Author: AGOA Staff      Published: 3/30/2023       AGOA

H.E. Albert M. Muchanga is the Commissioner for Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission. Ambassador Muchanga was the Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office in charge of Parliamentary Affairs in Zambia. As part of his diplomatic service, he was Zambia’s Ambassador to Brazil and Ethiopia, with extra accreditation to the African Union Commission. He was also Deputy Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community from 2001 to 2005. He has dealt transnationally with issues broadly related to international economic policy analysis, regional integration, foreign policy analysis, and implementation. He has been a Guest of Honor and Speaker at numerous Pan-African and International Conferences on issues related to African economic integration, multilateral trade negotiations, globalization, youth and women empowerment, sustainable development, management, and leadership, and others.

H.E. Albert M. Muchanga

Jennifer G. Cooke is director of the Institute for African Studies at The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs. The Institute serves as central hub for research, scholarly discussion, and debate on issues relevant to Africa. She is a professor of practice in international affairs, teaching courses on U.S. Policy Toward Africa and Transnational Security Threats in Africa. Prior to joining GW, Cooke spent 18 years directing the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she led research and analysis on political, economic, and security dynamics in Africa. She directed projects on including on violent extremist organizations in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, China’s growing role in Africa, democracy and elections in Nigeria, religion and state authority in Africa, “stress-testing” state stability in Africa, Africa’s changing energy landscape, and more. She has testified before Congress on multiple occasions and provided senior-level briefing to officials at the State Department, AFRICOM and the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Defense Intelligence Agency, European, Asian, and African government officials, corporations, media outlets, and students. Prior to CSIS, she worked at the National Academy of Sciences and the House Subcommittee on Africa.

Jennifer G. Cooke

Rosa Whitaker, CEO/President of TWG, is a visionary, entrepreneur, former US government policy leader, career diplomat and trade negotiator with a progressive record of achievement driving investments into Africa. Notably, she served as America’s first-ever Assistant US Trade Representative in the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Named as one of Foreign Policy magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers, Rosa is broadly recognized as a leading expert on African trade and business engagement. While serving as a Senior Trade Advisor to US Congressman Charlie Rangel (Former Chairman of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee), Rosa was one of the key architects that crafted the historic African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which was enacted in 2000. AGOA, America’s first comprehensive trade law towards Africa, now spanning the administrations of four US Presidents, remains the cornerstone of US economic policy towards Africa. It has delivered, inter-alia, billions of dollars in duty free products from Africa into the US market annually while also generating jobs and investments across the Continent. More

Rosa Whitaker

Joshua Snead currently serves as Chief Trade Counsel to the Committee on Ways and Means in the U.S. House of Representatives. He advises Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith (R-NE) on trade matters, including negotiation and implementation of trade agreements, bilateral relationships with U.S. trading partners, and preference programs for developing countries. Before joining the Committee staff in 2016, Mr. Snead was in private practice at King & Spalding in Washington, DC, specializing in trade litigation and policy. Previously, he represented U.S. pork producers on trade policy matters as an International Trade Specialist at the National Pork Producers Council. Mr. Snead holds a JD and an MBA from Pepperdine University, and a Bachelor of Arts in in Philosophy.

Joshua Snead

Tony Carroll is a lawyer, investment and development consultant, academic and philanthropic advisor who has spent four decades championing Africa social and economic interests across the globe.  In 1997, he was an original member of an ad hoc Congressional Working Group convened by Congressman Jim McDermott and Mike Williams that was the genesis of AGOA.  He has worked with a variety of law firms and consulting agencies in such areas as mining, oil and gas, textiles, agro-processing, ICT, money remittances, pharmaceuticals and diagnostics and IPR/technology transfer. He is a co-founder of the Mining Indaba, Acorus Capital, Global HOPE (Hematology Oncology Project Excellence) and Rosewood Global Advisors and is a board member of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund in Geneva, Switzerland. He was a Vice President at Manchester Trade and an adjunct professor at JHU/SAIS for twenty and ten years, respectively and served on the Africa advisory boards at USTR, OPIC (now DFC) and EXIM Bank. J

Anthony Carroll

AGOA CSO Network The AGOA Civil Society Network is a consortium of non-governmental organizations, (NGOs) and other groups in the United States and Africa working to facilitate the successful application of the AGOA trade bill for the benefit of small business in the US, and Africa. The Network was established by the 102 member organizations from the United States, Mauritius, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Namibia, Mali, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of Congo that were in attendance during the AGOA Civil Society Forum on January 17, 2003, in Phoenix, Mauritius.

The AGOA CSO Network’s focus is on increasing the volume and quality of African exports under AGOA and educating stakeholders on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean on this trade policy and its advantages.   Become part of the solution by joining, today! click here!!!    Our heartfelt thanks to those of you that have already joined and or renewed your membership!!!  We appreciate you and your support!

Author: AEUW Staff    Published: 3/30/2023    Advance Energy United Weekly

Policy Update

New Analysis Shows Florida Could Save $277 Million With a ‘Total Cost of Ownership’ Approach to Vehicle Procurement

A new report by Advanced Energy United and Electrification Coalition shows that Florida could save $277 million by considering the total cost of ownership when making vehicle purchase decisions. This report, produced in partnership with Atlas Public Policy, emphasizes how an electric fleet is more cost-effective for the state due to lower lifetime maintenance expenses. Continue reading the press release here.>

Coalition Letter on Permitting Reform
Advanced Energy United joined a diverse group of organizations and trade associations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), in calling on Congress to enact meaningful and durable reform to the country’s permitting processes. The joint letter identifies predictability, transparency, stakeholder input, and efficiency as key principles in the legislation we are calling for. The letter also highlights major benefits such as more and better infrastructure, new energy developments, closing the digital divide, repairing water systems, strengthening national security and more. Continue reading the letter on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website here.>

In the News

Illinois Needs More Oversight of Natural Gas Utilities New 
In a letter to the editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, United’s Principal Samarth Medakkar wrote, “Recently, Gov. J.B. Pritzker wrote an opinion piece on the need for legislation that would make natural gas utilities more accountable to Illinoisans by increasing oversight of their spending on financially risky infrastructure projects. He’s right. For too long, gas utility system investments have been left entirely up to the gas utilities themselves, which have strong financial incentives to grow indefinitely. This means spending billions and billions of customers’ dollars — via some of the highest fixed charges on our monthly bills in the country — on pipelines that might soon be made obsolete because of high-performing, high-efficiency electric appliances for home and water heating.” Continue reading the LTE on the Chicago Sun-Times here.>

Surge of Clean Energy Manufacturing Projects in Texas, U.S.  

Texas-based companies are turning towards advanced energy alternatives more quickly after the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act. The state’s spread of wind and solar farms along with low cost of development are attracting more clean energy projects than ever before. However, the majority of solar panels and wind turbines are still manufactured outside of the U.S., and Advanced Energy United would like to see domestic supply chains developed while still allowing many clean energy projects to source from overseas. “We have to balance a desire to see more manufacturing with some realism,” said Advanced Energy United Managing Director Harry Godfrey. “Giving a little breathing room to help industry meet these new standards, they’re not going to stop building factories. Everyone knows the writing on the wall.” Continue reading the article on The Houston Chronicle here.>

Industry Events

EEE PES Grid Edge Technologies Conference & Exposition, April 10-13 
The new IEEE PES Grid Edge Technologies Conference and Exposition will serve as a critical collaborative forum, bringing together a variety of organizations, including utilities, municipalities, big tech, policy makers, startups, and more, dedicated to delivering enhanced productivity, efficiency, and interoperability to the grid. Register before March 13th for discounted rates. Register here.>

11th Annual Michigan Energy Innovators Conference, April 26 

The 11th Annual Michigan Energy Innovators Conference offers attendees the chance to network, discover new developments in advanced energy, and gain an overview of current political trends. The conference will feature networking opportunities, presentations from energy experts, several break-out panels with dozens of expert panelists. Leaders in Michigan’s advanced energy sector will come together at the annual Michigan Energy Innovators Conference to discuss the work they’ve done so far and the crucial work that will be done in the future. Register for the event here.>

AABE National Conference, May 2

Over 650 energy professionals have access to an influential forum at the AABE National Conference. This event seeks to provide a forum for energy professionals develop partnerships, offer networking opportunities, and establish connections. The conference is known for its innovative programming, engaging speakers, and diverse line up of presenters and panelists. Register here.>

