<[link removed]> MAY NEWSLETTER Congress Zeros in on Debt Deal We hope everyone had a thoughtful and enriching Memorial Day. Congress is back on Capitol Hill to finish work on legislation to raise the federal debt limit after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and the White House spent the holiday weekend hammering out a deal to avoid a default on the national debt. The measure faces a procedural vote today in the House where it faces opposition from conservatives. The proposal would suspend the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025 in exchange for a two-year cap on federal spending that would lower spending by about $1 trillion over a decade, according to the White House. The deal includes some updates to the federal permitting process that could be helpful to clean energy projects, which face the same permitting delays as traditional energy projects. The deal also leaves alone funding for clean energy approved in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. There’s more details on what’s in the deal in the roundup below. Robert Dillon, Executive Director Recent Noteworthy Posts <[link removed]> IRA, Energy Permitting Remain Unchanged in Debt-Limit Deal <[link removed]> Bloomberg News is reporting that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy promised President Joe Biden to pursue permitting reform for energy projects, after the issue was largely dropped from an agreement to lift the debt ceiling. The deal would boost coordination, predictability and certainty for the federal permitting process, including a provision to designate a sole lead agency to develop a single environmental review. The deal doesn’t make any changes to the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate and clean energy provisions, according to a Democratic fact sheet on the agreement. Read More <[link removed]> <[link removed]> Colorado to prevent utilities from charging customers for lobbying <[link removed]> Utilities across the country use money collected from customers’ monthly bills to fund political campaigns and lobbying efforts, often with the goal of blocking climate progress <[link removed]> . But in Colorado, that’s about to change. Earlier in May, the state legislature passed the country’s most comprehensive bill to prevent utilities from using customer funds to support political activities. It will prohibit investor-owned utilities <[link removed]> from charging their customers — known as ratepayers — for membership dues in trade associations, lobbying expenses, or any other activities influencing legislation, ballot measures, and other regulatory actions. It will also bar utilities from spending ratepayer money on political advertising or any messaging intended to boost the utility’s brand. Read More <[link removed]> <[link removed]> Federal Jury Convicts Former Ohio House Speaker, Former Chair of Ohio Republican Party of Racketeering Conspiracy <[link removed]> A federal jury convicted <[link removed]> Larry Householder, the former Speaker of the Ohio House, and Matthew Borges, the former chair of the Ohio Republican Party for their participation in a racketeering conspiracy. The government proved beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that Householder and his enterprise conspired to violate the racketeering statute through honest services wire fraud, receipt of millions of dollars in bribes and money laundering. The conspiracy involved nearly $61 million in bribes paid to a 501(c)(4) entity to pass and uphold a billion-dollar nuclear plant bailout. Read More <[link removed]> <[link removed]> Renewable Energy Saved ERCOT Ratepayers $11 Billion in 2022 <[link removed]> The group Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation <[link removed]> recently highlighted updates to their 2022 report – “ <[link removed]> The Impact of Renewables in ERCOT” <[link removed]> – showing that the availability of wind and solar power in the state’s energy market saved Texas ratepayers over $11 billion in 2022. The original October 2022 report by Joshua Rhodes of Ideasmiths, quantified the impact of renewables in ERCOT on wholesale clearing prices and avoided fuel costs, water use, and emissions by comparing how the market would have performed with and without wind and solar from 2010 to August 2022. The new economic data updates the report with cost savings for the full 12 months of 2022, according to a memo <[link removed]> from Rhodes to Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation’s state director Matt Welch. The analysis indicates that the widespread adoption of renewables reduced wholesale electricity costs by about $31.5 billion between 2010 and 2022, saving consumers significantly from what they might otherwise have had to pay. Read More <[link removed]> What We’re Reading Right Direction How the rooftop solar industry is adapting to California’s new rulebook <[link removed]> – Canary Media The state’s once-thriving industry faces an uneasy future now that California has slashed financial incentives for people to put solar panels on their roofs. What Are the Most Promising Energy Storage Technologies? <[link removed]> –Impakter Efficient energy storage technology is needed to overcome fluctuations in renewable energy supply and decrease our reliance on fossil fuels. Here are some of the most promising technologies in the industry today. Markets Are Knowledge Ecosystems <[link removed]> – Lynne Kiesling’s Knowledge Problem How do prices aggregate, coordinate, and create knowledge, and why can't AI substitute for cognition? Native Hawaiians reclaim energy sovereignty <[link removed]> – Axios On the Hawaiian island of Moloka‘i, a group of volunteers is tirelessly working toward 100% locally owned clean energy <[link removed]> . They are reclaiming energy sovereignty for the area's largely Native Hawaiian <[link removed]> population. Since launching in 2020, the Ho’āhu Energy Cooperative has installed rooftop solar panels on a handful of off-grid homes, trained local residents to become solar installers, and secured a contract awarded for Hawaii’s first community-owned renewable energy resource project <[link removed]> . Wrong Direction Why Texas, a clean energy powerhouse, is about to hit the brakes <[link removed]> – Washington Post The state’s clean energy boom could be impeded by Texas leaders’ push for legislation that would boost natural gas and place new restrictions on wind and solar projects. American Gas Association Facebook campaign targets agency exploring health risks of gas stoves <[link removed]> – Energy and Policy Institute Over 60% of comments filed with the Consumer Product Safety Commission appear likely to be the result of an American Gas Association template letter that the trade group promoted on Facebook earlier this month. The regulatory agency opened a docket <[link removed]> in March to review information on the hazards associated with gas ranges and proposed solutions. Data in the Meta Ad Library <[link removed]> shows that AGA just spent between $6,000-$7,500 to promote its letter for users to sign and send to the CPSC, targeting the ads to people aged 65 and above. Is the Texas Power Grid Fixed Yet? <[link removed]> – The Texas Energy and Power Newsletter What happened in the waning days of the Texas Legislature's 88th Session and what it means. Late Sunday — after the Texas Legislature, at the 11th hour, passed monumental electricity grid bills that stitched together a range of energy proposals that many had assumed to be dead — a friend asked on Twitter, “Does this mean the grid is fixed?” No. Not even close. <[link removed]> Energy Choice Coalition 25 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 820 Washington, DC 20001 United States Powered by Squarespace <[link removed]> Unsubscribe <[link removed]>