The loophole I can't believe I missed
Welcome back to The Planet You Save May Be Your Own. I'm Taylor Kate Brown and here is just one sign of summer.
(A vineyard in Napa County with a solar panel roof in the distance)
Well, it happened. For the first time since I relaunched this newsletter in September, I missed a week. Usually I'm pretty good at planning ahead, but a combination of work, life and even a small injury conspired against it.
But I have to remind myself the advice I would give to my own newsletter consulting clients: writing regularly is important, but it's not the end of the world if you miss. To that end, I've got a short update and some very interesting links this week.
(Did you get a weird email on Tuesday? Apologies, but that was a technical hiccup as I sent the monthly bonus newsletter to paid subscribers. Want to support this newsletter and get that email? Sign up here.)
I've written before about the importance of public utility commissions on state emissions goals, specifically about North Carolina's commission will be essential in hitting the state's electricity emissions law.
Now the the commission has the emissions plan (or more accurately plans) its primary utility company, Duke Energy, in front of them. They've actually given regulators four plans, reports Elizabeth Ouzts.
In a twist, Duke isn’t asking regulators to choose a single scenario from among the four. Instead, it wants permission to pursue the short-term investments common in all the pathways, with the leeway to branch off into more specific routes in the future.
None of those four pathways were met with cheers from outside advocates and businesses focused on cutting emissions. All four pathways include small nuclear reactors (increasingly cited as a zero-emission but non-renewable option), and building more natural gas plants. All but one delays the timeline on hitting the 70% reductions by a few years.
Comments from respondents and alternative plans are due by mid-July to the commission, which will then have a series of public hearings in late July and August. They're aiming for approval of Duke's plan — or an entirely different one — by the end of the year. One advocacy group says they'll present the commission an alternate plan.
The inclusion of new gas plants is particularly head scratching. While burning natural gas for electricity creates lower emissions than coal, its still higher than options like solar and wind. North Carolina in particular stands to benefit from off-shore wind. But gas burning plants also open up the possibility of methane emissions — a powerful greenhouse gas, especially over the short-term. Apparently the way North Carolina's law is written creates a loophole on methane, NC Policy Watch reports:
But Duke Energy, which helped write the law, noted the legislation defines the scope of the reduction target as carbon dioxide emissions only, “not a broader definition of greenhouse gas emissions, which would include nitrous oxide, methane, etc."
I'm honestly embarrassed I missed that, given how much time I spent listening to testimony on the bill that put the 70% target into law. A reminder that all the details tend to be important.
More local climate news:
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Is a Michigan energy firm using dark money to influence California’s climate plans towards carbon capture and storage?
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"These are thorny questions. What do tribes do now with their coal?"
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Rhode Island legislation requires the state's primary electricity and gas to purchase some of its power from offshore wind
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Virginians craft a plan to boost farmers while reducing beers’ carbon footprint
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A “living shoreline” restoration project in New York is showing early signs that it could become a prototype for other coastal resiliency projects looking to protect habitats and coastlines from the increased storms and rising sea levels of climate change.
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"Our great and influential city, which grew up around the automobile, is the perfect place to figure out how to move off the gas-powered car."
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Colorado's department of transportation is planning to increase its bus service between cities.
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Meet the South’s Black climate changemakers