Podcasts about Public utilities commission

On the heels of yet another victory for South Dakota landowners, where the Public Utilities Commission once again denied the application for Summit Carbon Solution's Green New Deal boondoggle, this week's episode recaps a Lincoln Day Dinner held in Belle Fourche, SD featuring Amanda Radke, SD Speaker Pro Tem Karla Lems, and Senator Mark Lapka.Presented by Bid on Beef | CK6 Consulting | CK6 Source | Real Tuff Livestock Equipment | Redmond RealSalt | By-O-Reg+ | Dirt Road RadioSave on Redmond Real Salt with code RADKE at https://shop.redmondagriculture.com/Check out Amanda's agricultural children's books here: https://amandaradke.com/collections/amandas-books

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Welcome back to the Tahoe TAP, everyone! Your hosts, Mike Peron and Rob Galloway, deliver another fresh episode of Things, Adventure and People all Tahoe related delivered straight to your ears. Thanks for spending your time with us! As always, we're keeping it local with a quick round up of top news from around the Tahoe region and then the majority of our show will be spent getting to know Hayley Williamson, Chairperson of the Governing Board at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. In addition to her position on the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Governing Board, Hayley Williamson has more than a decade of public utility law experience. She is the Chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN), where she started in 2013, was first appointed Chair in 2020 by Governor Sisolak then reappointed Chair in 2023 by Governor Lombardo. As a Commissioner, she has been responsible for developing rules to implement many important pieces of legislation, including Nevada's Renewable Portfolio Standard, renewable natural gas requirements, and Natural Disaster Protection Plans. Hayley was also elected by her national peers to serve on the Board of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in 2022.

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In this case, the court considered this issue: Do Florida S.B. 7072's content-moderation restrictions comply with the First Amendment, and do the law's individualized-explanation requirements comply with the First Amendment? The case was decided on July 1, 2024. The Supreme Court held that The judgments are vacated, and the cases are remanded, because neither the Eleventh Circuit nor the Fifth Circuit conducted a proper analysis of the facial First Amendment challenges to the Florida and Texas laws regulating large internet platforms. Justice Elena Kagan authored the majority opinion of the Court. Under precedents like Miami Herald v Tornillo, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v Public Utilities Commission, Turner Broadcasting v FCC, and Hurley v Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, when a private entity engages in expressive activity, including curating others' speech, government interference with that activity implicates the First Amendment. Specifically, the First Amendment protects entities engaged in expressive activities, including compiling and curating others' speech, from being forced to accommodate messages they prefer to exclude. This protection applies even when the compiler includes most items and excludes only a few. The government cannot justify interfering with a private speaker's editorial choices merely by claiming an interest in improving or balancing the marketplace of ideas. These principles likely apply to the content moderation practices of social media platforms like Facebook's News Feed, indicating that state laws regulating these practices may face significant First Amendment hurdles. However, this analysis may not apply to all of the laws' applications, so it is important for courts to conduct a thorough examination of the laws' full scope and their constitutional and unconstitutional applications in a proper facial challenge analysis. Texas's regulation of social media platforms' content moderation policies aims to alter the speech displayed on these platforms, reflecting the state's disapproval of the platforms' current content selection and moderation practices. However, under the First Amendment, Texas cannot impose its preferences on how private entities curate and present speech, as this would amount to government control over the expression of ideas. Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the majority opinion in full and authored a separate concurrence. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joined the majority opinion in part and authored a separate concurrence. Justice Clarence Thomas authored an opinion concurring in the judgment. Justice Samuel Alito authored an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch joined. The opinion is presented here in its entirety, but with citations omitted. If you appreciate this episode, please subscribe. Thank you. 

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In this episode of the Building PA Podcast, co-hosts Jon O'Brien and Chris Martin welcome Ryan Parrish, a liaison with Pennsylvania 811, to discuss the critical topic of excavation safety. As we dive into the conversation, Ryan shares his role as a middleman between underground utility companies, designers, engineers, and the One Call center, emphasizing the importance of education and awareness in preventing accidents during excavation projects.Ryan highlights the significance of calling before you dig, a well-known mantra in the industry, but he also elaborates on the various educational initiatives he leads, including the PA1 Call Safety Days. These events bring together municipal officials, engineers, and excavators to discuss their obligations and best practices for safe excavation. With five events scheduled across Pennsylvania, Ryan encourages listeners to participate and stay informed.The discussion shifts to current trends in excavation safety, with Ryan pointing out that proper design is crucial for successful and safe excavation projects. He stresses that designers must provide accurate and up-to-date plans to excavators to avoid hitting underground utilities, which can lead to costly damages and legal disputes. Ryan also addresses the responsibilities of project owners, urging them to ensure that their designers have the necessary information to create safe excavation plans.As the conversation progresses, we touch on recent legislative changes affecting excavation safety and the importance of compliance with PA One Call laws. Ryan explains the role of the Public Utilities Commission in enforcing these regulations and the necessity for project owners to be aware of their obligations regarding underground utilities.One of the standout topics of this episode is the introduction of Coordinate PA, a new application designed to facilitate communication among project stakeholders. Ryan explains how this tool helps coordinate large projects, ensuring that all parties are on the same page and can collaborate effectively to avoid unnecessary disruptions and costs.Throughout the episode, Ryan emphasizes the importance of safety and communication in the excavation industry. He encourages excavators to take their time on job sites, re-notify 811 if they notice any issues, and utilize the resources available to them, including the free services offered to homeowners.In closing, we reflect on the need to spread awareness about the importance of calling 811 before any excavation work, whether for professional contractors or homeowners. Ryan's insights provide valuable information for anyone involved in construction and excavation, making this episode a must-listen for industry professionals and the general public alike.Join us as we continue to explore the vital aspects of safety in the construction industry, and don't forget to visit buildingpapodcast.com for more resources and past episodes!

