Environmental organizations filed an appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals to reverse the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) decision that authorizes DTE Electric Company to charge its customers the cost of building a nearly $1 billion gas power plant. Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Michigan Environmental Council, represented by Earthjustice and Olson Bzdok & Howard, assert that DTE’s proposal failed to meet the standards under Michigan’s utility planning law. The groups also filed a petition for rehearing with the MPSC.
Today, as Chevron executives and shareholders meet for their annual meeting, the company is under increasing pressure to pledge not to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
This morning, the Canadian government announced a plan to buy out Kinder Morgan’s proposed Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline expansion. The controversial project faces opposition among First Nations, the public, and elected officials across Canada and the Pacific Northwest.
Philadelphia, P.A. — PJM Interconnection, the regional electric grid operator for 13 states including Pennsylvania, announced the results of its capacity auction yesterday. The auction ensures that the region has enough electric generating capacity to keep the lights on in 2021. These results confirm that PJM is continuing a trend of procuring much more generating capacity than is needed for the region. As of now, it exceeds the amount necessary by almost 6 percent, which equates to over 9,300 extra megawatts of excess power, or about 10 large power plants that are unnecessary. This extra capacity artificially adds about $530 million in costs for consumers with little reliability benefit.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Andrew Oldham’s nomination to the judiciary for the Fifth Circuit Court along party lines. Oldham is one of the youngest of Trump’s nominees for a seat on the circuit court of appeals, and if approved by the full Senate, will hold a lifetime appointment to the judiciary.
Great Falls, Mont. – Environmental and landowner groups today argued in federal court that the Trump administration’s rubber-stamp approval of a cross-border permit for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline violated environmental laws and should be vacated.
The Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has indefinitely suspended portions of a permit required for construction of the fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)
BOSTON, MA -- The Baker Administration announced today that Vineyard Wind has been selected to construct an 800 megawatt (MW) offshore wind project in federal waters off the coast of Massachusetts. Simultaneously the State of Rhode Island announced it will enter into negotiations with Deepwater Wind to procure 400 MW of offshore wind energy.