** Entergy to Rely on Gas while Claiming Net-Zero Emissions in 2050 ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By Daniel Tait on Sep 28, 2020 07:00 am
Entergy joined other large utilities last week in announcing ([link removed]) its intent to achieve “net-zero emissions” by 2050, but like its regional peers of Duke ([link removed]) and Southern ([link removed]) , the company is charting a course that will rely heavily on gas. Gas, which is a fossil fuel that contributes to climate change, will make up as much as a quarter of Entergy’s electric capacity by 2050, according to the plan. Entergy CEO Leo Denault told ([link removed]) investors in February the company planned to build as much as 4 gigawatts of new gas by 2030.

Entergy’s net zero announcement, timed in advance of its “Virtual Analyst Day ([link removed]) ”, comes on the heels of Southern Company’s announcement that it too would rely on gas while still claiming net zero emissions. Peer utilities Consumers Energy ([link removed]) , NIPSCO ([link removed]) , and PSEG ([link removed]) have pledged to forgo new gas, and APS ([link removed]) and Xcel ([link removed]) , which committed to fully decarbonizing by 2050 without the use of offsets.

Entergy has repeatedly blocked action on climate at the operating company level; its New Orleans subsidiary threatened ([link removed]) the City of New Orleans if the city proceeded with a plan that would force the utility to move toward clean energy as part of an effort to combat climate change. Entergy’s service territory includes much of the Louisiana ([link removed]) and Texas coasts, which are highly susceptible to the impacts of climate change, including increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes. Climate change is the number one risk to the insurance industry, according ([link removed]) to a 2019 report ([link removed]) from the American Society of Actuaries. Entergy estimated
([link removed]) Hurricane Laura would add between $1.5 billion and $1.7 billion to customer bills in storm recovery costs.


** Entergy’s history of blocking climate action
------------------------------------------------------------

Entergy has fiercely opposed action to combat climate change, including threatening to sue ([link removed]) the City of New Orleans for what advocates termed a “resilient renewable portfolio standard”, or R-RPS. The R-RPS, like a renewable portfolio standard, is a mandate to achieve a targeted percentage of energy from resources that are both renewable and resilient.

Entergy threatened ([link removed]) the City of New Orleans multiple times with litigation if it adopted “anything like” a 100% R-RPS. The company told the Council that R-RPS proposals from clean energy advocates would result ([link removed]) in “years of litigation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).” The company warned ([link removed]) the Council that forcing it to retire a resource, such as a coal plant, would “lead to litigation.”

Entergy also accused ([link removed]) R-RPS advocates of “the intellectual equivalent of denying that climate change exists.” Entergy was undaunted by New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno’s accusations ([link removed]) that the company was breaching the public trust: the very next month, the utility accused advocates of engaging in “anti-intellectualism ([link removed]) ” and “climate solution denial ([link removed]) .”

In a bitter fight ([link removed]) over the future of a distributed solar energy-enabling policy called net metering in Louisiana, Entergy pushed to severely limit compensation paid to its customers for excess solar energy that they sell back to the grid. Utilities across the country have fought net metering ([link removed]) , despite many of them, including Entergy ([link removed]) , acknowledging that distributed energy resources like rooftop solar can be a key part of achieving net-zero emissions.

Entergy’s President of Utility Operations Rod West emailed Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Craig Greene last September about the net metering battle and accused ([link removed]) the “solar lobby” of stoking the flames of a “class war.” West claimed without evidence that solar interests were paying for the testimony of decorated retired General Russel Honoré ([link removed]) , best known for his work during rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

Entergy contractors, however, did pay for actors ([link removed]) to feign support for a gas-fired power plant in New Orleans. Independent investigators later found ([link removed]) that Entergy “knew or should have known” about actors being paid, despite the company’s repeated attempts ([link removed]) to delay and stall the investigation. The New Orleans City Council fined ([link removed]) Entergy $5 million but the company was still able to proceed with construction of its gas plant. Entergy also used charitable organizations to turn out support for its gas plant construction, according
([link removed]) to an analysis by the Energy and Policy Institute.


** Entergy ignored commission staff and stakeholder input
------------------------------------------------------------

Entergy’s resource planning processes have routinely been criticized by public service commission staff and advocates as inadequate. In Mississippi, the company attempted ([link removed]) to block the participation of almost every intervenor in its integrated resource planning (IRP) process. Entergy claimed, in response, that its IRP “provides transparency ([link removed]) ”. In Louisiana, however, the Public Service Commission staff found “transparency lacking ([link removed]) ” in Entergy’s IRP. A Southern Renewable Energy Association (SREA) analysis found that Entergy either ignored or “entirely rejected ([link removed]) ” approximately 70% of
commission data requests and stakeholder recommendations. SREA also questioned why Entergy Louisiana would “obfuscate ([link removed]) ” wind and solar cost projections when Entergy Arkansas made such data available to the public.

Lack of transparency and stakeholder input resulted in a significant slowing of Entergy’s decarbonization. Clean energy advocates challenged ([link removed]) the company’s reliance on capacity-only ([link removed]) planning which effectively precluded Entergy’s model from retiring older coal and gas plants early and replacing them with lower-cost renewable energy options.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission, in February of 2018 and during Entergy’s ongoing IRP, forced the utility to file an analysis of its legacy coal and gas units. Entergy’s analysis, filed two and a half years later in August of 2020, admitted ([link removed]) it could economically retire legacy units and replace them earlier than assumed in its IRP, all without affecting reliability. The company filed ([link removed]) the new analysis after the IRP docket was already closed in November 2019 ([link removed]) , despite having received the demand from the Commission during the IRP. Energy’s analysis was filed with the Commission in a separate docket which was closed to any stakeholder intervention or participation.

Header image source: Entergy ([link removed])

The post Entergy to Rely on Gas while Claiming Net-Zero Emissions in 2050 ([link removed]) appeared first on Energy and Policy Institute ([link removed]) .
Read in browser » ([link removed])
[link removed] [link removed]




** In Pennsylvania, a Complex Network of Climate Deniers, Business Groups is Working to Kill RGGI ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By Itai Vardi on Sep 25, 2020 11:49 am
A tangled web of individuals and groups representing business interests and conservative think tanks lies at the forefront of opposition to Pennsylvania’s attempt to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), acap-and-trade program ([link removed]) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These entities, many of which receive funding from the fossil fuel industry and foundations that have longed sponsored climate change denial, are generating an echo-chamber of messaging against Governor Tom Wolf’s executive order ([link removed]) adding the state to RGGI .

Opponents and proponents are gearing up for an intensification of the fight over RGGI, a multi-state compact that sets a price on carbon emissions from the power generating sector. Last week, a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) board approved the regulations under which Pennsylvania will join the program, setting off a public comment period.

The Think Tank Circuit

A prominent figure at the heart of the intertwined network undermining RGGI is Lowman Henry. Henry heads the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion & Research, a Harrisburg-based “free market” group that receives funding from Sunoco ([link removed]) , the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, ([link removed]) and the Allegheny Foundation of Pittsburgh of the Scaife Family Foundations ([link removed]) , veteran funders of climate change denial ([link removed]) in the United States.

The Lincoln Institute has launched numerous attacks on RGGI in the past year, often laced with climate denialist talking points. Last October, Henry called RGGI ([link removed]) an “ineffective solution to a non-existent problem,” which looks to “address what the Left perceives to be man-made climate change by reducing carbon emissions.” In a segment attacking RGGI ([link removed]) on his radio show, Henry interviewed climate change denier Greg Wrightstone, a geologist who works for the oil and gas industry through the Pittsburgh-based Wrightstone Energy Consulting. Wrightstone, who authored a denialist book called Inconvenient Facts, is a frequent contributor ([link removed]) to the Heartland Institute’s blog.

The Lincoln Institute’s ties also extend to the Pennsylvania legislature. Republican State Representative Frank Ryan, who signed a recent letter ([link removed]) from several lawmakers to Governor Wolf demanding that he rescind his executive order on RGGI, sits ([link removed]) on the Lincoln Institute’s Board of Directors.

Henry is linked to a number of other anti-RGGI groups in Pennsylvania. He sits ([link removed]) on the Board of Directors of The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, a Pittsburgh-based conservative think tank that receives funding from the Sarah Scaife Foundation ([link removed]) of the Scaife Family Foundations. The Scaife family, whose money comes largely from the Gulf Oil fortunes ([link removed]) , has a long history of funding climate denial ([link removed]) . The Allegheny Institute recently dubbed ([link removed]) RGGI the “Regional Kill the Economy & Raise Prices Initiative.” The Allegheny Institute’s Frank Gamrat and Eric Montarti appeared on Lowman Henry’s Lincoln Institute radio show
([link removed]) and further attacked RGGI.
[link removed] map produced at LittleSis.org ([link removed])

Dr. Jake Haulk, the Allegheny Institute’s former President, is a current Board member of both the Lincoln Institute and the Allegheny Institute.

Additionally, IRS tax documents list Lowman Henry ([link removed]) as the treasurer of The Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, a Lemoyne, Pennsylvania-based “limited government” group. The Citizens Alliance warned ([link removed]) that RGGI will be a “nail in the coffin” for coal-fired electricity generation and “drastically reduce the number of new natural gas power plants built.” In 2015, the Citizens Alliance was listed as a member of the State Policy Network ([link removed]) (SPN), a major propagator of climate change denial.

The Commonwealth Foundation for Policy Alternatives is another group frequently attacking RGGI ([link removed]) . The Commonwealth Foundation, a current SPN member, is funded by the Sarah Scaife Foundation ([link removed]) and DonorsTrust ([link removed]) , an entity that distributes millions of dollars ([link removed]) in grants each year to groups, including climate deniers, from donors who wish to remain anonymous. Two Board members ([link removed]) of the Commonwealth Foundation, Tom Beach and George Coates, also sit on the DonorsTrust Board ([link removed]) .

As Dana Drugmand revealed last week ([link removed]) in DeSmog, based on documents obtained by the Energy and Policy Institute, the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is also involved in anti-RGGI activities in Pennsylvania. AFP has crafted resolutions opposing RGGI and circulated them among several county commissioners, urging them to pass the resolutions as their own. Emails show that AFP operatives communicated with several state lawmakers, including sponsors of anti-RGGI bills, in a coordinated effort to undermine the compact.

The Business Group Connection

Much of the right-wing think tanks’ activity against RGGI in Pennsylvania occurs through business entities, notably the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association (PMA). In addition to all the other hats he wears, Lowman Henry also chairs the PMA’s Board of Directors. Jake Haulk, a Director on both the Lincoln Institute’s and Allegheny Institute’s Boards, sits on PMA’s Board as well.

On its website and through its newsletters, PMA frequently rails against RGGI ([link removed]) , calling it a “job crushing” program. In the past year, PMA’s lobbyist in Harrisburg testified numerous times in the state legislature and before the DEP against the measure.

While PMA does not make its members list public, it is part of a broader state business alliance that includes chambers of commerce and regional manufacturing associations. PMA is also a member of Grow America’s Infrastructure Now (GAIN), a fossil fuel front group ([link removed]) promoting pipeline build outs.

Meanwhile, there’s evidence that more extensive, out-of-state players have also joined the fray.

PMA is the Pennsylvania state partner of the Business-Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC ([link removed]) ), a DC-based pro-business group that specializes ([link removed]) in helping employers mobilize their employees for lobbying and political campaigning. David Taylor, PMA’s President & CEO, sits on BIPAC’s Board of Directors.

BIPAC has aided PMA’s fight against RGGI, as revealed by DeSmog. Internet domain registration records show that BIPAC hosts the website for the recently created Power PA Jobs Alliance (powerpajobs.com), an anti-RGGI coalition of coal-based power generators and coal producers, labor, and business associations, which includes PMA. A reference to Momentum Advocacy, a DC-based firm affiliated with BIPAC, appears on the coalition website’s URLs.

BIPAC itself has a long-standing association with the fossil fuel industry. Barry Russell, the President of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), sits on BIPAC’s Board. In recent years, BIPAC received funding from fossil fuel industry trade associations and corporations, including IPAA, Occidental Petroleum, Noble Energy, and Phillips 66. According to IPAA’s recent tax documents ([link removed]) , the trade association joined forces with BIPAC “to help its member companies and state cooperating associations achieve their election and public policy goals by linking the IPAA political website” to various independent oil and gas associations. In Pennsylvania, this has translated into a collaboration between BIPAC, PMA, and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association (PIOGA) ([link removed]) to provide the oil and gas industry and its workforce resources
([link removed]) for political campaigning and policy advocacy.

The post In Pennsylvania, a Complex Network of Climate Deniers, Business Groups is Working to Kill RGGI ([link removed]) appeared first on Energy and Policy Institute ([link removed]) .
Read in browser » ([link removed])
[link removed] [link removed]




** Recent Articles:
------------------------------------------------------------
** Southern Company Net-Zero Implementation Plan Filled with Loopholes for Continued Use of Fossil Fuels ([link removed])
** Pollution Payday: analysis of executive compensation and incentives of the largest U.S. investor-owned utilities ([link removed])
** NextEra Energy’s failed attempt to purchase JEA highlights web of murky spending, lobbying ([link removed])
** Utility Front Group Sparks Attack on Florida Rooftop Solar Amid Ongoing COVID Crisis ([link removed])
** Bill Seitz’s FirstEnergy bailout bill is one target of a subpoena ([link removed]

============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
Copyright © 2020 Energy and Policy Institute, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website via our Contact Us page.

Our mailing address is:
Energy and Policy Institute
P.O. Box 170399
San Francisco, CA 94117
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
[link removed]