US Has Billions for Wind and Solar Projects. Good Luck Plugging Them In.
"An explosion in proposed clean energy ventures has overwhelmed the system for connecting new power sources to homes and businesses."
Source: NYTimes, 02/24/2023
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"Community Solar Is About to Get a Surge in Federal Funding"
"The Inflation Reduction Act includes money to help develop subscription-based solar programs."
"On a farm field east of Faribault, Minnesota, a 1.3-megawatt solar array provides electricity to serve about 180 subscribers.
The project, which occupies about six acres, is an example of community solar—also called “shared solar” or “solar gardens”—a kind of development in which subscribers receive credits on their monthly utility bills for the solar electricity produced.
Source: Inside Climate News, 02/24/2023"Biden Nominates Ajay Banga To Lead World Bank"
"The White House is touting Banga’s experience with financial inclusion and climate change".
"The Biden administration on Thursday nominated Ajay Banga, a former Mastercard executive who is now vice chairman at the private equity firm General Atlantic, to be the next president of the World Bank.
Banga is still subject to a months-long confirmation process before the bank’s board reaches a final decision. As the bank’s largest shareholder, the United States has typically chosen its leader, although other countries could still put forward nominations of their own.
Source: Washington Post, 02/24/2023"Federal Agency Proposes California Spotted Owl Protection"
"Federal wildlife officials on Wednesday announced a proposal to classify one of two dwindling California spotted owl populations as endangered after a lawsuit by conservation groups required the government to reassess a Trump administration decision not to protect the brown and white birds."
Source: AP, 02/24/2023EPA Outlines Another $550 Million Toward Environmental Justice
"The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced another $550 million that it is putting toward addressing environmental inequity after previously outlining $100 million in funding for the issue."
Source: The Hill, 02/24/2023'The Great Displacement' Looks At Communities Altered By Climate Change
"Climate change is reshaping the U.S. in another way, as journalist Jake Bittle explains in his new book, The Great Displacement: "Each passing year brings disasters that disfigure new parts of the United States, and these disasters alter the course of human lives, pushing people from one place to another, destroying old communities and forcing new ones to emerge."
Source: NPR, 02/24/2023Appeals Court Rules Nc’S Ag-Gag Law Is Unconstitutional
"In a split decision the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court ruling that North Carolina’s “ag-gag law” is unconstitutional and infringes on free speech."
Source: NC Policy Watch, 02/24/2023He Ran The NAACP. Now He’s Leading Sierra Club’s Fight On Climate
"Leading one of America’s largest and most influential environmental advocacy groups has never been an easy task."
Source: LA Times, 02/24/2023"Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks In Focus On Visit To Ohio Toxic Train Site"
"Donald Trump’s record of rolling back environmental protections was highlighted by critics on Wednesday as the ex-president visited the town of East Palestine, Ohio, and called the federal response to the toxic train derailment there earlier this month a “betrayal”.
Source: Guardian, 02/23/2023"Railroads Fought to Crush Rules That Biden Aims to Revive After Ohio Derailment"
"Long before this month’s fiery derailment, railroad industry leaders battled regulations meant to boost freight train safety, including plans to bolster some of the very same tank cars that ruptured and released chemicals in eastern Ohio."
Source: Bloomberg Green, 02/23/2023Feds Slash Gulf Wind Farm Areas To Make Room For Drilling, Shipping, Fishing
"A new wind energy lease sale plan released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management slashes the Gulf’s offshore wind energy development areas by two-thirds, potentially reducing the amount of jobs and clean energy the region’s leaders had hoped wind farms would generate in the coming years."
Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 02/23/2023"Homes in Flood Zones Are Overvalued by Billions, Study Finds"
"American homes in flood zones are overvalued by hundreds of billions of dollars, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change."
Source: Grist, 02/23/2023"Australia To Make Area The Size Of Germany A Marine Park In Southern Ocean"
"The Australian government plans to make an area about the size of Germany in the Southern Ocean a marine zone, strengthening protections around Macquarie Island for millions of penguins and seals."
Source: Guardian, 02/23/2023"Pay and Plug: Federal Funds Spur Cleanup of Lost Oil Wells"
"The National Park Service has started closing orphaned wells using money provided under legislation signed by President Biden."
Source: NYTimes, 02/23/2023"How Widespread Are These Toxic Chemicals? They’re Everywhere."
"Polar bears in the Arctic and plankton in the Pacific. Cardinals in Atlanta and crocodiles in South Africa." "Researchers created a map showing where PFAS compounds, linked to cancer in humans, have been detected in wildlife. It spans the globe."
Source: NYTimes, 02/23/2023