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Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.   In this episode, Justin interviews Kevin Stein, the CEO of Delos Insurance Solutions. Kevin tells of his aerospace engineering background and how modeling led him to the insurance space. He speaks of his passion for insurance, and of co-founding Delos Insurance Solutions to fill the commercial coverage gap around California Wildfires. Kevin speaks of his optimism for the future of Wildfire control with property fire-hardening principles and new detection and deterrent technology. Listen in for advice on hardening commercial properties against wildfire risk, and how to secure coverage against this risk.   Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS. [:15] About this episode. From RIMS headquarters in New York, our guest today is Kevin Stein, the CEO of Delos Insurance and we will discuss wildfire risk. [:39] The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep will be held with Purima virtually on November 14th and 15th. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Course will be hosted along with George Mason University from December 3rd through the 5th. [:58] Links to these courses can be found on the Certifications page of RIMS.org and through this episode's show notes. [1:05] RIMS Virtual Workshops! “Risk Appetite Management” is back by popular demand. Registration closes November 19th for the session on November 20th and 21st. That session will be led by Ken Baker. [1:20] Elise Farnham of Illumine Consulting recently joined us here on RIMScast. On December 4th and 5th, she will host “Applying and Integrating ERM”. On December 17th and 18th, she will host “Captives as an Alternate Risk Financing Technique”. [1:37] Those are just three of the workshops RIMS offers; we have lots more! Other dates for the Fall and Winter are available on the Virtual Workshops calendar, RIMS.org/virtualworkshops. [1:49] This is the last call to register for the RIMS ERM Conference 2024 which will be held on November 18‒19, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. The agenda is live, we've got a great keynote, and we've got so many fantastic educational sessions and networking opportunities for you! [2:07] So visit the Events page of RIMS.org and register today! A link is also in this episode's show notes. [2:14] Interview! Climate change and wildfire risks are on our minds here at RIMScast! My take is that there is no longer a wildfire season here in the U.S., it's just wildfire year. Let's see if our guest agrees with me, and what risk managers can do to combat and mitigate this problem. [2:39] My guest is Kevin Stein. He is the CEO of Delos Insurance Solutions and he is an aerospace engineer by training. We're going to get a fascinating perspective from him on wildfire risks and what risk professionals can do to limit their exposure. [2:56] We're also going to talk about the trends driving wildfire reduction techniques. Let's get to it! Kevin Stein, welcome to RIMScast! [3:21] Kevin and a Co-founder started Delos Insurance Solutions in 2017. It is a specialty MGA. They sell policies across California in areas that other insurers have vacated because of perceived wildfire exposure in those regions. [3:40] Delos Insurance Solutions is in partnership with an environment think tank made up of 100 professors, post-doc scientists, and the top wildfire researchers in the world. [99] They have co-developed the civil government models for agencies including CalFire, the Public Utilities Commission, and the U.S. Forestry Service, for 25 years. [4:04] With the think tank, Delos Insurance Solutions has developed more sophisticated wildfire underwriting internal tools and models that give a sense of a per-risk view of wildfire exposure as well as a portfolio-level view of wildfire exposure. [4:19] With that, Delos Insurance Solutions has developed a number of programs. They sell home insurance, landlord's insurance, and vacant home insurance across California. [4:33] Kevin tells about his experience as an aerospace engineer. He did his Master's in Aerospace Engineering at Stanford. He started on the modeling side and found his way into insurance. [4:56] Kevin finds insurance fascinating. He says that everybody in the industry understands how interesting insurance is and everybody outside the insurance industry does not. Having gone from outside the industry to inside it, Kevin says the people in the industry are correct. [5:13] Kevin says there are many different, interesting aspects of insurance and his career has been a wild ride. [5:40] Kevin says the reality of wildfire season is that wildfires can happen at any time. There need to be specific conditions for these fires to become large, destructive wildfires. Conditions need to be hot, dry, and windy and there needs to be fuel. [6:01] The seasons have been changing. In California, the wildfire seasons in 2017 and 2018 were very destructive. Historically, Northern California has a rainy season from mid-October through late March or early April. In 2017 they had sun through the end of December and rain until June. [6:43] During the Fall, Northern California has a lake effect of winds coming over the mountains out to the ocean, and it's usually stormy. In 2017 and 2018, they had 100-degree temperatures, the vegetation had been dry for six months, and the extreme winds led to fire superstorms. [7:11] In any wildfire area, once sustained rains start, you're in a more comfortable position. You need vegetation that's been dried out for a while to have large fire superstorms but even in the Spring or early Summer, you can have individual or smaller fires that threaten your properties. [7:37] The antidote to smaller, individual fires is to implement property-hardening techniques on commercial properties that effectively protect structures against smaller, slower-moving fires. [8:25] Fires are spreading. The Salem, Massachusetts fires, the Eastern Canada fires, the Hawaiian fires, the fires in Oklahoma, and in San Diego show that fires can happen in a lot of geographies now that have not experienced fires before. [8:59] This has a big effect on the insurance market. Insurers and reinsurers are looking at the spread and prevalence of wildfires and getting more concerned about what that means for their average exposure and maximum exposure. [9:18] The price of re-insurance is going up significantly and the availability of re-insurance and capacity is going down significantly. [9:28] The key for folks who own properties and large buildings and who rely on risk transfer as an effective means for managing their risk, is to be more creative and find more specialty groups. [9:49] The insurance industry is morphing. The previous structure included wildfire exposure with hurricane exposure and tornado exposure. Now many of them will exclude wildfire. [10:16] Risk managers will have to find specialty groups that are underwriting wildfire exposure more effectively and capturing re-insurance capacity more effectively to provide policies for people with this exposure. [10:40] A key to understanding your fire exposure is to understand what type of fires you are potentially exposed to. There are wind-driven fire locations, moisture-driven fire locations, and vegetation-driven fire locations. [10:58] To harden your property to vegetation fires, make the area around your building either a parking lot or drought-resistant, fire-resistant landscaping. Don't use bark or woodchips. You can have small scattered plants surrounded by concrete to avoid the risk of vegetation fire. [11:50] With wind-driven fires, your biggest risk is embers. Embers can catch a building on fire by igniting vegetation at the base of the structure, so remove all vegetation against the structure or under eaves, especially with single-story structures. [12:20] Embers can also get inside structures. Have ember-mesh screens on air intakes, such as those used by the HVAC system, and any openings in the foundation and your eaves. [13:03] Build structures out of fire-resistant materials. Shingles and siding need to be fire-resistant or fire-safe. Use double-pane windows. Single-pane windows crack in fires and embers can get in. Use ember-mesh screens. [13:59] For landscaping, make sure it is drought-resistant and fire-resistant. [13:52] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! On November 14th, Marsh will present “Risk Perception and Management: Insights for a Changing Landscape”. [14:03] On November 21st, HUB International returns with the fourth installment of their Ready for Tomorrow series, “From AI to the SEC: The Future of D&O Litigation and Regulatory Exposures”. [14:17] On November 25th, Resolver returns to discuss “The Future of Risk & Compliance: 5 Key Insights for the Modern Leader”. [14:26] On December 5th, we have “Predictive Strategies to Detect Electrical and Machinery Failures”, presented by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD company. [14:37] On Thursday, December 12th, OneTrust returns to deliver “Staying Vigilant: 7 Practical Tips for Ongoing Third-Party Risk Monitoring”. [14:47] More webinars will be announced soon and added to the RIMS.org/webinars page. Go there to register. Registration is complimentary for RIMS members. [14:59] RIMS is now accepting nominations for all awards other than Risk Manager of the Year 2025. The submission deadline is Monday, January 6th, 2025. To receive a RIMS award, all winners must be active members and in good standing. [15:19]  The awards are the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chapter Leadership Award, the Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award, the Volunteer of the Year “Heart of RIMS” Award, the Richard W. Bland Memorial Award, the Chapter of the Year Award, the Rising Risk Professional Award, the Risk Management Hall of Fame, and the Cristy Award. [15:57] You can find more information about the awards through the About Us page of RIMS.org or the link in this interview's show notes. [16:06] Back to My Interview About Wildfire Risks with Kevin Stein! [16:36] Kevin has a really optimistic view of the future of wildfire risk. A lot of that has to do with firefighting strategies and resources. The California government has put massive amounts of money into forest management and it's been very effective. [17:01] Kevin is optimistic about the new technology. Improved outdoor sprinklers are triggered if a fire is oncoming and douse everything in water or fire-retardant material. Sensors are put in different locations to recognize fire quickly. [17:39] How fast firefighters get to a wildfire is hugely important in terms of how big the fire will be. Fires that are reached and controlled quickly don't become giant superstorms. Giant superstorms cause significant loss and burn down large buildings. Small wildfires can't do that. [18:07] The sensors are put on a variety of buildings to recognize smoke automatically with computer vision AI built in. Some longer-term technology is very interesting. In the future, there will be drone armies to replace the helicopters to pour fire retardant or water on top of wildfires. [19:10] Commercial clients can deal with re-insurers like Lloyd's of London to get coverage. Property-hardening characteristics and technologies come into play with a detailed assessment of the defensibility of the structure. [20:38] Wildfire Re-insurers are moving from being generalists to being specialists. Generalist actuaries study years of loss history to predict losses for the next year. Specialist perils require area expertise because the risks cannot be handled simply through large amounts of data. [21:13] Cyber is a great example of this. Cyber insurance was first bundled with general liability. The carriers soon realized they had no expertise to predict cyber risk so they excluded it. Specialty groups with expertise popped up to fill the gap in the market. [21:36] This has happened with flood insurance, hurricane insurance in Florida, and earthquake insurance. Wildfire is the next one. It's changing very rapidly. It's very complicated, so you need people with area expertise to be able to underwrite it profitably. [21:58] There is a trend where primary carriers are pulling back. They're making the sound decision for a risk manager who can't understand a peril. This opens up space for specialists to jump in, like Delos Insurance Solutions. Kevin says more groups will show up to serve the sector. [22:54] Kevin reveals some of his aerospace engineer experience. He put in a proposal to NASA for a heliocentric spacecraft to look for life on Alpha Centauri. That wasn't chosen, but there was an interesting satellite project he worked on. [23:35] Kevin helped create two NBN satellites to provide internet to all of Australia, combined with a detailed fiber network. Kevin managed everything mechanical on the build of those two satellites. [24:25] Special thanks again to Kevin Stein of Delos Insurance Solutions for joining us today on RIMScast. RIMS has a Wildfire Resources Page on RIMS.org. A link is in this interview's show notes. Be sure to go there for more insight and information on how you can combat wildfire risk. [24:44] More RIMS Plugs! The RIMS App is available to RIMS members exclusively. Go to the App Store and download the RIMS App with all sorts of RIMS resources and coverage. It's different from the RIMS Events App. Everyone loves the RIMS App! [25:18] You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in our show notes. RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information. [26:00] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information. [26:17] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more. [26:33] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. [26:46] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org. [26:53] Thank you all for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe!   Mentioned in this Episode: RIMS DEI Council RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RIMS Strategic & Enterprise Risk Center RIMS ERM Conference 2024 — November 18‒19, 2024 | Boston, MA NEW FOR MEMBERS! RIMS Mobile App RIMS-CRMP Stories — Featuring Valerie Fox!  Nominations open for RIMS 2025 Awards! (Through Jan. 6, 2025) Nominations for the Donald M. Stuart Award RIMS Wildfire Resource Center RIMS Webinars: “Risk Perception and Management: Insights for a Changing Landscape” | Sponsored by Marsh | Nov. 14, 2024 “From AI to the SEC: The Future of D&O Litigation and Regulatory Exposures” | Sponsored by Hub International | Nov. 21, 2024 “The Future of Risk & Compliance: 5 Key Insights for the Modern Leader' | Sponsored by Resolver | Nov. 25, 2024 “Predictive Strategies to Detect Electrical and Machinery Failures” | Sponsored by TUV SUD GRC | Dec. 5, 2024 “Staying Vigilant: 7 Practical Tips for Ongoing Third-Party Risk Monitoring” | Sponsored by OneTrust | Dec. 12, 2024 RIMS.org/Webinars   Upcoming Virtual Workshops: Risk Appetite Management Nov. 20‒21 RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep (Virtual)Dec. 17‒18, 2024 | 9:00 am‒4:00 pm EST — Register by Dec. 10. “Applying and Integrating ERM” | Dec. 4‒5 “Captives as an Alternate Risk Financing Technique” | Dec. 17‒18 See the full calendar of RIMS Virtual Workshops RIMS-CRMP Prep Workshops   Related RIMScast Episodes: “Safety and Preparedness in 2024 with National Safety Council CEO Lorraine Martin” “Mitigating the Risks of Catastrophes with Mrunal Pandit of Tata Consumer Products” “Evolving Fire Risks with Ralph Bless” “California Wildfires: Risks, Preparedness, Business Continuity, and the Impact on Insurance Markets” (2020)   Sponsored RIMScast Episodes: “Risk Management in a Changing World: A Deep Dive into AXA's 2024 Future Risks Report” | Sponsored by AXA XL (New!) “How Insurance Builds Resilience Against An Active Assailant Attack” | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog “Third-Party and Cyber Risk Management Tips” | Sponsored by Alliant “RMIS Innovation with Archer” | Sponsored by Archer “Navigating Commercial Property Risks with Captives” | Sponsored by Zurich “Breaking Down Silos: AXA XL's New Approach to Casualty Insurance” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Weathering Today's Property Claims Management Challenges” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Storm Prep 2024: The Growing Impact of Convective Storms and Hail” | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company “Partnering Against Cyberrisk” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Harnessing the Power of Data and Analytics for Effective Risk Management” | Sponsored by Marsh “Accident Prevention — The Winning Formula For Construction and Insurance” | Sponsored by Otoos “Platinum Protection: Underwriting and Risk Engineering's Role in Protecting Commercial Properties” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Elevating RMIS — The Archer Way” | Sponsored by Archer “Alliant's P&C Outlook For 2024” | Sponsored by Alliant “Why Subrogation is the New Arbitration” | Sponsored by Fleet Response “Cyclone Season: Proactive Preparation for Loss Minimization” | Sponsored by Prudent Insurance Brokers Ltd. “Subrogation and the Competitive Advantage” | Sponsored by Fleet Response   RIMS Publications, Content, and Links: RIMS Membership — Whether you are a new member or need to transition, be a part of the global risk management community! RIMS Virtual Workshops On-Demand Webinars RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy   RIMS Events, Education, and Services: RIMS Risk Maturity Model® RIMS Events App Apple | Google Play   Sponsor RIMScast: Contact sales@rims.org or pd@rims.org for more information.   Want to Learn More? Keep up with the podcast on RIMS.org, and listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.   Have a question or suggestion? Email: Content@rims.org.   Join the Conversation! Follow @RIMSorg on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.   About our guest: Kevin Stein, CEO of Delos Insurance Solutions   Social Shareables (Edited For Social Media Use): There are so many different, super-interesting aspects of insurance. — Kevin Stein   I have a really optimistic view of the future of wildfire risk. A lot of that has to do with firefighting strategies and resources. The California government has put massive amounts of money into forest management and it's been very effective. — Kevin Stein   Sensors can be put in different locations to recognize fire quickly. How fast firefighters get to a wildfire is hugely important in terms of how big the fire will be. Fires that are reached and controlled quickly don't become giant superstorms. — Kevin Stein   There is a trend where primary carriers are pulling back. They're making the sound decision for a risk manager who can't understand a peril. This opens up space for specialists like Delos Insurance Solutions to jump in. Other groups will follow. — Kevin Stein  

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Minnesota's new climate laws passed in 2023 require all electricity in the state to come from carbon-free sources by the year 2040. But it's up to regulators to decide what exactly counts as carbon free — the key question that has arisen is whether burning trash and timber for energy should be a part of the mix. There may not be an answer until the end of 2025 after the Public Utilities Commission recently moved to delay the decision. Andrew Hazzard has been following this. He covers climate change and environmental justice for Sahan Journal and he joined Minnesota Now to talk about his reporting.

Minnesota stands out as a leader in the energy transition, uniquely positioned at the forefront of renewable adoption in the Midwest. Through bipartisan legislation and innovative incentive programs, the state has become a trailblazer in advancing renewable energy technologies and setting a regional example for clean energy initiatives. In this episode of the Rise Up Podcast, Nick talks to Logan O'Grady, executive director of MnSEIA, about the past and future of solar in Minnesota as well as the upcoming Gateway to Solar conference on October 8-9, 2024. Get Connected: Rise Up Podcast: https://www.riseupmidwest.org The MREA: https://www.midwestrenew.org Email: Info@midwestrenew.org 0:42 Logan O'Grady introduction 1:27 MnSEIA overview 4:29 Minnesota solar market 9:24 Minnesota solar policy and bipartisanship 12:30 Lessons learned and the current solar market 16:28 Changes to utility introductory rates 20:58 The future of energy storage in Minnesota 26:23 Inspiration for storage incentive program 28:09 Energy balance in Minnesota 31:38 Gateway to Solar conference ABOUT OUR GUEST: LOGAN O'GRADY Logan O'Grady is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association. He is authorized to practice law in Minnesota and is a registered lobbyist for MnSEIA. Entering his fourth year at the helm of MnSEIA, Logan has led the organization through a period of substantial growth. Now representing over 170 member organizations, MnSEIA is the largest member-driven clean energy advocacy group in Minnesota. The biggest and most diverse member force since its founding in 2009 has helped MnSEIA pass historic legislative commitments to the solar + storage industry, including over $150 million in public investments into solar + storage programming. Logan navigated the industry through a revamp of the state's nation-leading Community Solar Garden program, the launch of Minnesota's Solar for Schools and Solar on Public Buildings programs, passed the state's new Distributed Solar Energy Standard, and has been an outspoken voice on the importance of Distributed Energy Resources in Minnesota's energy portfolio. Previously, Logan worked at Larkin Hoffman where he served as an attorney on the firm's government relations team, representing solar companies at the state Capitol and in front of the Public Utilities Commission. He also served as the Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Clean Energy Economy Minnesota (CEEM) and as the Committee Administrator for the Minnesota Senate's powerful capital investment committee. Logan holds a Law Degree from Mitchell Hamline School of Law and a Master's Degree from the Hult International Business School in London.

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Lamont & Tonelli made their weekly check-in on their NewsMaker line and this time around got a call from the Chairman Director for Executive Privilege of All Stupid Decisionsfor the Public Utilities Commission. Listen to Lamont & Tonelli Monday through Friday, 6-10am, on 107.7 The Bone. Get your Rock N Roll Fix at: 1077thebone.com Follow 107.7 The Bone on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and TikTok. Follow 107.7 The Bone on Apple, Spotify or Amazon Music.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lamont & Tonelli made their weekly check-in on their NewsMaker line and this time around got a call from the Chairman Director for Executive Privilege of All Stupid Decisionsfor the Public Utilities Commission. Listen to Lamont & Tonelli Monday through Friday, 6-10am, on 107.7 The Bone. Get your Rock N Roll Fix at: 1077thebone.com Follow 107.7 The Bone on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and TikTok. Follow 107.7 The Bone on Apple, Spotify or Amazon Music.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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SAVING THE SOLAR INDUSTRY WHILE SHUTTING DIABLO NUKES…& SOLARIZING THE OLYMPICS We start today's Solartopian KPFK-based radio broadcast with solar pioneer RON LEONARD. Ron explains how California's “green” governor is in fact decimating the nation's renewable energy industry. Ron dissects how the states Public Utilities Commission is destroying the electric supply structure, leaving CA with the nation's 2d highest electric rates. California Solartopia's co-host MYLA RESON makes clear the need to switch to renewables ASAP. KPFK local station board chair TATANKA BRICCA chimes in with a report for the north country. Mothers for Peace co-founder LINDA SEELEY updates us the possibility that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission might seriously consider seismic issues at the Diablo site. Co-Host HARVEY “SLUGGO” WASSERMAN announces the Solartopian Olympics Committee, mean to make all future Olympics sites completely power by local renewables. 

Duke Energy Corp. could be facing a $1.45 million fine from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

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Give us about fifteen minutes a day, and we will give you all the local news, sports, weather, and events you can handle. SPONSORS: Many thanks to our sponsors... Annapolis Subaru, the SPCA of Anne Arundel County,  Solar Energy Services, and Hospice of the Chesapeake! Today... The Anne Arundel County School Board passes the budgets. The Governor and Attorney General announced a new system to track Sexual Assault Evidence Kits. The MVA announced digital IDs for Samsung are now available. The Public Utilities Commission ordered energy companies to give a longer grace period before turning off utilities. We have a list of events for you to consider this Juneteenth Weekend. Our Local Business Spotlight drops at noon on Saturday with HERE. a pop-up shop; and be sure to catch the bonus pod we dropped with Monarch Weather + Climate Intelligence. And of course, we have our Canines & Crosstreks segment with FIVE puppies! DAILY NEWSLETTER LINK: https://forms.aweber.com/form/87/493412887.htm And like we do every Friday, Annapolis Subaru and I met up with some animals from the SPCA of Anne Arundel County. Check out this week's Canines & Crosstreks! And as usual, George from DCMDVA Weather is here with your local weather forecast! Please download their app to keep on top of the local weather scene! The Eye On Annapolis Daily News Brief is produced every Monday through Friday at 6:00 am and available wherever you get your podcasts and also on our social media platforms--All Annapolis and Eye On Annapolis (FB) and @eyeonannapolis (TW) NOTE: For hearing-impaired subscribers, a full transcript is available on Eye On Annapolis.

