “Let’s keep the lights on.”
North Dakota
North Dakota voters re-elected Public Service Commission Chair Julie Fedorchak (R) to another six-year term.
Fedorchak, past president of the Organization of MISO States, defeated Melanie Moniz (D) with 71% of the vote.
Sheri Haugen-Hoffart (R) won a special election to serve the remaining four years of a six-year term after being appointed to the PSC earlier.
She took 70% of the vote against Democratic challenger Trygve Hammer.
South Dakota
South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Chair Chris Nelson (R) was re-elected to a third three-year term, defeating challenger Jeff Barth (D), a 16-year member of the Minnehaha County Commission. Nelson, a two-time secretary of state before winning election to the PUC in 2010, won with 69% of the vote in the two-man race.
Nebraska
In Nebraska, Eric Kamler (R) and Kevin Stocker (R) won uncontested district seats for six-year terms on the Public Service Commission. Kamler defeated incumbent Rod Johnson and Stocker unseated vice chair Mary Ridder during the Republican primary in May. Kamler won 57% of the vote while Stocker took 43% in a three-way race.
Alabama
In Alabama, incumbent Public Service Commissioner Jeffrey Oden (R) beat Libertarian Ron Bishop 84% to 14%, while Republican Chris Beeker (R) defeated Libertarian Laura Lane by a similar margin.
NERC and the regional entities this week expressed support for FERC’s proposal to incentivize utilities for voluntary cybersecurity investments, while urging to commission to ensure that its final plan “build upon and complement the cybersecurity standards [already] in place” (RM22-19).
The ERO’s comments came Monday in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that the commission issued in September. FERC suggested a 200-basis-point incentive for expenses and capital investments that “materially improve” a utility’s cybersecurity posture and are not already required by NERC’s Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards or local, state or federal law. (See FERC Reluctantly Proposes Cybersecurity Incentives.) Expenses for participating in cybersecurity threat information-sharing programs would also be covered.
In their response, NERC and the REs did not “take a position on the necessity, amount, duration or type” of incentives that FERC might adopt to encourage cybersecurity investments. However, they praised the commission for “considering a variety of methods to encourage entities to … invest in cybersecurity,” noting that the security threat landscape continues to be “both unprecedented and ruthless.”
Among the list of pre-qualified expenditures that are eligible for incentives is the cost of participation in the Department of Energy’s Cybersecurity Risk Information Sharing Program (CRISP), through which the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center provides participants with information on emerging threat actors and attack vectors. The ERO said it was “pleased” at this inclusion, which could encourage stakeholders to participate in CRISP and thereby enhance its information-sharing capabilities.
In this vein, NERC and the REs suggested that the commission consider expanding the prequalified list further to include an operational technology (OT) visibility program begun by the E-ISAC in 2021. The ERO did not name the program, but it might refer to cybersecurity firm Dragos’ Neighborhood Keeper threat intelligence system, which provides data on threat analytics and indicators of compromise based on information gathered through a network of sensors in utilities’ industrial control systems and OT environments. (See E-ISAC Joins Dragos for Data Sharing Initiative.)
In their comments on this program, NERC and the REs focused on the cost of installing new sensors, pointing out their usefulness to understanding the threat landscape. They suggested that FERC add the costs of new sensors to the incentive plan, in light of the potential benefit of assisting small and medium-sized entities to join the program and increase visibility across the industry.
Suggestions for Improvement
The ERO did suggest there was room for refinement in the language regarding the relationship of NERC’s CIP standards to the cybersecurity investments that would qualify for FERC’s incentives. Specifically, NERC and the REs took issue with the commission’s mention of excluding technology- or threat information-sharing programs that are “already mandated by the [CIP] standards.”
The problem with this, according to the ERO, is that it misunderstands the nature of NERC’s reliability standards, which are designed to be technology neutral.
