The Texas Public Utility Commission has advanced two generation projects for due diligence review as part of the Texas Energy Fund’s In-ERCOT loan program, filling a hole left by two proposals that dropped out earlier this year.
The PUC accepted staff’s recommendation during its open meeting March 13 to add NRG Energy and Vistra projects to the TEF portfolio. The companies are seeking $548 million in TEF funds for their 895 MW of potential new generation (56896).
NRG plans to add a 455-MW, quick-start natural gas peaker at its Greens Bayou facility outside Houston. Vistra has proposed a second Permian Power 440-MW natural gas peaker in the Permian Basin. Permian Power I, one of the first projects selected, would be built next to Vistra’s existing 325-MW gas unit near Monahans in West Texas.
PUC attorney Laurie Hobbs said staff prioritized applicants that meet the commission’s priorities, including speed to market, ability to relieve transmission constraints and diversity of dispatchable resource types.
“We’re really trying to still balance as many of the [commission’s] original policy priorities … but we must present you with applicants that can begin timely construction of their projects,” she told the commissioners.
ENGIE Flexible Generation NA withdrew a 930-MW peaking facility from consideration in February, and Howard Energy Partners pulled back a co-generation facility in January. Both companies said supply chain issues would delay the projects and keep them from meeting a December 2025 deadline for initial loan disbursements. (See 2 Companies Withdraw Texas Energy Fund Projects from Consideration.)
“We need to make sure as best as we can that any project we approve going forward can meet these deadlines and be online,” PUC Chair Thomas Gleeson said.
The In-ERCOT portfolio has 19 applications, totaling 9,774 MW of new gas generation, for $5.37 billion in loaned TEF funds.
Deputy Executive Director Barksdale English told the commission that Vistra generator Luminant, NRG, Constellation Energy and Calpine account for 35% of the TEF projects. He said adding more participants would increase competition.
Constellation said in January it plans to acquire Calpine, the nation’s largest operator of geothermal and natural gas power generation. (See Constellation to Acquire Calpine for $29.1B.)
The TEF was created by the Texas Legislature in 2023 to add more dispatchable generation to the grid and was approved by voters later that year. Managed by the PUC, it is designed to provide grants and loans to finance construction, maintenance, modernization and operation of electric facilities in the state.
The fund is composed of four programs: In-ERCOT Generation Loans; In-ERCOT Completion Bonus Grants; Outside-ERCOT Grants; and Texas Backup Power Package.
The Utility Transparency and Accountability Act was one of the dozens of bills the Maryland House of Delegates passed March 17, sending it to the Senate as part of the legislature’s “crossover day,” which begins a three-week countdown to the close of the 2025 session on April 7.
Otherwise known as HB 121, the bill would require the state’s electric utilities to file a yearly report on all their votes at PJM, or any other RTO, including votes taken at “any committee, user group, task force or other part of the regional transmission organization in which votes are taken.”
Votes are to be reported whether or not they are final votes or made by a person with decision-making authority, the bill says. HB 121 passed the House 128 to 8, while the Senate version, SB 37, passed with a unanimous vote, 45-0, on Feb. 27.
With energy a top priority for the Assembly’s Democratic leadership, the bills that crossed over, and the amendments needed for passage, were significant.
For example, SB 116, which crossed over March 14, originally called for the state’s Department of the Environment and Energy Administration to work with the University of Maryland School of Business to produce a report analyzing the environmental, economic and energy impacts of data center development in the state.
But to gain Republican support — and a 46-0 vote — the language requiring the report to look at the energy impacts of data centers was stripped out of the bill, as was the requirement that the MEA work on the analysis.
The House version, HB 270, crossed over on Feb. 17 on a 125-8 vote, with no amendments, which means final passage could depend on either the House accepting the Senate amendment or the Senate backtracking.
Amendments could take the teeth out of another bill, SB 149, and its House version, HB 128, a Democratic-sponsored proposal to create a Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Program that would require fossil fuel producers doing business in the state to pay fees that would be used to mitigate the impacts of climate change in Maryland.
A flurry of amendments on March 14 essentially rewrote the Senate version, which now would only require the state’s comptroller and Environment and Commerce departments “to conduct a study to assess the total cost of greenhouse gas emissions in the state.” The same amendments were adopted in the House, and both bills passed on March 17.