Large Scale Solar USA, May 3-4

The Large Scale Solar USA Summit will convene industry leaders for an all-encompassing range of sessions including future outlook, growth and scale management, financing, extreme weather and risk, storage, the implications of the IRA and more. Delivering key insights, developing partnerships, and opening dialogues around solar are all focuses of the event. Don’t miss the array of expert speakers, panelists and presenters at the event! Register for the event here.>

Author: GWRCCC Staff    3/30/2023     GRRCCC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IBEW Local 26, Baltimore/DC – Metro Building Trades Council and GWRCCC Hosted Inflation Reduction Act Tax Credits and Workforce Standards Workshop on March 20

Author: WIN    Published: 3/30/2023     Washington Informer News

Author: Office of Public Affairs    3/29/2023    Commerce News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Media Contact:
Office of Public Affairs, publicaffairs@doc.gov

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo Announces Fiber Manufacturing Expansions in North Carolina

HICKORY, NC – Today, as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America tour, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information Alan Davidson traveled to Hickory, NC to celebrate the announcement of new fiber optic cable production in the U.S. made possible by the Administration’s Internet for All Initiative.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law requires the use of Made-in-America materials and products for federally funded infrastructure projects including high-speed Internet deployment in America. As a result, two key manufacturers near Hickory, North Carolina announced new investments and partnerships today. CommScope and Corning are investing a combined nearly $550 million and creating hundreds of new jobs in America to build the fiber optic cables that will help close the digital divide.

The announcement builds on the work the Biden-Harris Administration has already done to bring affordable, high-speed Internet to nearly 17 million American households since the President took office.

“We have a tremendous opportunity not just to close the digital divide for millions of Americans, but also to revitalize domestic manufacturing industry, make more products and technologies in America, and create good manufacturing jobs here in Hickory and across the country,” said Secretary Raimondo. “President Biden has been clear that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is an opportunity to invest in America. With today’s announcements, that investment continues by producing the fiber we’re going to use to get everyone connected to the Internet right here in America with products made in America.”

Today, CommScope announced an additional $47 million investment towards expanding its U.S. fiber optic cable manufacturing, including its facility in Catawba, which is already the largest hybrid-fiber-coaxial facility for broadband networks in the world. According to CommScope, this facility will produce a new rural fiber optic cable that is specifically designed for rural areas.

Corning announced the expansion of its U.S. manufacturing capacity with the opening of its manufacturing campus near Hickory today. It builds on the more than $500 million that Corning has invested in fiber and cable manufacturing since 2020. The company has also formed a partnership with NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association – to dedicate a portion of the cable manufactured at its facility to small, rural providers and co-ops that will connect Americans across the country.

“We’ve been talking about the digital divide in this country for decades. Now, thanks to President Biden’s Internet for All initiative, we finally have the resources to do something serious about it,” said Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator. “CommScope and Corning’s announcements today will help ensure we have the fiber we need to build affordable, reliable high-speed Internet networks. Our focus at NTIA is on deploying these networks, and investing in American jobs and manufacturing in the process.”

The Biden-Harris administration’s $65 billion Internet for All initiative will help close this digital divide across the country. Currently, 24 million U.S. households lack Internet access. NTIA is working to address this through $48 billion in grant programs to expand high-speed Internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs across the country.

For more details on today’s announcements, and the Administration’s Internet for All initiative, see a fact sheet HERE.

The Investing in America tour is highlighting how President Biden’s Investing in America agenda – including historic investments from the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the American Rescue Plan – is unleashing a manufacturing boom, helping rebuild our infrastructure and bring back supply chains, lowering costs for hardworking families, and creating jobs that don’t require a four-year degree across the country. Since President Biden took office and as a result of his Investing in America agenda, private companies have announced $435 billion in manufacturing investments in America.

Author: ECC Staff    Published: 3/28/2023    Emerald Cities Collaborative

Author: Aman Azhar    Published: 3/20/2023   Inside Climate News

Caught between poverty and third-party energy suppliers, low-income communities across the state are under increasing pressure from high utility rates despite the promise that a deregulated energy market would lower prices.

The Maryland Public Service Commission is investigating a number of retail energy suppliers following a record-high number of consumer complaints about questionable supplier practices, forcing the commission to take action.

Tori Leonard, communications director of the Maryland Public Service Commission, the agency that regulates electric and gas utilities and looks after ratepayers’ interests, confirmed that the commission officially launched the enforcement action on Feb. 1 “to investigate and, if necessary, prosecute retail energy suppliers who are failing to abide by the state’s laws and regulations” and, if necessary, “revoke supplier licenses.”

“More potential enforcement actions are in the pipeline as Consumer Affairs Division continues to issue ‘cease and desist’ letters to suppliers on, for example, misleading marketing materials,”  Leonard said, adding that “some retail suppliers target their marketing to low-income, elderly customers, etc., particularly with variable rate offers.”

Maryland enacted the Electric Customer Choice and Competition Act in 1999 and moved to fully deregulate its energy market. Also known as “retail choice,” the arrangement allowed third-party suppliers to purchase energy from the wholesale market and sell it to businesses and residents at a different rate for profit.

Proponents said deregulation would save consumers money by creating competition and driving down prices, and it did—for the commercial and industrial sectors. But residential customers usually end up paying more, according to the Energy Information Administration. And those that benefited least were the poor, who were often unaware those variable rate offers would soon expire and then rise sharply.

Leonard, citing enforcement and legal actions currently underway against various energy suppliers, said the commission has enhanced its scrutiny of suppliers seeking to be licensed in Maryland, and in some cases, held up approvals until these companies could demonstrate compliance with the PSC’s rules, particularly around consumer protections.

“Too many of the state’s most vulnerable utility customers—especially those in Baltimore City—are experiencing the double whammy of increasing rates for the utility’s delivery service while being charged exorbitant rates as a result of highly questionable and often unlawful marketing practices of retail suppliers,” said David Lapp, Maryland’s People’s Counsel, in a statement.

He said that the OPC has brought cases and successfully proven that retail suppliers have deceived customers in numerous ways and reaped extraordinary profits. “Unfortunately, even though the commission has agreed that the suppliers have violated the law, they have not provided customers relief and allowed suppliers to continue profiting from their unscrupulous practices,” Lapp said.

He urged the commission to adopt protections and impose penalties that make deceiving customers unprofitable and deter suppliers from scamming customers, who remain vulnerable to supplier abuses.

In January, the Maryland Energy Advocate Coalition—a group of regional and national nonprofits—submitted a research brief to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s transition team, illustrating that since 2014 Maryland families have overpaid $1 billion on their utility bills.

“In 2021, 403,000 families paid $290 more each for electricity, up from $190 in 2014,” the coalition’s brief said.

The advocates pointed out that the regulation known as “purchase of receivables,” which the PSC approved in 2009, has allowed the energy suppliers to charge any rate and get paid, even if customers defaulted. This “revenue risk-free market” created the conditions for abuse and opened the door for retailers to prey on vulnerable groups, the advocates said.

The nonprofits urged Moore to study the situation and safeguard energy burdened Marylanders. Previous legislative efforts between 2019 and 2021 that attempted to compel the retail energy suppliers to report their billing data to regulators failed.

A Never-Ending Ordeal

Yamese Diggs, a Black resident of Baltimore, said she was tired of sales people knocking on her door four to five times a day trying to get her to switch to a different energy supplier.

“They just keep coming at you. At some point, it became so overwhelming that I just tuned out,” she said. Then came unsolicited phone calls, marketing materials pushed under the front door and a stuffed mailbox that had to be emptied every other day.

Turned out, the sales pitches from marketing reps and seemingly sweet deals promising lowered electricity rates were just a preview to her later ordeal.

Mother to a school-aged girl, Diggs, 45, is financial manager at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she has worked for nearly two decades. She said she didn’t know something was off until her utility bill ballooned to $800 a month last July.

“I was like, why is my bill so high? I live in a two-bedroom apartment and even if I left my air conditioner on at 65 degrees all day, my TV and all the lights it shouldn’t be $800 a month,” Diggs said, sounding exasperated. Between calls to the utility helpline and digging around for answers, Digg’s outstanding balance ran into thousands of dollars.

“I was getting cut off notices and even when you make good money, you don’t have $6,000 to give out,” Diggs said, adding that she was also supporting her nephew and going through a divorce at the time. “You never know what people are going through in their life.”

Finally, the utility sent a technician to detect the fault and concluded that her contract had been switched to a different electricity provider charging a significantly higher rate without her knowing it.