“CIP requirements do not prescribe a particular technological method, tool or approach to comply,” NERC and the REs said in their response. “The CIP … standards generally provide flexibility in how registered entities identify, categorize, protect and monitor applicable [bulk electric system] cyber systems; there is no one ‘mandated’ technology for compliance with CIP reliability standards. As such, an entity could use any number of approaches to comply with a particular requirement.”
The ERO observed that entities often use “multiple approaches and tools to comply with a single standard.” As a result, it may be hard for FERC and regulated utilities to determine whether a particular investment is “mandated” by the CIP standards and therefore eligible for incentives. To avoid confusion, respondents said FERC’s final rule should make clear whether its incentives are available for investments that “help an entity demonstrate compliance with” CIP standards, even if they are not explicitly mandated.
In addition, NERC and the REs reminded the commission that the CIP standards, like all NERC reliability standards, are subject to ongoing revision as the industry evolves, a process that includes input from industry stakeholders. They urged FERC to ensure that participants are not “discouraged from making necessary revisions to the … standards due to possibly losing the incentive prior to the expiration of the full term of the investments’ eligibility.”
Democrats backing aggressive climate policies won or were leading in eight of 12 of the most contested gubernatorial races after voting Tuesday, with Nevada’s Steve Sisolak (D) the only incumbent on the ballot in danger of losing.
Democrat incumbents prevailed in Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, New York and Wisconsin, while Democrats also won open seats in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and were leading in Oregon.
Republican incumbents Gregg Abbott in Texas and Brian Kemp in Georgia also won new terms, while Republican Joe Lombardo, a Las Vegas-area sheriff endorsed by former president Donald Trump, led Sisolak by 50.6%-45.8% with more than three quarters of votes counted.
NEW ENGLAND: Climate-Focused Dems Take, Hold Governorships
Democrats did well in New England on Tuesday, taking back the governor’s office in Massachusetts and holding on against serious challenges in Connecticut and Maine.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who has been widely expected to be the next governor since she announced her run in January, followed through with a comfortable victory over Republican challenger Geoff Diehl.
Healey made climate and energy policy a central plank of her campaign; it was the first policy plan she put out during the primary against progressive challenger Sonia Chang-Diaz.
As AG, Healey is familiar with the work of ISO-NE and the region’s energy landscape. A team from her office is closely involved with the New England Power Pool and have sometimes butted heads with the grid operator over policy matters.
She also said that as governor, she would convene a “regional energy summit” to develop a strategy for addressing transmission, siting, market reform and cost allocation issues.
And the plan goes into much more detail about electrification in the transportation and building sectors, as well as environmental justice and equity.
“Her climate plan meets the critical moment we’re in with the urgency it demands,” said the Environmental League of Massachusetts in a statement. “We’re confident that the Healey administration will make the Commonwealth a national climate leader.”
Maine’s Gov. Janet Mills, who installed solar panels on the governor’s residence when she came into office in 2019 and has pushed for state investment in solar, EVs, offshore wind and more, held on against a challenge from former Republican Gov. Paul Lepage.
One of the biggest issues she’ll have to weigh in on in 2023 is whether Maine should replace its for-profit utilities with consumer-owned, nonprofit utilities. Mills vetoed such a proposal following its passage by the state legislature in 2021 but said her opposition was more about process and specifics of the legislation. (See Maine Voters to Decide on Upending Utility Landscape in 2023.)
In Connecticut, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont again prevailed in a rematch against his 2018 opponent, Bob Stefanowski.
Lamont has what the Connecticut Mirror reports is a “robust record on climate change,” but also one largely enabled by the Biden administration and the federal government.
Democrat Dan McKee, who took over as Rhode Island’s governor in March 2021, won a full term.
Republicans John Sununu and Phil Scott easily won their races for governor in New Hampshire and Vermont, respectively.
WEST: Democrats Maintain Control in Oregon
In the West, the future of state climate policy was most at risk in Oregon, where the Democratic former speaker of the state House, Tina Kotek, had been locked in a tight race with former Republican House leader Christine Drazan. But local media declared Kotek the winner Wednesday afternoon.