In this edition of GovTech Today, hosts Russell Lowery and Jennifer Saha discuss the importance of broadband access for all Californians, emphasizing the state's efforts to bridge the digital divide. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the necessity of reliable internet access as students had to rely on broadband to attend school remotely, highlighting inequities in access. The state of California has initiated a large-scale effort, involving significant investments from both federal and state levels, to ensure every Californian has access to broadband. This initiative, spearheaded by the state's Department of Technology, Public Utilities Commission, and Department of Transportation, aims to make broadband accessible even in rural or economically disadvantaged areas by leveraging public infrastructure and funding to make it viable for private carriers to extend their services. The program also considers the role of the federal government and the complexities of implementing such infrastructure, including regulatory and equity issues. The initiative is in progress, with planning and grants for the 'middle mile' already under way, and efforts to address the 'last mile' to ensure comprehensive coverage.00:00 Introduction to Bridging the Digital Divide00:22 The Urgency of Broadband Access in California01:32 Understanding the Need for Massive Broadband Investment02:56 Government's Role in Subsidizing Broadband Infrastructure06:15 The Complexities of Public and Private Broadband Partnerships08:11 Equity and Accessibility: The Core of Broadband Initiatives10:51 The Process and Progress of Broadband Infrastructure Development14:54 Innovative Procurement and Future Plans17:05 Exploring New Solutions with RFI 2 Process

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has to decide whether or not consumers should get money back after paying subsidies for at-times-unprofitable coal-fired power plants.

March 7, 2024   Hour 1:  California Panera Bread franchise owner Greg Flynn said he will raise the minimum wage for his employees after accusations he benefited from ties to the state's governor to avoid hiking pay. The Public Utilities Commission approved a PG&E rate hike Thursday that will add about $5 a month to the average bill. The Central California Psychedelic Summit say they believe a gathering focused on psilocybin and other psychedelics will be beneficial & the first of its kind in Fresno.  KMJ's Afternoon Drive with Philip Teresi & E. Curtis Johnson  Weekdays 2-6PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 & 105.9 KMJ  Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X  Listen to past episodes at kmjnow.com  Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, or Amazon Music    Contact See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

March 7, 2024   Hour 1:  California Panera Bread franchise owner Greg Flynn said he will raise the minimum wage for his employees after accusations he benefited from ties to the state's governor to avoid hiking pay. The Public Utilities Commission approved a PG&E rate hike Thursday that will add about $5 a month to the average bill. The Central California Psychedelic Summit say they believe a gathering focused on psilocybin and other psychedelics will be beneficial & the first of its kind in Fresno.  KMJ's Afternoon Drive with Philip Teresi & E. Curtis Johnson  Weekdays 2-6PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 & 105.9 KMJ  Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X  Listen to past episodes at kmjnow.com  Subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, or Amazon Music    Contact See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

KILLING DEMOCRACY IN FL & OH; DIGITAL DERANGEMENT; POEMS FROM THE HEART     GREEP zoom #161 begins with WENDI LEDERMAN & CAROLINA AMPUDIA reporting on the Florida “Democratic” Party decision to cancel its presidential primary.     This astounding, unprecedented attack on electoral democracy accompanies a concerted attempt by the Republican Party to kill a popular referendum meant to preserve the right to abortion.  Despite having gathered more than 1.4 million signatures, Florida's right wing is working overtime to deny the public the right to decide.   From Ohio, STEVE CARUSO reports that $4.3 million in fossil/nuclear bribes have found their way to the Chair of the Public Utilities Commission, now indicted and on trial.  E-mails between CPUC Chair Sam Randazzo and nuclear reactor owner FirstEnergy show an astonishing line of corruption aimed at bailing out Ohio's decrepit fossil/nuke burners.   CAMILLA REES then introduces DR. NICHOLAS KARDERAS, author of Glow Kids and Digital Madness as well as a wide range of medical and professional studies on the impacts of algorithms on our brains.   Dr. Kardaras gives us a terrifying tour of the devastating impacts of digital addiction—especially when it comes to our children.  Among other things, we are exposed to the horrifying impacts sedentary hours in front of a screen can have on us and our kids.  These assaults range from depression, anxiety, OCD, psychosis and much much more.  The epidemic of social media with zero nuance has ravaged the mental wellness of an entire generation.   This “weakening of the American mind” means the demise of critical thinking, creating an emotional brittleness and a “Stockholm Syndrome” that makes us love the tech oligarchs who imprison our narrowing minds by deliberately spreading dark chaos, the essential ingredient for fascism.   MIKE HERSH, LYNN FEINERMAN, DR. NANCY NIPARKO, JUSTIN LEBLANC, STEPHEN KAISER, DONALD SMITH, DAVID SALTMAN, ERIC LAZARUS, MYLA RESON add to our fond farewell to 2023.   As that happens, RON LEONARD helps us dedicate ourselves to preventing fascism in 2024.   We end with the brilliant, moving poems of Mimi German, hoping she'll become our very own poet laureate. See you then!! 

How does transitioning to renewable energy challenge the electric grid?As of 2022, renewable and non-greenhouse gas emitting sources accounted for 52% of California's in-state electricity generation with the remaining 48% fueled by natural gas. Legislation passed in 2018 mandates that the state must reach at least 60% renewable energy by 2030 which California is quickly on its way to meet. The 60% goal adds ambition to the emissions reduction goals set by SB 32, the 2016 update to prior landmark climate legislation that required California to reduce its emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. Transitioning to reliance on renewable energy sources introduces new challenges to the electrical grid, which was designed primarily around gas-fired power plants that can operate 24 hours a day.  The majority of California's renewable energy comes from solar and wind. Such renewable energy generation varies depending on the time of day and season, among other factors. Compared to gas-fired power plants, solar and wind energy isn't as predictable or transferable from one location to another.With limited energy storage capacity, the US electrical grid lacks the infrastructure necessary to store large amounts of energy, so the variability of wind and solar energy makes it more challenging to balance energy supply and demand in real-time, which is an essential function of the energy system. As a result, the energy system design must evolve to meet the challenges of solar and wind variability, particularly during periods of peak demand, in order to ensure grid stability and sufficient energy support.  At the same time, California's energy grid has seen a large growth in demand due to the electrification of the transportation and residential sectors. Electric vehicle (EV) sales are 60 times higher than they were a decade ago and continue to rise, increasing by 85% from 2020 to 2021 alone. In 2023, EV sales in California account for 25% of EVs sold in the US. California has also enacted higher building energy efficiency standards to help accelerate the decarbonization movement. As of 2023, all new buildings must have at least one heat pump for heating or water heating, or they will face higher energy efficiency requirements. This growth in the prevalence of electric appliances and vehicles has increased the demands on the electric grid. This can be a particular problem if EV owners charge their cars or run their appliances at the same time that other electricity demand is at its peak. A California's Public Utilities Commission report published in 2023 found the state needs to invest at least $50 billion by 2035 in order to accommodate high adoptions of distributed energy resources associated with transportation and building electrification. Energy Storage as a SolutionImproving solar battery storage is vital in accelerating a transition to clean energy as these batteries store solar energy during the day and deliver it back to the grid at night when power is more expensive and carbon-intensive to produce. As of October 2023, California has increased its energy battery storage capacity by 757% to 6,600 megawatts. The state still needs to continue increasing its capacity to 52,000 megawatts to meet clean electricity demands by 2045. These batteries are also especially vital as climate change is increasing the intensity of heatwaves and wildfire seasons leading to increased Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). During hazardous conditions, electricity companies turn off power circuits to reduce the risk of power lines falling and igniting a wildfire. Solar batteries are one tool to help alleviate the loss of power and can deliver electricity to areas prone to PSPS blackouts. However, large-scale batteries are not a perfect solution as they have considerable environmental costs and require many rare minerals in their production, which have significant associated sustainability and mining costs. Other energy storage technologies from green hydrogen to reservoir storage of hydropower can also help the state meet its energy demands.About the Guest: Dr. Carla PetermanAs PG&E's Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Dr. Carla Peterman directs the corporation's sustainability and regulatory efforts. Previously, Dr. Peterman served as an energy official within the California government, including as CPUC commissioner, where she oversaw their $768 million EV charging infrastructure investment in 2018. Dr. Peterman received a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group in 2017, writing her dissertation on state policy for solar energy.  For a transcript of this episode, please visit https://climatebreak.org/balancing-the-grid-californias-shift-to-renewable-energy-sources/

FirstEnergy figured they could get their customers to subsidize their poorly performing nuclear power plants. To do so, they paid a $4 million bribe to Sam Randazzo just before Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him as the chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

FirstEnergy figured they could get their customers to subsidize their poorly performing nuclear power plants. To do so, they paid a $4 million bribe to Sam Randazzo just before Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him as the chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

ALL MOST NOW FOCUS ON THE DIABLO / NUKE CRISIS We focus in the GREEP Zoom #155 on the in-your-face crisis at California's Diablo Canyon nuke reactors. While the 39-year-old Unit One is shut for refueling, a growing public movement demands the obvious—test this crumbling old nuke for embrittlement and much more BEFORE it's allowed to re-open. After four decades of blasting heat, pressure and radiation, Diablo's Reactor Pressure Vessels are fried to the point of shattering like glass should they be flooded with coolant water in an emergency. In other words….if the “brakes” are applied at uninsured Diablo during a major accident, the whole place will blow up. Steam, Hydrogen and fission explosions will blast apocalyptic radioactive cloud into the steady breezing blowing south to Los Angeles. Then it'll go west into the Central Valley, then north to the Bay Area….and all across the continental United States. LINDA SEELEY of the Mothers for Peace explains how her long-lived, incredibly persistent group is fighting to keep Diablo shut in the court system, regulatory agency and Public Utilities Commission. As we learn from ROBERT FREEHLING and RON LEONARD among others, renewable energy has long since filled any possible supply gaps caused by Diablo's closure. The billions in hand-outs being offered PG&E to stay open dwarf any help being given wind, solar, efficiency, etc which have already far outstripped nuclear power in price. Indeed, the nature of the grid now DEMANDS that base-load nuke supplies give way to flexible, cheaper, cleaner, safer and more reliable renewables. At the core of the issue, we seek the Plan B that will shut these nukes forever….in the midst of rumors Gov. Newsom may be “reconsidering” his insane decision to keep Diablo running. Transcript

FOLLOW UP: CRUISE PAUSES DRIVERLESS TAXI SERVICEBoth Califoria's Department for Motor Vehicles and Public Utilities Commission have revoked Cruise's license to carry fee paying passengers in their robotaxis. Cruise, following this, has “paused” the operation of their fleet. This all stems from an incident on 2 October 2023, where a car driven by a human hit a pedestrian and they were knocked into the pathway of one of Cruise's cars which could not stop in time and trapped the pedestrian underneath the vehicle. The DMV claims Cruise shared partial video that showed up to the point of the vehicle stopping. However, the DMV now states there was more as they were not shown that the Cruise vehicle tried to move to the side of the road with the lady still trapped beneath the car. The DMV stated that “the manufacturers vehicles are not safe for public operation”. To read more click this Vice article link here. For the next stage of the story, click this Tech Crunch article link here. To read the DMV's own documentation on their decision, click this link here. For Cruise's Twitter post regarding their pause, click this link. Forbes have a thoughtful piece on what has happened and what Cruise can and should do next. To read that, click this link here. FOLLOW UP: MERCEDES USER MANUAL FOR DRIVE PILOT Mercedes-Benz has now released the user manuals for their Drive Pilot Level 3 automated driving system. Looking at the documentation there are a number of inconsistencies and contradictions. Click this link to a piece from Philip Koopman on LinkedIn highlighting the issues in the text. Reading the information, we wouldn't use the system as we have no idea if we would be held accountable or Mercedes, in the event of an issue. STELLANTIS TO SELL LEAPMOTOR VEHICLES IN EUROPEFollowing a £1.3 billion investment in the Chinese EV maker, Leapmotor, Stellantis will start selling their vehicles in Europe from 2024. No details have been revealed as to what models they would be. We also ask if it is the technology side of things that Stellantis is really after. You can read more, by clicking this link to an Autocar story. RAC STATES FUEL PRICES ARE UNFAIRLY HIGHThe RAC has explained that all fuel retailers should be lowering their prices by at least 5p per litre, thanks to the drop in wholesale costs. They also point out how this is helping to ensure that inflation remains high. If you would like to read more,

In another episode we talked about a state agency that can play a big role in helping us get more of our energy from renewable sources. Here in Rhode Island, it's called the Public Utilities Commission. But how do everyday people influence how these commissions work?

In another episode we talked about a state agency that can play a big role in helping us get more of our energy from renewable sources. Here in Rhode Island, it's called the Public Utilities Commission. But how do everyday people influence how these commissions work?

If we want to avoid the worst of climate change, it's pretty clear that we need to start getting our energy from sources that don't create greenhouse gasses, like solar and wind power. But how do we get there? One powerful partner is a state agency you've probably never heard of.

If we want to avoid the worst of climate change, it's pretty clear that we need to start getting our energy from sources that don't create greenhouse gasses, like solar and wind power. But how do we get there? One powerful partner is a state agency you've probably never heard of.

In this episode, Maine State Senator Nicole Grohoski discusses an upcoming ballot measure that gives Maine voters the opportunity to replace the state's unpopular for-profit utilities with a nonprofit public utility.(PDF transcript)(Active transcript)Text transcript:David RobertsMaine's two big investor-owned power utilities — Central Maine Power and Versant Power — are not very popular. In fact, they boast among the lowest customer satisfaction scores of any utilities in the country, perhaps because their customers face some of the nation's highest rates, suffer more and longer outages than average Americans, and pay more to connect rooftop solar than ratepayers in almost any other state. This November, Mainers will vote on a radical alternative: a ballot measure to replace the two for-profit utilities with a single nonprofit utility that would be called Pine Tree Power. Maine and many other states already have lots of small nonprofit municipal utilities, but this would mark the first time a whole state with existing private utilities decided to make them public en masse.Naturally the utilities are opposed and have dumped $27 million and counting into a campaign to crush the measure; supporters have mustered just under $1 million. To discuss this David vs. Goliath fight, I contacted one of its champions, Democratic state Senator Nicole Grohoski. We discussed why she thinks a public utility would perform better, what it would do for clean energy, how it would be governed, and what other states can learn from the effort. With no further ado, Maine State Senator Nicole Grohoski. Welcome to Volts. Thank you so much for coming.Nicole GrohoskiThank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be with you today.David RobertsI am super excited to talk about this issue. There's a lot of ins and outs I want to cover, but maybe let's just start with a brief history of this thing. So the idea here is, as I said in the intro, to replace Maine's two big investor-owned utilities, Central Maine Power and Versant Power, with a single publicly owned main utility called Pine Tree Power. Tell me who first had that idea? Where did it first pop up? I know it was legislation and then it got vetoed. Just tell us a little bit about how we got to where we are now.Nicole GrohoskiThe history is really interesting, and I'll try to not spend too much time on it, but I think it's really important to start with the reality here in Maine as a backdrop. So a couple of things that are important to know for listeners is that we, as Mainers, find that our electricity isn't really affordable or reliable and our utilities aren't trustworthy. So we have, for many years running now, the worst customer satisfaction in the country, some of the highest rates in the country for electricity, and those just keep going up. We have experienced a 20% increase this summer, with another increase coming in January.And we also have the most frequent outages in the country. And there are a couple of other reliability metrics that we're not doing so well on, including the length of outages and how long it takes to restore power. So basically what we see here in Maine is that the status quo of these for-profit multinational corporations is just not working for us. About a tenth of our residents in Maine received disconnection notices earlier this year because they just couldn't afford to pay their bills. And it's not working for companies or big corporations that really rely on low cost and reliable electricity to compete.So that's kind of the background. So a number of us were wondering, does it have to be this way? Is there an alternative to worst of the worst? We are Maine, we are very proud and independent, and we like to be leading, but this is not the way that we wanted to be leading. So there was a lot of grassroots pressure. In 2017 we had a big storm, and the power was out for days. But at the same time, there was a billing fiasco, which resulted in billing errors for over 100,000 customers, which is in a state of 1.3 million people, that's a very big percent.So there was a lot of pressure, a lot of phone calls to legislators, to the Public Utilities Commission, to the public advocate about these utilities. And so I think that really planted a seed for a number of folks. Specifically, Maine's first public advocate pointed out to some members of the legislature, including Representative Seth Barry at the time, myself, and a few others, that there were other options and that the financial and local control aspects of those options might be really helpful for Maine. So we started meeting in 2019 with the previous public advocate, economists, labor, legislators, people that were part of a group called CMP Ratepayers Unite.And that's when we formed this idea of creating a consumer-owned utility for Maine that would be non-profit and similar to the ten other consumer-owned utilities we have in Maine. I don't know that we had a name for it at that time, but we do now call it the Pine Tree Power Company. So those were the early days. And then to sort of fast forward, the Legislature commissioned a study which was done by London Economics International in 2019 to learn more about the economics and also legal pathway here. Then, of course, 2020, everybody knows what happened then, things kind of went on pause. And then in 2021, we wrote a bill. And that bill passed in both chambers in Maine with bipartisan support. As you mentioned, the governor did veto that bill.David RobertsAnd that bill was to create the utility or to put the question to voters.Nicole GrohoskiThat bill put the question to voters, and it's very similar to the language that we'll be voting on this November. So we did revise the language based on some feedback from the governor, and that is the language that is now in front of us to vote on this November, November 7. And in order to get the question on the ballot we had hundreds of volunteers working together to collect around 80,000 signatures in total, which is a little bit above the requirement needed to get a question on the ballot in Maine.David RobertsI'm a little curious why — this is a Democratic Governor Mills. What was her rationale? I mean, I guess I can imagine her rationale for opposing the public utility, but what was her rationale for opposing asking voters what they thought? Did she have a good rationale?Nicole GrohoskiNot in my opinion. I'm sure in her opinion it was great. But we read the veto letter for the most part. There was very little in there that was substantive. Some of those minor changes that we made are all things that we would have happily made in advance had we had outreach from her office about them. You know, the unfortunate thing with governors in Maine is that we have yet to elect one that has campaigned using our clean elections, publicly funding campaign option, which is something that most legislators use. So you can draw your own conclusions there about the — money in politics may have been at play.I can't say for certain.David RobertsYeah, we should just make a note here because a couple of podcasts we've done here on Volts are about state laws prohibiting utilities from using ratepayer money to lobby and pay off politicians. Maine does not have one of those laws.Nicole GrohoskiWell, we actually did just pass a law. We were one of four states earlier this year to be sure that ratepayer dollars are not going for lobbying. You know, industry membership, group memberships.David RobertsOh, interesting.Nicole GrohoskiYou know, Edison Electric, for instance, Chambers of Commerce, et cetera. So that is a new law. It will be in effect in about a month. So we'll see if that improves things.David RobertsJust in time or actually just a smidge too late. So the bill of particulars here then, against these two utilities, as you say, they have really low ratepayer satisfaction scores, lots of power outages, more than usual, higher rates, some of the highest rates in the country. Like every state, Maine has a Public Utility Commission that is meant to regulate its utilities. That has members appointed by the governor or elected? I'm not sure how it goes in Maine.Nicole GrohoskiIn Maine, the commissioners are appointed and then subject to Senate approval.David RobertsSo why not just use the PUC to sort of get these utilities in line? That seems like it would be the sort of first order of business.Nicole GrohoskiIt's a great question. I mean, I think everyone kind of wants to default to using the systems we have in place, but I have a couple of thoughts about that. Our Public Utilities Commission I do think is full of folks who are hardworking and really trying to get under the hood with utilities. But there's a lot of information there that the utilities really understand best. And so when you have questions, you're going to ask the utilities and there is sort of a long term back and forth relationship there. Some people might call how that turns into regulatory capture sometimes.Additionally, we do have the ability to fine the utilities if they're not performing up to snuff and that has happened. It doesn't happen that often, and the most recent fine, I think was around $10 million. At the same time they had a significant rate increase and are pulling out over $100 million in profit every year. So it's not really proportional and we could theoretically increase those fines a bit. But there is hesitance. I think the legislature has interest in doing some of that but the utilities are of course not interested and I think we would see another veto pen action is my guess.But all that being said, this effort to create a consumer utility has led to a lot of us just digging down into what is the history of utilities in this country and regulation. And what we found is that utilities are natural monopolies so it makes sense for there to be regulation because there isn't competition. But the folks who sort of started the effort to create public utilities commissions were those who were going to be regulated. And so there has been this hand in glove relationship since the start around the regulators and the regulated.David RobertsIt's not ideal.Nicole GrohoskiThat's probably a subject of a whole other podcast but —David RobertsIt doesn't work quite like you would want it to.Nicole GrohoskiExactly. And additionally, I would say I have recently been talking to folks in other states and other people have served as public advocates. And what I find remarkable is the backflips and cartwheels that we go through with regulation to try to outfox the utilities when, by no fault of their own, the investor owned utilities are created with their number one mission to be maximizing repair profit. So it's like we could keep trying to think of creative and clever ways to balance this out. But at the end of all of it, I keep coming back to the fact that we don't have our roads, which are critical to our economy and our safety and our way of life in the private sector; and nor are our schools, nor is our military.Why does it make sense for something as important as our electricity grid to be subject to for-profit motivations?David RobertsListeners will be rolling their eyes right about now because this is something I say I find a way to say it almost every episode no matter what we're talking about. But utilities, they are structured such that they make money insofar as they spend money. So all they really want to do is deploy more big infrastructure. And so as you say, like PUCs find these elaborate Rube Goldberg mechanisms to sort of beg and plead with them to do things like efficiency or distributed energy, know on and on, inter, regional transmission, name it, all of which are sort of just counter to the basic incentive.So as you say, you can spend the rest of your life coming up with more and more elaborate ways to try to trick them into doing something against their interests. But at a certain point you just got to grapple with the central issue which is that they're set up wrong, they're set up badly, they're set up to not want things that are in the public interest and at a certain point you got to just deal with the root cause. Anyway, sorry to go off on my standard canned rant there. So then a skeptic will say these two utilities, just so people are clear about this, these are not vertically integrated utilities.These are just distribution utilities. They just have wires, they just distribute power. They do not own generation. They're dealing with a certain set of supply issues, a certain set of power plants, a certain geography. Maine is very heavily forested which is a nightmare for transmission lines for all the obvious reasons. So it just has a sort of set of things that it's dealing with. And so I guess the skeptic is going to ask what reason do we have to believe that given the sort of same resources that Pine Tree, a public utility, would perform any better?Nicole GrohoskiWell I think we have a lot of evidence that it would because we already have ten consumer owned utilities in Maine. Just for an example, there is one that's called Eastern Maine Electric Co-op. That's a traditional co-op. It is more rural than most of Maine. You might find it interesting that it is serving about 1.2% of the state's load in kilowatt hours but it is in an area that's twice the size of Rhode Island. Now EMAC, which is in rural downeast Maine is directly adjacent to the territory of Versant that I live in and the cost for delivery in EMAC is nine cents and the cost for delivery in Versant is 13.1 cents per kilowatt hour.So I don't think that's just some kind of magical happenstance that when you take profit out of the equation you're just paying less. We know that together CMP and Versant are sending out about — was last year was $187 million a year in profit. So I think if Mainers are in charge of our utility we can decide do we want to use that money to lower rates? Do we want to use it to reinvest in the grid to increase reliability? And I think it would probably be a mix of both of those things.David RobertsAnd that amount of money you think is material enough that it would show up as improved performance, show up as measurably improved performance?Nicole GrohoskiI do think so. I mean I think for your listeners, while Maine is large and rural we do have 1.3 million people. So, when you sort of divide those numbers out it does make a difference. And we've had some independent economic analysis that shows us that Mainers would be saving on average $367 a month, excuse me, a year, because of the fact that we're basically going from expensive rent for the grid to a lower cost mortgage. So I think it's easy to explain it to folks in terms of, like, "What's better when you're looking for housing, dropping your money down a rent hole, black hole for the rest of your life, or swapping out to a mortgage where you've got a lower interest rate than what we see now with the guaranteed return on equity that happens for our for-profit utilities."David RobertsYeah, this was another piece I wanted to ask about. So part of why you think this will be cheaper for ratepayers is just you take that huge slice of profits that are going, as you say, out of state to the owners of these utilities and keep that in state and that alone will buy you some better service. There's also the issue of investor-owned utilities expect and want and are guaranteed relatively high rates of return on their investments and often resist making investments if the rate of return is lower than that. But as you say, a public power utility can be more patient with its capital, right?Can make investments with lower returns as long as they pay off eventually, right?Nicole GrohoskiYeah. So we see here in Maine that the utilities are getting a ROE of 8% to 12%. And we know that firstly that's kind of astounding because it's not all that risky. Most people are paying their bills.David RobertsCrazy. It's guaranteed. It's huge and it's guaranteed. It's wild what it is. This is like the safest business on the planet as being a regulated utility.Nicole GrohoskiCouldn't agree more. And on the flip side, the Pine Tree Power Company can access low-cost capital through revenue bonding at 3-5%. So when we think about paying off that debt over many years with compounding interest, when we think about the fact that our grid really isn't ready to electrify our economy and experts expect it's going to need to be, increased two to three times. Now is the right moment in time, I think, to move away from high cost, low-risk investment to low cost, low-risk investment before we literally triple our grid.David RobertsTell us a little bit about how the utility would be governed or structured and what implications you think that might have.Nicole GrohoskiI love this question. I am a public servant and so I believe in local governance and people getting to vote and go to public meetings and have a say and all that is built into the ballot question. So the Pine Tree Power Company would have elected board members and there are seven of them, one for each grouping of five Senate seats, state Senate seats. And those members then turn around and appoint six members who have specific expertise in things like utility law and management, concerns of workers, concerns of economic, environmental and social justice, things like that, that we really want to make sure those folks are at the table.And this group of 13 people, they serve six-year terms each of them. And of course, there's like a little bit of a lead-in time because they'd all be elected at once, where some of them served shorter terms at the start. But point is, they are people in our communities. They have to be living in Maine. They have open meetings that are subject to freedom of access laws. And in order to best serve the public, I think they would be doing a lot of public outreach. And that's something that in talking to managers and board members from other consumer utilities in the country, I've been really impressed with how much local engagement they have. I think Sacramento Municipal Utility District, they said they're hosting 1300 community meetings a year.David RobertsGood grief.Nicole GrohoskiA couple a day on average. But they have, I think they said 95% customer satisfaction. So people feel like they're valued, their experience matters and they also have a plan to get to 100% clean energy by 2030. So our Pine Tree power governance is very much in the spirit of "It's a public good. It should be publicly governed."David RobertsThere's a little bit of a controversy in Maine a few years ago. I don't remember all the details, but it was about a big transmission line that would have brought hydro from Canada down through the woods of Maine. It was fought and I believe killed by popular resistance. And there was a lot of, at least nationally there was a lot of talk of like here again we have environmentally minded locals blocking things for environmental reasons, but in a short-sighted way that's going to be worse for the environment overall. In the long term, they're NIMBY's. We've got to figure out a way of dealing with this problem, et cetera, et cetera.So this leads to my question, which is: if you have a governing board that is elected by local people, and it is the local people who are often the source of the NIMBYism, do you not have some fears? That this would lead to a more NIMBY rather than less NIMBY operation of the utility, which is going to be difficult when, as you say, this is the time when every state everybody needs to be increasing and bolstering their transmission systems. Do you worry that local control is going to translate into more rather than less NIMBY opposition to new lines?Nicole GrohoskiI'll put it in a way that I think makes sense to me as a person in Maine who's intimately familiar with what you laid out, which is at the root of that decision, was a fundamental lack of trust in Central Maine Power. A trust that it would be doing anything in our best interest, that it would be giving us appropriate benefits, that it was really after anything more than profits. And so I think it wouldn't be true that as soon as Pine Tree Power was created that everyone would immediately trust the company. But I do think it would be a fresh start.And on top of that, with elected and appointed leaders spending time in communities and just energy literacy, I think in general would increase because it's something we would be talking about more if we had to elect the board. I'll say I think that people's interest in energy policy has gone through the roof this year compared to where it was in the past. And people are asking just really great questions, a new curiosity around electricity that I hadn't seen before growing up here. So I think that the outcome would actually be that folks would feel like they had a say in how the transmission was cited, who was benefiting if we remove the profit motive.Imagine if that money that would have gone to profit was actually going to community benefits. That might really change how people feel. And I think that here in Maine we are sort of skeptical of what's being pushed on us by people from away, quote unquote, is a saying we have. I don't always love it, but it is accurate in this case. You've got Central Main Power, owned by Avangrid, then owned by Iberdrola, based in Spain, telling us, "Oh, we've got this great deal for you." And people are skeptical of that. So I think we have a greater chance actually of doing transmission right and in a way that people can accept if there was this broader community process and a lack of for-profit skepticism that comes naturally to us here.David RobertsOne of the criticisms of the two existing utilities is that they're kind of slow-walking clean energy in particular. So I wonder if you could just say a word about what that means and why and how we think Pine Tree would be better on that score. Because it's not obvious. These are just wires utilities, right? So they're not dealing directly with clean energy generation. So what are the issues around clean energy and how will Pine Tree be an improvement?Nicole GrohoskiSo, historically, we have seen that the utilities do spend a lot of time and money in the State House, not just behind the scenes, but also right out publicly testifying against clean energy bills. Now, that has slowed in recent years, but certainly in the previous gubernatorial administration, that was a very common practice.David RobertsIf I could just pause there, I guess I just don't fully understand why, like, if you're a company that's just running wires, what's it to you?Nicole GrohoskiRight back to the return on equity question. So, these utilities make more money when they build transmission lines than when they upgrade the distribution system. They get a higher rate of return, right? So it is in their best interest to continue with the model of large far-off generation facilities compared to local rooftop solar type solutions or microgrids or battery storage. So that's the first part of the problem, I think. And secondly, I think some of these utilities just really are not very nimble. They're sort of in the business that they've been in for a long time and thinking about how to create a dynamic grid that has time of use rates that actually work, for instance, or bidirectional power.We have had smart meters in this state for over a decade and I can't see how they're being used in any kind of smart way. I mean, people are still calling the utilities to let them know the power is out.David RobertsIt's just baffling to me. Like, if I'm in the utility business, this is like my time to be a hero, you know what I mean? After 100 years of sleepy operation in the background, all of a sudden the world is calling upon me to be cutting edge and be the hero and save the world and instead, I'm just going to "I just want to keep doing things the way I've been doing." I don't know, people are disappointing.Nicole GrohoskiNo comment.David RobertsYeah. So I read in one of the stories about this. One of the opponents of this measure said, quote, "The people behind this proposal have no actual plan to lower rates, improve reliability and enable a swifter energy transition." The implication being that the fans of this measure just think that making the utility public is going to be sort of automagically, make everything easier and cleaner and cheaper, but there's no actual plan to do so. Is there a specific plan for how Pine Tree would operate and how it would do these things? Has anyone modeled out sort of you know what I mean?Is there more than just hope that the structure will do the work for you?Nicole GrohoskiWell, I think that the person who said that spent some time cherry-picking certain things in the ballot language but missed the bigger picture here, which is we have to start by saying yes on November 7 and then at that time then we have an election for the board of directors and it goes on from there. But until that time the Maine Public Utilities Commission cannot compel the utilities to give over their very private data to do that kind of in-depth modeling that is going to be the very next task for the Pine Tree Power Board once it exists and that is spelled out in the ballot question. You know, these utilities, I'm just going to be level about it: They don't have a plan either.And I can tell you that because the legislature last year had to pass a law requiring them to do integrated grid planning and think about how is it going to work to increase renewables on the grid, to increase demand as people install more heat pumps and use electric vehicles. They're not doing that or if they are doing it they're not doing it in any kind of way that is transparent or subject to review. So I think it's like a great bait and switch tactic.David RobertsAren't they supposed to create integrated resource plans? I thought that was something that all utilities had to do.Nicole GrohoskiI think they have some planning, but it is clear from the way that the interconnection queues are looking, the very high cost they're pushing onto developers for even just what turns out to be basic grid maintenance, there isn't really — maybe they have something that says "plan" at the top, but I'm not sure that all the nuts and bolts are actually there.David RobertsYeah, I meant to hit on interconnection before because that's one of the critiques also is that they are slow-walking interconnection of distributed resources, etc. Presumably they're doing that, or at least they say they're doing that to protect the grid. Do we have reason to believe they're slow-walking that on purpose such that Pine Tree could substantially speed up the interconnection queue?Nicole GrohoskiWe do have reason to believe that specifically because of all the complaints that we've received as legislators. We did ask the Public Utilities Commission to look into this and they hired the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, or IREC, to do a study. And the IREC findings were basically especially around Versant, which is in eastern and northern Maine. These guys are some of the worst actors we've ever seen in the United States. They are requiring things that they can't justify why they're requiring them, and we can find no reason from an engineering perspective to require them. And your listeners might find it fascinating to know that for Versant customers, the average cost of interconnecting your rooftop solar to the grid is $10,000.David RobertsJesus.Nicole GrohoskiThat is not normal is what I'm told. Another great story that I've heard from a couple of constituents is that they need a transformer upgrade to interconnect their rooftop solar. Okay, that might be true, and that upgrade is going to cost you $1,000 - $1,500. But we can't get the parts for two years.David RobertsOh my goodness.Nicole GrohoskiNow the same solar installers that are working in my area are also working in CMP's area Central Maine Power. Because I live my district includes both, and the installers are saying "CMP says they can get it in two months." So then I asked my constituents "Can you file a formal complaint at the PUC using this process we had to create because this is such a rampant issue?" And when they do that and go through the whole process, then that transformer has arrived and been installed within two to three months time. So I don't know what to say about it.I can only say what I see from the outside and the experience that I have heard about from people that pick up the phone and call me. But it seems shady to go from two years to two months.David RobertsLet's grapple here with what is probably the biggest and most difficult issue around all this, which is say Maine voters say yes to this, and it goes forward. Basically, it would involve the state of Maine buying these two utilities assets from the utilities, and depending on who you believe those assets are worth anywhere from $5 to I think CMP is now saying it could get up to $13 billion. So that's a big public expense. So how's that going to get financed? Who's going to pay it? How long is it going to take to pay it? Have we thought through in any detail how that process works?Nicole GrohoskiYes, definitely. And that was a big part of what the London Economics analysis included was that legal analysis of what that purchase price process would look like. We also have been able to look at this transition as has happened in other communities in the country, and we created an expedited and refereed process to determine the purchase price. And all told, from this fall to switch over to Pine Tree Power, we expect it to take three to four years. What we know from the LEI study is that this is a completely legal and constitutional effort. It's helpful to remind folks that because these are actual monopolies, they only have the right to be doing business because we give it to them.And in the Maine statutes, it literally says the PUC can take it away.David RobertsYeah, I mean, of course, again, this drives me crazy. I'm reading articles about this and of course, just once I'd like there to be a good argument had in public instead of idiots. But all the Republicans are now saying "This is a communist takeover of private business by the state. It's Communists. Why don't we call it Chinese electricity?" I've read, some of the dumbest quotes.Nicole GrohoskiAre you in the comments section?David RobertsNo, these are legislators. This is not even I mean, there's barely a distinction anymore. But like, the Republican legislators are saying this now. So it's worth just emphasizing the point that you just made, sort of drawing a line under it, which is these businesses have been granted a monopoly by the state and granted guaranteed returns by the state. So of course the state can take that back. Of course this is legal. Like if the state grants, the state can take away if the state is granting it on the grounds that it will be of service to the state's residents and it's not anymore, then of course the state can take that monopoly back.It's just crazy viewing. It's not like Maine is going to go take over the potato chip industry.Nicole GrohoskiWe have no interest in that.David RobertsThis is not a normal business. Utilities are not normal private businesses. They are state basically state created entities. And so of course, the state can uncreate them if it wants to. Sorry, I know that will not have any effect at all on the dumb things Republicans say about this.Nicole GrohoskiWell, I do want to clarify. We do have some really strong Republican support, from certain legislators as well as just regular folks. I mean, that was the greatest thing about collecting signatures for this initiative, which I did and my family did and many other people I know was that when you remove it from a debate in a state house, regular people just get it. They get that this is really important to our economy to have an electricity grid that works for us and for our health and safety. And they also understand that maybe this is not a place for profits.And I've had folks wearing Birkenstocks and folks wearing MAGA hats sign the petition because I think Maine people are really resilient. We are proud of our ability to solve problems and I think the majority of us believe this is something that we can do and that we probably could do it better than some far-off foreign monopoly.David RobertsAnyway, I interrupted you. You were talking about how these giant bills are going to get paid. Basically you say it's going to take about four years to do all the work, to transfer everything over. Would the $5 billion or however much it turns out to be, be paid off over those four years or how will it be financed?Nicole GrohoskiNo. So we did meet with some municipal bond banks. This sort of acquisition, like in the case of Long Island, has been paid off over a long period of time. And that's how we're able to see the rate reduction. You know again, similar to renting versus owning. I was able to buy a home. My mortgage is less than my rent would be, but I am still paying it off. And even with the interest, it's still less. So we have the ability through revenue bonding to borrow that money backed by the ratepayers, not actually by the state government and the general fund, but by the ratepayers.We have the ability to borrow that money, and then pay it off over time, and borrow more as we need to build out the grid.David RobertsWould it being a public utility enable it to draw on state money? Because one of the points a few pods ago we were talking about a new offshore wind bill that would draw money from state coffers rather than from ratepayers. And one of the sort of arguments and defense of that is taking tax money from state taxpayers is much more progressive than taking it from ratepayers. Basically you're getting a much more progressive source of funding. Is there any talk of Pine Tree being able to draw on state money or would it still just operate as a utility and get all its money and revenue and stuff from ratepayers the same way a private utility would?Nicole GrohoskiThe enabling statute has it separate. I think that that is really important, especially to our union workers because they had concerns about becoming public sector workers and what that would mean for their right to strike, for instance. So we have ensured that they are private sector workers.David RobertsOh, interesting.Nicole GrohoskiWhether or not a future legislature might say we're able to maintain that and have the utility doing efficiency programs that are paid through the taxpayer dollars versus ratepayer dollars, I can't predict. To your point about regressivity, one of the things that is required in the bill language for the Pine Tree Power Company is to establish lower rates for low income residential customers in the first five year plan. So we are trying to address that challenge that you're absolutely correct. It's the regressive funding structure, unlike taxation.David RobertsAlso, one of the criticisms of these utilities is that they're sending all these cutoff notices, they're cutting off people from power, which is bad for all obvious reasons. But is Pine Tree going to pledge not to do that? And if it doesn't do that, where does that money to cover those people's rates come from? Because that would seem like an additional expense because whatever you might say about cutting people off, it does save the utilities money.Nicole GrohoskiRight. Well, we do have what's called the Arrearage Management Program here in Maine and that does help folks get out of arrears and that is ratepayer funded program. So that is a somewhat fiscally progressive approach to that. You know the details of that program are probably more than you'd want to know. But the long and short is if you get back on track then some of your debt will be just forgiven. But it's not forgiven by the utilities, it's forgiven by your neighbors.David RobertsRight. Well, would Pine Tree pledge not to cut people off? Like, is that part of the campaign here or how would it treat cutoffs ?Nicole GrohoskiYou know, it's a good question that surprisingly I don't know if anyone has posed to me it is not in the legislation one way or the other. I'm of the belief that if rates go down and we could have rates that were income stratified to some extent, that the amount of disconnection notices that we saw earlier this year would go way down just economically. But I think it would be really a decision of the board. And then I'm also not sure if the Public Utilities Commission if there are any rules on the books because this utility, unlike a lot of consumer utilities in the country, is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission as if it were an investor owned utility.So, there may be specific rules about that already.David RobertsYeah, I would just think though, if you're trying to sell this, making this public rather than private, one of the things you could sell is like we think this is a public right to have electricity on some level.Nicole GrohoskiThe one other thing about it that just comes to mind is that a couple of years ago during COVID, people were especially concerned about the disconnection notices, not knowing if they were going to be receiving a next paycheck but we were told that the disconnection notices were necessary in order to provide certain assistance. So the utilities said, "Oh don't worry, we're not actually going to disconnect anyone but we have to do this to get them into this next program." So, I don't know if that would come into play here but I'm not convinced that the utilities wouldn't have ultimately shut the people off but that was a way that they spun it at least.David RobertsOne more kind of semi-technical question that's a little bit of a side thing but is of interest, I think, to Volts listeners. One of the provisions in the IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act, is that it makes some of the tax credits direct pay, which means you don't have to pay taxes to get it back. You can get it back directly as a check and one of the categories of entities that would qualify for this is tax-exempt entities. So I wonder, has anyone done any thinking, and maybe this is too in the weeds but done any thinking about what advantage it might pose for Maine to have its utility be tax-exempt, whether it will benefit from the IRA through that.Nicole GrohoskiIt is something we're thinking about because we were excited to see that direct pay provision sort of leveling the playing field for publicly owned generation which is another topic I'm very interested in, but I think it remains to be seen. In the case of Pine Tree Power, it is not allowed to own generation and it may be permitted to own some storage as is necessary to maintain the grid functioning. So I'm not entirely sure that that direct IRA provision would help in this case but what I think it does is sort of change the paradigm a bit there that may then also shift to other things. If the federal government says let's have an ITC or PTC for transmission lines, the next step might be —David RobertsPraise be.Nicole GrohoskiWell, let's make sure we set it up the same way we've just done with generation. Yes, I think it's a really important conversation even if it doesn't have a direct immediate effect on the Pine Tree Power Company.David RobertsInteresting. As I think anyone could predict just from what we've said so far, even knowing nothing else about it but what we've said so far, I'm sure people could predict that the private utilities in question are not excited about this happening and have mobilized to prevent it from happening. So tell us a little bit about the campaign against this. Is it as hysterical as one would predict?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, I mean hysterical is one word for it. Deeply troubling is another phrase that comes to mind. But these are utilities, like I mentioned, about the amount of profit that they make and that's just off of their Central Maine Power and Versant holdings. But Central Maine Power is just a small, small fraction of the entire Iberdrola conglomerate. So, yeah, we have seen them spending a lot of money against the campaign. They've put $27 million toward the campaign, both utilities, as of the end of June. So we expect to see more of course.David RobertsNot a small amount in a small state.Nicole GrohoskiNo. And honestly, talking to my neighbors, people are very upset by it. They're kind of irate that they're the people whose power goes out and doesn't come back on for a couple of days. They're the folks who had to spend $10,000 for a generator which isn't part of a clean energy solution last I checked. And there go the utilities putting $27 million toward just running ads.David RobertsYeah, I mean, are they experiencing it as a flood of ads? I mean, $27 million must allow you to kind of dominate the airwaves.Nicole GrohoskiYes, the airwaves are definitely bought up, as far as we can tell. And they have just their two donors, which are the utility parent companies, which are Avangrid and Enmax.David RobertsAre they funding 100% of this?Nicole Grohoski100%, yes. And these utilities, lest they tell you how amazing and green and climate-friendly they are, they are gas utilities, Avangrid and Enmax anyhow. And then on the flip side, we are a smaller organization. We don't have Mainers' pockets to pickpocket on a regular basis.David RobertsI'm guessing you guys haven't hit $27 million yet. How much money have you have?Nicole GrohoskiYou're closer to around a million, I think. And that's over 1000 donors, most of whom are just regular donors giving what they can because they understand these differences. And also I think the big difference is the utilities are putting out a lot of fear, doubt, scare tactic type ads. And on the flip side, what we're offering people is something different and something positive, something that we can all lean into and make sure that it succeeds because it would actually be ours. So I think that's resonating with folks.David RobertsWhat are the scare tactics specifically? Are they saying this will be expensive or what?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, expensive. I mean, you quoted some of their numbers and it's laughable. They're like, "Oh, we're going to get $13.5 billion." Well, they're worth $5.4 billion. That's what they pay taxes on. That's what they filed their official paperwork saying. So I think especially as we learn more and more about how decrepit certain portions of this grid are, they'd be lucky to get a little bit over that. So that's one of them. "Is there a plan? We don't have a plan, but do they have a plan?" is another one. You know what, a lot of it is just to my sensibility is a little insulting to Maine people.You don't know what you're doing, that kind of thing. Meanwhile, we're going to keep the line workers who are doing the work and we're giving them a retention bonus because we value their expertise, because they're the ones that actually know how the grids work, not the CEOs and the CFOs.David RobertsYeah, it is historically pretty easy though just to I mean, when you're fighting against change, you barely even need arguments. You know what I mean? You can just say "Booga booga booga change" and you're halfway there, it seems like.Nicole GrohoskiWell, I think that's why we're in such a unique position in Maine because while that can be kind of an initial gut reaction, I think people here are curious. We've certainly seen plenty of campaigns where one side was outspent a lot by the other and it didn't make a difference. We have led in other policy areas. Ranked choice voting could be one recent example. Clean elections one of the only states that splits our electoral college votes. So I think Maine people, I think we're interested in things that are different if they make sense to us.David RobertsWhere is the public on this? Do we know do we have enough polling or survey data or what have you to know kind of what the level of support is or where the public is on this? Do we have a barometer? Do we have a measure here?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, I think the most recent public polling was probably a couple of months ago. But what it showed was there were people that were solidly in each camp but a lot of undecided voters and it really put us in a dead heat in terms of the people that were decided. And what I think is interesting is folks are not being swayed by Central Maine Power and Versant ads mainly because we don't trust them. They have not been good faith actors.David RobertsAre they creating fake groups like "Mainers for puppy dogs and grandma"?Nicole GrohoskiYes, Maine Affordable Energy is one of them. Yeah, so they sound pretty good, but all you have to do is google that and you find out pretty quickly, because of our disclosure rules, that's 100% utility funded.David RobertsTo the extent that the public supports this, are they viewing it as primarily a green thing, a thing about clean energy? Or is it primarily " Screw these out of state —," you know what I mean? Like a Maine pride kind of thing. Is it a reliability? Do you know what it is about this that the public has taken from it? What it is the public is supporting when the public supports it?Nicole GrohoskiThat's a great question and it does vary depending on the person and their interest and maybe even where they live in the state because the utility rates are the worst where I live compared to all the other districts in the state. So it depends. I think if you're a person who tried to interconnect and you got told you have to wait two years and $10,000, then it might be about greening the grid. But I think for a lot of folks underlying whatever their specific reason might be, it is that question of trust. I think about this all the time we have aggressive clean electricity goals, but 50% of our carbon emissions in this state are coming from vehicles and we are the most heating oil dependent state in the country.So we've got to get people onto the electricity grid in order to have any hope of cleaning it up. But it's really hard for me to knock on someone's door and say, "I really hope you'll consider changing your whole house over to heat pumps, even though we have below zero temperatures sometimes. Or I know that the power went out for a week last year, but would you consider an EV?" So I think that in order to make this transition work, we have to have utilities that people trust and that are providing just basic service. People should not have to think as hard as they're thinking about if their electricity is going to be there for them.David RobertsYes, that's such an important point. And so generalizable too, like if electrification is the thing, then people have got to trust the institutions in charge of electrification and they do not have much public trust these days. So that's an interesting argument in favor, I think, of making utilities more accountable, more public. What about the other big argument against one of the big scare things is you have to buy all these assets, which is like a big bill, a big one-time bill. The other scare story is that utilities are going to immediately sue, that this is going to get mired in the courts, and that it's going to take 4, 5, 6, 7 years to even get it all settled, and until then it will be chaos and no one will know what's going on and blah, blah, blah.So realistically, what's your view of, say, voters approve this in November? What is your view of sort of how that plays out and when and how the inevitable legal wrangling gets resolved?Nicole GrohoskiBasically, the Pine Tree Power Board will offer a certain amount for the utility infrastructure. I don't expect that the utilities will accept that on first pass you're buying a used car, you don't just take the first price. Right. So we would expect some negotiation, but if that doesn't work, then it will go to the courts. And there is a refereed process that's spelled out in the legislation in the Superior Court that then can be appealed to the Supreme Court in the state of Maine. But there are timelines set up. So it cannot go on for years and years and years, because at some point, if you lose or win a case, that's it.You have one appeal. I think it's funny that this argument is coming from the utilities because if there are any lawsuits and if it got dragged out, as they say, even though we've protected against that to the best of our ability, that's coming from them. That is a choice that they are making.David Roberts"Don't make us do this."Nicole GrohoskiYeah, so it's kind of ironic but additionally, one of the things that comes up is how do we know the utilities will continue to invest in the meantime? And it's like the best parallel I could say to that is if I'm going to sell my house, I don't just stop fixing things before I sell it. I keep it up in really good shape. And in fact, utilities would have an incentive to invest more because usually they don't just sell it for exactly what it's worth. There's usually a multiplier. We expect it to be like 1.5 times.So we actually have increased the oversight capacity of the Public Utilities Commission to ensure that there isn't any of that sort of last-minute gold plating going on, because that is actually what we'd expect, not the further disrepair scenario.David RobertsOh, so you think if this goes through, they'll plow a bunch of money into high dollar upgrades just to boost their price that you have to pay for them?Nicole GrohoskiThat's what I would do if I were them. Fortunately, we're going to keep an eye on that on behalf of Maine people. But if you are able to invest a million dollars here and in two to three years time make $1.5 million because that's the multiplier that the courts assign, that's pretty good.David RobertsYeah. So what's your timeline in your head then? What do you envision? At what point is there just the one public utility operating and all this is behind us? Were you willing to predict?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, we're looking at fall 2027, so four years from now, and that includes having the elections for the board members next year. So that's the first major hurdle, which I think is exciting, especially because living in one of the more rural parts of Maine, we don't always feel here that our interests are represented at the Public Utilities Commission, which is folks from southern Maine. And I think this geographic component is really compelling to, you know, so that's our first step. And then basically we have to get a lot of information. I mean, the board would have to get a lot of information from the utilities in order to know what purchase price they should put forward, what's the business plan, what does the revenue bonding look like, and make sure they can secure that financing through a large municipal bond market.So that takes time and we want to make sure we do it right. On the other hand, doing nothing is also a risk that I think sets people in my generation and folks younger than me behind economically and environmentally for decades. So a couple of years to do it right is definitely worth it.David RobertsOkay, final question then. I can see lots of Maine-specific reasons why one might argue that this is a good deal; these utilities are particularly bad, Maine has a particular set of problems, it has a particular sort of public culture, a culture of participation and a culture of civic engagement, et cetera, et cetera. Lots of Maine-specific reasons why you could make the case for this. I wonder, to what extent do y'all have your eyes on other states and trying to make this the beginning of something bigger? Like, do you believe that taking private utilities public is a good idea across the board?Is that something you'd like to see become a national trend or are you just purely focused on Maine? How do you think about the influence this may or may not have on other states?Nicole GrohoskiI think that all the issues we've had in Maine are what led us to looking around for solutions, but it is a structural imbalance that we have with the regulated monopolies when they're for profit. So, I do think it is something that is exportable to other states. We people in our coalition have been working with and talking to people elsewhere in the country who are looking to make a similar transition also elsewhere in the world. It's kind of interesting. The Scottish power is also owned by Avengrid, which owns Central Maine Power, and they are looking to become a public, truly public utility over there.So, in doing this work, we've found a lot of interest for that business model change. And I think as we become another case study, we are standing on the shoulders of other case studies that have happened in this country. And as we become another one for folks, I think that we'll see some opportunities arise. And I would like to see that because I want every American to be able to afford their electricity and to be able to have clean energy and not a lot of hurdles to getting there, because we are literally all in this together as a country and as a world with our climate crisis.David RobertsThat seems like a wonderful note to wrap up on. Nicole Grohoski, thanks so much for coming on and walking through this with us. It's super fascinating and I think it will be an example to the rest of the country one way or the other. However it plays out.Nicole GrohoskiWe're hoping that we're a positive "yes" example. We're working every day toward that. And I want to thank you, David, for having me on and talking about this topic, which is, I think, endlessly important and fascinating.David RobertsAgreed, agreed. OK. Thanks, Nicole. Thank you for listening to the Volts podcast. It is ad-free, powered entirely by listeners like you. If you value conversations like this, please consider becoming a paid Volts subscriber at volts. WTF. Yes, that's volts.WTF so that I can continue doing this work. Thank you so much and I'll see you next time. Get full access to Volts at www.volts.wtf/subscribe

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In this episode, Johanna Bozuwa of the Climate and Community Project shares a progressive vision for permitting reform and the factors that could speed up the US clean-energy buildout.(PDF transcript)(Active transcript)Text transcript:David RobertsTo achieve its Paris climate targets, the US is going to have to build out an enormous amount of clean energy and clean-energy infrastructure in coming years. But that buildout is going slowly — painfully, excruciatingly slowly — relative to the pace that is necessary.This has given rise to considerable debate on the left over what, exactly, is slowing things down. Much of that debate has come to focus on permitting, and more specifically, on permitting under the National Environmental Protection Act, or NEPA.A deal that would have put some restrictions on NEPA in exchange for reforms to transmission planning was effectively killed by progressives toward the end of the last congressional session, leading many people inside and outside the climate movement to accuse progressives of being The Problem. They are so attached to slowing down fossil fuel development with NEPA, the accusation goes, that they are willing to live with it slowing clean energy. And that's a bad trade.Progressives, not surprisingly, disagree! Their take on the whole permitting debate is summarized in a new paper from the Roosevelt Institute and the Climate and Community Project: “A Progressive Vision for Permitting Reform.”The title is slightly misleading, since one of the central points of the paper is that permitting under NEPA is only a small piece of the puzzle — there are many other factors that play a role in slowing clean energy, and many other reforms that could do more to speed it up. I called up one of the paper's co-authors, Johanna Bozuwa of the Climate and Community Project, to ask her about those other reforms, the larger political debate, and the progressive community's take on speed. All right, then. With no further ado, Johanna Bozuwa from the Climate and Community Project. Welcome to Volts, and thank you so much for coming.Johanna BozuwaThank you so much for having me, David.David RobertsThis is a hot topic, as you're well aware, permitting and the larger issues around it. And so, before we jump into specifics, I wanted to start with a few sort of broad, call them philosophical, questions.Johanna BozuwaPerfect.David RobertsAs you know, progressives have been under quite a bit of fire lately, not only from their typical opponents on the right and in the fossil fuel industry, but from a lot of sort of centrists and even a lot of sort of allies in the climate movement. For — I think the general idea is they are too attached to stopping fossil fuels and not yet supportive enough of building out renewable energy. And the mechanisms that they rely on to slow and stop fossil fuels are also slowing and stopping renewable energy. And so I think the general critique is that they ought to swing around and be more pro-building and loosen these requirements, et cetera, et cetera. I'm sure you've heard all this.Johanna BozuwaYes.David RobertsSo I guess I'd just start with this question. Is, do you think the progressive — and by the way, I meant to say this by way of a caveat, I'm going to be sort of using you as a spokesperson for progressivism, which I think we both realize is ridiculous.Johanna BozuwaRight, exactly.David RobertsProgressives are heterogeneous just like anybody else. There's no official progressive position. But as a crude, let's just say as a crude instrument here, we're going to ask you to speak for that perspective as you see it.Johanna BozuwaPerfect.David RobertsSo in your opinion, do you think progressives have taken it into their heart that things are moving too slowly and they desperately need to move faster?Johanna BozuwaMy answer to that question is that I think speed is progressive. You know, David, I don't need to tell this to you or any of the people that listen to this podcast or even progressives. We're dealing with the existential threat of the climate crisis and lives are on the line. And so I think that as progressives, we do need to take the speed question seriously. And I think what I would push back on is the fact that people have this myopic focus on permitting as the thing that's slowing everything down. And especially when I'm talking about permitting, NEPA permitting.David RobertsRight. We're going to definitely get to that.Johanna BozuwaYeah. And I just think that when it comes to this question of "Do progressives believe in speed?" I think that they actually very much do. And one of the things that I get frustrated with sometimes, when I hear these arguments like "Oh, progressives don't want to build anything," I think what progressives are interested in is building the right thing. And if we think about the United States and how our energy system rolls out today, we have a real issue that fossil fuels can expand at the same time as renewable energy is expanding. Like when it comes to fossil fuels, we can actually export that.We are now the biggest net exporter of LNG and crude oil. And I think that progressives are particularly aware that if we do the wrong thing on permitting then we're actually not only expanding renewable energy — and maybe poorly done renewable energy — but also the fossil fuel industry knows how to use these tools so much better than our renewable energy developers. And we are going to see just a massive expansion that we absolutely don't need right now. If we think the climate crisis matters.David RobertsWhat about the argument which goes like this: Fossil fuels are reaching sort of a structural peak and decline. Renewable energy is getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper. It's on the rise. So if you just, all things being equal, make it easier to build everything across the board, renewable energy will win that race and so it's worth doing.Johanna BozuwaI just don't think that argument is true, look at how much power the fossil fuel industry still has in making these decisions. Like if we look at who is behind the recent push for permitting reform: It was largely the oil and gas industry. There's definitely some more nuance that's there, but they have significant power to move things and move them faster than the clean energy world. It's a question of when you're rolling back some of these bedrock environmental laws that the pie — it's not that the part of renewable energy in the pie is getting bigger. It's that even if we are getting more renewable energy, the pie itself has expanded so that we're having fossil fuels and renewables expanding at the same time.And it's not fully pushing out the power of the fossil fuel industry.David RobertsWell, then, how about this? And this is the final philosophical question before we get down to some nuts and bolts. Do you agree that there are going to be trade-offs as we pursue speed? This is, of course, the big discussion right now is that if you really double down on speed, if you really pursue speed with everything you've got, there are inevitably going to be some trade-offs, some other progressive values that have to take a backseat. And that might be other environmental impacts. It might be impacts on communities. It might be, you know, name it. It might be that we have to loosen up a little bit on those other things.Do you think that there are those trade-offs?Johanna BozuwaI think that there are some trade-offs. You, I think, had my colleague, Thea Riofrancos, on the pod some time ago talking about lithium extraction, right? And the fact that if we are going to decarbonize our transportation sector, it is going to take extraction in order to accomplish that. Right. And there are substantial and significant impacts that has in terms of water contamination in some of the most drought-impacted parts of the United States, that is something that we need to be thinking about. And I think what my hesitation is when it comes to so much of this conversation is that we're talking about deregulation as the way to do speed instead of actually talking about planning and coordination.And from my perspective, it's the planning and coordination that allows us to think through the decisions we're making with a far better sense of what's happening instead of a "get government out of the way, we'll figure it out" project that — it didn't really do great things for the planet. Are we going to do that again and trying to fix it? That seems like a silly mistake to make.David RobertsYeah, that's a really important distinction. I'm glad we get that out up front. Because I hate when we go from, "Yes, there are trade-offs" to therefore "Let it rip, let everything go." As Thea said on the podcast, we can acknowledge those trade-offs and thoughtfully try to minimize them through planning.Johanna BozuwaExactly.David RobertsSo let's start with this. As you say, there's this sort of what we're calling the permitting debate, quote unquote. Permitting debate is actually a bunch of debates and they're all kind of getting squished together under this notion of permitting. But in fact, there's a lot of things going on here other than permitting. So maybe talk just a little bit about all the disparate things that are now sort of getting lumped together under that rubric.Johanna BozuwaExactly. So I think just to put a point on it, often when people are talking about permitting, they're talking about this unfocused conversation about cutting red tape. But really what it comes down to is where the fight is right now in particular on the national stage is around NEPA. So the National Environmental Policy Act, but wrapped up into all of their arguments are all these other pieces that actually are maybe more of the problem than particularly NEPA. So, you know, four of them, just to start us off, obviously we do have NEPA. That's part of the permitting process.We have local and state zoning permits, approvals, things like that. You know, going to Georgia County to make sure that you can put something through. Then you have third, these contracts or arrangements that are actually between private organizations. David, I know you had folks talking about internet connection queues — that often is part of the permitting debate, but it's actually about who gets to go onto the transmission that's being built.David RobertsLet me pause there because I want to make a point that I'm not sure everybody understands and I'm not even sure we made it in that pod. But the ISOs, the ...Johanna BozuwaIndependent service operators. I know I always mess it up. RTOs. ISOs.David RobertsYes, I know. ISOs and RTOs. I could never call that to mind. But anyway, the ones who are sort of running the transmission systems and running these queues are not public organizations. Those are not state organizations. They are private consortia of transmission organizations and utilities and things like that. So it's not something that the state can come in and just directly change. I just think that's worth sort of putting on the record.Johanna BozuwaI think that's a really important point and I think we'll probably dig into this further. But the idea that and I think you talked about this on the pod last time, but there are so many different kind of private actors that are operating within the RTOs and ISOs with not actually a huge amount of oversight, as it currently stands.David RobertsYes, or transparency.Johanna BozuwaOr transparency.David RobertsOr accountability, really.Johanna BozuwaYeah, exactly. And it turns out if we're looking at what's really miring the buildout of renewable energy, a solid amount of it is right there. Is in the interconnection queues. I think it was Southwest PowerPool — takes like eight years sometimes to get the developer to get their project through. And those are for projects that already have their offtaker and have all their permitting in place. So it just feels quite misguided for us to spend all of this time talking about permitting when we could be actually diagnosing the problem —David RobertsAnd you said there was a fourth.Johanna Bozuwa— and there's a fourth. The fourth one, I would say, is just operation and construction permits, like some of the pollution discharge stuff that is at some of these more local levels. And those four don't even include some of the other things that stop things, which is like access to capital, utility squabbles, supply chain slowdowns, these whole host of other issues that are just being swept under the rug because it's very alluring to say, guess what? I have the one quick fix to make sure that renewable energy gets built in the United States.David RobertsAnd local NIMBYism. I'd throw that in.Johanna BozuwaYeah, yeah, local NIMBYism, absolutely. Add it to the pile, exactly. So and NEPA's not going to do things about local NIMBYism in the same way that's the local and state zoning stuff.David RobertsYeah, I think people really want, for obvious reasons, they're frustrated by everything going so slowly and everybody wants there to be sort of like something to cut the Gordian knot, sort of one, as you said, one weird trick. And that's, I think, why people are grasping onto NEPA because it seems like that's one big thing we can argue about and change. But as you say, the reasons here are very disparate. But let's just take a second to talk about NEPA. I go back and forth on this, but is it, do you think the progressive position that NEPA is okay "as is" and doesn't need any changes?Like, do you think there are problems with NEPA and how it's administered?Johanna BozuwaOkay. My feeling on this is that the case about NEPA is overstated, especially as we describe so many other things, even outside of the permitting process that matters. But if we're going to talk about NEPA, I think overall the projects are going through pretty quickly. There was a new study, actually, this month by, I think, David Adelman that did a really comprehensive look at wind and solar NEPA reviews over the past ten years, and he found that less than 5% of Wind and solar projects required. The EIS, like the Environmental Impact Statement, which is the one that takes the most time usually, can be two and a half years or whatever, but they're going through with categorical exclusions or some of these faster ways to move wind and solar projects through, or just projects in general.And he found that there was very little litigation involved, which is often like the dog whistle, I feel like, of some of these folks who are calling for permitting.David RobertsYeah, I was surprised when I looked at that study. It's a relatively low percentage of those projects that get litigated after they're done.Johanna BozuwaRight, exactly. And I think if I were to make any improvements to NEPA, the thing I would do is bulk up the administrative state. Jamie Gibbs Pleune wrote a kind of corresponding piece of research to our permitting report where she investigated and talked about NEPA in particular with Roosevelt. But she was looking at another paper and found of 40,000 NEPA decisions that the US Forest Service looked at, the biggest causes of delays were actually from a lack of experienced staff, budget instability, and honestly, delays from the applicants themselves not getting their stuff in on time. So I just feel as if we're going to do anything to make NEPA better, give the BLM, give US Forest Service, give EPA far more funds, training, staff empowerment that's going to actually move these projects even faster through the pipeline when they're actually moving relatively quickly.And these places have experienced chronic understaffing and lack of empowerment. So there is work to be done there. I don't want to understate that, but I think that it's a reasonable thing for us to accomplish without rolling back and applying a very neoliberal frame to how we get this job done.David RobertsYeah, I would say it does seem like NEPA has sprawled a bit since it was passed. Originally, it was supposed to be major projects that came under NEPA review, and the court basically decided that all projects were under NEPA review. And so there's just thousands and thousands now that just have these little sort of not very long delays because they get these categorical exemptions. But there's just a lot of — it's very sprawling, it seems like, and unfocused. This is one of those areas where I feel like there are procedures of the administrative state that could work better and more effectively.But at this point, liberals, they've just been under assault for so long. And liberals just know if you open this can of worms, if you open it up to review, there's just a pool of piranhas that want to go in and strip it bare. And so they just don't open it for review. Like, there's so many things like this. Like, if we could have a good faith process of actually trying to do what NEPA is supposed to do better than NEPA does it, I feel like, yeah, there's stuff we could improve, but Joe Manchin doesn't want to improve it.Johanna BozuwaWe don't want Joe Manchin in charge of what NEPA looks like and what's the more muscular version that takes into consideration the real-life climate impacts. Because I don't know when you're talking there, David, a thing that comes up for me is the reality that we will have more things happening on the ground. Like, let's say you put transmission in, we have a wildfire crisis. Now all of a sudden, the stakes are higher when it comes to these things like environmental review that are very material that I think also aren't talked about as much as they should be. And so, yeah, I can imagine things being shifted and changed within NEPA so that it works better for the current context.But I think that, as you describe it, could