Shocked and dismayed by the revelation, Diggs said she checked her bank statement and realized that her electricity rate had been climbing for months without her knowledge because she signed up for automatic deduction. “I called the company the same day to cancel the contract,” she said. But she was put on long holds, and attendants would tiptoe around her questions about excessive billing.

And when she got the answer, it was not what she had expected. “They told me I was paying a higher rate because the company provided clean energy, which was good for the environment,” Diggs said. “I told them I just cannot afford $800 a month to save the environment. This is real life and everything’s already expensive, and this bill is extremely high even for a household where two people are making good money.”

It took months to get the contract terminated and then she reported the matter to the Maryland Public Service Commission —the state agency responsible for safeguarding ratepayers— asking for a refund for being scammed by a third-party energy supplier.

“I think there should be some sort of restriction on such fraudulent practices,” Diggs said, adding that her best friend’s elderly mother was also “threatened” with electricity and gas shut-off recently. Her utility contract was also switched to a different energy supplier without her knowledge, Diggs said, resulting in inflated bills and missed payments.

Nudged by the federal government to embrace market-based rates, a trend that started in the late 1990s, 29 states and the District of Columbia have to this day deregulated their electricity and gas markets—some wholly and some partly.

More than 120 companies are currently operating across Maryland since the state opened its energy market to third-party energy suppliers in 1999, selling gas, electricity or both to commercial and residential customers.

But various studies and numerous debates in the state’s General Assembly over the past 20 years have questioned if deregulation has worked. Some legislators and energy advocates said that the unsupervised energy market opened the door to deceitful practices and price discrimination by retail suppliers. Proponents of retail choice argue that the state has not done enough to unlock the full potential of a deregulated marketplace.

Highway Robbery in Broad Daylight?

A recent Berkeley Energy Institute report found that third-party suppliers target Baltimore’s lowest income neighborhoods through direct marketing, and the highest rates are paid by Hispanic, Black and immigrant families.

Jenya Kahn-Lang, the author of the study, said that she found evidence that suppliers charged customers different prices based on their attention and search behavior. “Firms can raise prices on existing customers that aren’t paying attention, they can offer low prices to consumers who search more, and charge higher prices through in-person marketing,” she said.

The study found that those areas with household income below $10,000 paid particularly high prices as well as the neighborhoods with a large share of non-citizens, residents without high school diplomas, and Black, mixed race, and Latino and Hispanic residents. “One of my big findings is that underlying residential segregation plays a big role in leading to this result. And Baltimore is certainly an area where you have a lot of underlying residential segregation.”

Kahn-Lang said that one of the key reasons that low-income communities end up paying more is because it’s cheaper for companies to market in areas that are densely populated. “More households in those areas are signing up through direct marketing and they sign up at relatively high prices when they do,” she said.

She said that other studies she consulted in her research have shown that the low-income households or households in poverty often will forego other expenses like food and medical or health costs in order to pay their electricity bill. “And they may keep their house at unsafe temperatures to avoid using more electricity,” she said, adding that it’s clear that “people feel very burdened by their electricity bills and that it impacted their lives in meaningful ways.”

The study found similar patterns in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York, suggesting that low-income households faced higher prices, on average, than high-income households in these retail choice markets.

It is hard to predict what would have happened if energy markets were never deregulated, said Kahn-Lang. “My research focuses on who pays high prices in deregulated markets and why. I show that low-income and other marginalized communities tend to pay higher prices than privileged communities, primarily because marginalized communities receive more marketing.”

She said that the primary beneficiaries of deregulation are informed, attentive households and suppliers who either get lucky or have especially good information about their customers’ behavior. “Not all suppliers benefit from high prices. Competitive pressure may cause suppliers to spend their anticipated profits from high prices on marketing. It is also worth pointing out that households ultimately bear most of these marketing costs,” she added.

Maryland Regulator Caught in the Crosshairs, Again 

Laurel Peltier, a local energy advocate who volunteers at a Baltimore-based charity, has a voluminous file strewn with paperwork sitting on her desk. It contains hundreds of cases involving Baltimore residents like Diggs who struggled with high utility bills and how to pay it off.

“I mostly deal with people who visit our community center to get energy assistance because they’re getting behind and it’s stressful,” Peltier said. “They know something’s up, and they just have no idea what it is.”

In some cases she would help people file complaints with the PSC, and some even got their money back. “That’s just what I see over and over again, especially in Baltimore City,” Pelteir sighed.

An analysis of 110 low-income Baltimore households by Peltier found a 64 percent premium for electricity and an 88 percent premium for gas when bought from energy retailers. On average, those families wound up paying an additional $650 per year on an average yearly income of $16,000, sometimes entirely from social security benefits.

A 2022 report also found that low-income families in Maryland faced untenable burdens from high energy bills, with households on the Eastern Shore and in Baltimore City having the highest gross energy burden—paying 15 percent of their annual income for their energy needs. The average statewide gross energy burden is 12 percent for all low-income households, the report found.

Nearly 450,000 households in Maryland are estimated to be low-income, or 21 percent of the population, with over 380,000 households eligible for energy assistance benefits—over a $100 million program managed by the state to help reduce energy bills. Peltier said that between 75,000 to 100,000 households in Maryland get state energy assistance to help pay their utility bills.

In her testimony before the House Economic Matters Committee and Senate Finance Committee in 2020, Pelteir estimated that about $15 million annually from the state energy assistance grants were flowing instead to energy suppliers who were charging excessive rates to the assisted households. “The figure is most likely higher because the overpayment per account has increased per year,” Laurel said.

In May 2021, the General Assembly passed the Energy Supply Reform Bill, prohibiting retail suppliers from charging customers on energy assistance rates above the local utility’s rate for gas or electric supply. The bill required the PSC to establish the rules and administrative process necessary to implement the law by July 1, 2023.

But state lawmakers, sensing a lack of urgency on the part of the PSC, criticized the commission for dragging its feet on rulemaking necessary for its implementation.

The latest clash between the Democrat lawmakers seeking progress on implementing the law and a PSC they felt lacked a sense of urgency came at a state Senate hearing in January.

At the hearing, state Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore) grilled PSC Commissioner Odogwu Obi Linton and Lisa Smith, director of legislative affairs, for failing to provide information on the steps taken by the commission to ensure that households receiving assistance grants are not signed up for third party contracts that can inflate bills by hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

“This is something that my office and other senators have been trying to get from the commission since the passage of that legislation, and the PSC has not been cooperative,” Washington said. She asked the PSC officials to make sure that her office gets the information she and other lawmakers have sought from the commission.

In an interview, Washington said Moore’s decision to appoint a serving OPC official to head the Public Service Commission and the recent withdrawal of a candidate with ties to the fossil fuel industry are the sort of decisions that would help change the composition of the commission.

“The problem with the PSC is that it’s over-identified with the entities that it’s supposed to regulate. It’s almost like having the fox guarding the henhouse,” she said.

Meanwhile, Washington said that Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has introduced legislation asking the General Assembly to empower his office to investigate, among other issues, manipulative market practices, potentially through its consumer protection division.

Separately, the Office of People’s Counsel filed a petition with the PSC last May, which said that the PSC took no formal action to implement the 2021 legislation that intends to shield low-income customers from retail energy suppliers. “Unless the PSC acts soon, neither the customers nor the state will reap the law’s benefits,” the petition said.

Author:  Dan Gearino  Published: 3/15/2023  Inside Weekly News

A new study finds that houses within a half-mile of a utility-scale solar farm have resale prices that are, on average, 1.5 percent less than houses that are just a little farther away.

The research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory helps to refute some of the assertions of solar opponents who stoke resistance to projects with talk of huge drops in property values. But it also drives a hole through the argument made by people in the solar industry who say there is no clear connection between solar and a drop in values.

The authors analyzed 1.8 million home sales near solar farms in six states and found diminished property values in Minnesota (4 percent), North Carolina (5.8 percent) and New Jersey (5.6 percent). The three other states—California, Connecticut and Massachusetts—had price changes that were within their margins of error, which means the price effects were too close to zero to be meaningful. The paper was published in the journal Energy Policy.

The authors accounted for differences in property features, inflation and other factors in order to isolate the effect of proximity to solar.

Ben Hoen, a co-author and research scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley lab, said the numbers are clear but additional research is needed to understand what’s happening on the local level to lead to these price effects.

“We have a sense of the ‘what,’ but we don’t know the ‘why,’” he said.

For example, he doesn’t have a thorough explanation for why the price differences are higher in some states than others.

