Rallying on the steps of the Maryland State House yesterday, clean energy supporters compared governor Hogan’s veto of a bill that would boost renewable energy to the views of the climate sceptic president-elect.
Ohio governor John Kasich has stuck to his guns and vetoed a bill that sought to make compliance for investor-owned utilities (IOUs) with the state’s energy standards voluntary, as opposed to mandatory, for a further two years.
A 24-state coalition led by West Virginia attorney general Patrick Morrisey and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton has penned a letter asking president-elect Donald Trump to withdraw the Clean Power Plan.
Whilst the future of Ohio’s clean energy standards might lie in the hands of governor John Kasich, recent research by watchdog industry group Energy and Policy Institute (EPI) reveals that fossil fuel and utility interests have been pulling the strings behind the freeze on Ohio’s clean energy standards.
After a backlash from Illinois governor Bruce Rauner and his administration, ComEd and Exelon verbally agreed on Tuesday to ditch some of the most controversial provision in their Future Jobs Energy bill, including the mandatory demand charge.
Illinois utility groups Exelon/ComEd are attempting to pass a legislative energy bill that would implement a mandatory demand charge and could result in “the largest rate hike in US history”, according to Dave Lundy from the BEST Coalition.
Yesterday, Florida voters succeeded in defeating the controversial Amendment 1 that would have prohibited third-party ownership of residential solar PV systems.
The Florida Supreme Court has denied the motions put forward by Floridians for Solar Choice and the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association (FSEIA) to declare the ballot summary for Amendment 1 as materially misleading.
After it was uncovered that utilities were engaging in a misleading strategy to dupe consumers into believing Amendment 1 was pro-solar, solar advocates have requested the Supreme Court to embargo the results of the vote until a decision is made.
