RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Utilities Cut Coal Use Amid Clean Power Plan Fight
By Bobby Magill, Climate Central.
Critics of the Obama administration’s most sweeping climate policy hailed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in February to temporarily block it, saying the ruling on the Clean Power Plan could breathe new life into the flagging coal industry.
But even as those critics await further rulings on whether the plan is constitutional, utilities are already looking far beyond coal — the nation’s largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change — and pressing ahead with investments in cleaner forms of energy, including renewable, natural gas and even nuclear power.
Enbridge looking to invest in natural gas, renewable energy projects: CEO
By Shawn McCarthy, Global Energy Reporter, The Globe and Mail.
Enbridge Inc. chief executive Al Monaco says his company is aiming to invest $1-billion a year in natural gas and renewable energy projects, as it looks to rebalance its earnings away from oil over the longer term and take advantage of the global push to a lower-carbon economy.
Mr. Monaco – whose company is vilified by activists over its oil-sands pipeline projects – will take centre stage this week at the GLOBE conference on sustainable business in Vancouver where Enbridge will promote its investments in natural gas, energy efficiency and wind power. The CEO provoked headlines a week ago when he told analysts that company will shift its growth emphasis away from the oil sands.
One man's trash is another's job and money
By Daniel Tyson, The Register-Herald.
While still in the application phase of development, the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority and a Georgia-based environmental company have big plans for trash. Sort of
The project will utilize the "landfill gas" generated by decomposing trash. Landfill gas is approximately half methane. The remaining chemicals are carbon dioxide and a few other trace elements. It is that methane that's the key, because it is the primary ingredient in natural gas, said James Allen, executive director of the Solid Waste Authority.
Waste Connections, Progressive Waste one step closer to completing pending merge
By Kristin Musulin, Waste Dive.
UPDATE: Waste Connections and Progressive Waste announced on Friday that they have terminated the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976 (HSR Act) for the all-stock transaction that will merge the two companies.
By terminating this waiting period, the companies are one step closer to closing the transaction. Closure is expected to happen in the second quarter of 2016, following other customary closing conditions.
Ontario urged to phase in carbon rules
By Vanessa Lu, The Toronto Star.
Ontario is being urged to phase in its new carbon pricing program to give consumers and small businesses a chance to adjust to higher natural gas costs.
Under the cap-and-trade system that the province is joining with California and Quebec in 2017, Ontario expects to generate $1.9 billion next year, up from initial estimates of $1.3 billion.
“Our concern is it is households and small businesses that will bear most of that cost,” said Tanya Mushynski, general manager of cap-and-trade and legal issues for Union Gas, which has 1.4 million customers across Ontario.
Boardman, Oregon biorefinery gets $11 million USDA backing
By George Plaven, East Oregonian.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is stepping up with an $11 million loan to build a new biorefinery in Boardman.
With financing in place, a Minnesota-based energy company plans to build its first commercial refinery that will transform farm waste into natural gas and liquid fertilizer at the Port of Morrow.
Novus Energy has received an $11 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s biorefinery assistance program. Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and USDA Rural Development Undersecretary Lisa Mensah made the announcement Friday in Portland.
Oregon DEQ discovers math error in Clean Fuels standards
By Taylor W. Anderson, The Bulletin.
SALEM — A math error in the rules of a state program that seeks to increase the use of biofuels will make it slightly harder for oil companies to comply and easier for biofuels companies to generate revenue under the program until it’s fixed, a state agency said Friday.
Cory Ann Wind, who manages the low-carbon fuel standard program for the state Department of Environmental Quality, acknowledged the error Friday.
Wind said in an interview an oil company recognized the error in the agency’s numbers when working out how to comply with what’s called the Clean Fuels program.
No longer neutral, Nevada sides with states opposing the Clean Power Plan
By Robert Walton, Utility Dive.
While still not formally joining the lawsuits seeking to overturn the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, the formerly neutral state of Nevada has filed an amicus brief in a federal appeals court challenging the law, saying it will hurt the state's economy, the Hill reports.
- In the brief, Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt (R) argues individual states have primary decision-making authority to establish emission standards for their power plants. Though his state kind likely meet the carbon cuts set forth by the plan, he predicted there would be financial harm done.
- And more than 200 lawmakers, led by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have filed an amicus brief of their own, opposing the plan and supporting states in pushing back against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Republican candidates' calls to scrap EPA met with skepticism by experts
Oliver Milman, The Guardian.
Amid prolonged bickering with his rivals, Donald Trump outlined a fairly radical proposal during Thursday’s Republican debate: to scrap the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Typically there was little policy detail. But it was clear that the EPA - and its $8bn budget - would be on the chopping block should the Republican frontrunner become president.
“Environmental protection – we waste all of this money,” he said. “We’re going to bring that back to the states. We are going to cut many of the agencies, we will balance our budget and we will be dynamic again.”
WA Regulators withdraw proposed carbon-cap rule, plan changes
By Phuong Le, Associated Press, via The News & Observer.
Washington environmental regulators on Friday withdrew a proposed rule aimed at limiting carbon emissions from the state's largest industrial facilities, saying they plan to refile another version with substantive changes.
The proposed Clean Air Rule would have required the largest emitters to reduce carbon emissions by 5 percent every three years. Gov. Jay Inslee sought the rule last year after failing to get the Legislature to pass his cap-and-trade plan.
The rule's basic concepts would remain the same, including a cap on carbon emissions that would be reduced over time, said Sarah Rees, the Department of Ecology's special assistant on climate change policy. But the agency heard from numerous groups and businesses and felt it needed more time to make changes in response to public input, she said.
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