The researchers chose this group of states because they were, except for Connecticut, the top five in the country for the number of solar installations of at least 1 megawatt as of 2019. They included Connecticut because it is an example of a state with a high population density near solar projects.

Hoen emphasized that the results show a period in time, with transactions that occurred from 2003 to 2020, and may not reflect prices right now.

Also, he noted that the paper’s analysis doesn’t take into account any of the financial benefits of solar for landowners and communities, which may include payments from the developer and a decrease in local taxes.

The study is being released at a time of rapid expansion in the number and size of solar projects, which is a key part of the country’s push to reduce the emissions that contribute to climate change.

The scale of growth in solar development has been met with an intensifying resistance in local communities where some people argue that the projects are ugly and pose a threat to property values and human health. Solar opponents amplify these concerns on social media.

Of all the arguments against solar, the idea that it will hurt property values has been among the most potent, based on prior reporting by Inside Climate News about the local debates. At public hearings and in comments filed with regulators, some residents talk about how they fear reductions of 40 percent or more.

Author: WHCEQ Staff     Published: 3/24/2023      White House Council on Environmental Quality 

Greetings! This Week in Environmental News

On Tuesday, President Biden announced bold new actions to conserve and restore lands and waters across the nation at the White House Conservation in Action Summit. The announcements include:

• Establishing two new national monuments: Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada, and Castner Range National Monument in Texas, protecting over half a million acres of public lands and honoring Tribal Nations and military veterans.
• Initiating a new National Marine Sanctuary designation within the next 30 days to protect all U.S. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands, a region with a rich ancestral tie to many Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island communities.
• The first-ever Ocean Climate Action Plan, a groundbreaking roadmap to harness the power of the ocean to advance immediate, transformational steps to protect ocean health and address the climate crisis.
•  New guidance to Federal agencies on how to better incorporate ecological connectivity and wildlife corridors into Federal planning and decision-making, to support collaborative conservation of fish and wildlife habitat across the country.
• A dozen other new steps to conserve, restore, and expand access to lands and waters across the country, including tens of millions of new investments in conservation efforts.

This week’s announcements build on more than two years of the Biden-Harris Administration’s progress and historic investments to advance conservation, restoration, and stewardship nationwide.

With these new actions, President Biden is delivering on the most ambitious land and water conservation agenda in American history and working to meet the first-ever national conservation goal to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. Learn more about the announcements here.

View video of the full Summit speaking program here.

Get Involved

In early April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service will announce a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Urban and Community Forestry Program. Under the Inflation Reduction Act, the Urban and Community Forestry Program received a historic $1.5 billion to support urban tree-planting, urban forest planning and management, and related activities, particularly in disadvantaged communities. You are invited to a briefing on Wednesday, March 29 at 3:00 p.m. ET to learn more about the upcoming funding opportunity and how to apply. Submit questions and register in advance for this briefing: https://pitc.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_z-YGoPsoSw2eZmCpP4a6UQ.

Keep reading for more environmental updates from the Biden-Harris Administration and to learn about opportunities to provide public input on ongoing energy and environmental initiatives. If you were forwarded this email, or are not on our list yet, please sign up here.

#I (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)ICYM

Last week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced it is proposing the first-ever national drinking water standard for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the latest action under President Biden’s plan to combat PFAS pollution and Administrator Regan’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap. Through this action, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking a major step to protect public health from PFAS pollution, leveraging the latest science and complementing state efforts to limit PFAS by proposing to establish legally enforceable levels for six PFAS known to occur in drinking water.

The White House fact sheet below and available here summarizes two years of progress on PFAS, including a new report by CEQ that details specific actions on PFAS that the Biden-Harris Administration has taken. To go directly to the report, click here.

Also last week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced $6 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to advance decarbonization projects. Through the Department of Energy, the Industrial Demonstrations Program will help accelerate transformational technologies needed to decarbonize the industrial energy sector and achieve the President’s goal of a net-zero economy by 2050. For more information, click here.

Earlier this month, the Administration made $250 million available to develop innovative strategies to cut climate pollution and build clean energy economies. These planning grants, through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are the first tranche of funding going to states, local governments, Tribes, and territories from the $5 billion Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program created by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The program provides flexible planning resources for states, Tribes, territories, and municipalities to develop and implement scalable solutions that protect people from pollution and advance environmental justice. Read more here.

Additionally, the Administration and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced the release of the 2023 Request for Proposals (RFP) for the America the Beautiful Challenge. The program, which was launched in 2022, is dedicated to funding locally led landscape-scale conservation and restoration projects that implement existing conservation plans across the nation. In 2023, the program expects to award up to $116 million in grants. Read more here.

Finally, the U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a historic $185 million grant for 45 projects through the new Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative to reconnect communities that

Resources:

• Notice of Funding Opportunity Calendar: Document highlighting open Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) and a 2023 calendar for upcoming funding opportunities.
• Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Maps: Updated map reflecting the more than 20,000 projects and funding announced in communities across the United States

are cut off from opportunity and burdened by past transportation infrastructure decisions. Read more here.

NEWS CLIPS OF THE WEEK

New York Times: Biden Creates Two National Monuments in the Southwest

USA Today: Biden releases nation’s first Ocean Climate Action Plan to help combat climate crisis

Associated Press: Biden to designate national monuments in Nevada, Texas

NPR: Biden is creating new national monuments to protect land in Nevada and Texas

The Wall Street Journal: Biden to Honor Tribal Site and Military Veterans With National Monuments

HuffPost: Biden To Create 2 National Monuments, In Nevada And Texas

USA Today: Biden to designate Castner Range in Texas and Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada as national monuments

E&E News: Biden to create national monuments in Nevada and Texas

Reuters: Biden to create two new national monuments in Nevada and Texas

ABC: Biden to create national monuments in Nevada, Texas at conservation summit

Bloomberg: Biden to Establish New National Monuments in Nevada and Texas

Las Vegas Review- Journal: Biden to designate Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument today

Texas Tribune: Biden designates Castner Range in El Paso a national monument

Politico: Biden EPA launches landmark push to curb ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water

CNN: EPA proposes first standards to make drinking water safer from ‘forever chemicals’

Washington Post: EPA proposes rules to limit ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water

Associated Press: EPA to limit toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water

TWEETS OF THE WEEK

President Biden (@POTUS): “Our United States Ocean Climate Action Plan will allow us to harness the tremendous power of the ocean to help in our fight against the climate crisis. I know we can reduce emissions with offshore wind farms – and protect our coast and fishing communities at the same time.”

Vice President Harris (@VP): “Our Administration is committed to delivering the most ambitious climate and environmental agenda in history. Today, @POTUS took new actions to protect our nation’s public lands and waters so that future generations can enjoy these national treasures.”

The White House (@WhiteHouse): “The Biden-Harris Administration is proposing the first-ever national standard to address forever chemicals in drinking water – a major step toward ensuring every American has access to clean drinking water.”

U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland (@SecDebHaaland): “Avi Kwa Ame holds deep spiritual, sacred and historic significance to the Native people who have lived on these lands for generations. I am grateful to @POTUS for taking this important step in recognition of the decades of advocacy from Tribes and the scientific community.”

ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION

Author: US DOE Staff    Published: 3/24/2023      Solar Snapshot

Solar Energy Technologies Office

What’s Inside: Solar Snapshot, the newsletter of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), shares recent announcements; upcoming events; connect the dots on solar energy campaign resources; and more.

What’s New?

Smart Shopping Tips for Solar

Solar panels can help you save on your energy bill and SETO can help you be an informed solar consumer. Learn how to spot the warning signs of consumer scams, understand your solar financing options, and report bad actors.

Upcoming Deadlines

Don’t forget to participate in these funding opportunities, prizes, and solicitations:

• American-Made Perovskite Startup Prize – Perovskite researchers can apply for the final cycle of the Countdown Contest by March 23.
• American-Made Net Load Forecasting Prize – Forecasting industry organizations can submit registration materials through March 27.
• Solar-thermal Fuels and Thermal Energy Storage via Concentrating Solar-thermal Energy Request for Information – Solar industry professionals, researchers, and others can submit responses and feedback by April 14.
• Solarpunk Futures Scholarship Competition – Current undergraduate students are encouraged to enter this competition by April 30.

Some Light 🌞 Reading

Video: The Solar Shepherd — A Shining Example of an Agrivoltaic Partnership

Meet Dan Finnegan and Reggie the Wonder Dog. The two of them are partnering with SETO-funded AgriSolar Clearinghouse to make the most of a family farm in Massachusetts, raising sheep and solar energy on the same piece of land.