Hoping to Cross Over
Not all state legislatures have crossover days, but among those that do, failure to pass one house by the specified date typically means a bill is essentially dead for the session. In Maryland, however, bills that do not cross over can still move forward with a special vote in the rules committee of either house.
Leaders in both houses appear to be relying on that strategy for the passage of three major energy bills, often referred to as “the leadership package.” The bills cover a range of issues critical for the state to meet its growing energy demand while ensuring affordability and reliability and cutting dependence on imported power, primarily from PJM. (See Ahead of Crossover Day, Energy Bills Stalled in Md. General Assembly.)
The Energy Resource Adequacy and Planning Act (SB 909) would require the Maryland Public Service Commission to establish an Integrated Resource Planning Office, which would conduct a 25-year comprehensive energy forecast aimed at meeting state clean energy and emission reduction goals.
The Renewable Energy Certainty Act (SB 931) would set rigorous standards for solar and storage projects seeking a certificate of public necessity and convenience from the PSC, to ensure careful siting and community engagement. The bill also would prohibit city or county governments from passing zoning or other laws blocking solar and storage projects.
The Next Generation Energy Act (SB 937) would promote the development of nuclear energy, and the extension of the licenses of existing reactors, as a matter of state policy, while also encouraging regional collaboration between states to share costs on the development of new reactors. The bill also calls for the procurement of 3,100 MW of “dispatchable energy generation capacity” and a temporary expedited permitting process for these projects.
None of the bills crossed over on March 17, but energy advocates and lawmakers like Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D) have said negotiations over possible amendments are ongoing. Speaking with NetZero Insider on March 13, Charkoudian said, “I think what you’re going to see, when they kind of come out or start going through the process in committee, is just a lot of amendments to add, to improve, take the best ideas and move them on.”
She is sponsoring another bill, the Abundant, Affordable Clean Energy (AACE) Act (HB 398, SB 316) which calls for major new procurements of energy storage and solar in the state, as well as better transmission planning for offshore wind and license extensions for existing nuclear plants. Charkoudian said she is working on proposing some of the bill’s provisions as amendments to SB 937.
Distribution and Transmission Planning
Katie Mettle, policy principal for Maryland at Advanced Energy United, is promoting another non-crossover, SB 908 and HB 1225, which would require the state’s utilities to submit detailed distribution system plans to the PSC every three years. The bill calls for these plans to include demand-side management options such as virtual power plants, as well as non-wires solutions for improving reliability.
Mettle remains “cautiously optimistic” it could still move forward. “We love it because it has the potential to save rate payers a lot of money on their electricity delivery costs over time,” she said. “Just building out infrastructure in the most cost-effective way possible … will also lower demand on the grid and really make the grid a lot more reliable.”
Other bills crossing over included:
HB 155, which would allow the state’s Community Development Administration to provide loans for energy efficiency and clean energy upgrades for multifamily, low- and moderate-income buildings. The loans could be 0% interest, with deferred repayment plans lasting 15 to 40 years. The Senate version, SB 247, is still in committee.
HB 49, which provides exclusions to the state’s building performance standards in special cases, such as not counting emissions related to the production of steam used for sterilizing medical instruments or from backup generation at a health care facility. The bill also gives building owners the option of paying a compliance fee if they cannot meet the state’s performance standards.
HB 829, another Charkoudian bill, which would require transmission developers seeking approval for a new line to provide the PSC with evidence they had considered alternatives, such as grid-enhancing technologies or distribution system upgrades that would defer the need for a new line. The bill does not have a Senate version.
The scorecard showed state spending on efficiency rebounded last year to set a record of $8.8 billion, with 90% of the increase coming from five states: Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. California scored 93.5 out of 100 points in ACEEE’s rankings, followed by Massachusetts at 80.5 and New York at 79.5, with Maryland and Vermont tied for fourth place at 77.
“Leading states are reducing costs and cutting pollution through energy savings measures, but many other states are stagnating,” Mark Kresowik, ACEEE senior policy director and lead author of the scorecard, said in a statement. “American families have endured years of rising costs and need relief. Energy efficiency upgrades lower utility bills, and now is the time for state policymakers and regulators to help more families see those savings.”
Louisiana was the most improved state, jumping nine places to number 37 after it adopted a strong building code, which was primarily motivated by skyrocketing insurance costs for homes due to extreme weather, ACEEE said.
Wyoming was at the bottom of the list at just 5.5 points, with Alabama (6 points) and Mississippi (6.5 points) coming in just ahead of it.
