Blog

September 8, 2021

Energy Fairness Podcast #1: Somerset REC and its Response to Flight 93

For Energy Fairness’ first podcast, Executive Director Paul Griffin has an in-depth conversation with former Somerset Rural Electric Cooperative CEO, Rich Bauer, regarding the small rural electric coop’s response to the Flight 93 crash site.   Somerset’s employees were some of the first on the scene and had to overcome numerous […]
September 3, 2021

The wrath of Ida prompts calls for resilient energy infrastructure

Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on Louisiana and Mississippi earlier this week. The storm’s 150 miles per hour winds knocked out the power for around 1 million people and took more than 2000 miles of critical high-voltage transmission offline. An army of brave linemen is pouring into the region, but it […]
September 2, 2021

New York Will Need More Than Renewables To Reach Climate Goals

New York has some of the most aggressive clean energy goals in the U.S. The Empire State expects 70% of its electricity to originate from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040. While the 2030 goal is in reach, power providers say the 2040 goal is unattainable […]
August 27, 2021

U.S. Departure from Afghanistan Complicates Rare Earth Minerals Market

We offer our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the 13 U.S. Marines currently identified as having lost their lives in deadly attacks in Kabul and offer our prayers for those Americans and others still awaiting evacuation from Afghanistan. As Americans reel from the loss of at […]
August 18, 2021

Biden Administration Looks to OPEC, Not U.S. Drillers, to Ease Pain at the Pump

Gas prices are edging up ever higher. Consumers feel the pain, with prices currently hovering around a dollar a gallon more than a year ago. The Biden Administration has called on OPEC and its allies to ramp up supply and bring prices down. However, we can’t help but wonder, why […]
August 10, 2021

Nuclear is Key For Cutting Emissions

To win on climate, we’ll need access to clean energy that can run 24/7. At the moment, nuclear energy is the only power source that can do that. Unfortunately, as we’ve noted many times, nuclear facilities have been closing at a startling pace in the U.S., with the Vogtle project […]
July 27, 2021

Showdown in the Land of Lincoln

About an hour and a half southeast of St. Louis in the heartland of Illinois sits the Prairie State Energy Campus – one of the most modern and environmentally controlled coal power stations in the country.  Not quite ten years old, Prairie State is among the most efficient plants in […]
July 21, 2021

Colonial Pipeline Attack Spurs Action

In May, the Eastern European crime group DarkSide shut down the Colonial Pipeline for six days. The pipeline is a critical piece of infrastructure that provides 45% of fuel for the East Coast. The shutdown left thousands of service stations without gas and pushed prices to the highest levels in […]
July 16, 2021

Energy Storage to Get Its Shot

Can researchers bring the cost of energy storage down 90% over the next decade? A new initiative from the Biden Administration hopes to accomplish just that. U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm announced the program, called the Long Duration Storage Shot, as the second target of the Department of Energy’s […]
July 12, 2021

Supreme Court calls into question efforts to address climate change impacts through state courts

ICYMI: Energy Fairness Executive Director Paul Griffin authored an article in The Daily Sentinel arguing that climate policy should be set by Congress, not the Supreme Court. The original piece can be viewed here. In May, the Supreme Court issued a blow to climate lawsuit advocates seeking to legislate climate change policy […]
July 8, 2021

Alabama’s Carbon Capture Center Tests Breakthrough Technology

Energy Fairness has always enthusiastically supported carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) research and development. The technology has enormous potential to take carbon dioxide emissions from the air and convert them into everyday products such as plastics or even jet fuel. Yet, there’s exciting potential in another use—concrete building blocks. […]
July 1, 2021

California moves to end unfair $230/year rooftop solar subsidy for rich

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted to end an unfair rooftop solar subsidy that generally favors the rich.   The CPUC action highlights that after 25 years, the rooftop solar industry is mature and no longer needs to be subsidized on the backs of the poor and middle-class Californians. […]
March 28, 2012

PACE in National Journal: Time to Listen to Americans

This week, the National Journal asked its group of energy and environment experts a seminal question about energy politics: “Is President Obama’s effort in the last several weeks to tout his administration’s commitment to energy production and to streamline energy infrastructure all talk–or is it action, too?” As a response, PACE […]
April 2, 2012

The $4 Hamster

After returning recently from a birthday party sleepover, my pre-teen daughter raved about the two new pets her friend owned: dwarf hamsters. They were so small and cuddly, she reasoned, leading inexorably to the dreaded question, “Can we buy one?” The answer was, of course, no. After emotional tactics failed, […]
April 11, 2012

Nevada Ratepayers Left Twisting in the Wind

A recent report from Nevada provides a cautionary tale for communities and states that hope to use ratepayer dollars to find experimental energy projects. NV Energy is a public utility that generates and distributes power for customers in northern and southern Nevada, including greater Las Vegas. As part of the […]
May 2, 2012

PACE Blasts EPA Politics in Houston Chronicle

The Houston Chronicle yesterday published an opinion piece from PACE entitled “Time for the EPA to Stop Putting Politics Before Facts.” An excerpt from that piece appears below. It’s not too often that a government agency compares its own tactics to that of the ancient Romans – especially when it […]
May 7, 2012

TVA’s New Watts Bar Nuclear Unit Moves Ahead

On April 26th, the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority approved the continuation of construction of a second unit at the power provider’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. The project, originally approved by the Board in 2007, has experienced construction challenges that will delay its completion from a target […]
May 22, 2012

PACE: Climate Change Editorial Offbase

A recent opinion piece in the Montgomery Advertiser by columnist Josh Moon blasted Alabama lawmakers and at least one member of the state’s Public Service Commission for not supporting a state climate change plan. PACE disagreed, writing the following response which was published by the newspaper. While Josh Moon’s recent […]