Proposed energy development projects face challenges getting energy onto the grid; the new rule aims to ease some of these bottlenecks.
Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** New rule aims to speed transmission build-out
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Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Transmission lines near Page, Arizona, U.S. State Department Bureau of Global Public Affairs Archive ([link removed]) .
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has released ([link removed]) a final rule updating planning and funding requirements for the nation's electric grid. Owners of transmission facilities and infrastructure will now be required to plan 20 years ahead, consider a broader set of benefits, and take into account factors including anticipated changes to the mix of energy sources, renewable energy requirements in different states, and weather risks.
The new rule also addresses who pays for new transmission. Some states that would host transmission lines but that are unenthusiastic about renewable energy have argued that they should not have to pay to help other states achieve their renewable energy goals, effectively giving individual states veto power over multistate transmission proposals. The new rule provides guidelines for developing cost-allocation formulas to help overcome these objections. "We cannot fund essential interstate transmission infrastructure by asking the states to get together and pass around the hat,” FERC Commissioner Allison Clements said ([link removed]) . "The urgency is too acute and the consequences of failure are too costly."
Across the country, numerous new energy development projects have been proposed ([link removed]) , but face challenges getting the energy they would produce onto the grid. The new rule aims to ease some of these bottlenecks. Lawmakers in Congress have been discussing for years the possibility of legislative permitting reform, but prospects for a compromise are dimming, and would have required measures to support fossil fuels in order to win enough support. The FERC rule avoids some of these problems. "I always thought in the back of my mind FERC would be an alternative if we couldn't get it through the Senate," said ([link removed]) Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
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** Quick hits
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New Mexico seeing fewer oil spills, according to watchdog analysis
KRQE ([link removed])
Opinion: Finally, the BLM acknowledges its conservation mandate
Denver Post ([link removed])
New rules to overhaul electric grids could boost wind and solar power
New York Times ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | Politico ([link removed])
How Colorado got oil companies to bankroll the state's transit expansion
E&E News ([link removed])
Development plan could preserve pathways for wildlife near Arizona's White Tank Mountains
Arizona Republic ([link removed])
With aquifers dwindling, Nevada landowners are exchanging groundwater rights for cash
Nevada Current ([link removed])
New Arizona law will close loophole that allows mines in residential neighborhoods
Arizona Republic ([link removed])
Opinion: We can get the electricity we need without frying the planet
New York Times ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” The Public Lands Rule provides an important response to the threats imposed by climate change, which the Interior Department has acknowledged widely affects the lands, waters, and natural and culture resources it manages, resulting in landscape degradation, habitat fragmentation, and biodiversity loss.”
—Mark Squillace, Michael Blumm, and Sandi Zellmer, Denver Post ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@petrifiedforestnps ([link removed])
Rainbow Forest Logs. Credit NPS/Jacob Holgerson.
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