Kotek, who hoped to continue Democrats’ 36-year hold on the governorship, led Drazan 46.2%-44.3% with more than two-thirds of votes counted. Independent Betsy Johnson, a former Democratic state representative, received 8.8%. Most of the uncounted ballots were in the Portland metro area, where Kotek had a strong lead.
A Drazan victory would have upended the decarbonization initiatives that current Gov. Kate Brown (D) implemented through Executive Order 20-04, which set caps on statewide greenhouse gas emissions with the goal of reducing GHGs to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
Drazan had promised to “tear up” Brown’s executive order on “Day One” of her term, and also replace the heads of every state agency, each of which has been enlisted in Oregon’s climate efforts. Citing high gasoline prices, Drazan last month additionally pledged to temporarily suspend Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program, which aims to reduce the carbon-intensity of transportation fuels sold in the state. She argued that the 2016 law establishing the program would allow her to do so.
Kotek, on the other hand, has been a leading supporter of climate change policy, having sponsored the legislation behind the Clean Fuels Program and led a Democratic effort to pass a cap-and-trade bill in 2019 (House Bill 2020). HB 2020 faltered after all 11 Republican members of the state Senate refused to show up to the state capitol, preventing the two-thirds quorum needed to vote on the bill. Democratic support for the legislation subsequently weakened, and the bill stalled in committee, prompting Brown to issue EO 20-04 the following year.
In a related development, Oregon voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure that would prevent state legislators from seeking reelection if they have more than 10 “unexcused” absences during a session, a development that could improve the ability to pass future climate legislation.
California Voters Reject EV Ballot Initiative
In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last year easily survived a $300 million recall effort, handily won a second term to lead the nation’s largest state, taking about 58% of the vote. During his first term, Newsom aggressively pushed for California to ramp up its climate goals, and he has worked closely with other leaders on the West Coast to align their decarbonization efforts.
California voters on Tuesday firmly rejected a ballot initiative (Proposition 30) to levy a 1.75% personal income tax on households earning more than $2 million a year to raise $5 billion annually to fund electric vehicle rebates and the installation of EV chargers in public places and at residences. Newsom broke with his party to oppose the measure, saying the state had already committed billions to EV incentives from its budget surpluses.
Arizona Race Too Close to Call
Arizona’s gubernatorial race between Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) and former television news anchor Kari Lake was neck-and-neck, with Hobbs leading 50.1%-49.9% with two-thirds of the votes counted.
On the campaign trail, Hobbs has talked about Arizona building “a 21st century clean economy” to address the impact of climate change. She has specifically pledged “to leverage state and federal resources to modernize our energy and transportation sectors;” electrify school buses and state vehicle fleets; provide rural and tribal communities with greater access to sustainable energy; and push for a $200 tax credit for home energy efficiency improvements.
Lake has said that her policies would focus on energy reliability, and while she’s “not opposed to some of the green energy,” she prefers “good old-fashioned clean energy, which is nuclear.” She has stated that she wants Arizona to become an energy exporting “powerhouse” by building modular nuclear reactors that could sell electricity to California, which is subject to brownouts because of its “asinine” policies.
Nevada Incumbents Trailing
Incumbent Democrats were faring worse in Nevada, where Sisolak and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto were trailing their Republican opponents Wednesday afternoon, with many mail-in ballots still to be counted. Sisolak was a strong backer of Senate Bill 448, which the Nevada Senate unanimously passed last year to spur major investments in renewable energy transmission, EV charging infrastructure and energy efficiency programs. The law also requires Nevada’s utilities to join an RTO by 2030.
New Mexico Gov. Re-elected
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) won re-election in New Mexico with 52% of the vote, outpacing challenger Mark Ronchetti’s (R) 46%.
“The weather forecast for New Mexico is four more years of progress — four more years of rebuilding our beloved state,” Lujan Grisham said in a jab at Ronchetti, a former television weatherman.
