TGIF!
In the news today…
Climate:
- City Journal reports on California’s green debacle. The Golden State’s energy policies impose ruinous costs on residents but make no measurable impact on global climate.
Grid:
- RTO Insider (subscription needed) reports that the Texas Public Utility Commission on Thursday unanimously agreed to the principles necessary to replace ERCOT’s energy-only market with a performance credit mechanism (PCM), sending the proposal to an uncertain fate in the legislature.
Microgrids:
- WDIO reports that Xcel Energy is partnering with a Wisconsin county to build the state’s first microgrid, which would isolate the county jail and courthouse from the grid in the event of an outage.
Clean Water Act:
- Argus and Inside EPA report the state of Texas and industry groups are challenging the legality of recent changes the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers made in the definition of Waters of the US (WOTUS).
- E&E Greenwire reports a coalition of 18 industry groups is challenging the Biden administration’s new definition of which wetlands and waterways are protected by the Clean Water Act.
Mining:
- E&E News PM reports Georgia regulators released detailed plans Thursday for a titanium mine near the fabled Okefenokee swamp, a project that’s drawn the ire of environmental groups and the head of the Interior Department.
- Washington Post reports a company’s plan to mine minerals just outside the Okefenokee Swamp and its federally protected wildlife refuge moved a big step closer Thursday to approval by Georgia regulators, who have spent years evaluating the project that opponents say could permanently harm an ecological treasure.
- Washington Post reports five days after the U.S. Energy Department announced a $700 million conditional loan to an Australian mining company pursuing a lithium project in Nevada, federal land managers cited it for trespassing within the habitat of an endangered flower.