Colorado reached the top 10 for the first time, jumping six spots to reach number seven after it adopted policies for clean vehicles and a new efficiency standard to cut energy consumption in large buildings and enacted a range of efficiency standards.
“The top states are consistently advancing efficiency across every category, typically receiving at least half of the available points in each sector,” the report said. “The second tier is making considerable progress, but more inconsistently across sectors.”
ACEEE has been releasing the scorecard for 16 years, and it sees a new focus on efficiency due to rising energy bills, with a bigger focus on helping low-income consumers. Efficiency programs invested more than $2 billion last year to make efficiency upgrades that cut their monthly bills, but more than 75% of that was from just four states: California, Massachusetts, Michigan and New York.
“In the wake of rapidly rising energy prices and electricity bills, several states are recognizing energy efficiency’s important role in keeping energy affordable by helping homeowners and businesses reduce costs, by improving living conditions, and by creating jobs, all while supporting increasingly ambitious state and local goals to reduce carbon emissions,” the report said.
States are ranked in six primary policy areas: utility and public benefits programs, transportation policies, building efficiency policies, state government-led policies, industrial energy efficiency and appliance and equipment standards.
Points used to be allocated solely to policies that saved the most energy, but since 2022, the scorecard has started including carbon benefits, which means that policies such as vehicle electrification and building decarbonization generate more points.
States can get 100 points, with 29 from utility programs, 26 from transportation programs, 24 relating to building efficiency policies, nine points to state-led initiatives, six points for industrial programs and six points for state appliance and equipment standards.
Most states have room for improvement on the building energy code because only six have adopted the latest model. Nine states have no code at all, though among them, Colorado requires localities to adopt building codes.
The codes apply to new buildings and can require existing buildings to save energy. Four states and the District of Columbia have adopted standards requiring large buildings to cut energy consumption and climate pollution over time.
A dozen states have adopted clean vehicle standards first developed by California, requiring automakers to sell more zero-emissions cars. An additional 15 states have signed deals to start moving medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to zero-emissions.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on March 18 reversed its vacatur of FERC’s approvals of two LNG export facilities in Texas, having been convinced on appeal that the commission’s procedural errors were not as serious as it had initially judged.
The three-judge panel’s initial decision held that while the vacatur might cause significant disruptions to the projects, that did not outweigh the seriousness of the commission’s procedural defects in the case. Among them was that, having its approvals already remanded in 2021, FERC did not conduct new environmental impact statements for the projects.
The court followed a precedent that vacatur is warranted when an agency commits a “fundamental” procedural error, such as skipping an environmental review altogether.
“The procedural steps the commission skipped here were important, but they were not ‘fundamental’ in the same sense,” the same panel said. “The commission has already issued extensive final environmental impact statements reflecting more than three years of review and public comment.”
While the decision reversed the vacaturs, FERC must undertake some additional environmental reviews of specific subjects, like Rio Grande’s proposal to add carbon capture and storage to its facility.
“Against that backdrop, the seriousness of the reauthorization orders’ deficiencies does not outweigh the disruptive effects of vacatur,” the court said. “This court never doubted that vacatur would impose significant disruptive consequences … and respondent-intervenors have provided more details about those consequences in their rehearing petitions.”
The complex, large-scale projects have been in development for more than eight years. The court agreed that vacatur would upend their construction schedules, prevent developers from meeting contractual obligations, and stall their ability to get financing and finalize labor contracts — impacting thousands of jobs.
President Donald Trump’s executive orders on energy have also changed some of the legal questions, but the court declined to resolve new issues they brought up because doing so would not have changed its decision that vacatur was not warranted, it said.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has tossed a temporary injunction against Indiana’s right of first refusal law and sent the case back to a lower court, leaving plaintiff LS Power with more work ahead of it to increase competitively bid transmission projects in MISO.
The court decided LS Power’s arguments were directed at the wrong party and said the company should have named MISO, not the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC), as the source depriving it of the chance to bid on long-range transmission projects. The appeals court remanded the case to the district court that issued a preliminary injunction against the right of first refusal (ROFR) law and vacated the injunction (25-1024). The controversy again awaits proceedings from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
The higher court concluded in its March 13 order that LS Power lacked standing to request the injunction because MISO is the entity responsible for assigning projects from its long-range transmission portfolios to developers. The court also said that because the preliminary injunction was meant for Indiana regulators alone, MISO isn’t beholden to the ban.
The case has raised questions about who administers Indiana’s ROFR law.
LS Power, a competitive transmission developer in MISO, has claimed for months that Indiana’s ROFR is unconstitutional and violates the dormant commerce clause by treating in-state developers differently from out-of-state developers. The company won a preliminary injunction barring Indiana regulators from enforcing the law in December 2024, days before MISO approved a $21.8 billion long range transmission plan for MISO Midwest, raising doubts on who could build projects in the state. (See “Indiana ROFR Reversal Complicates Project Assignment,” MISO Board Endorses $21.8B Long-range Transmission Plan.)
‘An Unusual Situation’
The 7th Circuit acknowledged the case presented “an unusual situation,” with gray area over whether IURC has the authority to enforce the state’s ROFR. It eventually sided with counsel for the Indiana commissioners, who said commissioners are powerless to designate or reassign developers to the regional transmission projects MISO plans and approves.
“Even the subsections of the statute that mention the IURC make clear that the IURC functions only as a notice repository, not as an enforcer of the rights of first refusal,” the court said of the IURC’s role in the ROFR. It said a “genuine redress would have to operate against” MISO.
However, the district court reasoned months before that because IURC enforces the ROFR, MISO would “no longer be permitted to recognize an incumbent’s right of first refusal” and would treat the law as void.
But the 7th Circuit said incumbents taking advantage of their right to first dibs on construction only file notices of intent and descriptions of construction with the state regulatory body, noting that they don’t ask permission.
Furthermore, the court said a preliminary injunction of a state law “does not change the applicability of the law in question to non-parties.”
MISO, meanwhile, has no intention of competitively bidding the Indiana share of its long-range transmission projects.
In an amicus brief in the case, MISO said it did not view itself as bound by the injunction, even though its tariff requires it to follow all applicable state laws. The RTO said the district court’s preliminary injunction “does not direct MISO to take any action, nor does it prohibit MISO from taking any action.”
The court agreed and said because LS Power named Indiana commissioners as defendants and failed to mention MISO in its request for injunctive relief, the company ensured the lower court “could not operate against MISO directly.”
LS Power has attempted to close that gap through FERC. The company in February filed a complaint against MISO, arguing the grid operator should be forced to obey preliminary injunctions of state laws and should open about $1 billion in new long-range transmission projects in Indiana for competitive solicitation. (See LS Power Files Complaint Against MISO over Indiana ROFR.)
The apparent uncertainty over the IURC’s authority drew a dissenting opinion from Circuit Judge Michael Scudder, who argued that ROFR enforcement can be traced to Indiana regulators. Scudder said Indiana law provides “every indication” that IURC has the power to prevent an incumbent transmission owner from building and operating a transmission project in the state.
“Everyone agrees that the commission is the regulatory agency with authority over public utilities in Indiana,” he wrote. “Everyone agrees that HEA 1420 is a law ‘relating to public utilities.’ … It defies belief that the Indiana General Assembly vested the commission with broad enforcement authority, but the commissioners are nevertheless powerless to impose any limitation on a utility company’s ability to construct, own, operate or maintain electric transmission facilities within the state. To adopt that view is to conclude that Indiana law does not mean what it says.”
Scudder said he would have affirmed the district court’s preliminary injunction.
But the 7th Circuit’s majority judges agreed that ordering the IURC to block construction of interstate, MISO-approved transmission lines “would force the IURC into a power struggle with FERC over whether legitimately assigned and important projects” could be built.
“The dissenting opinion would in effect conscript the IURC to enforce the dormant commerce clause rather than carry out its more general duties to enforce Indiana public utility laws,” the court said.
A key New Jersey Senate committee has backed two measures seeking to limit the energy that artificial intelligence data centers can take out of the transmission and distribution system.
Forecasts predict the state will struggle to meet a dramatic surge in electricity demand in the next two decades.
The Senate Environment and Energy Committee backed S4143, which would require power for data centers to be from clean energy sources or nuclear power plants, or a combination of both. It also requires “no net decrease of verifiable … renewable energy and energy from nuclear power plants supplied to the transmission and distribution system.”
The bill, which passed March 17 on a 3-2 party line vote, also would require that AI data centers seeking local permits submit an energy use plan to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) for approval.
In a separate 3-2 vote, the committee also backed a nonbinding resolution, SR125, that urges all states within the PJM region to “enact policies that will require data centers to obtain their electricity from new zero- or low-emission sources of energy.”
