The North Dakota Senate voted Thursday to change how wind tax revenue is distributed, sending more future wind revenue to the state general fund rather than counties.Senate Bill 2331 directs one-third of wind tax revenue to the state and two-thirds to counties for wind projects constructed after Dec. [node:read-more:link]
Pennsylvania is halting construction permits for natural gas pipelines operated by Texas-based Energy Transfer LP, as the governor on Friday said the company has failed to respect the state’s laws and communities.The state Department of Environmental Protection said Energy Transfer is not fixing problems related to an explosion last year, and piled yet another penalty onto a company project in the state.State agencies already have imposed millions of dollars in fines and several temporary shutdown orders on Energy Transfer projects, while a county prosecutor is demanding documents from the [node:read-more:link]
TransCanada Corp. said its Keystone pipeline, which carries Canadian crude to the U.S., was likely the source of an oil spill in Missouri that prompted the company to shut a segment of the line.The disruption comes as U.S. Gulf Coast refiners seek alternatives to heavy crude after sanctions on Venezuela effectively cut off access to the country’s oil. Canada’s oil-sands crude serves as a similar substitute, but Alberta has struggled with pipeline bottlenecks that have forced rationing on export pipelines and prompted the province to impose mandatory production curtailments. [node:read-more:link]
A lot of people, including presidential candidates visiting Iowa, are throwing around the idea of a “Green New Deal” to confront climate change, as polls indicate more Americans are thinking about how they can help turn back the devastation that Earth’s warming promises. It’s easy to support until the specifics come down. Nobody really knows what such a program entails. But we hear of increasing taxes on the uber wealthy in just about every way you can imagine to pay for a massive national effort to create jobs around “green” initiatives. [node:read-more:link]
The company proposing to develop a controversial wind farm in Burleigh County is appealing a decision denying it permits for the project. Pure New Energy USA has filed an appeal with the South Central Judicial District Court challenging the Burleigh County Commission's recent decision to deny 30 special use permits. [node:read-more:link]
The planet is warming up, and there’s no sign of stopping. The last five years—from 2014 to 2018—are the warmest years ever recorded in the 139 years that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has tracked global heat. And 2018 was the fourth hottest year ever recorded. [node:read-more:link]
New York and five other states are suing the Trump administration in a bid to force the Environmental Protection Agency to take stronger steps to curb air pollution that blows across state lines. The so-called “good neighbor” provision of the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to police air pollution in certain states to ensure that it doesn’t blight downwind states. [node:read-more:link]
A team of Iowa researchers has concluded that there's no actionable evidence that the sound of wind turbines is a danger to public. Instead, the report authors found that reported symptoms of hearing loss or poor sleep are more likely related to people’s attitudes and beliefs about wind development. Residents in areas seeing wind development sometimes report headaches, sleep disturbance, hearing loss and other symptoms. A team of researchers from the University of Iowa, the Iowa Policy Project and The Iowa Environmental Council explored potential causes of these symptoms. [node:read-more:link]
After nearly a year of work by a legislative committee, a bill released Thursday afternoon outlines how Oregon would drastically cut its greenhouse gas emissions and become the second state to implement a cap and trade system. The anticipated legislation — criticized before it even appeared — instantly became the talk of the Capitol, though many legislators weren’t exactly certain what had emerged. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its Short term energy outlook for 2019 this month - and it's good news for the U.S. electrical grid. even as coal-fired power plants decline. In 2019, a surge in wind power is set to surpass the nation's longstanding renewable mainstay, hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric power generation - a renewable energy source, has been around for at least 100 years, but it is also seeing slow growth due to permitting restrictions and protections of wildlife. [node:read-more:link]
