As the president and the coal industry continue to rely on dubious arguments to justify the idea of keeping economically struggling coal plants afloat, we began to wonder: what are electric utilities doing on the ground? Read more >
Jeremy's Latest Posts
Utilities Look Toward a Clean Energy Future, Yet the Administration Keeps Looking Back
September 21, 2018 1:47 PM EDT
Photo: Greg Goebel/Wikimedia Commons
Rick Perry Rejects Facts in Favor of Coal and Nuclear Bailouts
August 9, 2018 7:26 PM EDT
Much has been written on coal and coal miners since the president began campaigning in earnest in 2016. The president continues to push for a misguided federal bailout of the coal industry—a blatant political payoff to campaign donors using taxpayer money with no long-term solutions for coal workers. As is typical with this administration, substance and science and evidence are inconsequential compared to ideology, and their attempts to bail out money-losing coal and nuclear plants are no exception. Here’s a quick take on how we got here and what to expect next. Read more >
Photo: Peabody Energy/Wikimedia Commons
Black Lung Resurgence: Without Action, Taxpayers Will Foot the Medical Bills
July 5, 2018 10:23 AM EDT
I’ve written previously about my family’s experience with black lung and how the disease is making a frightening resurgence. A bit like a miner’s headlamp in the darkness, two recent federal reports and several federal scientific studies shine a light on the disease and its implications—and policymakers should take notice.
Department of Energy Releases Bogus Study to Prop Up Coal Plants
April 10, 2018 9:40 AM EDT
A few months ago, the Department of Energy (DOE) made a request to one of its national labs, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), to study the impacts on the electricity grid of a severe cold snap called the bomb cyclone that hit the Northeast in early January 2018. NETL conducts important R&D on fossil energy technologies. The report released last week uses deeply flawed assumptions to inaccurately paint coal (and to a lesser extent, fuel oil) as the savior that prevented large-scale blackouts during the extreme cold, while greatly understating the contribution from renewable energy sources. It also estimates a bogus value for coal providing these so-called “resiliency” services. One has to wonder whether this deeply flawed and misleading study is part of the administration’s continued attempts to prop up the coal industry at all costs Read more >
What to Look For in Tomorrow’s DOE Budget Hearing
March 21, 2018 10:24 AM EDT
On Thursday morning, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies (within the Committee on Appropriations) will hold a hearing on applied energy funding for the FY 2019 budget. (The FY 2018 budget, which goes until the end of September, is being finalized this week in order to avoid a government shutdown on Friday.) We’ll see a parade of undersecretaries and assistant secretaries of the applied energy technology offices within the Department of Energy (DOE)—all of whom are political appointees—attempt to justify their boss’s proposal seeking to gut R&D funding for clean energy and low carbon technologies. Read more >