CARBON: An investigation reveals mounting evidence that carbon offsets haven’t — and won’t — deliver the climate benefits they promise. (ProPublica)
ALSO:
• Representatives from more than 70 companies ask U.S. lawmakers to support a carbon tax proposal that could be introduced in weeks. (Reuters)
• Amazon says its shareholders have rejected an employee-backed initiative requiring the company to report to the public on its plans to cut its carbon footprint. (New York Times)
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SOLAR:
• Women are underrepresented in solar jobs but succeeding in multiple roles despite often lacking engineering and construction experience. (Energy News Network)
• The Connecticut Green Bank is successfully helping to boost solar power adoption in communities of color, according to a report. (Solar Builder)
• The Denver Housing Authority wins the top prize in a federal competition for its efforts to build a community solar garden to serve low-income residents. (The Denver Channel)
WIND:
• The U.S. wind industry is embracing solar, adding in-house solar teams and expanding an annual conference to include solar and storage. (Greentech Media)
• Wind energy executives say the fossil fuel industry is ramping up its efforts to “hobble the wind industry.” (Windpower Monthly)
• A wind turbine collapses at an Oklahoma wind farm. (Enid News & Eagle)
POLICY:
• Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan will allow a bill requiring 50% renewable energy by 2030 to become law without his signature. (Washington Post)
• U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer writes to New York state lawmakers in support of legislation to make the state free of fossil fuels by 2050. (Times Union)
• Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine introduces legislation to provide $60 million annually to research storage technologies. (The Hill)
TRANSPORTATION:
• Most states are missing opportunities to jumpstart transportation electrification using Volkswagen settlement funds, according to a report from two advocacy groups. (Energy News Network)
• Rhode Island may join the multi-state Transportation Climate Initiative, which is devising a way to set and sell emissions credits for vehicles. (ecoRI)
MICROGRIDS: Clean energy advocates urge ComEd to use renewables as the utility scales up a microgrid project in Chicago. (Energy News Network)
POLICY: FERC is quietly and profoundly shaping climate policy, and could do even more, according to a paper by one of its commissioners. (Vox)
PIPELINES:
• Environmental groups and protestors file a lawsuit challenging a Louisiana law that makes trespassing near pipelines a criminal offense. (Reuters)
• Author and activist Bill McKibben joins the fight against building a tunnel for an Enbridge pipeline in Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac. (MLive)
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COAL:
• At a Southern coal conference, an Energy Department representative blamed “censorship” and environmental activism for coal’s decline. (InsideClimate News)
• A federal report that claims resuming sales of coal from public lands will have a negligible impact on climate change is criticized as “absurd.” (Associated Press)
COMMENTARY: We have all the technology and solutions we need to decarbonize our electric system today, says the co-founder of solar company Sunrun. (The Hill)