This week, the Department of Energy and Environment announced consumers may save up to $150 million a year in electricity costs through recent Mayoral actions.
See the full press release at the DC Department of Energy and Environment.
More DMV News
Legislative Committee Puts New Maryland Building Code On Hold Amid Environmental Concerns
Maryland Matters
A Maryland legislative committee is holding up a new building code regulation amid concerns that it is less environmentally stringent than the national code, which Maryland is required to follow.
Spanberger Takes Unprecedented Step To Intervene In $67B Dominion-Nextera Merger
Virginia Mercury
Gov. Abigail Spanberger is stepping directly into the regulatory fight over the proposed $67 billion sale of Dominion Energy to Florida-based NextEra Energy, becoming the first Virginia governor to formally intervene in a case before the State Corporation Commission.
Virginia Lays Groundwork To Combine More Solar With Farming
Canary Media
As the world’s data center capital, Virginia faces a surge in energy demand that could spike power costs and lead to more polluting fossil fuel plants. At the same time, the state is seeing its farmland disappear at one of the fastest rates in the United States.
Amazon Abandons Plans For Data Center Campus At Calvert Cliffs
Maryland Matters
Amazon Web Services is abandoning its plans to develop data centers on the campus of Southern Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, according to a news release issued Tuesday by Calvert County government.
National and International News
The Pentagon’s Wind Farm Blockade Is Over — For Now
Canary Media
The U.S. Department of Defense has for months refused to conduct routine military evaluations of proposed onshore wind farms, creating a de facto moratorium on the clean energy source at a time of exploding electricity demand.
$20B In Federal Climate Grants Unblocked By Appeals Court
Smart Cities Dive
In a three-page unsigned court opinion, a divided court overturned a panel’s earlier decision, saying the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency likely violated the Inflation Reduction Act when it attempted to terminate and claw back Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants awarded to Climate United and other nonprofits. The grants were being used to fund “projects across the United States that support domestic clean energy development, build healthy and affordable housing, accelerate American-made electric vehicle manufacturing, and save hard-working Americans money on their bills,” Climate United said in a March 8 lawsuit filed after EPA froze the funding.
Biden’s Flagship ‘Green Bank’ Program May Soon Be Back
E&E News
An appeals court ruling unfreezing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund could be the big break for efforts to bring clean energy to communities around the country — or just the latest turn of the legal screw.
Wildfire Season Is Changing. Spokane Is Showing How
Grist
A historically dry winter, extreme drought and heat waves set the stage for the hundreds of wildfires that have burned across the Pacific Northwest this summer. Dozens of large ones have broken out in the last week alone. Though it’s still early in the fire season, Oregon recently broke its annual record for acreage burned with nearly 2 million acres scorched.
As A Record El Niño Ramps Up, Track How It’s Reshaping The Weather
Washington Post
A much-anticipated El Niño that developed this summer is on track to become the strongest ever recorded, with cascading effects on global climate peaking late this year and into next.