GOLDEN CRESCENT AND 1000 ISLAND NEWS

  A solar developer’s defeat in Massachusetts last week reveals just how much stronger project opponents are on the battlefield after the de facto repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act. Last week, solar developer PureSky pulled five projects under development around the western Massachusetts town of Shutesbury. PureSky’s facilities had been in the works for years and would together represent what the developer has claimed would be one of the state’s largest solar projects thus far. In a statement, the company laid blame on “broader policy and regulatory headwinds,” including the state’s existing renewables incentives not keeping pace with rising costs and “federal policy updates,” which PureSky said were “making it harder to finance projects like those proposed near Shutesbury.” But tucked in its press release was an admission from the company’s vice president of development Derek Moretz: this was also about the town, which had enacted a bylaw significantly restricting solar develo...

  Data from the first half of this year shows clean energy investment continuing to increase, but changing in shape, said Crux CEO Alfred Johnson. Sept. 11, 2025   Diana DiGangi      Reporter Crux CEO Alfred Johnson said there is “continued bipartisan support for categories like advanced manufacturing, critical minerals, nuclear, biofuels, that continue to see significant amounts of investment, and that is materializing in the tax credit market.” A lot of that diversity is coming from parts of the industry which saw their tax credits less trimmed by the OBBBA, which targeted benefits to wind and solar in particular. Storage tax credits made it through largely unscathed, and transactions on those are “booming,” Johnson said. Crux’s report estimates that the total transferable tax credit market exceeded $20 billion in the first half of this year, almost doubling from the first half of 2024.  “ A critical driver of this growth was the broadening range of techn...

  Takeaways  ·            New York Governor Kathy Hochul is appealing to the White House for help fast-tracking a plan to build a nuclear reactor in the state. ·            Hochul announced a goal of adding at least 1 gigawatt of nuclear capacity and has been in contact with President Donald Trump about accelerating the federal approval process. ·            The federal approval process currently could require as much as seven years, and Hochul expects Trump to address some of the concerns and  find a faster way to get the nuclear reactor done. New York Governor Kathy Hochul is appealing to the White House for help fast-tracking a plan to build a nuclear reactor in the state. Hochul announced in June a goal of adding at least 1 gigawatt of nuclear capacity, and she’s been in contact with President Donald Trump about accelerating ...

  President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” terminated electric vehicle tax credits and began phasing out subsidies for new wind and solar projects. These were important steps in ending what Trump calls the “Green New Scam” and undoing a huge piece of former President  Joe Biden’s  signature legislation, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. But the One Big Beautiful Bill Act  did not go far enough . Although it is great that taxpayers won’t be forced to subsidize new wind and solar projects, they also shouldn’t have to keep subsidizing existing grandfathered wind and solar.   Fortunately, the second budget reconciliation bill of Trump’s term presents a “beautiful” opportunity for conservatives in Congress to use an Inflation Reduction Act provision against the IRA’s own green energy subsidies. That provision is the corporate alternative minimum tax , also known as the book minimum tax. The book minimum tax is ostensibly meant to ensure that every large company pays f...

  By  Marie J. French   09/10/2025     ALBANY, New York — Five years after Indian Point started shutting down, the company charged with dismantling the nuclear plant says it could still be restarted — at an estimated cost of $10 billion.   “I’m getting so many people asking me from New York if this is possible,” said Holtec International President Kelly Trice. “The answer is yes.” Reviving the 2,000 megawatt nuclear plant would require overcoming deep-seated opposition to nuclear power in close proximity to New York City. Political — and financial — support would also be needed from the administrations of Gov. Kathy Hochul and President Donald Trump, Trice said.   Holtec’s feeler on repowering the plant — reported exclusively by POLITICO — comes amid increasing openness to nuclear power in New York, especially from Hochul. Nuclear is also one of few areas of alignment on energy policy between the governor and the White House.   With the Trump...

  September 08, 2025   Francis Menton   As I have written many times, with New York’s fantasy “net zero” energy plans, it is not a question of whether they will fail, but only when and how. The Democrats, who dominate state politics, and their environmentalist allies, are firmly committed to the impossible. Thus, they are caught in a trap of their own making, and from which there is no good escape. The fact that they are caught in this trap is obvious to anyone with basic arithmetic skills, but almost all of our politicians and environmentalists lack those. However,  a small handful of them are starting to sense the impending crash . This makes for amusing interplay. The state’s Climate Act of 2019 directs hostility to fossil fuels on all fronts. In the realm of electricity, the Act mandates 70% of electricity from “renewables” by 2030, and 100% from “zero emissions” sources by 2040. T he official plan for achieving those mandates basically boils down to building lot...