Questions remain about where the money is coming from to fund both the petition drive for a public vote on FirstEnergy’s subsidies and the inflammatory campaign against it by a group called Ohioans for Energy Security.
Dylan Voorhees / Photo courtesy of Natural Resources Council of Maine
Maine’s renewable energy landscape is poised for big changes. Legislation passed into law in June establishes greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and an ambitious renewable portfolio standard. In this interview, Dylan Voorhees, climate and clean energy director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, explains what the new laws mean for the state, and what brought about the shift in policy.
In July, the state of Ohio passed its HB 6 energy bill, which authorizes $300 million in annual surcharges on utility ratepayers, primarily to fund four struggling coal and nuclear power plants. The bill also scales back the state’s clean energy targets. Now that HB 6 has been signed into law, what changes will it bring for stakeholders in the industry?
Opponents fear the law will send the growing wind and solar industry to neighboring states while Ohio homeowners are stuck boosting old, uneconomical power plants.
On June 26th, Governor Janet Mills signed new legislation to broaden customer access to net metering (known in Maine as net energy billing) and to promote distributed energy generation, including through competitive procurements for long-term contracts with the state’s transmission and distribution utilities.
A bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers has introduced a bill to allow clean energy technology companies to form master limited partnerships, a move aimed at boosting private investment.
Michigan regulators approved Consumers Energy's latest integrated resource plan, which will shutter its Karn coal-fired plant by 2023, setting the utility on a course to eliminate coal entirely and by 2040 reduce emissions from power plants by 90%.
Nevada lawmakers on May 23 passed legislation to modernize how electric utility rates are set, directing the Public Utilities Commission to develop regulations enabling a performance-based regime.
In January 2019, the District of Columbia passed the most ambitious clean energy legislation in the nation. However, local climate activists say the hard work is just beginning — they want to know who will lead the DC Green Bank and whether the law will benefit the least-privileged residents of the District.
