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Your weekly intelligence on Decarbonization Policy and Impacts
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The weather ― in particular, the heat dome sending temperatures spiking for millions of Americans ― was an inescapable part of the news cycle this week, underlining the impact of many of the stories NetZero Insider reporters are following.


In New York, John Cropley covered both a new solicitation for land-based solar and wind, and the state’s roadmap for deploying 6 GW of grid-scale storage to back up the renewables without the aid of natural gas peaker plants.  


Other stories from Cropley included overviews of two reports on the tangle of state and local siting regulations that are slowing or killing the development of renewable energy projects across the country, and of another study showing that Vermonters are shifting from fossil fuels to electric heat pumps to keep their homes warm in the winter. 


Our Jon Lamson was in Boston for an industry roundtable on the critical role “early and meaningful” community engagement can play in clean energy siting and permitting. 


In New Jersey, legislators had a hot debate over a bill that could require utilities to set up “beneficial electrification” programs to help consumers install electric heating and cooling and other home appliances. But they put a hold on a bill mandating recycling of solar panels at the end of a project’s life, NetZero correspondent Hugh Morley reports. 


On the federal beat, NetZero’s K Kaufmann sat down for an interview with Gene Rodrigues, who heads the Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity and is focused on de-risking and accelerating the development, demonstration and adoption of new grid technologies. 


Kaufmann also had the story on DOE’s latest big funding announcement: $900 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to kick-start the development of a pipeline of next-gen small modular nuclear reactors, which could provide 24/7, carbon-free power for data centers and industrial decarbonization. 


Weather is also out front in our curated content; for example, an article in the Iowa Capital Dispatch on the insurance companies that are abandoning or hiking their rates sky-high in states at high risk of climate-driven extreme weather, such as California, Florida and Louisiana. 


Staying in Iowa, The New York Times digs into the politics of weather forecasting, with the story of a Des Moines weatherman’s increasingly embattled efforts to incorporate fact-based climate reporting into his daily weather predictions. 


Louisiana is no stranger to the unexpected impacts of climate change, with a combination of drought and sea level rise triggering a mass die-off of roseau cane, a key plant that helps to protect the state’s coastal wetlands and Mississippi Delta, the Louisiana Illuminator reports. 


The standard conservative line on federal regulations, laid out in The Federalist, is to raise fears that any attempt to cut greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants will result in power blackouts. 


But the Biden administration is working overtime to get final environmental and energy regulations in place ahead of a potential mid-summer deadline that would make it harder for a second Trump administration to roll them back, according to a report in E&E News. 


Read on for more in this week’s Intelligence Report:


Jump To

Equity & Economics
Finance & Investing
Impact & Adaptation
Policy & Politics

 
 

Equity & Economics

Workforce Development

North Carolina

Building the Renewable Energy Workforce of the Future

A new program aims to enhance the workforce development pipeline for North Carolina students and improve the representation of minorities in the renewable energy sector. NC State


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Finance & Investing

International

Billionaire Tom Steyer: 'Plug and play' bank loans to fossil fuel projects are 'insane'

In the energy transition, human health and welfare trump short-term returns, says climate tech investor Tom Steyer. GreenBiz


U.S.

Exxon Suit Over Activist Investor's Climate Proposal Is Dismissed

A federal judge ruled that the case was moot after the investor, Arjuna Capital, withdrew the proposal with a promise not to try again. The New York Times


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Impact & Adaptation

Iowa

States beg insurers not to drop climate-threatened homes

As the crisis escalates, state leaders are desperately trying to convince insurance companies to stick around. Iowa Capital Dispatch


Drought & Flooding

Maryland

Maryland communities face multiple obstacles to win help for climate damage

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science has announced that researchers from the center's Horn Point Laboratory on the Eastern Shore will partner with the Cambridge city government to build and monitor a natural shoreline flood mitigation project along the Choptank River. Maryland Matters


Heat Waves

U.S.

States Are Scrambling to Prepare As a Prolonged Heat Wave Spreads in the Midwest and Northeast

Cities are preparing medical services and opening the doors to cooling centers to help individuals survive this week's heat wave. Inside Climate News


Sea Level Rise

Louisiana

New research blames climate change, not foreign bugs, for killing critical marsh grass

A study indicates that increased exposure to saltwater has killed vast stretches of roseau cane, a towering reed that binds together large sections of south Louisiana, especially the lower Mississippi River Delta. Louisiana Illuminator


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Policy & Politics

Florida

Florida has unraveled climate goals for years. DeSantis struck the latest blow.

The Florida governor said Friday that state energy policy must be "driven by affordability" and reliability and not a "climate ideology." Politico


International

The Greens Are Dead. Long Live the Greens!

Europe's climate change-minded parties performed poorly in the European Union elections. Is the once ambitious European green movement over, or could its electoral crash launch a rebirth? The New York Times


Maryland

Senate president takes job with solar energy company

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) has just taken a job as general counsel and senior vice president with a renewable energy company. Maryland Matters


Massachusetts

Senate to go first on climate legislation with wide-ranging bill

The Massachusetts Senate prepared to take up wide-ranging climate and environmental legislation attempting to accelerate the transition to a clean energy future while offering some state residents a measure of relief from the higher costs expected to accompany that transition. CommonWealth Beacon


North Dakota

OPINION: EPA Rules Threaten Blackouts For Millions

President Joe Biden's climate agenda is likely to deliver blackouts for millions, according to a North Dakota state assessment of EPA rules, writes Tristan Justice, author of the Social Justice Redux newsletter. The Federalist


U.S.

Green Wave Of Renewable Energy To Crash The Red State Party

The energy transition is gaining steam in practically every state, regardless of what their lawmakers say or do, with Louisiana and Tennessee providing the latest in a long series of examples. CleanTechnica


U.S.

How Biden Beat The Clock On Big Environmental Regs

The administration's rush to finalize rules on power plants, public lands and energy efficiency was aimed at shielding them from a Trump presidency. E&E News


U.S.

The American Climate Corps officially kicks off

This month, the nation will deploy 9,000 people to help guide the country toward a cleaner future. Grist


U.S.

The Weatherman Who Tried to Bring Climate Science to a Red State

Chris Gloninger said he was hired to talk about global warming in his forecasts. That's when things heated up. The New York Times


U.S.

Trump could roll back Inflation Reduction Act tax credits if re-elected

With just under five months until the presidential election, some auto and battery manufacturers are concerned about what a shakeup in the federal government could mean for the future of the Inflation Reduction Act. Utility Dive


U.S.

US unveils rules for subsidies to boost clean energy wages

Companies that pay prevailing wages to workers and hire apprentices for projects seeking IRA tax credits would receive five times the law's base credit of 6%. Developers have eagerly awaited the requirements for claiming the subsidies. Reuters


Vermont

Updated renewable energy standard to become law following override

The new law requires most of the state's utilities to purchase 100% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030. vtdigger


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