On the Blogs: Ohio’s Fight Against Wind Turbines I...

American Wind Energy Association: For years, Ohio has largely missed out on economic development opportunities from the U.S. wind industry. Currently, Ohio contains just three utility-scale wind projects, significantly less than neighboring states. As a result, Ohio wind projects represent just $1.1 billion of capital investments, significantly lagging neighboring states. In comparison, the U.S. wind industry has invested...

Rover Pipeline faces more environmental scrutiny &...

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it found diesel fuel in the drilling mud Rover Pipeline builders spilled in a local wetland in April. With the discovery, the state EPA raised the proposed penalty against Rover to $914,000 and ordered the pipeline company to monitor groundwater around the spill area and near a quarry where workers have been disposing drilling mud in pits. The quarry is near a well owned...

Michigan Rep. Tim Walberg says God will ‘tak...

                        U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg.(Photo: J. Scott Park, Associated Press)   U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan said last week that while he believes climate change is real, it is something for God — not humans — to fix, according to a report in Time.  The congressman told his constituents during a town hall meeting in Coldwater that he believes God will...

New technology could recover more oil from early B...

Oil companies are applying new hydraulic fracturing techniques to early Bakken wells, a process industry leaders say has the potential to recover more oil without increasing the footprint on the land. Operators are targeting wells drilled between 2008 and 2010, the early years of Bakken development before fracking technology advanced to where it is today. Companies are refracturing the older wells using today’s technology...

Surge In Hydraulic Fracturing Drives Water Managem...

A new wave of drilling activity in the hydraulic fracturing sector has kick-started demand for water management solutions in a sector that was lagging less than a year ago. With a rebound in drilling activity underway, energy company spend on U.S. water management is forecasted to rise 47% by the end of 2017, according to Bluefield Research’s new Market Insight, Water for U.S. Hydraulic Fracturing Market: Competitive...

Another Fracking Time Bomb Lurks Beneath U.S.

You’ve heard about the earthquakes, the controversial claims of flammable tap water, the potential contamination of streams, lakes and drinking water aquifers, but the system that’s supposed to pay for these calamities may itself be a pending disaster. Most states protect taxpayers from cleanup costs by requiring oil and gas producers to buy a surety bond that will pay in the event of a disaster. But those bond...

PlanetPolicy – The galvanized world response...

President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement is bad for the U.S. and bad for the world, but has galvanized global commitments to the goals of climate stabilization and to the agreement itself. The decision itself is a major error. The loss of American leadership hurts the ability of the international community to reach our scientifically grounded, global, long-term goals for reducing...

Report: Expanded efficiency opt-out could cost Ohi...

An expansion of the opt-out provisions for Ohio’s energy efficiency standard will likely lead to more than $6 billion in added energy and health costs over the next decade, according to a new report from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. ACEEE issued its analysis Wednesday morning, shortly before state representative Lou Blessing (R-Colerain Township) was due to provide sponsor testimony to an Ohio Senate...

7 reasons to be alarmed by record-setting levels o...

Carbon dioxide levels in the air over the past 400,000 years. Trump puts humanity back on track to CO2 levels not seen since it was 5° to 10°F warmer and seas were 75 to 120 feet higher. Despite the best efforts of the Trump administration to ignore or contradict scientific reality, carbon dioxide levels continue to soar far outside the bounds of what Homo sapiens have ever experienced. Monthly levels of heat-trapping CO2...

If the Arctic Refuge isn’t protected, no pub...

President Trump is taking aim at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. His proposed federal budget would open the Refuge to extensive oil drilling and industrial development. The Arctic Refuge, often referred to as “America’s greatest wilderness,” is one of the most beautiful, yet fragile places in the world. If our leaders are willing to allow drilling in places as pristine and vulnerable as the Arctic Refuge, then none of...

What you need to know about the Ohio legislature’s...

 As you read this article, a debate about the future of public lands in this country is taking place. Who wins this debate will determine whether or not the natural places that make our nation and state special are here for future generations to enjoy. While unprecedented attacks on national parks and forests are happening in our nation’s capital, threats to public lands don’t stop at the federal level. Ohio’s state parks...

Climate change: $4 trillion carbon tax is needed t...

World Bank-backed report says revenue could be used in a number of ways, such as paying out household rebates, alleviating poverty and fostering low-carbon infrastructure Cottam coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire AFP/Getty A global carbon tax that would raise trillions of dollars if applied across the world should be introduced if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change, 13 leading economists have said in a...

Pulling Out of the Global Climate-Risk Accord Is T...

Pursuing Politics Over Economics Is a Dead End Whatever one thinks of the politics around the Trump administration walking away from the Paris climate accord, it’s a bad business move. By going back on the agreement, the administration is damaging the U.S. economy on several fronts. First, it means the U.S. will be stepping back from a new global era in energy production and consumption, declining to take part in tremendous...

Exxon shareholders vote to force company to disclo...

In a first, the oil and gas giant will be forced to consider risks to its assets as the world moves to a low-carbon future. <img class=”progressiveMedia-noscript js-progressiveMedia-inner” src=”https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*H_M04ZYuoCCkA0Gl–KKBQ.jpeg”> CREDIT: AP Photo/Mark Humphrey In a surprise victory for climate advocates, 62...

Iowa solar installers rush to get ahead of possibl...

While it remains unclear how an Iowa utility will change the way solar customers are compensated, installers in the state aren’t taking chances. Alliant Energy is expected to introduce a new tariff for customer generation today as part of an ongoing process initiated by state regulators. Some people in the state’s solar industry, as well as some clean-energy advocates , suspect that Alliant’s proposed new tariff will...