The two measures highlighted the state’s growing concern over handling the expected increase in data centers and AI facilities, as well as the conflicting desire to reap the economic benefits of the high-investment facilities.
Chairman Sen. Bob Smith (D), who co-sponsored the bill and the resolution, said after the hearing that data and AI centers consume 10 to 20 times as much energy as other facilities. While the state “would love to have them,” the centers need to pay their way, he said.
“These bills are designed to put some logic and sanity into future development in AI data,” he said. “My contention is that we, the ratepayers of New Jersey, shouldn’t be paying for them. We should require that they bring their own energy, not consume the energy we’re already using and the energy storage that we already paid for, the transmission lines that we already paid for. They need a bigger financial responsibility.”
He said he expects to promote the resolution to other states in the PJM region to pass similar resolutions and pressure PJM to comply.
Supply Shortfall
The committee’s vote followed the March 13 release of the first draft of the next state Energy Master Plan, which predicts a 66% increase in electricity demand by 2050 if the state pursues the same strategy outlined in the 2019 master plan. The new plan predicts much greater increases if the state follows one of the three suggested paths detailed in the plan, which advocates for greater electrification.
State and PJM officials say the dramatic future power imbalance stems from the slow pace of new energy sources coming online and the faster rate fossil fuel generators are closing. The expected development of data centers and AI facilities, with their heavy use of electricity, is another key driver of the demand surge. (See NJ Releases Electrification-focused Energy Master Plan.)
New Jersey officials say the supply shortfall is a key reason behind a 20% hike in residential electricity rates set to take effect in June as a result of a Basic Generation Service (BGS) auction in February. (See NJ Conference Confronts Electricity Demand Squeeze.)
Environmental group members who spoke at the nearly three-hour hearing in Trenton welcomed the two measures, with some saying that without the protection of S4143, the state could end up using carbon-emitting generation sources.
“This data center growth could derail New Jersey’s progress toward clean energy goals and lead to increased fossil fuels,” said Taylor McFarland, conservation manager for the Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter. “It’s critical for New Jersey to be ahead of the curve and already have regulations and restrictions in place for these data centers so that our environment and our wallets are protected.
“The only way to best tackle the challenge is by requiring data centers to operate through additionality of power instead of (it) being extracted” from existing sources. “Most importantly, this additional power must come from clean energy sources so that we avoid the addition of extracted and polluting fossil fuel driven power.”
Deterrent Effect
Business groups, however, expressed concern the requirements of the bill would deter AI and data center developers from coming to the state.
Ray Cantor, a lobbyist for New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA), one of the state’s largest business groups, said he agreed with the sentiment of the bill but said the requirements would be excessive and prompt developers to look to other states.
“AI centers coming to New Jersey need to have their own source of power,” he said. “They are enormous drains or energy users, and we are a net importer of energy. We don’t have enough power generated in New Jersey … to supply these AI data centers.”
But he worried that the bill put “certain impediments in place.”
“It requires an energy usage plan. That energy usage plan is not just saying you have to use have your own energy. It’s talking about how you construct your building. It’s talking about the water systems you must use, and other facets of that building,” he said. “It’s just another regulatory process, another regulatory approval that is really not needed … for these facilities to be located. I think they know how to build their own facilities well enough without us telling them.”
Michael Egenton, a lobbyist for the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, suggested the state consider offering incentives to companies that want to put AI and data centers in the state if they use renewable energy.
“We should be encouraging them to open up operations in our state, and not placing hurdles, impediments, mandates and fines for compliance,” he said.
Reporting Emissions
The committee also backed S4117, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, which would require companies with annual revenues of $1 billion or more to report their annual greenhouse emissions to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and nonprofits selected by the DEP.
The bill requires the companies to report for four years their “Scope 1” emissions, or the direct emissions by the company, and their “Scope 2” emissions, those that stem from the company’s electricity, heat and cooling systems. The companies after five years would have to report their “Scope 3” emissions, which includes those from purchased goods and services, business travel, employee commutes, and the processing and use of sold products.
The bill also enables the DEP to set a fee on the companies to recover administration costs.
Doug O’Malley, executive director of Environment NJ, said the $1 billion threshold ensures only large companies would be affected, and the emissions reporting requirements would force them to calculate how much pollution they generate.
That will “ensure that the largest companies know what their emissions are, with the idea that obviously knowledge is power, sunlight is the best disinfectant,” he said. “And then with that knowledge, we can ultimately look to reductions from the largest emitters in this country.”
Business groups expressed concern at the burden reporting would place on companies, especially small and medium-sized business and especially if they had to report in other states with similar requirements, such as California, as well.
Cantor, of the NJBIA, which opposes the bill, said reporting emission on “Scope 3 is extremely difficult.”
“It’s costly, it’s expensive, it’s confusing, and I don’t believe that this sort of gets us to where we want to go,” he said. “It’s going to require those customers and suppliers to do their own investigation, and they may not be sophisticated enough to do that, to report back to you. It’s going to impact a lot of New Jersey businesses.”
Dean LaForest of ISO-NE presented the results of the RTO’s 2023/24 load power factor (LPF) audit, which found most regional LPF areas to be noncompliant with the standards for low-load, high-voltage conditions.
The system generally graded out better on the standards applying to high-load, low-voltage conditions. However, within regional areas found to be compliant with the standards, regional entities frequently were out of compliance with the standards, ISO-NE found.
LaForest said ISO-NE found “no significant improvement year-over-year in LPF zone compliance.” He said gaining more insight into transmission and distribution operators’ systems “should help focus efforts on where compliance improvements within a zone are needed the most.”
He noted that ISO-NE will share more specific details of the audit directly with the region’s transmission and distribution operators.
Transmission Cost Allocations
Also at the NEPOOL Reliability Committee (RC), stakeholders approved transmission cost allocations for a pair of Eversource infrastructure replacement projects.
The projects, located in Connecticut, include relay replacements on a substation and replacements of aging and deteriorating transmission structures. The projects combined have an estimated $15 million in pool transmission facility costs.
Transmission Outage Scheduling
Anthony Stevens of ISO-NE discussed a series of minor changes to the RTO’s operating procedures governing transmission outage scheduling. The changes will explicitly allow the RTO to approve long-term transmission outages without first having to issue an interim approval of the outages. The changes also clarify the definitions of outage statuses and add language about “alternate dates” used for repositioning outages.
Stevens also presented changes to the RTO’s operating procedures for metering and telemetering criteria. ISO-NE proposes to expand the equipment temperature range to allow for “additional conditions in which data center type HVAC redundancy is in place,” Stevens said.
ISO-NE plans to seek a vote on the operating procedure changes at the RC in April.
Also at the meeting, stakeholders voted to support changes to ISO-NE operating procedures regarding protection outages, settings and coordination. ISO-NE proposes to “add language clarifying that automatic sectionalizing schemes do not require OP-24 Appendix D forms.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin last week said he terminated $20 billion in climate change grants issued by the Biden administration under the Inflation Reduction Act.
In a letter to the Climate United Fund, which received a $7 billion grant under the program and has taken the agency to court to access that money, EPA said the termination was “based on substantial concerns” about the structure of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund program, which was authorized by Congress in the 2022 law. The agency said it lacked “adequate” oversight of the funds and was concerned about “improper or speculative allocation of funds,” as well as “the circumvention and defeat” of its oversight abilities.
SCOTUS Rejects an Effort to Block States from Suing Oil Companies
The Supreme Court last week declined to hear an argument that aimed to restrict states from suing oil companies for financial damage related to climate change.
The argument was brought to the high court by 19 Republican attorneys general who were trying to prevent other states from pursuing lawsuits against the oil industry. Those states have sued major fossil fuel companies for allegedly deceiving the public for decades about the effects of their greenhouse gas emissions.
Legal experts called the effort unusual because it took aim at state claims before they had been addressed by state courts.
The Trump administration intends to eliminate EPA offices responsible for addressing the disproportionately high levels of pollution facing poor communities, according to a memo from Administrator Lee Zeldin.
In a memo, Zeldin informed agency leaders that he was directing “the reorganization and elimination” of the offices of environmental justice at all 10 regional offices as well as in D.C. Last month, Zeldin placed 168 employees who work on environmental justice on leave, but a judge forced him to rehire dozens after finding the action had no legal basis.
The Senate last week voted 23-9 to pass a bill that would allow a utility to charge ratepayers while construction of a plant is ongoing.
In the current model, the rate increase accompanying a new power plant would come after the project was completed. Proponents say the change would lead to an incremental increase in rates over time instead of a sudden and more significant rise under the current model.
