The Fight

Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Hotspots

Empire Wind in the Crosshairs

And more of the week’s biggest renewable energy fights.

Renewable energy conflicts across the country.
Heatmap Illustration

1. Bristol County, Massachusetts – The state of Massachusetts is abandoning plans to build an offshore wind research center in New Bedford, a fishing town that has also hosted protests against Vineyard Wind.

  • According to media reports, a local attorney gathered more than 260 signatures against the project’s proposed location in New Bedford and municipal elected leaders spoke out against it.
  • This led the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a state entity planning the facility, to fold its plans and vote to reallocate all of the money to an “initiative” instead that will use existing buildings in the area. It’s unclear as of now what that will look like.

2. Long Island, New York – Speaking of offshore wind woes, the anti-wind activist movement is now circling Empire Wind and asking President Donald Trump to rescind the EPA air permit to the Equinor offshore project.

  • Two prominent anti-offshore wind organizations – Save the East Coast and Protect our Coast-Long Island – announced yesterday in a press release posted to Facebook that they were petitioning the EPA to take the permit away, just like it did earlier this month with the Atlantic Shores project off the coast of New Jersey.
  • Activists have also asked EPA to get rid of air permits for New England Wind and Vineyard Wind, by the way. We’ll be watching their documents closely.

3. Fayette County, Pennsylvania – This sought-after county for solar development appears to be on the precipice of enacting a sweeping 500-foot property setback requirement.

  • The ordinance would apply to all towns in the county that do not already have a zoning ordinance for solar energy, which is the vast majority. Bear Peak Power, a developer operating in the county, is reportedly opposing the ordinance over a shortened permitting timeline.

4. Tippecanoe County, Indiana – Solar developer Geenex is beginning what’ll likely be a tense battle to win special zoning approval for a large utility-scale solar project in an area that already is subject to a restrictive setback ordinance.

5. Jefferson County, Wisconsin – We’re about to get a glimpse of whether Wisconsin can be as difficult a battleground for large-scale solar in rural areas as Ohio.

  • The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin recently found a state environmental impact statement for Ranger Power’s 180-megawatt Whitewater Solar project in Jefferson and Walworth County was “not required.” If the commission does not reconsider its decision, state permits are all but guaranteed.
  • This has sent opponents of the project into a tizzy. “Friends please help,” reads a new page on the website for Stop Whitewater Solar, a local organization led by disgruntled residents nearby the project area. The group is seeking comments to request an EIS.
  • I’m not convinced Stop Whitewater Solar will achieve what its name states though. A Change.org petition against the project created by someone involved in the group has received less than two dozen signatures.

6. Routt County, Colorado – We have our first-ever entry of Hotspots from Colorado, thanks to a zoning snafu.

  • Trapper Solar, an RWE subsidiary, has seen its proposal to build the largest solar project in the county stalled after Routt officials passed a new zoning code apparently days after the developer’s application was filed. The zoning code isn’t renewables-specific, but included a litany of new environmental mitigation requirements for development generally.
  • This wasn't entirely unexpected. Despite Routt’s overwhelmingly Democratic politics, Heatmap Pro gives it an above-average risk profile, thanks to its affluence, wealth of protected lands, and a workforce centered around skiing and tourism.

7. Fannin County, Texas – County commissioners here are now forming a joint planning committee with the city of Savoy, where we told you residents fearful after the Moss Landing battery fire are trying to stop an Engie storage facility from being built.

  • The decision was prompted by the battery storage fight. It’s unclear if the committee’s formation can lead to new impediments to development here, because Texas municipalities have far less control over development than towns and cities in other states.

8. Fresno County, California – The Moss Landing fire isn’t stopping Gov. Gavin Newsom from expediting new battery storage project permits.

  • Newsom last week issued a legal certification protecting against judicial challenges for a 300-megawatt storage facility in the city of Fresno proposed by Cornucopia Hybrid.
  • The certification specifically means any court challenge will need to be decided within 270 days “to the extent feasible,” according to the governor’s office. This makes me wonder – are they predicting legal action?

9. Alaska – How do you kill a battery project if no one’s around to protest? Take away its money… and that’s why my mind is on the Kodiak State.

  • Today, the climate news outlet Heated reported a secret “hit list” inside of the Trump administration calls to rescind $50 million promised to Westinghouse for a pumped thermal energy storage project intended to help the small community of Healy rely entirely on wind energy generation. It’s one of the emptiest regions of the country.

This article is exclusively
for Heatmap Plus subscribers.

Go deeper inside the politics, projects, and personalities
shaping the energy transition.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Spotlight

Birds Could Be the Anti-Wind Trump Card

How the Migratory Bird Treaty Act could become the administration’s ultimate weapon against wind farms.

A golden eagle and wind turbines.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The Trump administration has quietly opened the door to strictly enforcing a migratory bird protection law in a way that could cast a legal cloud over wind farms across the country.

As I’ve chronicled for Heatmap, the Interior Department over the past month expanded its ongoing investigation of the wind industry’s wildlife impacts to go after turbines for killing imperiled bald and golden eagles, sending voluminous records requests to developers. We’ve discussed here how avian conservation activists and even some former government wildlife staff are reporting spikes in golden eagle mortality in areas with operating wind projects. Whether these eagle deaths were allowable under the law – the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act – is going to wind up being a question for regulators and courts if Interior progresses further against specific facilities. Irrespective of what one thinks about the merits of wind energy, it’s extremely likely that a federal government already hostile to wind power will use the law to apply even more pressure on developers.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Hotspots

New Mexico’s NIMBYs Vow to Fight Again in Santa Fe

And more on the week’s most important conflicts around renewable energy projects.

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Santa Fe County, New Mexico – County commissioners approved the controversial AES Rancho Viejo solar project after months of local debate, which was rendered more intense by battery fire concerns.

  • Opposition to the nearly 100-megawatt solar project in the Santa Fe area was entirely predictable, per Heatmap Pro data, which shows overwhelming support for renewable energy in theory, yet an above average chance of NIMBYism arising. That genuine NIMBY quotient appears resilient, prompting even climate activist Bill McKibben to weigh in on the loud volume of the opposition.
  • The commission approved the project’s necessary permit on Tuesday after local fire officials cleared it on safety grounds. Opponents, however, led by an organization named Clean Energy Coalition for Santa Fe County, reportedly plan to sue over the approval, anyway.

2. Nantucket, Massachusetts – The latest episode of the Vineyard Wind debacle has dropped, and it appears the offshore wind project’s team is now playing ball with the vacation town.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Q&A

Trump’s Take on Environmental Review Has Some Silver Linings

Talking NEPA implementation and permitting reform with Pamela Goodwin, an environmental lawyer at Saul Ewing LLP.

Pamela Goodwin.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

This week’s conversation is with Pamela Goodwin, an environmental lawyer with Saul Ewing LLP. I reached out to her to chat about permitting because, well, when is that not on all of our minds these days. I was curious, though, whether Trump’s reforms to National Environmental Policy Act regulations and recent court rulings on the law’s implementation would help renewables in any way, given how much attention has been paid to “permitting reform” over the years. To my surprise, there are some silver linings here – though you’ll have to squint to see them.

The following chat was lightly edited for clarity.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow