BLM Boost

Good morning and happy Friday,

This week, a first-of-its-kind climate trial came to a close in Montana, and Texas residents endured a heat wave that brought soaring temperatures and spiked energy demand, leading ERCOT to ask residents to conserve electricity.

Meanwhile, the Mitten State has also seen extreme weather and wildfires, prompting Democratic lawmakers there to propose legislation that would advance zero-carbon sources of electricity, and NEPA could be on the verge of a “21st century makeover” that could significantly streamline environmental reviews.

Read on for more.

BLM Boost

The U.S. Department of the Interior recently announced a proposed update to right-of-way regulations governing the development of wind and solar on public lands. The changes are designed to expand renewable energy installations by “increas(ing) economic certainty” for developers while also lowering the cost of clean energy for consumers. Here are some key details:

• The new regulation would reduce project fees for wind and solar on public lands by approximately 80%, expanding on a 2022 reduction that had already lowered them by 50%. Importantly, the rule would codify further reductions, “making them harder to reverse under a future political administration.”????
• The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) also expects that its proposed rule will help streamline application reviews by, among other things, “allowing the bureau to accept leasing applications without going through a full auction, and accept non-competitive applications that are in the public interest,” as allowed under the 2020 Energy Act.?
• The BLM also released “preliminary alternatives” regarding updates to its 2012 Western Solar Plan, which established a programmatic environmental review for developing solar across 11 Western states. The purpose of the update is to identify areas with high potential, “expedite permit processing and improve permit management.”

?? The Takeaway

Hi-ho solar, away! Public lands have the potential to play a significant role in helping to decarbonize the U.S. electricity sector by 2035. The DOI “has a congressional mandate to permit 25 GW of renewable energy on federal land by 2025,” and the BLM is currently processing applications for more than 37 GW of geothermal, wind and solar projects as well as transmission lines to move the clean power. Giddy up!

Red States on the Red Carpet

Green energy depends on red states, and that’s why new-ish Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous is focusing on places that haven’t received as much attention from his organization – or other e-NGOs – in the past. Here are a few color swatches from his approach:

• Passage of the IRA was a catalyzing event, and the estimated $370+ billion it will direct toward investments in clean energy will transform all 50 states, but “Almost 90% of large-scale renewable projects will be placed in red states,” as will much of the manufacturing capacity.
• Jealous wants to make sure the IRA funding is well spent, including ensuring progress on environmental justice. To this end, he wants to “revamp the organization to expand its presence in red states” and conservative areas of the country, which by his own admission the Sierra Club hasn’t covered as well as blue states.
• The Sierra Club’s overt focus on building support among conservatives reflects a broader strategic shift among climate and clean energy advocates, and a recognition that bi-partisan buy-in is essential to advance climate solutions.

?? The Takeaway

It’s turbo time. Of course, many Republicans agree that reducing GHG emissions is essential, including Arnold Schwarzenegger. In an interview on CBS Sunday Morning last month, he said working for a cleaner environment “Is my crusade,” but “No one gives a s--- about” climate change. Instead, he says, we should be talking about pollution. “Pollution creates climate change, and pollution kills.”

• Watching Waste-lines: ‘end-of-life’ solar panels, wind turbines, is about to be climate tech’s big waste business
• Blackstone Goes Big: Blackstone raises stake to $4bn in privately-owned Invenergy Renewables
• In Fine Form: Form Energy closes its biggest deal yet for long-duration energy storage
• Breaking Ground: Build begins on Wyoming-to-California power line amid growing wind power concern
• NIMCO: Ten Ohio counties ban wind, solar projects under new state law

• Growing a green church in coal country
• Oak Run Solar Project in central Ohio files agrivoltaics at a record-shattering scale
• Apex’s Lotus Wind Project approved by Macoupin County, IL County Board
• Clermont County, OH divided over large solar farms as commissioners prepare to vote

Tricky Trade-offs

Opposition to renewable energy projects can be based on a variety of viewpoints. Sometimes it’s rooted in a denial of climate science, but in other cases it pits environmentalist vs. environmentalist. Amherst, MA is grappling with just such a situation – and several elements of that discussion may be applicable elsewhere.

For starters, while ardent dendrophiles understandably wince at the thought of clearing forests to make room for solar, but it’s worth noting that only about 1%-2% of Amherst's total land area would be used for solar, and about 30% of its forest, agricultural and open space lands has been permanently conserved.

Perhaps more surprisingly, in terms of reducing carbon, solar beats forests. In a Zoom meeting with the town, Jonathan Thompson, forest ecologist and research director at Harvard “gave strong arguments in favor of solar, strictly from an emissions-reduction perspective.”

Rooftop solar isn’t an adequate substitute for utility-scale projects. For one thing, we can’t get thousands of gigawatts installed relying only on rooftops. For another, the financial services firm Lazard calculates that residential rooftop solar can cost 70% more than community and commercial-scale solar due to economies of scale and reduced ability to use trackers.

Challenging times require difficult trade-offs. “Society has delayed climate action too long to save everything we want to save,” and many scientists agree that the world is undergoing the sixth extinction, a dire event that will only deteriorate as climate change worsens. “If we don't act...we're going to lose far more species. We have to make some sacrifices now in order to avoid far greater losses in the years and decades to come."