The state’s wind and solar resources have increased while coal generation has slowed since the 2019 passage of the Energy Transition Act, which requires the state to get all of its power from zero-carbon resources by 2045. Public Service Company of New Mexico shut down its coal-fired San Juan Generating Station in September in response to the legislation.
Lujan Grisham’s spokesperson has said the governor will focus her second term on policies that diversify the state’s economy and expand renewable energy.
Jeff Byrd (R), who stepped down from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to run for land commissioner, came up far short in his bid. He lost to Democrat Stephanie Garcia Richard by a 55-45 margin.
MIDWEST: Clean Energy Goals Undisturbed
Three Democratic incumbents who established clean energy objectives for their states won second terms in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, leaving decarbonization goals unscathed in the Upper Midwest.
All three incumbents faced Republican challengers who either had ties to the fossil fuel industry or campaigned on prolonging fossil fuel infrastructure.
In late night and early morning victory speeches, the gubernatorial trio promised more work on clean energy adoption or tackling the causes of climate change.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D), who signed an executive order in 2019 targeting 100% carbon-free electricity in the state by 2050, bested Republican Tim Michels. Michels, co-owner of energy and infrastructure construction company Michels Corp. — which has worked on facilities for the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines and relocation of Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 pipeline in the Great Lakes — said he would divest from his company if elected.
“You showed up for conservation, for clean energy, to take climate change seriously and a future that doesn’t treat protecting our environment and good-paying jobs like they’re mutually exclusive. Because they’re not,” Evers told a crowd in an acceptance speech early Wednesday.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer | City of Detroit
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) defeated Republican challenger and Donald Trump pick Tudor Dixon, who vowed to protect the Line 5 project and advocated an “all-of-the-above” strategy for energy production, including reliance on existing coal plants.
Last year, Whitmer introduced the MI Healthy Climate Plan, which calls for economy-wide carbon neutrality in the state by 2050.
In debates, Whitmer and Dixon clashed over the state’s future in electric vehicle manufacturing and whether environmental regulations jeopardize economic progress.
Whitmer vowed in a victory speech that Michigan will “hit the ground running” over her second term, including ramping up the state’s clean energy production.
The Michigan League of Conservation Voters cheered Whitmer’s win on Twitter, saying it was ready to “drive Michigan into a clean energy future” alongside Whitmer.
Finally, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) overcame a challenge from Republican candidate Scott Jensen, a physician and former state senator. Jensen had campaigned on voiding the state’s clean car rules, overturning a moratorium on nuclear power, and keeping retiring coal plants online longer, including Xcel’s Sherburne County Generating Station, which is due to be replaced in part by solar generation upon its closure in 2030.
Walz thanked campaigners and voters for believing that issues like climate change can be tackled in “an optimistic way that lets us lead the country.”
“Minnesotans have made it very clear. They chose the hopeful future of one Minnesota where we invest in our children, where we defend the rights of individuals, where we address climate change, where we make our communities stronger and where we welcome those seeking the comfort of Minnesota,” Walz said.
Walz in 2019 announced that Minnesota was not on track to shrink emissions 30% from 2005 levels by 2025 and 80% by 2050 per the state’s 2007 law. He issued an executive order to create the Climate Change Subcabinet and the Governor’s Advisory Council on Climate Change to devise strategies to fulfill the reductions targets.
MARYLAND: Moore Pushes State to Go Faster, Bolder on Clean Energy
Maryland’s first and at present the nation’s only African American governor-elect, Wes Moore (D) ran on an aggressive clean energy platform, patterned on President Biden’s ambitious targets and all-of-government approach.
S.B. 528, which became law in April without Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s signature, has already put the state a path to cut greenhouse gas emissions 60% below 2006 levels by 2031 and to go net-zero economywide by 2045.
Maryland Gov.-elect Wes Moore | Amunankhra House Ltd.
But calling on Marylanders to go faster, be bolder and not wait for their turn, Moore wants to up the ante, with a 2030 deadline for the 60% emissions reduction. Moore also wants the state running on 100% clean energy by 2035, “by leveraging billions of incoming federal funds and growing solar installations, supercharging Maryland’s wind industry, and investing in battery storage research and development within our university systems.”
