The Fight

Sign In or Create an Account.

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

Hotspots

Trouble for Renewables in Rhode Island, Oregon, Iowa, and More

A look at the conflicts around renewable energy projects over the past week

Map.
Heatmap Illustration.

1. Newport County, Rhode Island – I’ve learned that climate activists in Rhode Island are now using local protests to oppose NIMBYs who are challenging renewables projects.

  • On Sept. 19, members of Climate Action Rhode Island – a local offshoot of 350.org – will be on the ground disrupting the entrance to a lavish dinner hosted by the Preservation Society of Newport County, a wealthy architectural conservation group that sued federal regulators over their approval of Eversource’s Revolution offshore wind project.
  • As that lawsuit works its way through the courts, activists are using local opposition to draw public attention to the Preservation Society and portray it as an obstacle to progress on decarbonization with op-eds, meetings, and now more protests.
  • Nick Horton of Climate Action Rhode Island told me that this public awareness campaign may also target the TV network HBO, as its show “The Gilded Age” has been filmed at the Preservation Society’s historic mansions.
  • “I think broadly speaking the environmental movement really needs to start organizing around the threat of NIMBYism, and needs to start identifying these NIMBY organizations as prime bad actors in the pushback against the renewable energy transition,” Horton said.

2. Coos County, Oregon – The Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians have sued the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management requesting it delay an offshore wind lease sale scheduled on Oct. 15.

  • The tribes are opposing offshore wind for many of the same reasons tribes in California and Washington state have fought against development – impacting the viewshed could hinder tribal cultural practices. This litigation also cites potential environmental impacts and requests additional government analysis.
  • This lawsuit arrives as two coastal counties – Coos and Curry – will vote this November on a non-binding ballot measure expressing opposition to offshore wind.

3. Polk County, Iowa – Landowners have sued the Iowa Utilities Commission over permitting the Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline and providing eminent domain authority, the latest in a string of setbacks that has galvanized local opposition from the midwest to the Dakotas.

  • Fresh off news of the lawsuit, Gevo – a sustainable aviation fuel startup that plans to use the pipeline to transport its products – today announced it acquired a new biofuels plant in North Dakota that it said can “mitigate risk” tied to the South Dakota plant it plans to link to Summit.
  • I spoke with Gevo CEO Patrick Gruber last month about Summit and his answer presaged this move: “When do we need a pipeline? Do I need it tomorrow? Nope. I don’t need it until 2027, 2028, I have a lot of time here. I don’t need it until then. I’ve got options, really. We have a lot of game to play still.”
  • I’ll be watching for future developments in the Summit saga as well as whether CO2 pipeline opposition is fueling local moratoria against solar and wind as well.

4. Houston County, Georgia – One of Georgia’s largest proposed solar projects has been rejected by a potential host county over its potential impacts to bear habitat and property values.

  • The roughly 4,600-acre Silicon Ranch solar project would be built next to a wilderness management area in an area home to black bears.
  • After reviewing county planning meeting minutes and local press reports, it appears these nature concerns galvanized residents, as well as recent legal challenges against other solar projects and home value concerns.
  • I’m watching this project because I’m seeing this fight pop up in opposition Facebook group discussions likely due to wildlife impacts. As Heatmap’s internal polling shows, bipartisan opposition to renewables is strongest when it involves concerns about animals.

Here’s what else I’m watching…

  • In southern Georgia, Brooks County is facing an outcry against a NextEra solar project so loud it’s spurring momentum for a moratorium. Bizarrely, news coverage of the backlash and ensuing public hearing has rippled across airwaves in other parts of the country too, from Michigan to New York.
  • In Kansas, Orsted’s efforts to expand the Sunflower wind farm have triggered a local moratorium – effective now.
  • In Maryland, a 70-mile power line proposed by Public Service Enterprise Group is beginning to face local opposition, including from local leaders in Baltimore County.
  • In New York, a family seeking to let BlueWave Solar build on their farm is facing the wrath of its neighbors.
In Washington state, Scout Clean Energy’s embattled Horse Heaven wind farm project has gotten the blessing of the state’s energy siting authority. The final approval now goes to Gov. Jay Inslee.

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
Hotspots

Judge, Siding With Trump, Saves Solar From NEPA

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

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Jackson County, Kansas – A judge has rejected a Hail Mary lawsuit to kill a single solar farm over it benefiting from the Inflation Reduction Act, siding with arguments from a somewhat unexpected source — the Trump administration’s Justice Department — which argued that projects qualifying for tax credits do not require federal environmental reviews.

  • We previously reported that this lawsuit filed by frustrated Kansans targeted implementation of the IRA when it first was filed in February. That was true then, but afterwards an amended complaint was filed that focused entirely on the solar farm at the heart of the case: NextEra’s Jeffrey Solar. The case focuses now on whether Jeffrey benefiting from IRA credits means it should’ve gotten reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act.
  • Perhaps surprisingly to some, the Trump Justice Department argued against these NEPA reviews – a posture that jibes with the administration’s approach to streamlining the overall environmental analysis process but works in favor of companies using IRA credits.
  • In a ruling that came down on Tuesday, District Judge Holly Teeter ruled the landowners lacked standing to sue because “there is a mismatch between their environmental concerns tied to construction of the Jeffrey Solar Project and the tax credits and regulations,” and they did not “plausibly allege the substantial federal control and responsibility necessary to trigger NEPA review.”
  • “Plaintiffs’ claims, arguments, and requested relief have been difficult to analyze,” Teeter wrote in her opinion. “They are trying to use the procedural requirements of NEPA as a roadblock because they do not like what Congress has chosen to incentivize and what regulations Jackson County is considering. But those challenges must be made to the legislative branch, not to the judiciary.”

2. Portage County, Wisconsin – The largest solar project in the Badger State is now one step closer to construction after settling with environmentalists concerned about impacts to the Greater Prairie Chicken, an imperiled bird species beloved in wildlife conservation circles.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Spotlight

Renewables Swept Up in Data Center Backlash

Just look at Virginia.

A data center.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Solar and wind projects are getting swept up in the blowback to data center construction, presenting a risk to renewable energy companies who are hoping to ride the rise of AI in an otherwise difficult moment for the industry.

The American data center boom is going to demand an enormous amount of electricity and renewables developers believe much of it will come from solar and wind. But while these types of energy generation may be more easily constructed than, say, a fossil power plant, it doesn’t necessarily mean a connection to a data center will make a renewable project more popular. Not to mention data centers in rural areas face complaints that overlap with prominent arguments against solar and wind – like noise and impacts to water and farmland – which is leading to unfavorable outcomes for renewable energy developers more broadly when a community turns against a data center.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Q&A

How the Wind Industry Can Fight Back

A conversation with Chris Moyer of Echo Communications

The Q&A subject.
Heatmap Illustration

Today’s conversation is with Chris Moyer of Echo Communications, a D.C.-based communications firm that focuses on defending zero- and low-carbon energy and federal investments in climate action. Moyer, a veteran communications adviser who previously worked on Capitol Hill, has some hot takes as of late about how he believes industry and political leaders have in his view failed to properly rebut attacks on solar and wind energy, in addition to the Inflation Reduction Act. On Tuesday he sent an email blast out to his listserv – which I am on – that boldly declared: “The Wind Industry’s Strategy is Failing.”

Of course after getting that email, it shouldn’t surprise readers of The Fight to hear I had to understand what he meant by that, and share it with all of you. So here goes. The following conversation has been abridged and lightly edited for clarity.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow