** A deep freeze is straining power supplies across the eastern US, sending demand on the country’s largest electric grid to an all-time winter high as the South digs out from one of the worst snow storms in 130 years. ** Extreme cold temperatures are disrupting oil and gas production in North Dakota, and it could take …
Category: Wind Energy
Eminent domain the target of numerous Oklahoma legislators
When protesters rallied earlier in the month at the Oklahoma state capitol, they complained about the use of eminent domain by utilities wanting to build large transmission lines and by wind and solar farm developers. Legislators were obviously paying attention, based on the number of bills filed on the very topic of eminent domain. …
Energy briefs
** Former chairman of the Virginia State Corporation Commission, Mark Christie, was tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday. Christie has served as a commissioner on FERC for four years and before that, he was chairman of the Virginia State Corporation Commission, a body that he served …
Energy briefs
** Just a few weeks after the Department of Energy’s Inspector General issued a report urging the agency to halt all loans and loan guarantees from the Loans Program Office until it could ensure that it is complying with “conflicts of interest regulations and enforcing conflict of interest contractual obligations,” the LPO last week gave loan …
Energy Secretary’s one goal—affordable electricity in Oklahoma
“I’ve come into this position with really one goal in mind, is that is, and that is to ensure affordable and reliable generate electricity, affordable and reliable electricity for Oklahomans for today and tomorrow.” It’s the declaration of Oklahoma’s new Energy and Environment Secretary Jeff Starling in a sit-down interview with Scott Mitchell on News …
Invenergy claims 4-state transmission line will benefit Kansas
Kansas Corporation Commissioners are being told the controversial Grain Belt Express transmission line that will carry southwest Kansas wind-generated electricity all the way to Indiana will bring savings to Kansas utility ratepayers. At least, it’s the claim of Invenergy, whose officials went before Kansas House and Senate legislative committees. “This project will unleash the …
Electricity rates in 2024 were lower than 2023
With all of the electricity rate hikes approved in Oklahoma in the past year, it’s hard to believe. But the average wholesale electricity prices in the Lower 48 states were lower in 2024 than in 2023, according to a new government report. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says lower and more stable electricity prices …
Legislator wants moratorium on new solar and wind projects
Rep. Jim Shaw, R-Chandler, has filed a series of bills that range from placing a moratorium on green energy projects to creating setbacks to recapturing tax subsidies from the industry. Another measure would ban the use of biosolids. “I told my constituents when running for office I would fight against the green energy insanity that …
Energy briefs
** Dozens of climate protesters with Sunrise Movement LA rallied outside Phillips 66’s Los Angeles Lubricant Terminal on Thursday morning, with 16 demonstrators storming the facility’s office building. Sunrise Movement LA is demanding big oil companies, including Phillips 66, “pay up” to support wildfire relief and aid the state’s transition to clean energy. ** Nevada residents …
Dallas firm builds another solar farm for Pryor’s Google Data Center
Another big solar project is under construction in northeast Oklahoma as part of the effort to provide electrical power to the Google data center operations at Pryor. Dallas-based LRE or Leeward Renewable Energy announced more than 700-megawatt of renewable energy projects in Oklahoma that will provide long-term power for purchase agreements with Google. LRE, …