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Policy Watch

The Climate Election’s Big Local Votes

What happened this week in climate and energy policy, beyond the federal election results.

Map of South Dakota for the Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline.
Heatmap illustration.

1. It’s the election, stupid – We don’t need to retread who won the presidential election this week (or what it means for the Inflation Reduction Act). But there were also big local control votes worth watching closely.

  • South Dakotans at the ballot box successfully defeated a law intended to expedite approvals and construction of the Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline, my colleague Emily Pontecorvo writes.
  • In Morro Bay, California, almost 60% of voters weighed in to support stopping a battery energy storage facility. Developer Vistra announced plans for an alternative permitting pathway a day before voting commenced.
  • In Oregon, voters in two coastal counties overwhelmingly voted to reject offshore wind in a non-binding resolution.
  • In Maine, the small town of Harpswell might’ve gone for vice president Kamala Harris – but it also rejected opening land to a small solar farm.
  • Heatmap did a full accounting of climate and energy races across the country. Take a gander!

2. Michigan lawsuit watch – Michigan has a serious lawsuit brewing over its law taking some control of renewable energy siting decisions away from municipalities.

  • The law firm Foster Swift last month announced it would file a lawsuit on behalf of Michigan towns challenging implementation of PA 233, a law that gave the Michigan Public Service Commission authority over some siting decisions.
  • Foster Swift requested municipalities join their efforts before a legal deadline to file suit on November 8. Some townships have publicly announced their involvement. We’re on the lookout to see when this case is ultimately filed to state court.

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Spotlight

Is the California Battery Fire an East Palestine Moment?

Moss Landing is turning into a growing problem for the energy storage industry.

Moss Landing in the crosshairs.
Heatmap Pro/Getty Images

The Moss Landing battery fire now may be the storage industry’s East Palestine moment – at least in California.

In the weeks since Vistra’s battery plant south of San Francisco caught fire on January 16, at least two lawsuits have been filed against Vistra, PG&E, and battery manufacturer LG Chem by people and business owners claiming damages from the blaze. I have learned at least one more will be filed by individuals who’ve conducted headline-grabbing soil samples that found toxic metals.

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Hotspots

The Vineyard Wind Lawsuit 2.0

And more of the week’s top conflicts around renewable energy.

The Vineyard Wind Lawsuit 2.0

1. Nantucket County, Massachusetts – Welcome to the Vineyard Wind lawsuit 2.0.

  • Fishermen represented by a conservative legal group – the Texas Public Policy Foundation – filed a petition to the Supreme Court this week asserting that the justices can now reconsider approvals for the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project because of the high court’s decision to overturn the Chevron doctrine, a now-defunct judicial precedent that courts defer to agencies on statutory interpretation.
  • It’s not entirely clear whether overturning Chevron will produce a different outcome than the Court’s decision to ignore the last petition from fisherman about Vineyard Wind’s permits. But the argument is definitely different, as the new petition argues a lower court wrongly deferred to agency interpretation of federal laws used to approve the project.
  • The Texas Public Policy Foundation did not respond to requests to discuss this case.

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Q&A

The Case for Agrivoltaics

A conversation with Samantha Levy of American Farmland Trust

The Case for Agrivoltaics

Today’s conversation is with Samantha Levy, senior policy manager for conservation and energy at American Farmland Trust, an agriculture and energy advocacy organization I became familiar with through covering the conflict over solar on farmland. I reached out to Levy after the organization released new recommendations for agrivoltaics policy last week – just before a large agrivoltaics project was canceled in Ohio over local opposition. I wanted to ask: are there any bright spots for the future of solar and farms commingling?

Today’s conversation was lightly edited for clarity.

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