Posts

Renewable Energy Tax Credit Policy Should Reflect Sector Reality

Image
  Technically Speaking Renewable energy hit a  record 26%  of US electricity generation in 2025, despite the rollback of clean-energy incentives. To some observers, that milestone may suggest an inevitable switch to renewables. But today’s  renewable surge may be more of a lagging indicator of yesterday’s choices rather than current policy. Projects at utility scale take years to finance, permit, and build out—meaning many wind farms and solar arrays that came online in 2025 were likely funded under the Inflation Reduction Act’s far more generous subsidy policies. When Congress reforms energy tax credits, it should match sector realities. It would be better to adopt multi-year phaseout schedules written directly into statute than to have abrupt policy expirations that reflect the latest political developments. Energy infrastructure is built on timelines that don’t always neatly fit political cycles. Utility-scale wind or solar projects can take from three to seven ye...

NEWS: Trump's war on wind is killing the permitting reform oil and gas wants

Oil & gas lobbyists are quietly begging President Trump to back off offshore wind. ( Latitude Media )   Their reasoning?  The president’s crusade is torpedoing their top legislative priority: permitting reform.   Breaking it down : O&G wants a future for the SPEED Act, the permitting reform bill that passed the House in December and could slash litigation filing deadlines and protect approved projects from the courts. Importantly, though? The bill also included a provision preventing presidents from rescinding permits without a court order.   That last one would also outlaw President Trump's executive orders halting offshore wind.  Senate Democrats have frozen federal permitting reform negotiations until the   administration backs down.   NEWS: Trump's war on wind is killing the permitting reform oil and gas wants  

Renewable Energy's Fake Alchemy

Image
March 6, 2026   In the quest to transform our energy systems, policymakers often promise a magical alchemy: turn away from reliable but "dirty" sources like coal, oil, and even nuclear, and replace them with abundant, cheap green energy. New York State has been a laboratory for this experiment since the early 2000s, aggressively phasing out fossil fuels and nuclear plants under the banner of environmental virtue. The result? Skyrocketing electricity bills for residents, even as overall consumption has declined. New York's experience offers a stark warning: green dreams can turn into economic nightmares  when they ignore basic math  and reality. Back in 2007, New York generated about 150 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in-state. Coal accounted for roughly 14% of that mix, petroleum products (mostly oil) about 6%, and nuclear a robust 28%. Renewables, primarily hydroelectricity, made up around 20%, with natural gas filling much of the rest. Fast-forward to 2021 -- the l...

CFACT Leads Statewide Coalition Rally Against Wind Turbine Expansion at Oklahoma Capitol on March 7th to Highlight Message: "Protect our Land, No Green Scam."

Image
Thu, March 5, 2026   OKLAHOMA CITY, March 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Dozens of groups made up of farmers, ranchers, tribal members, energy workers, and grassroots organizations will gather at the Oklahoma State Capitol on March 7th from 1:00–3:00 PM to demand an immediate halt to what organizers call a "subsidy-driven wind turbine onslaught" across eastern Oklahoma. CFACT Logo (Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow)   Expected keynote speakers include Rep. Jim Shaw, Iowa Tribe Chairman Jake Keyes, Sen. Shane Jett, Rep. Molly Jenkins, and Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow President (CFACT) Craig Rucker.   Concerned counties, including Lincoln, Craig, Nowata, McIntosh, Okfuskee, and Seminole, are now facing large-scale industrial wind projects that threaten property rights, rural landscapes, and household electric bills.   Wind developers face a critical federal benchmark: projects that fail to meet construction thresholds before July 4 risk losing major pro...

Upstate New York Communities Eye Nuclear Power

Image
Schuyler County in New York is home to a bucolic state park, an automobile race track and one day—if Judy McKinney Cherry has her way—a nuclear power plant.  In summer 2025, Gov. Kathy Hochul  ordered  the construction of an “advanced nuclear power plant,” and  eight upstate communities , including Schuyler County, have  expressed interest  in hosting it. The New York Power Authority, a state-owned utility, would lead the project in partnership with developers.  McKinney Cherry, who heads the county’s economic development corporation, hopes nuclear technology could provide enough power to bring manufacturing back to the region. But as the state pushes ahead with plans to build its first nuclear power plant in decades, communities, nuclear power developers and local scientists are questioning Hochul’s plans—which could impact the state’s economy, environment and utility bills for years to come.  Renewed interest in nuclear energy is linked to a rec...

Climate versus affordability

By   MARIE J. FRENCH  and  MONA ZHANG     03/02/2026   Good morning and welcome to the weekly Monday edition of the New York & New Jersey Energy newsletter. We'll take a look at the week ahead and look back on what you may have missed last week. THE CLIMATE VS. AFFORDABILITY DEBATE:  Democrats who support New York’s 2019 climate law are up in arms over the renewed posturing from Gov. Kathy Hochul on the costs of the law. Advocates of implementing the law pushed back on the idea that meeting the law’s emissions targets would worsen the affordability crisis. “The idea that CLCPA is driving up energy prices is fossil fuel industry nonsense from the Trump playbook, and no Democrat should engage in it,” state Sen. Liz Krueger, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement. Assemblymember Emily Gallagher criticized the governor and her officials for using “affordability” as an “excuse” to pursue climate law rollbacks, citing delivery charges...

Wind Farm Dies in Kansas

February 27, 2026   Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images Osage County, Kansas  – A wind project years in the making is dead — finally. Steelhead Americas, the developer behind the Auburn Harvest Wind Project, announced this month that it would withdraw from its property leases due to an ordinance that outright bans wind and solar projects. The Heatmap Pro dashboard lists 34 counties in Kansas that currently have restrictive ordinances or moratoria on renewables, most of which affect wind. Osage County had already  denied  the Auburn Harvest project back in 2022, around when it passed the ban on new wind and solar projects. The developer’s withdrawal from its leases, then, is neither surprising nor sudden, but it is an example of how it can take to fully kill a project, even after it’s effectively dead