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BIDEN ADMINISTRATION BOOSTS WIND AND SOLAR ON FEDERAL LAND: President Joe Biden authorized a major boon to wind and solar companies and project developers by increasing subsidies for green tech in the Inflation Reduction Act, and now his administration wants to further cheapen the cost of adding new generating capacity to meet his climate goals.
The Interior Department is using its rulemaking authority to reorganize some regulatory processes and accelerate the development of renewable energy on federally managed lands and waters while at the same time increasing costs on new oil and gas development.
What’s new: The Bureau of Land Management proposed a rule last week that would cut fees for wind and solar on public lands by some 80% and seek to accelerate proposed projects more quickly by amending its right-of-way regulations.
Acreage rents and capacity fees, the latter of which are paid based on the amount of electricity produced from solar or wind energy resources on the public land, would be reduced for new and existing solar and wind energy facilities under the proposed rule.
Capacity fees would be levied on actual production rather than a facility’s nameplate capacity, which advantages wind and solar because facilities’ nameplate capacity is typically higher than the electricity they’re able to generate. BLM also would be able to make right-of-way authorizations good for 50 years compared to the current 30 year maximum.
The bureau also proposed to modify the application process for public lands inside of solar and wind designated leasing areas to allow for either competitive or non-competitive leasing processes.
All about growth: BLM was motivated to increase commercial interest in developing wind and solar resources on public lands, it said in its proposed rule, adding that reducing costs “should particularly benefit smaller scale projects or projects that are on the margins of being economically profitable.”
“Through the rent and fee adjustments contemplated in this rule, the BLM also expects that lower acreage rental rates and capacity fees for solar and wind energy generating facilities would translate into lower costs for energy deployment, increasing renewable energy market penetration in domestic energy production,” the rule said.
The changes support Biden’s goal of decarbonizing the power sector by 2035 and would help Interior meet its congressional mandate. The Energy Act of 2020 charged the department to authorize the production of at least 25 gigawatts of renewable energy on public lands by 2025. Currently, Interior has authorized 13 gigawatts of electricity from renewable energy.
Adding to changes in the OSC: BLM’s proposed rule adds to regulatory changes the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced in January to fast track offshore wind capacity, which Biden wants to increase from less than 1 gigawatt of currently installed capacity to 30 gigawatts by 2030.
Contra oil and gas: Interior’s regulatory changes favoring renewable energy are effectively the inverse of what it’s doing for oil and gas, whose development Biden has sought to limit.
BLM in November increased rents, royalties, and minimum bids for leases in accordance with the Inflation Reduction Act. It also ended non-competitive leasing, which yielded considerably less revenue than competitive lease sales.
The costs increases and cessation of non-competitive leasing were motivated by a sense that taxpayers weren’t getting a fair return for leasing public lands to energy companies, as Interior expressed in its November 2021 report recommending reforms to the leasing program.
Importantly, oil and gas leasing has picked back up since the IRA was passed, conditioning right-of-way issuance for renewables on regular mineral leasing.
The bureau will offer 127,015 acres for lease next week in Wyoming and just issued another notice of sale on Friday to lease another 95,351 acres of public lands in Wyoming in September, with several other sales either scheduled or in the process.
The higher leasing costs don’t look to be inhibiting interest in public lands. BLM’s May lease sale in New Mexico and Kansas yielded $78,844,369, making it the highest-earning onshore lease sale since 2019.
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MONTANA SQUARES OFF AGAINST YOUTH CLIMATE PLAINTIFFS: A first-of-its-kind climate change case pitting the state of Montana against a group of young plaintiffs resumed this week, as state officials sought to dispute the notion that their government has a constitutional obligation to protect its residents from the effects of climate change.
The landmark case is the first of its kind to receive a trial in the U.S. Sixteen plaintiffs, ranging from ages 6 to 22, filed a lawsuit against the state of Montana in 2020, alleging that the state violated its own constitution by embracing fossil fuel projects and ignoring climate change.
The case centers on the question of whether Montana’s Environmental Policy Act, which requires agencies to weigh environmental health against development of new energy resources, is unconstitutional, since it does not allow the state to consider the harm from additional greenhouse gas emissions or other adverse climate effects.
Plaintiffs have alleged that MEPA volates a 1972 provision in Montana’s constitution, which says that the “state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.”
But state officials, who began their argument yesterday, have rejected the claim, noting that the MEPA provision is procedural and used solely to create environmental assessments of projects, rather than issuing the actual permits that allow them to move forward.
If successful, the case could serve as precedent for residents in other states seeking to hold government officials or businesses accountable for their role in fossil fuel projects. Read more from Breanne here.
ISRAEL REQUIRING ALL NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS TO HAVE ROOFTOP SOLAR: Israel is requiring all non-residential buildings to have rooftop solar panels as part of its effort to quickly deliver on its renewable energy target while also accounting for its limited space and growing population.
The plan, which was introduced earlier this year by Israel’s Energy Ministry, will remove a key Form 4 requirement that was previously required for buildings before they could have rooftop solar installed.
It will also go a long way in helping Israel deliver on its goal of reaching 30% renewable energy sources by 2030, which it has fallen behind on, said Ron Eifer, the head of the ministry’s sustainable energy division.
“We have to take some dramatic steps,” he added.
Other, more stringent requirements could be put into place soon: Israel is also requiring residential buildings to have roofs that are “fully equipped” for easy installation of solar panels later, though they did not specify a date.
EPA OFFICIAL TO TESTIFY TO AGENCY’S VEHICLE EMISSIONS REGS: House Oversight’s Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs will hear testimony tomorrow from a top EPA official on the agency’s proposed vehicle emissions regulations, which Republicans have complained is too aggressive and promised to overturn with a resolution of disapproval once it’s finalized.
Joe Goffman, who is principal deputy assistant administrator in the Office of Air and Radiation, will be the lone witness before the Republican-led committee tomorrow.
Goffman, who helped write the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, was renominated by Biden to lead OAR after his nomination stalled in the evenly split Environment and Public Works Committee last year. EPW advanced his nomination in April in a party-line vote.
NHTSA INVESTIGATING HYUNDAI IONIQ 5 OVER POWER LOSS INCIDENTS: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is probing the 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 after 30 consumers complained that they had “a loss of motive power” when operating the battery-electric vehicle.
Customers reported experiencing a “loud pop noise” before losing power, according to the agency, although no crashes, fires, injuries, or fatalities were reported.
Hyundai relayed to the NHTSA that the incidents were related to the vehicle’s integrated control charging unit.
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