Moment in the Sun Blog Series

Check out the National Community Solar Partnership’s (NCSP) blog series, Moment in the Sun. Learn about projects and programs that are expanding access to affordable community solar and enabling communities to realize the meaningful benefits of community solar.

Coming Soon: Up to $450 Million for Clean Energy Projects on Current and Former Mine Land

The DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) intends to issue a funding opportunity in the next month for up to $450 million to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of deploying clean energy projects on current and former mine land. DOE is seeking well designed, financially viable projects that can be deployed quickly.

Get to Know the Teams Pursuing Equitable Solar Adoption

The Solar Energy Innovation Network (SEIN) helps communities explore new approaches to the equitable adoption of solar energy. Learn more about the participating teams and their goals and stay up to date on the latest research from SEIN by browsing the program’s blog.

Curious About Agrivoltaics? Learn More on This New Webpage

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has a new webpage dedicated to the science of bringing together photovoltaic (PV) installations and agriculture, called agrivoltaics. Learn about the benefits and tradeoffs of agrivoltaic solar strategies and access introductory and advanced materials.

Apply to Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) Programs

C2C In-Depth Partnerships is a multi-year program to help communities develop realistic roadmaps to achieve their clean energy goals. Community teams consisting of representatives from local governments, community-based organizations, and electric utilities are encouraged to apply by May 17. C2C’s Expert Match program is accepting applications on a rolling basis from local governments, electric utilities, and community-based organizations with a specific local clean energy challenge or question that could benefit from short term (40-60 hours) technical assistance.

$315 Million Available to Advance Reliable Clean Energy in Rural and Remote Communities

OCED announced $300 million in new funding for projects that increase energy affordability and promote climate resilience. Concept papers are due April 14. The $15 million Energizing Rural Communities Prize will help rural communities build the capacity needed for clean energy development and deployment. Submissions for round one are due May 24.

DOE Invests in Decarbonizing America’s Industrial Sector

DOE’s new funding opportunity will advance projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the U.S. industrial sector. The funding will drive innovation to develop technologies required to decarbonize industry and move the United States closer to a clean energy economy for all Americans. Applications are due June 23. DOE also created the Technologies for Industrial Emissions Reduction Development Program to identify and accelerate the development of the full suite of technologies that will be needed by net-zero manufacturers.

Products & Publications

• National Community Solar Partnership Technical Assistance Engagement Summaries – NCSP
• Data Analytics for Residential PV From Permit to Interconnect: Final Technical Report –NCSP

Upcoming Events

Webinar: Innovative AgriSolar Design

March 23 | 1 p.m. ET
Join the AgriSolar Clearinghouse for a webinar series on agrivoltaics, the co-location of solar and agriculture on the same land. Additional webinars are scheduled in the coming months.

Systems Integration Webinar Series 2023

March 29 | 4 p.m. ET
SETO’s Systems Integration team is hosting a monthly webinar series. Register for their next webinar titled ‘Recent Advances in Experiments and Modeling of Grid-forming Systems.’

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power & Energy Society (PES) Grid Edge Technologies Conference & Exposition

April 10-13 | San Diego, CA
SETO experts will speak on panels and present at the upcoming IEEE PES Grid Edge Technologies conference in San Diego, California.

Materials Research Society (MRS) Spring Meeting

April 10-14 | San Francisco, CA
Join SETO at the MRS Spring Meeting to discuss the challenges and opportunities of halide perovskite PV. Registration is required to attend programming.

Continuing Education Course: Community Solar Program and Subscription Design

May 23-24 | 12 p.m. ET
Learn and discuss the various elements of community solar program design, as well as ownership options relevant to municipal utilities in this new continuing education course presented in partnership with the American Public Power Association and NREL.

Author: US DOE Staff       Published: 3/24/2023      EERE News

Solar Energy Technologies Office

DOE-Funded SolSmart Program Expands to Advance Equitable Solar Energy Adoption 

SolSmart Program Aims to Help Another 500 Cities, Towns, Counties, and Regional Organizations Become Solar Energy Leaders 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced an expansion of its SolSmart program to support and recognize local governments across the country who are taking steps to reduce barriers to solar energy access. The expanded program adds a new Platinum-level designation for the most forward-looking communities, establishes new priorities around support for disadvantaged communities, and sets a goal of designating a total of 1,000 communities by 2027 in support of the Biden administration’s goal of a clean electricity grid by 2035. The program has also extended its designation criteria to include solar plus battery storage, codes and standards, innovative financing, and data collection and metrics. 

“Local governments across the country are looking to solar power to cut energy costs and transform their energy futures,” said Alejandro Moreno, Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “This is why the SolSmart program is so important. It reduces barriers to solar energy by giving communities the tools to equitably deploy solar and enjoy the many benefits including household savings, job creation, resilience, and more.” 

“Through the once in-a-generation funding for municipalities provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, municipal leaders are playing a critical role in leading our nation toward a clean energy future, an essential part of addressing climate change,” National League of Cities (NLC) CEO and Executive Director Clarence E. Anthony said. “NLC is committed to actively supporting cities, towns, and villages in the equitable installation of local, distributed renewable energy.”   

Launched in 2016, the SolSmart program offers expert technical assistance at no cost to help local governments adopt nationally recognized best practices to advance solar energy adoption. Since its inception, SolSmart has helped hundreds of local governments and their residents save time and money by reducing the soft costs of going solar which span five criteria categories including permitting and inspection, planning and zoning, government operations, community engagement, and market development.  

Today, nearly 500 local governments nationwide have achieved SolSmart designation at one of three levels (Gold, Silver, or Bronze) based on their level of accomplishment. These local governments are in 43 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. With its plan for an additional 500 designees by 2027, SolSmart will double its impact. 

A cornerstone of the program’s efforts is to further the goals of the federal Justice40 initiative to provide equitable opportunities for underserved communities, which tend to have higher household energy burden, environmental and climate impacts, and socio-economic vulnerabilities. Of the 500 new designees, at least 40% will be in underserved communities.  

To be recognized as Platinum, a local government must earn a total of 350 points across five categories and complete certain pre-requisites, including offering an instant online permitting tool for rooftop solar—such as the SolarAPP+ platform developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory—and must implement partnerships and programs designed to enable the benefits of solar energy to be shared by all members of their community.    

SolSmart’s updated and expanded designation criteria address new areas, such as:  

• Integration of solar with other technologies, such as battery storage
• Equitable access to solar energy
• Updating local codes 
• Data collection and metrics to measure community progress
• Innovative financing programs for solar energy
• Community planning for large-scale solar installations

SolSmart is led by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) and the International City County Management Association (ICMA), along with numerous other partner organizations with expertise in solar energy and local government. Funded by the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), this team helps local governments and regional organizations implement national best practices that reduce local barriers to solar energy development. 

“Solar energy is poised for unprecedented expansion across the United States due to groundbreaking policies such as the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Larry Sherwood, President and CEO at IREC. “SolSmart will help local governments take advantage of this growth and ensure their own communities can benefit.” 

“ICMA has assisted thousands of communities across the country through our programs over the years. Our team of expert technical assistance providers is ready to help local governments take actions to scale up solar deployment and meet their energy and climate goals,” said Marc Ott, Executive Director of ICMA. 

SolSmart invites all cities, towns, counties, and regional organizations in the U.S. to contact the program and begin receiving no-cost technical assistance to achieve designation. For those communities that are already SolSmart-designated, the program invites them to “level up” to designation as Silver, Gold, or Platinum.

Author: Caitlin Tilley   Published: 3/21/2023    Health Report Daily News

US health chiefs are warning about the dangers of a rapidly spreading deadly fungus — just a week after the hit zombie show The Last of Us wrapped up.

The American College of Physicians (ACAP) said the rise and spread of Candida auris, also known as C auris, is ‘concerning’. It is a microscopic yeast strain that does not form germ tubes and is rarely detected in the natural environment.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) already described the fungus, which kills up to 60 percent of people it infects, as an ‘urgent threat’ in 2019.

But the new research has revealed case numbers more than tripled across America between 2020 and 2021, with multidrug-resistant strains also becoming more common.

Most transmission occurs in healthcare facilities, especially among residents of long-term care facilities or among persons with indwelling devices or mechanical ventilators. Healthy people do not usually get sick, but among the frail and vulnerable, it kills between 30 and 60 percent.