Ameren Makes Long-term Plans to Build New Nuclear Plant
According to the Ameren’s long-term planning documents submitted to the Public Service Commission, updated in February, the utility is looking for ways to build more nuclear power plants in the state.
Ameren, which said it will evaluate available nuclear technologies for the next few years, would like to add 1,500 MW of nuclear power by 2045. In addition to nuclear, the company plans to invest in new gas, solar and wind generation, as well as battery storage.
The five-year plan comes with a $16.2 billion cost.
The House of Representatives last week voted 96-44 to approve a bill that would allow utilities to charge customers for new natural gas plants before they are built and operating.
Another part of the bill would allow utilities to implement rates based on estimates for future years rather than actual costs. It would also extend the state’s hot and cold weather rules to prevent utilities from shutting off service during a 72-hour window of extreme weather instead of the current 24 hours.
Senate Passes Bill to Remove 2030 Carbon-reduction Deadline for Duke
The Senate last week voted 31-12 to pass a bill that would repeal carbon-reduction requirements for Duke Energy to achieve by 2030.
A law enacted in 2021 requires utilities to meet two carbon-reduction targets; Duke must reduce emissions by 70% from 2005 levels by 2030 and became carbon neutral by 2050. The Senate’s bill would eliminate the 2030 deadline while still mandating that Duke achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Portland hearings officer Marisha Childs last week approved Portland General Electric’s plans to cut through nearly 5 acres of Forest Park, the city’s highly protected urban forest.
PGE plans to log about 400 trees within a section of forest to relocate an existing power pole, install two new poles and wire 1,400 feet of transmission lines. The company said the project is needed to meet future energy demands.
Childs found the city’s analysis against the project “confounding and inconsistent” with local environmental and land use rules. PGE demonstrated that energy demands make this project necessary, Childs argued, and cutting into Forest Park is “the best practicable” and “least environmentally detrimental” option.
Summit Carbon last week filed a motion with the Public Utilities Commission to suspend its carbon dioxide pipeline permit application and extend the commission’s deadline to issue the permit “indefinitely.”
The decision comes after the Legislature passed a bill prohibiting developers from using eminent domain to acquire land to construct or operate a carbon dioxide pipeline. The legislation goes into effect July 1.
Summit Carbon said the legislation affects the company’s ability to perform land surveys.
Floyd County Circuit Judge Randall Lowe last week suspended his own order while the attorney general appeals his previous ruling that the state withdrew from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative illegally.
In an opinion issued in November, Lowe found that the state’s decision to leave RGGI was “unlawful, and therefore null and void.” The attorney general’s office defended the move, describing RGGI as a “hugely expensive” endeavor that failed to meet its mission.
Gordon Signs Bill to Require Utilities to Submit Wildfire Mitigation Plans
Gov. Mark Gordon last week signed a bill into law that will require public utilities to prepare and submit wildfire mitigation plans to protect them from wildfire-related liabilities.
The mitigation plans would need to be submitted to the Public Service Commission, which would then allow for public input and the possibility to reject plans if they are not stringent enough. It would also require periodic updates on the plans. Any plan approved by the commission would be considered “reasonable and prudent preparation for wildfire risk.”
Nel Hydrogen US Halts Plans for Hydrogen Gigafactory
Nel Hydrogen US last week announced it is pausing its plans to build and operate a $400 million gigafactory in Detroit.
The company accepted Michigan economic development subsidies totaling more than $16 million for the new factory in September 2023. Federal awards, including $29 million in tax credits, brought the subsidy total to $200 million. However, the company disclosed in its 2024 annual report that construction had not yet started, and it has made no decision on when it may do so.
Nel specializes in electrolyzer technology to produce renewable hydrogen from water.
Breakthrough Energy, an umbrella organization funded by Bill Gates that works on a range of climate issues, last week announced deep cuts to its operations in an internal memo.
Dozens of members were cut, including the organization’s unit in Europe, its team in the U.S. working on public policy issues, and most of its employees working on partnerships with other climate organizations, according to people familiar with the matter. Instead of trying to influence policy, Gates is now focused on building clean energy companies through Breakthrough Energy Ventures and the Breakthrough Energy Fellows.
Wabash Valley Power Alliance and Hoosier Energy, two nonprofit transmission cooperatives, jointly purchased the 720-MW St. Joseph Energy Center in Indiana.
The natural gas plant began operating in 2018. No financials were released.
