Policy Topics and Background Related to Mining on Federal Lands

The 116th Congress is considering multiple proposed changes to U.S. mineral policy. Currently certain types of mineral production on federal lands provide the federal government and some states and industries with sources of revenue, while other production does not generate similar revenue. Proposed changes to federal mineral policy could impact these revenue streams, industries, and states in a variety of ways.

The processes and requirements to mine on federal lands vary by mineral category, surface/subsurface management agencies, and estate ownership. Three main statutes create the three categories of minerals applicable to mining on federal lands. The General Mining Law of …

Motivations and Options for Deploying Hybrid Generator-Plus-Battery Projects within the Bulk Power System

Growth in U.S. utility-scale hybrid battery projects suggests potential advantages currently outweigh disadvantages. Today’s 4.6 GW of hybrid capacity is accompanied by 14.7 GW in the immediate development pipeline, and 69 GW in select interconnection queues. Analysis using wholesale market prices finds that additional revenues from adding a 4-hour battery to solar can exceed additional costs. However, realizing hybrid projects’ full value depends on nascent strategies for integrating them in current/future wholesale market design paradigms.…

A Green New Deal for City and Suburban Transportation

The transportation sector is now the largest source of carbon emissions in the U.S. To decarbonize in time to prevent the worst climate change scenarios, we need to provide Americans with better transportation options than sitting in traffic. A Green New Deal for City and Suburban Transportation, a joint report authored by TransitCenter, Transportation for America, Data for Progress and the Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology, lays out federal policy recommendations for reducing emissions from the transportation sector in cities and suburbs while making communities healthier, more equitable, and prosperous.…

Banking on Climate Change 2020: Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card

Financial companies are increasingly being recognized – by their clients, shareholders, regulators, and the general public – as climate actors, with a responsibility to mitigate their climate impact. For the banks highlighted in this report, the last year has brought a groundswell of activism demanding banks cut their fossil fuel financing, at the same time that increasingly extreme weather events have further underscored the urgency of the climate crisis. Nevertheless, the report reveals that the business practices of the world’s major private-sector banks continue to drive us toward climate disaster.…

Who’s the Buyer? Retail Electric Market Structure Reforms In Support Of Resource Adequacy and Clean Energy Deployment

Who is responsible for ensuring the availability of generation resources to meet peak electricity demand in states with retail competition? Electricity markets in Texas, Australia, the UK, and New Zealand follow the approach in typical markets, where consumers themselves have procurement responsibility. In many states, there has never been a clear answer to the procurement question. In general, the “hybrid” retail competition models implemented outside of Texas have not placed a priority on long-term contracting for generation resources. No entity in those markets has both the incentive and ability to procure power, given the rules and structures currently in place. …

Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO)

EIA delayed the release of the March STEO update by one day to incorporate recent significant global oil market developments. On March 9, Brent crude oil front-month futures prices fell below $35/b, a 24% daily decline and the second largest daily price decline on record. Prices fell following the March 6 meeting between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its partner countries, which ended without an agreement on production levels amid market expectations for declining global oil demand growth in the coming months. In addition to the following highlights, EIA has provided a short summary …

Alternative Policies

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its Annual Energy Outlook 2020 (AEO2020) in January 2020. The AEO2020 Reference case generally assumes that existing laws and regulations remain as enacted throughout the projection period, including when the laws or policies are scheduled to sunset. However, in the area of policies that target emissions reduction, history has demonstrated that there is significant uncertainty in this assumption. For example, tax credits supporting wind and solar electric generation are often extended year to year, and vehicle emission standards, etc. are the subject of legislative debate and action. There are also examples, such as …

Fact Sheet: Federal Resources for Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change

Climate change is fueling more intense weather and compounding the impact of hazards that communities are dealing with already, such as flooding and heat waves. Projects that restore and/or emulate natural systems in order to increase human, ecosystem, and infrastructure resilience to climate impacts­­––often referred to as nature-based solutions––can reduce damage from natural hazards as well as (or better than) traditional engineered projects, often at less cost. Living shorelines, restored wetlands, reforestation projects, and green (vegetative) roofs are just a few examples of nature-based solutions. They provide multiple environmental, economic, and social benefits, including carbon sequestration, which is a key …

The Changing Geopolitics of Nuclear Energy: A Look at the United States, Russia, and China

The nuclear industry of advanced industrialized countries is under significant pressure to remain competitive as the market landscape for new nuclear power opportunities changes. The relative decline of U.S. nuclear export competitiveness comes at a time when Russia is boosting its dominance in new nuclear sales, and China is doubling down on its effort to become a leader in global nuclear commerce. This report illuminates how the changing market competition among the United States, Russia, and China will affect their future relations with nuclear commerce recipient countries, and discusses why Russia and China promote nuclear commerce, as well as which …

2019 RENEWABLE ENERGY NARRATIVE TRENDS

Analysis of more than 2,300 news and opinion articles from 2019 related to renewable energy— sourced from LexisNexis and Google News. Articles came from national and state outlets, as well as online and trade publications.

Purpose of the research was to understand how the media covers renewable energy, in particular to determine if funding gaps in climate philanthropy are also leading to a gap in media coverage of local leaders and innovations. To what extent would articles quote women as spokespeople, reference issues of equity, or talk about communities of color?

Percentage of clean energy news articles quoting women doubled …