Author: Jamil Smith    Published: 12/10/2021       Vox

Robert Bullard joined Vox Conversations to discuss the global struggle to keep this world safe to live in, and how racism gets in the way.

Robert Bullard, pictured here in Washington, DC, in 2013, received the John Muir award from the Sierra Club in 2014 for his contributions to the field of environmentalism.

Robert Bullard has been trying to explain to us for more than 40 years that the word “racism” isn’t so easily defined. Long before the water crises we see in cities like Flint, Michigan, the Texas Southern University professor was warning that racism can show up in our environment, especially if we have a certain zip code or skin color.

Jamil Smith

So first things first, Dr. Bullard, what is “environmental justice”? It’s a term that I feel like people might understand instinctively, but as the father of environmental justice, I figure it’d be good to have you explain it.

Robert Bullard

Well, environmental justice embraces the principle that all people in communities are entitled to equal protection of our environmental laws; housing, transportation, energy, food, and water security and health laws. Environmental justice is nothing more than this whole principle: people have the right to a clean, healthy, sustainable environment without regard to race, color, national origin. It’s just that simple.

Jamil Smith

Indeed. It’s been 30 years since you all convened at the National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit. Can you tell me a little bit about October 27, 1991, and the principles that you all discussed there?

Robert Bullard

[It] was a historic moment. Dr. Benjamin Chavis was the director of the Commission for Racial Justice at the United Church of Christ. Here is a Black civil rights organization based in the church, a white denomination [that] called together a group of us that had been working on different issues around the country and said the environmental movement mainstream somehow is leaving out, leaving behind, and not addressing our issues — and that we need to plan a conference, a summit for ourselves.

It took us a year to plan it. We raised the money and it was a four-day summit. And we said that the first two days of this summit must only be people of color. Why? It’s because people of color in this United States, people of color, Indigenous people, we have suffered the indignities of and oppression of slavery, of genocide, of imperialism, colonialism. And so African Americans, native and Indigenous people, Latinos, Hispanics, Asian and Pacific Islanders, in 1991, we didn’t know that much about each other. And so we had to get together, just ourselves, in a room and try to unpack all of that baggage of those -isms that basically created mistrust and misunderstanding.

And after we had those very painful, but enlightening two days, then we said, we have to bring everybody in. We gotta bring the white folks in, because we do not wanna be an exclusionary movement. So, over those four days we had meetings, we had sessions, we had seminars, we had trainings. We developed those 17 principles of environmental justice.

And the overarching theme of the principles is that people most impacted by environmental challenges must speak for themselves and must be in the room when decisions are being made. And that we must develop the kinds of research, the kinds of empowerment tools, so that we can speak for ourselves and not allow others to go to Washington or go wherever and speak for us.

When we got to Rio de Janeiro at the Earth Summit in June of 1991, those principles had been translated into at least a dozen languages. Our principles of environmental justice may have been developed in the US, but they traveled well. Twenty years later in Johannesburg, there were thousands of us from all over the world representing our movement that was not a US movement, but was a global movement.

Jamil Smith

One of these 17 principles that actually drew my eye in some conversations I’ve had recently with some friends is number six. You talk about environmental justice demands, the cessation of production of all toxins, hazardous waste, and radioactive materials. We think about the climate change, okay, this is the beginning of how it addresses the local concerns that people don’t necessarily associate with the climate fight. Things like lead paint, things like garbage being dumped disproportionately in neighborhoods of color. How have you, over the last 30 years, gotten people to better recognize that this is part of being an environmentalist as well?

Robert Bullard

If you look at principle six, it’s talking about the production of dangerous chemicals and waste. If you look at transboundary waste trade, where companies that produce all kinds of chemicals — not just US companies, but companies around the world — those waste products generally get shipped to where? They don’t get shipped to Europe. They get shipped to developing countries [in] Africa and Asia.

If you talk about the whole issue of production of materials for war, at the beginning of that process, you talk about radioactive waste or uranium being mined in Indian lands, and violating sovereignty, poisoning people. Then it’s made into bombs, nuclear weapons that are not just here, you talk about the global threat. That principle involves the threat to humanity, whether it is talking about war, or the production of chemicals, or the production of the kinds of pollution that creates a problem.

There’s another principle that talks about self-determination. That’s another principle that if you look at domestically, you can see that we are talking about sovereignty. We’re talking about: people have the right of self-determination and not somehow being predetermined what you will be, what your community will be, that you deserve not to be dumped on, whether it is poison, pollution, whether it’s the greenhouse gases that’s creating flooding and more, in terms of sea level rise; that self-determination principle may have started out as a domestic counter principle. When you blow it up, you’re talking international, you’re talking treaty rights. You’re talking country-to-country kinds of things. Those principles, as they got pushed out, people around the world started to see that those principles were easily translatable and informed the climate principles that came later.

Jamil Smith

It’s sort of like blues’ influence.

Robert Bullard

There you go.

Jamil Smith

I get it (laughs).

Robert Bullard

(laughs) There you go.

Jamil Smith

I want to get back to you: how you [became] this passionate, even still, about these particular issues. What was your upbringing like? What inspired you to get involved, not just in terms of conservation, but also this more specific fight later?

Robert Bullard

I grew up in Alabama, and the issues when I was coming of age were civil rights and justice. And you could see justice in almost every issue, whether it was housing; you grew up in segregated neighborhoods where the street pavement stops at your neighborhood and you got dirt roads, you don’t have sewer lines, you don’t have water hookups, and you don’t have street lights. And you can see at your segregated school, your libraries at your school, you can’t go to the main library because it’s white. You can’t go to the swimming pool because it’s white.

So, seeing the segregation of life in the South and not realizing that, later on, I would be involved in a study in a lawsuit that would challenge that separateness, understanding that America is segregated and so was pollution. I didn’t realize it growing up. I know everything was segregated, including when you’re born and even when you die and go to the cemetery, you go to a separate cemetery. But later on, if you look at the work that I was doing, teaching students and teaching another generation to make that connection between where you live and how long you live, and [how] what’s in your neighborhood can make you healthy and what’s in your neighborhood can make you sick, and how the good stuff gets somehow onto the west side of town and all of the nasty stuff gets somehow sent to the east side. Locally, “unwanted land use” is just another nice way that planners call all garbage dumps, landfills, incinerators, highways, and other things, [but in] the built environment we call infrastructure, all infrastructure is not created equal.

Author: US DOE Staff    3/16/2023    EERE News

The Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), announced yesterday the availability of $750 million for research, development, and demonstration efforts to dramatically reduce the cost of clean hydrogen. This funding—the first phase of the $1.5 billion in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dedicated to advancing electrolysis technologies and improving manufacturing and recycling capabilities—is a crucial component of the Administration’s comprehensive approach to accelerating the widespread use of clean hydrogen and will play a vital role in achieving commercial-scale hydrogen deployment this decade. Produced with net-zero carbon emissions, clean hydrogen is a key pillar in the emerging clean energy economy and will be essential for reaching the President’s goal of a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

This funding launches the first tranche of implementation of two provisions of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which authorizes $1 billion for research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen produced via electrolysis and $500 million for research, development, and demonstration of improved processes and technologies for manufacturing and recycling clean hydrogen systems and materials.

Clean hydrogen—which is produced with zero or next-to-zero carbon emissions—is set to play a vital future role in reducing emissions from some of the most energy-intensive sectors of our economy, including industrial and chemical processes and heavy-duty transportation. Clean hydrogen can also support the expansion of variable renewable power by providing a means for long-duration energy storage and offers flexibility and multiple revenue streams for all types of clean power generation—including renewables, advanced nuclear, and other innovative technologies. By enabling the development of diverse, domestic clean energy pathways across multiple sectors of the economy, hydrogen development will strengthen American energy independence and accelerate the American manufacturing boom that has already created over 800,000 jobs since President Biden took office.

Managed by DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), projects funded through this opportunity will address underlying technical barriers to cost reduction that can’t be overcome by scale alone, and they will ensure that today’s emerging commercial-scale deployments will achieve long-term viability with tomorrow’s lower-cost, higher-performing technology. Reaching cost reduction goals will open new markets for clean hydrogen—creating more clean energy jobs, reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthening America’s long-term competitiveness in the global clean energy market.

Together with the regional clean hydrogen hubs (H2Hubs), tax incentives in the President’s historic Inflation Reduction Act, and ongoing research, development, and demonstration in the DOE Hydrogen Program, these investments will help DOE achieve its ambitious Hydrogen Shot goal of being able to produce $1 per kilogram of clean hydrogen within a decade.