He calls for an “entire-government” approach in which all state government agencies will review of their procurement and energy efficiency standards and their vehicle fleets, with the goal of setting “clear annual benchmarks that will reduce their environmental impact and that of the state.” He also wants the state’s vehicle fleet electrified by 2030.
Like Biden, Moore sees the green economy as creating jobs and promoting equity, especially for low-income families, and he intends to appoint a chief sustainability, mitigation and resilience officer to oversee and coordinate the state’s clean energy and climate initiatives.
But, even with plenty of federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act and solid Democratic majorities in both the Maryland House of Delegates and Senate, Moore’s plan could face obstacles. Exelon, which owns the state’s two main utilities, Pepco and Baltimore Gas and Electric, has a 2050 target for net-zero emissions. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as of July, coal and natural gas were still providing close to two-thirds of the state’s electricity.
Successive efforts to pass a green building code in the state have been watered down or derailed by the local building industry.
For example, S.B. 528 originally contained provisions requiring that from 2023 to 2033, at least one new school in each school district be built to net-zero standards, but the provisions were cut from the final version.
The bill’s broader requirements on building performance standards were another casualty. They would have mandated that new or renovation projects built with at least 25% state funding meet high-performance building standards developed by the Maryland Green Building Council. Emission-reduction targets for large commercial buildings and multifamily dwellings were also cut, from 50% to 20% in 2030, and a net-zero target for 2035 was eliminated.
A U.S. Army vet and nonprofit executive, Moore has no previous experience in government. On the plus side, he will come into office backed up with a slate of experienced Democratic government officials, including U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown as attorney general and state Del. Brooke Lierman as comptroller.
NEW YORK: Voters Approve $4.2B Environmental Bond
New York state voters approved $4.2 billion in environmental and climate protection spending by a huge margin Tuesday but retained the governor leading the climate effort by a much closer vote.
The Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022 promises extensive capital improvements in coming years, with up to $1.5 billion of the funds designated for climate change mitigation.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul | Darren McGee, Office of Governor
Specific spending includes $400 million for green building projects at state-owned facilities and public schools; $200 million for reduction of air and water pollution affecting environmental justice communities; and $500 million for purchase of zero-emission school buses and supporting infrastructure.
As of midday Wednesday, unofficial results showed voters supporting the environmental bond on 59% of ballots cast and opposing it on 29%, a ratio slightly better than 2-to-1. (No vote was cast on the other 12% of ballots, some undoubtedly because the proposition was on the back of the ballot and went unseen.)
By contrast, Democrat Kathy Hochul collected 52.2% of votes for governor to Republican Lee Zeldin’s 47%.
As of Nov. 1, Democrats outnumbered Republicans among registered voters 49.6% to 22.1%.
Hochul’s predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, was a forceful advocate of efforts to slow climate change, and Hochul continued support for one of the nation’s most aggressive decarbonization programs after she took over as governor in mid-2021.
But the transformative (and expensive) climate initiatives never became a major Democrat-vs.-Republican theme during the 2022 campaign season in New York. And the bond act was approved by a margin wider than that enjoyed by almost every winning candidate for state office.
With both chambers of the legislature retaining a Democratic majority if not supermajority going into 2023, the state appears on track to continue with what Hochul likes to call its “nation-leading climate agenda.”
With what is shaping up as a thin majority in the House of Representatives, Republicans may not be able to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, but they will be able to hold oversight hearings and grill Biden administration officials on any perceived missteps or failures in the law’s implementation, industry analysts said Wednesday.
With the IRA’s $369 billion in clean energy tax credits, incentives and other funding to be distributed, the question is not if, but when such hearings will come, said Abigail Ross Hopper, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, speaking at a post-election webinar sponsored by the Policy Resolution Group at Bracewell LLP.
