Feb. 14, 2024

The Super Bowl wasn’t the only football game this past week, as the Biden administration’s pause on LNG facility approvals to consider their climate impacts continues to be debated on the Hill as election season ramps up. James Downing covered Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk’s appearance before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to defend the move before Chair Joe Manchin and upset Republicans. James also covered oral arguments over FERC’s approval of the Commonwealth LNG facility in Cameron, La., which environmental groups contend ignored the effect of its greenhouse gas emissions. 

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, Eversource and National Grid have reached agreements with Constellation to keep the Everett Marine Terminal, a major LNG import facility, open for six more years, pending approval from the state’s Department of Public Utilities, Jon Lamson reports. 

And, surprise, offshore wind was in the news again, as Ørsted downgraded its growth projection, announced hundreds of job cuts and said its bottom line was a $2.91 billion net loss in 2023. John Cropley reported on that, as well as BOEM’s designation of two wind energy areas off the coast of Oregon. 

And speaking of Oregon, K Kaufmann reports that among three pilot enhanced geothermal system facilities that DOE is funding is a project to tap the Newberry Volcano in the state. 

Here’s some more of what happened this past week: 

• 9 States Agree to Accelerate Home Heat Pump Installations 

• Carbon Market Linkage Bill Passes Wash. Senate 

• CEC Reduces Calif. Electricity Forecast on Lower Population Growth 

• Engineering Firm Finds Quality Problems in BESS Manufacturing 

• Md. Lawmakers Load up on Clean Energy Bills 

• NY Fire Code Updates Recommended for BESS Facilities 

• Report Outlines Cost Savings of All-electric Buildings in Mass. 

• Take the Long View on Clean Energy, NY Legislators Urged 

• Tug-of-war Developing over Ariz. Clean Energy Rules 

See you next week!