RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.States sue EPA over carbon rule for new power plants
By Timothy Cama, The Hill.
A coalition of conservative states is again suing to stop President Obama’s carbon dioxide rule for newly built power plants.
The 23-state group filed a lawsuit Friday in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
They're challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision in May to reject their formal requests to reconsider the carbon rule that was made final last year.
California Gas Stations Slap Cap-and-trade 'Cost' Labels on Pumps
By Anne Mulkern, Climate Wire, via Scientific American.
Gas pumps in California could soon feature signs telling drivers they’re paying more per gallon because of the state’s cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions.
The California Independent Oil Marketers Association (CIOMA), a trade group for oil distributors, is handing out to members a label that adds wording on cap-and-trade costs to the standard one that advises motorists on gas taxes. The state requires that a label with gas taxes appear on all gas pumps. Those change on July 1 to reflect updated amounts.
Ontario awards contracts to 14 small-scale bioenergy projects
By Erin Voegele, Biomass Magazine.
Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator has announced it is offering 396 long-term contracts for 241.43 MW of small-scale renewable generation, including 14 contracts for 3.45 MW of bioenergy. According to the IESO, the contracts are the result of the latest procurement under the fee-in tariff (FIT) program, known as FIT 4.
Senate panel approves $500M for international climate fund
By Devin Henry, The Hill.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday adopted a $500 million spending package for the Green Climate Fund, an international climate change adaptation program.
Members approved the funding, via an amendment from Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mark Kirk(R-Ill.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and others, on a voice vote, despite strong Republican opposition to the measure.
The amendment removes language from the committee-approved State Department and Foreign Operations funding bill preventing the State Department from providing money for the fund, a program designed to support poor countries that are impacted by climate change.
Three Amigos Unveil Climate and Energy Plan, Nafta Changes
By Angela Greiling Kane and Josh Wingrove, Bloomberg.
The U.S., Canada and Mexico put climate change at the center of efforts to deepen the North American alliance, pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector, boost the development of clean power and build new cross-border transmission lines.
President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto completed a one-day summit in Ottawa Wednesday, where they unveiled a commitment to see half of the continent’s electricity generated by clean sources by 2025.
“For too long, we’ve heard that confronting climate change means destroying our economies,” Obama said in a speech to Parliament Wednesday after the summit concluded, praising efforts in Canada and the U.S. to cut emissions and drive growth. “This is the only planet we’ve got and this may be the last shot we’ve got to save it. And America and Canada are going to have to lead the way.”
Senate, House will have to resolve differences in Mass. energy legislation
By John Chesto, Boston Globe.
Negotiators for the (Massachusetts) House and Senate will have much to debate when they meet this month to hash out their differences over what could be the state’s biggest energy bill in two decades.
The House version is simple, essentially requiring utilities to buy up to 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower and a similar amount from proposed offshore wind farms to make the region’s energy mix more environmentally friendly.
In contrast, the bill the Senate passed Thursday is far broader, involving many forms of energy
Volkswagen Agrees to $15 Billion Diesel-Cheating Settlement
By Margaret Cronin Fisk, Bloomberg.
Volkswagen AG’s $15.3 billion agreement to get a half million emissions-cheating diesel vehicles off U.S. roads sets an auto-industry record that will only go higher as criminal probes and lawsuits on three continents roll ahead.
The German carmaker agreed to devote as much as $10 billion to buy back affected models and compensate drivers. It will also pay $2.7 billion to federal and California regulators to fund pollution-reduction projects, and give $2 billion to be invested in clean technology. Volkswagen also announced a $603 million settlement to resolve consumer and environmental claims with 44 U.S. states.
The settlements mark a swift but partial resolution for VW in the U.S., after the carmaker admitted last September to systematically rigging environmental tests since 2009 to hide that its diesel vehicles were emitting far more pollutants than allowed under U.S. and California law. VW’s widely traded preferred shares closed more than 1.6 percent higher at 107.75 euros in Frankfurt after rising as much as 5 percent Tuesday.
NRG's firm to make CNG vehicle fuel from dairy waste in the US
By Prashant Rupera, TNN, via The Economic Times.
Vadodara: A US-based firm started by a NRG entrepreneur has become the first Indian origin renewable energy company to be selected for waste-to-energy project by California Energy Commission (CEC).
S P Renewable Energy (SPRE) founded by Sanjay Patel, a native of Borsad town in Anand district, has been selected for CEC's Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program (ARFVTP). The firm will receive grants worth US $ 100 million per year for the project.
Waging America’s Wars Using Renewable Energy
By Eric Roston and Brian Eckhouse, Yahoo Finance.
A major player in U.S. renewable energy happens to be a five-sided building in Virginia usually associated with deployment of power rather than consumption of it.
The U.S. Department of Defense is the second-largest buyer of renewable electricity through deals meant to lock in long-term supply and provide incentives to developers of wind and solar projects, according to a database of more than 600 corporate power-purchase agreements (PPA) tracked by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Only Google is a bigger buyer. The revelation provides one of the starkest examples yet of the same clean energy imperatives driving companies, cities, universities, and other federal agencies.
Battle lines drawn over clean energy
By John Siciliano, Washington Examiner.
The 2016 election season is drawing a fine line on what should and shouldn't be considered clean energy.
On one side of the argument, the group ClearPath, headed by conservative activist Jay Faison, doesn't want solar and wind to dominate the policy landscape, especially when there are so many other paths to low-emission energy, including natural gas.
But the Obama administration has placed a premium on renewable energy from solar panels and wind turbines to transition the nation off of fossil fuels as part of the president's climate change agenda.
Faison says the White House vision is a "pipe dream." Any plan that relies solely on wind and solar will only raise energy costs and make the electric grid less reliable.
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