The industry trade group has “been talking a lot … about ensuring that the processes we go through, the way the monies and tax credits and eligibility [are] defined and applied is transparent and fair and in line with the intent of Congress,” Hopper said. “So, when there are oversight committee hearings, the solar industry or the storage industry, the clean energy industry will be managing those in an appropriate way.”
What the election outcomes might augur for the U.S. clean energy transition, President Biden’s domestic agenda and the political landscape in general were top of mind for Hopper and the lineup of industry analysts and experts speaking at the webinar.
As of Wednesday evening, Republicans had a solid 207 seats in the House versus 189 for the Democrats, according to The New York Times, while the Senate was split 48 to 48. Republicans need 218 seats for control of the House.
Key Senate races in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada are still undecided, but Democrats were hopeful of holding onto the majority there.
Republicans will claim a 49th seat in Alaska, where incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski was trailing Republican Kelly Tshibaka 44%-43% with three-quarters of the votes counted. Democrat Pat Chesbro was out of the running at 10%.
In Arizona, incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly led Republican Blake Masters 51%-47% with two-thirds of the votes counted. In Nevada, Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto was trailing Republican Adam Laxalt 50%-47% with 77% of votes in. Both Democrats currently serve on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The Georgia race between incumbent Raphael Warnock (D) and Republican Herschel Walker is headed to a runoff after neither candidate cleared 50%.
President Biden said the election results were “a good day … for democracy.” | C-SPAN
Speaking at the White House Wednesday afternoon, Biden called the election a “victory for democracy,” citing the record number of young voters who participated to voice their concerns about reproductive rights and the climate crisis. While acknowledging that every Democratic loss is painful, he said in general, Democrats still made a strong showing, in Congress and in governor’s races.
He also acknowledged the frustrations of many voters but said Americans would be seeing the positive impacts of laws like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act in the early months of next year.
The failure of an expected “red wave” of voters to sweep strong Republican majorities into both houses of Congress — and losses for some GOP candidates backed by former President Donald Trump — provided relief for the Democrats and energy policy, said Scott Segal, partner and co-head at the Policy Resolution Group.
“I want people to understand that simply because we will have or we are likely to have divided government with one house at least being Republican controlled, does not mean that we should put all considerations of energy issues on the back shelf,” Segal said.
“Energy issues often have a regional component to them that is over and above the mere partisan politics,” he said. “There is a long and proud tradition of energy and environmental statutes being adopted by a divided government because of the relative balance and leverage that occurs between the entities. … Removing obstacles to energy development, [which] both parties tend to desire, is something that could be the basis of bipartisan advancement.”
The Specter of Solyndra
But the fate of the IRA, and the likelihood of oversight hearings inevitably raises the specter of Solyndra, Segal said. The solar startup, known for its unique tubular technology, received $535 million in federal loans in 2009 and went bankrupt two years later, triggering a series of congressional oversight hearings, which some congressional Republicans continue to evoke to this day.
Hopper acknowledged the risk but said, “Our industry is much more mature, and the technology is more mature; the financing structures are more mature. That sort of broad base of customer support and business demand for our products is greater,” she said.
Still, Hopper said, the best antidote for risk is “transparent, objective criteria for grantmaking, for eligibility requirements.” The immediate challenge for the Biden administration is to get out the rules and guidelines for the IRA’s billions in clean energy tax credits and incentives, she said.
“The best thing we can do … to ensure the continuation of the IRA is to have projects on the ground, jobs being created, tax revenue happening, local politicians seeing evidence of growth in their local communities” she said. “We can’t do that until we know the rules of the road, and so we need this administration to do that.”
On the industry side, Hopper said, SEIA is ramping up its consumer protection initiatives to ensure homeowners understand the law’s tax credits for residential solar.
“We’re putting that on steroids,” she said. “We want to make sure that as money and opportunity [are] flowing, that consumers are going in with eyes wide open. These are great opportunities for homeowners to make choices about their energy use, but they need to be informed choices.”