By enabling a sustainable clean hydrogen economy, these investments will help reduce harmful emissions in communities across the country, which will be especially beneficial for disadvantaged communities that have suffered disproportionately from local air pollution for far too long. Additionally, DOE’s National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap and President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative serve as important pillars driving the energy justice efforts by HFTO and the Hydrogen Program.

DOE envisions granting multiple financial assistance awards in the form of cooperative agreements, with the period of performance being approximately two to five years. DOE encourages applicant teams that include stakeholders within academia, industry, and national laboratories across multiple technical disciplines. Teams are also encouraged to include representation from diverse entities such as minority-serving institutions, labor unions, tribal nations, community colleges, and other entities connected through Opportunity Zones.

The application process will include two phases: a Concept Paper phase and a Full Application phase. Concept papers are due on April 19, 2023, and full applications are due on July 19, 2023.

Learn more about this funding opportunity, HFTO, and the draft DOE National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap.

Author: US DOE Staff    Published: 3/13/2023   PCPC News and Event

March 17, 2023 at 10:00 AM Est.

Solar Now and the Future with Its Economic Impact on Black America

    Podcast Guest

   Shalaya Morissette

Chief, Minority Business and Workforce Division

 Copy paste to hear interview: https://www.blogtalkradio.com/pcpcllc/2023/03/17/historical-conversation-with-shalaya-morissette-and-lucero-sonrisa

Shalaya Morissette(she/her) is Chief of the Minority Business and Workforce Division at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), located within the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity. She is a highly sought-after collaborator and co-conspirator in the clean technology space. Most recently she hails from the utility sector in safety and compliance. In 2022 she took on an additional role at Dearborn STEM Academy in Boston, Massachusetts as a teacher to 11th and 12th graders – delivering a curriculum for engineering with energy in mind. Previously she held various roles in higher education, including enrollment services project manager and in global transportation as the Director of Affiliate Relations. She is the former president of the Greater Boston chapter of the American Association of Blacks in Energy. Serving as the first African American board member of the New England Women in Energy and Environment, she has been devoted to elevating and engaging women and people of color in the energy space. As a Georgia Gwinnett College Alumni Association board member and a committee member for Browning the Green Space, she has been engaged in the nonprofit and higher education space as a strong advocate for elevating minorities in the energy transition. Morissette’s passion for bringing young people into the clean energy industry has also been supported with her work with Girls Inc and WriteBoston. Shalaya received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Georgia Gwinnett College and her Master of Education degree from Cambridge College.

Connect on LinkedIn

Topic of Discussion:

US DOE 2023 Annual Minority Business Enterprise Industry Day Announcements;

DOE Justice Week Day 3: Equity Action Plan Townhall and Exec. Order 13985

Solar jobs increased 9% nationwide in 2021

National Alliance for Black Business (NABB) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Form a Historic Alliance to Develop Black-Owned Businesses

DOE Awards $6.3 Million to Black Owners of Solar Services (BOSS) to Advance Equity in Clean Energy Business and Workforce Development

Also Lucero, Sonrisa, Special Advisor on Stakeholder Engagement can speak to https://www.energy.gov/clean-energy-infrastructure/community-benefits-plan-frequently-asked-questions-faqs

\Our new report dropped today: “Deactivated: How Electric Utilities Turned Off the Data-Sharing Features of 14 Million Smart Meters”

Author: GWRCC Staff    Published: 3/13/2023      Greater Washington Regional Clean Cities Coalition

Author: US CPSC Staff  Published: 3/13.2023    CPSC

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rain, wind and snow continue to impact Northern and Central California, and a nor’easter/potential bomb cyclone, will bring dangerous winter conditions from Pennsylvania to New England through midweek, including damaging winds, heavy snow, rain and possible coastal flooding. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is urging consumers to take steps to protect themselves from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and fires. 

Loss of Power—Using a Generator Safely

Consumers need to be especially careful when storms knock out electrical power. Portable generators create a risk of CO poisoning that can kill in minutes. CO is called the invisible killer because it is colorless and odorless. Exposed persons may become unconscious before experiencing CO-poisoning symptoms of nausea, dizziness or weakness, and it can lead to death.

An average of 85 consumers die in the U.S. each year from CO poisoning from portable generators.* A recent CPSC report, Fatal Incidents Associated with Non-Fire Carbon Monoxide Poisoning from Engine-Driven Generators and Other Engine-Driven Tools 2011-2021, shows that African Americans are at higher risk, accounting for 23 percent of generator-related CO deaths, nearly double their estimated 12 percent share of the U.S. population in that time frame.

In the case of a power outage, follow these important life-saving tips:

• NEVER operate a portable generator inside a home, garage, basement, crawlspace or shed. Opening doors or windows will not provide enough ventilation to prevent the buildup of lethal levels of CO.
  
  
• Operate portable generators outside only, at least 20 feet away from the house, and direct the generator’s exhaust away from the home and any other buildings that someone could enter, while keeping windows and other openings closed in the path of the generator’s exhaust.  Do not operate a generator on an outside porch or in a carport. They are too close to the home.
  
  
• Check that portable generators have been maintained properly, and read and follow the labels, instructions, and warnings on the generator and in the owner’s manual.
  
  
• Look for portable generators that have a CO shut-off safety feature, which is designed to shut the generator off automatically when high levels of CO are present around the generator. These models may be advertised as certified to the latest safety standards for portable generators–PGMA G300-2018 and UL 2201–which are estimated to reduce deaths from CO poisoning by 87% and 100%, respectively.  UL 2201 certified models have reduced CO emissions in addition to the CO shut-off feature.

Check CO and Smoke Alarms

• Working smoke and CO alarms save lives! Install battery-operated CO alarms or CO alarms with battery backup on each level and outside separate sleeping areas at home. Interconnected CO alarms are best; when one sounds, they all sound. 
  
  
• Make sure smoke alarms are installed on every level and inside each bedroom at home.
  
  
• Test CO and smoke alarms monthly to make sure they are working properly, and replace batteries, if need Never ignore an alarm when it sounds. Get outside immediately. Then call 911.
  
  
• Clear snow away from the outside vents for fuel-burning appliances such as furnaces so that dangerous carbon monoxide does not build up in the house.

Dangers with Portable Heaters

• Keep all sides of the portable heater at least 3 feet from beds, clothes, curtains, papers, sofas and other items that can catch fire.
  
  
• ALWAYS use a wall outlet; NEVER a power strip and NEVER run the heater’s cord under rugs or carpeting.
  
  
• Make sure the heater is not near water. NEVER touch it if you are wet.
  
  
• Place the heater on a stable, level surface, located where it will not be knocked over.
  
  
• NEVER leave running unattended in a confined space to reduce hyperthermia hazards.
  
  
• If the heater’s cord or plug is HOT, disconnect the heater and contact an authorized repair person. If any part of the outlet is hot, contact a certified electrician.

Dangers with Charcoal and Candles

• NEVER use charcoal indoors. Burning charcoal in an enclosed space can produce lethal levels of CO. Do not cook on a charcoal grill in a garage, even with the door open.
  
  
• Use caution when burning candles. Use flashlights or battery-operated candles instead. If using candles, do not burn them on or near anything that can catch fire. Never leave burning candles unattended. Extinguish candles when leaving the room and before sleeping.

Dangers with Gas Leaks:

• If you smell or hear gas leaking, leave your home immediately and contact local gas authorities from outside the home. Do not operate any electronics, such as lights or phone, before leaving.

Remember, stay informed, be prepared and keep safe!

CPSC resources:

Poster – Carbon Monoxide (CO) the Invisible Killer

Poster – Carbon Monoxide (CO) the Invisible Killer (Spanish)

Carbon Monoxide Safety Center

Carbon Monoxide Safety Center (Spanish)

Fire Safety Center

Fire Safety Center (Spanish)

Link to broadcast quality video for media:

Winter Storm safety b-roll: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/Nf1RH1JDGn

CPSC spokespeople are available for interviews. Email nnye@cpsc.gov or call 240-204-4410 to arrange for an interview.

*Annual average for the number of reported fatal non-fire CO exposure deaths associated with generators each year from 2017-2019, the last three years of complete data in CPSC’s report (2011-2021). (Report/Table 3)

Individual Commissioners may have statements related to this topic.  Please visit www.cpsc.gov/commissioners to search for statements related to this or other topics.

About the U.S. CPSC

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product-related incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products has contributed to a decline in the rate of injuries associated with consumer products over the past 50 years.

Federal law prohibits any person from selling products subject to a Commission ordered recall or a voluntary recall undertaken in consultation with the CPSC.

Author: John Farrell and Maria McCoy  Published:  3/8/2023     ILSR

How are Community Solar Garden programs doing across the country?

For decades, rooftop solar has allowed homeowners to generate their own renewable electricity — reducing their dependence on monopoly utilities and lowering their energy bills. However, solar rooftops are not a viable option for many people. What about those who can’t afford one? What about renters? Plus, only a portion of buildings have roofs that are large enough, facing the right direction, and sunny enough for solar.

Community solar picks up where traditional rooftop solar fails.

Through community solar, individuals subscribe to a portion of a nearby solar garden and get credits on their energy bill for the electricity it produces. This way, people without the financial means for solar on their rooftops and people who don’t own suitable rooftops can still reap the benefits of renewable energy. Local governments and installers can go even further to include subscribers with poor credit, or use local installers on the project.

Community solar can and has been installed on places of worship, in brownfields, and over parking lots.

For more details on the benefits of community solar, see this report from Vote Solar, MnSEIA, and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

We report on Minnesota’s community solar program every month in this blog post, but community solar is gaining traction in other states, too. Community solar can happen in any state sharing two key market characteristics: virtual net metering and requirements for utilities to connect distributed solar to the grid (interconnection rules). Community solar program legislation can include both elements.

20 states have passed legislation supporting community shared solar gardens, but few have active programs with a significant number of interconnected gardens. ILSR will update this post quarterly with the number of projects and megawatts of installed capacity in states with a formal community solar program that allows non-utility ownership. ILSR tracks states with the largest community solar programs and states with accessible and regularly updated datasets.

Although rural electric cooperatives have built a significant amount of community solar, many of the programs do not allow non-utility ownership and may differ from state-based programs that are structured to provide bill savings to customers.

Colorado

After a successful pilot program in 2010, Colorado finally saw an expanded community solar garden program in 2016. The program still has a cap of 105 MW, a figure grown out of Xcel’s settlement deal. The Colorado community solar program has always had a goal of inclusivity. Since the 2010 pilot, the program has had a 5% carveout for low-income customers. Now, advocates hope this percentage can be dramatically increased as the state continues to update the program.

At the end of 2021, Colorado’s community solar program hit 102 completed projects with 130 total megawatts of operational capacity. Xcel Energy reports on Colorado’s community solar program in its annual Renewable Energy Compliance reports.

Illinois

In 2016, the Illinois Legislature passed the groundbreaking Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) with bipartisan support. The legislation includes the Adjustable Block Program, which makes solar energy more accessible to low and moderate income communities through community solar projects, rooftop solar, and brownfield solar. The adjustable block program is a state-administered solar incentive program facilitating new photovoltaic distributed generation development and community solar projects through the issuance of renewable energy credits provided in the first 15 years of operation. A “block” is a pre-established amount of capacity available for a certain type of project with set REC prices.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, Illinois’s community solar program held at 93 completed projects with 181 total megawatts of operational capacity.

Massachusetts

Although the Massachusetts Senate passed a virtual net metering bill in 2008, its first true community solar project went online in 2014. Massachusetts tracks and credits community solar gardens through two Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources programs: RPS Solar Carve-out II (phased out in 2020) and Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART).

In the fourth quarter of 2022, Massachusetts’s community solar program hit 472 completed projects with 796 total megawatts of operational capacity.

Maryland

Maryland’s community solar pilot program, established in 2017, is split among four investor-owned electric utilities. This chart displays the installed capacity in three: Baltimore Gas & Electric, Delmarva P&L, and Pepco. Data from Potomac Edison/First Energy is not complete enough for publication.

At the end of 2022, or pilot year five, Maryland’s community solar pilot hit 82 megawatts of operational capacity.

Minnesota

Minnesota’s community solar program launched in December of 2014, with the first full megawatt of projects installed in January 2017. The program has since taken off to become one of the most successful in the country. The success of the program in Minnesota can largely be attributed to its design, which places no caps on community solar project development. It is also carefully constructed to make solar economically viable. According to ILSR’s analysis, the program has saved Xcel Energy customers millions of dollars.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, Minnesota’s community solar program hit 462 completed projects with 863 total megawatts of operational capacity.

New Jersey

In 2021, New Jersey formalized its community solar program after two years of testing a community solar pilot. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities accepted stakeholder feedback in early 2022 to finalize the program rules. New Jersey’s clean energy program reports on the state’s solar and community solar pipeline every month.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, New Jersey’s community solar program 21 completed projects with 45 total megawatts of operational capacity.

New York

In 2017, New York’s Public Service Commission passed the Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) tariff. Meant to replace net metering, VDER credits distributed solar with a monetary value based on the many values that it provides to the system, including avoided fuel costs and avoided future power plant construction costs (for a deep dive, see our 2018 VDER coverage). Big utilities have supported VDER because, in some cases, the compensation rate of VDER is much lower than net metering. On top of this, it has made community solar programs confusing for developers and customers. In 2018, community solar advocates tried to put a moratorium on VDER, likening it to the Darth Vader of the community solar world. The New York Public Service Commission hopes a 2019 update will improve the program and make way for more community solar.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, New York’s community solar program hit 782 completed projects with 1,274 total megawatts of operational capacity.

Where is Community Solar Going?

Each state’s community solar program has been constantly evolving. Several of the programs have had to loosen restrictions, increase individual project size limits, and expand the overall size of the program. States that are now developing community solar policies would do well to build these changes into their programs from the beginning.

Minnesota had a significant lead in installed community solar capacity until the first quarter of 2022, at which point New York’s program surpassed Minnesota’s. Massachusetts and Minnesota had close to the same installed capacity in the third quarter of 2017, 114 MW and 116 MW respectively, but the Massachusetts program was not able to achieve growth rate as that of Minnesota. This was because the Minnesota program has no caps and secures an economical payout for installations. Recently, however, Minnesota’s community solar program has stalled. Community solar developers in the state have been plagued with interconnection delays, for which they blame utility Xcel Energy, and grid hosting capacity in some areas of the state is running low.

Many Colorado and Minnesota residents are served by the same utility company: Xcel Energy. Xcel in Colorado (the Public Service Company of Colorado), however, has maintained strict program caps on Solar Rewards Community Gardens. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has approved each program cap in a series of expansions. Despite the Colorado Legislature passing one of the first community solar bills in 2010, the program has struggled to grow within its confines.

Hawaii, Maine, Maryland each have budding community solar programs, but have yet to see many interconnected projects (or consistently publish data on them).

• Hawaii, by an April 2020 Public Utilities Commission order, has begun phase two of its community solar program. In this phase, more program capacity has been allotted and the program will now include additional technologies and community solar gardens specifically for low-to-moderate income subscribers.
• The Maine Legislature created rules for “net energy billing” in 2011. System size was limited to 660 kilowatts and a maximum of 10 participants were allowed per facility. The state expanded net energy billing in 2019 through L.D. 1711, raising the limit on community solar garden capacity to five megawatts and directing the PUC to establish a commercial solar tariff program to generate 350 megawatts of energy.

Return to this page for updates on programs in these states as they get started, in addition to quarterly progress updates for the seven states ILSR is tracking.

Other ILSR Resources on Community Solar

Interactive:

• ILSR’s Community Power Map, showing local and state policies and programs that help advance clean energy goals across the country
• The Community Power Toolkit, which includes community solar as one of 20+ tools communities can use to build energy democracy

Reports:

• Why Minnesota’s Community Solar Program is the Best, which tracks Minnesota’s Community Solar Program monthly since 2015
• 2020 Report Designing Community Solar Programs that Promote Racial and Economic Equity
• 2019 Report Minnesota’s Solar Gardens: the Status and Benefits of Community Solar
• 2016 report Beyond Sharing — How Communities Can Take Ownership of Renewable Power

For podcasts, videos, and more, see ILSR’s community renewable energy archive.

This article originally posted at ilsr.org. For timely updates, follow John Farrell on Twitter or get the Energy Democracy weekly update.

Author: Phil  Mckenna        Published: 3/6//2023     Inside Climate News

US DOE Staff   Published: 3/8/2023   EERE

Funding Updates 

DOE Issues Notice of Intent to Fund Applied Research and Development Projects to Drive Industrial Decarbonization

EERE’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office announced its intent to issue a funding opportunity for high-impact, applied research, development, and demonstration projects that will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions across the U.S. industrial sector.

Sustainable Transportation