be a real political problem for us to do that type of work right now. And we have other mechanisms that can move us much more quickly in the interim. Like, is this really the thing we want to be spending our time on as progressives? The answer is no.David RobertsAnd I also think if you look at the reforms that were sort of ended up getting jammed through, like of all the thoughtful things you could do to NEPA to make it work better, just a sort of — page limit, like a page limit on reviews: Seems like it's such a blunt instrument. It's such a crude way of approaching this.Johanna BozuwaOh, and I think it's going to get them into serious trouble. If you want a thing that is going to increase litigation, try adding an arbitrary deadline and page limit to something with no administrative capacity.David RobertsOkay. We could do a whole pod on NEPA, but I don't want to get too — our whole point is it's not the sole or even main impediment here. So at a slightly more granular level, let's talk about what you think is actually slowing down clean energy infrastructure build out. And there's a few categories your report covers starting with transmission, which is, I think, the big one.Johanna BozuwaYeah, totally. And I would agree with you. I mean, transmission planning is kind of in shambles in this country. It's not up to the job.David RobertsYeah, I don't think literally anybody on any side of anything would disagree with you about that.Johanna BozuwaExactly. And I think there are a couple of reasons for that. One is that multistate transmission buildouts are incredibly hard to do in a federalized system. We just have so many different actors that are vying to hold on to their particular part of the market, especially with our vertically integrated utilities that don't have much interest in allowing other utilities into their service territory. And in deregulated states, utilities are kind of out of the picture for deciding where new generation is being built. So there's not a lot of efficiencies that are built into that. So we just get this really haphazard development, if development at all, of our transmission system, which I think is just quite a failure.There are so many clear opportunities to do much more clear planning around this.David RobertsYes. And then what about big large-scale renewable energy projects like big solar, wind, geothermal, what is in practice, slowing down their build out?Johanna BozuwaYeah, so I think that when it comes to some of these larger scale projects around solar or wind, you're running again into projects that aren't thinking strategically about where they're being placed. So if we're looking at the amount of land that we're going to need with the energy transition right. Wind and solar take more space up than one natural gas plant. And I think that there's just like a clear lack of land use planning when it comes to these larger scale projects when we could be doing it far better. Right. And thinking about what are the areas that make sense and are going to limit the amount of impact on our landscape and on communities and actually deploy it in those areas.And I actually think there are answers to that question.David RobertsWell, we're not to answers yet. We're dwelling on problems.Johanna BozuwaOkay, all right —David RobertsSo how does that slow down? I mean, what does that manifest as? How does that slow down the build out?Johanna BozuwaYeah, well, the way that that manifests is that you're putting big renewable energy projects in tension with things like agriculture. You're putting big renewable projects in tension with our biodiversity goals. And so those are the things that are going to potentially mire the development and deployment of these larger scale projects — in addition to getting them attached to the transmission and making sure that it's colocated with the transmission we need.David RobertsYes, the aforementioned interconnection queue issue, which alone is like, "That's a lot of years," which as you say, that's a lot of years tacked on the end of all the other stuff they have to go through. Like once they have to go through all that other stuff, then they get in the interconnection queue and wait and wither, etc. And then another thing you take on here is a big piece of the clean energy buildout, which I think a lot of people don't really think about as much, maybe don't enjoy thinking about as much, which is the sort of minerals and metals aspect of it. A big part of IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act, is an attempt to onshore supply chains so that China does not dominate them.But that means onshoring some mines and some minerals processing which are not necessarily environmentally friendly, not necessarily things people like having in their backyard. So what's slowing those things down?Johanna BozuwaI guess I would say there are two pieces that are happening. One is just that this is a pretty new area and there are so many price fluctuations that are happening. There's all of these big mining companies that are shifting ownership, trying to figure out financing. Right? So there's a lot that's happening there. And mining companies are not the best known for having perfect environmental impact statements or anything like that, that's going to get them mired right. And then you add in the fact that as we talked about earlier, a lot of where these lithium reserves are is also in extremely — like the likelihood for drought is a lot higher if you're looking, for instance, at the Salton Sea in California or, you know, over in Nevada, these are places that we actually have to be extremely careful about. And also it just takes a really long time to build a mine like this isn't something that happens the next day. Right. It's like 10 to 15 years in the future type thing. So it is a longer time frame that's going to be even longer if we aren't thinking, again, about who is impacted, how they are going to be impacted by the mining itself. What is that going to do to air quality, water quality, all of these different things?It's a really big part of the permitting discussion, or of the transition discussion in particular that is being discounted in the United States.David RobertsAnd one more bit on problems, before we transition to recommendations. I noticed that one thing you don't get into a lot in the report is the expression of those state and local level permitting issues. And a lot of those I think, are tied to environmental review. And a lot — like, for instance, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is just sort of like legendarily at this point, a tool for local NIMBYs to stop things happening. Like we just read a story that was bouncing around Twitter a few days ago about these wealthy people — I forget what county they were in — but they were suing because someone had moved a playground closer to their house.They didn't like the sound of the kids playing and so they sued. And part of it was that the city had not done a proper environmental review under CEQA of moving the playground. And you hear stories like that all the time. Do you think you said that NEPA is not as big a problem as people say? Do you think state level environmental review is a serious problem, a serious barrier, at least in some places?Johanna BozuwaI think it just really depends on the place. And I think that's part of why as we were writing a national paper, being able to dig into the detail and differentiations between all of these different places seemed like a big haul for a small paper. So yeah, I think that there are these pieces at the local level, the zoning things, right? People are historic preservation boards that are saying like, "No rooftop solar because we don't like the look of it." Yeah, that's some BS in my mind and I think we do need to figure out how to manage that.And I think what this comes into conversation with is a little bit of like, what is the community review process? What does that look like and how do we manage that?David RobertsContemplating the variety and number of those instruments at the state and local level is really overwhelming and really does make the problem feel so intractable because it's just like, as you say in a federalist system, it's like every bit of reform is not just one bit, it's 50 bits. Every bit is 50 fights.Johanna BozuwaTotally agree. And I think that's why we get stuck in these gridlocks sometimes. And also when we get to solutions, I think there are some examples that we can draw on and utilize our little multi tool of ideas of how to move this forward.David RobertsFinal thing before that, because I forgot about this bit, but actually it's worth making a note that it's actually easier for fossil fuel infrastructure to get NEPA permits than it is for clean energy projects. It's something you note in the paper. If anything, NEPA is easier on these pipelines and stuff. Even though Joe Manchin is complaining ceaselessly about it.Johanna BozuwaYes, and I mean, I think that's why in particular, people who have been fighting the fossil fuel industry for so long, look to this group of folks, more center left folks, that are saying "Repeal NEPA, let's do it, we want to build." They're saying, "Oh my gosh. What you're doing by saying that is saying that the West Virginian that I have been fighting alongside is going to be decimated by this pipeline that's being passed now." So there are really high stakes and in a lot of the permitting process that we saw at the federal level, it also implicated the Mountain Valley pipeline.Right. And that type of infrastructure getting a pass when it couldn't even get some of its permits at the state level to just go forth is a really, I think, scary potential because that locks us into decades of extraction.David RobertsYeah, I feel like that was not covered well when this whole thing happened. You know, the Mountain Valley Pipeline: It's not that it was like stuck unfairly in a bureaucratic tangle. It just sort of straightforwardly was polluting and so it couldn't get the permits, the permits were rejected. It wasn't like stuck in some queue or something. It was just straightforwardly a polluting project that could not qualify under US law to go on. And it was just like jammed through. So I feel like the outrage of that didn't really penetrate partially because everybody's on this like "everything needs to go faster tip" and so they just kind of slotted it under there.But we don't want things that straightforwardly fail environmental review going forward do we?Johanna BozuwaExactly, like, I would like, that the Cuyahoga River does not catch on fire again. And that's the reason we have environmental review and NEPA. And also I would like it to be able to stop more fossil fuel infrastructure.David RobertsYeah, I know. And this is the other thing too, as though we're supposed to have some sort of content neutral opinions about permitting as such. I'm just like, "Well, I want more good stuff and less bad stuff. Can I have that opinion?"Johanna BozuwaExactly. That's so crucial too, where there are ways for us to stop permitting new fossil fuel infrastructure and permit the hell out of good renewable energy projects. That's a political possibility that Biden actually had signed up for and now is stepping back on.David RobertsYeah, I mean, it's politically tough, but let's be positive here. You have a lot of recommendations in here, all of which are juicy, all of which could probably have a podcast of their own on them. There's no way we can cover them all. But you sort of have your principles and recommendations grouped under three headings. And the first one, which I think is the one that is most directly germane to the speed question, is enabling more coordination and planning. And I think this is a huge thing. This is one of my soapboxes I get on all the time.I really want the climate movement to take this up is that we've had decades and decades of for lack of a better term, neoliberalism and this sort of instinctive free market stuff. And it's not like any major developed economy actually stops planning. What happens when you claim you're not planning and you claim you're being a free market is you just move planning behind closed doors or bury it in the tax code where no one can see it or understand what's happening. And then that results in whoever has the most power and money winning the planning fights.So I'm done with my soapbox. Let's talk about restoring our ability to do public, transparent, cooperative planning. Let's talk about a few of the items under here. And first is just land use planning. What do you mean by that and what would it look like?Johanna BozuwaSo, land use planning, as we talked about earlier, it turns out that one fossil fuel plant is a lot smaller than the types of assets that we need to build. That's just a reality of what we're working with. And so that necessitates far more land use planning to think about how do we get the most out of the least amount of space that is going to do the best for keeping the lights on. And so there are examples of how we can do this type of land planning. And one example I want to bring up actually is in California.So there was the Desert Renewable Energy Plan that was basically where states and federal agencies came together and they were looking at the Mojave and Colorado desert area. It's like 22 million acres.David RobertsVery sunny.Johanna BozuwaYeah, very sunny, exactly. Very sunny, very good for some solar. And what they did is that they coordinated a plan for this entire region so that it was prescreened for issues. So they said, okay, we're going to look at the biodiversity impacts of things being put here. We're going to look at the cultural or tribal impacts, the environmental potential impacts. And so after they did that kind of, what's called often like a programmatic study, that meant that the developers that came in to build the stuff there don't have to go through some more involved environmental impact assessment or study because it's already done.And so that meant that because they had done all of that work ahead of time, projects are getting approved so much faster. They're getting approved in less than ten months. And have, I think it's been now this zone has been around for about ten years and I don't think there is one litigation case. So that is just such a good example of land use planning where it's like thinking ahead of what we need and how we're going to do it. And that still does allow for private developers to come in, even though I might even argue that we could do even more planning and fill in the gaps with some public transmission or public renewable energy.But we can get into that later.David RobertsAnd we did an example from California, so I think now we're constitutionally obliged to do one from Texas too.Johanna BozuwaAbsolutely. Well, exactly. Thank you for setting me up so neatly, David, for the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones of Texas, which was such a success. So this is a very similar situation where the legislature directed the PUC, the Public Utilities Commission to plan where new generation and transmission was going to be located, routed, all of this. And so by doing so, they allowed for this proliferation of wind in Texas, a place where you might not expect a massive amount of wind to be. And I was reading a study the other day that said that in the past ten years, the CREZ line, so the Competitive Renewable Energy Zone, represents 23% of all new high voltage lines in the US.David RobertsGood grief.Johanna BozuwaRight?David RobertsYeah. They're actually building I mean, I don't know if people know this, they're actually building transmission in Texas. I'll just talk about how transmission never gets built. They're building it there because —Johanna BozuwaThey had a plan.David RobertsThey planned in advance. Yes, they had zones where it got approved and so you didn't have to then go there and do the entire like a transmission developer didn't have to go somewhere and then do the entire thing. Right. Do the entire review, do the entire land use review and the environmental review. They didn't have to start over every time that stuff was done in advance.Okay, point made. There more land use coordination and planning. That's the states doing it. But you could imagine the feds getting into that somewhat. You have these jurisdictional issues and federalism issues that are a bit of a tangle, but it does seem like the feds at the very least could do some informational, advisory planning and assessment on a bigger level, don't you think?Johanna BozuwaOh, absolutely. Actually, we do have a lot of private land in this country. Absolutely. But there is a lot of land that is owned by the federal government. So they're actually implicating a lot of this already. And it makes far more sense for an actor that has that kind of meso level understanding of what we need to build to be involved in those processes and be doing kind of a national assessment of where should those zones be. Like CREZ that's going to have all of these benefits and is going to allow for the most kind of efficient way for us to be deploying renewable energy while also taking into consideration these biodiversity, tribal nation relations and all of these things.That's a good role for the federal government to actually play.David RobertsOkay, we're going to pass quickly by two of these since I've done pods on them. But as you say, one is the interconnection process, which is probably the biggest thing right now, slowing down renewable energy getting built. I did a whole pod on that with RMI's Chaz Teplin a few weeks ago.Johanna BozuwaA fantastic one.David RobertsReally encourage everybody to go listen to that. There's a lot of recommendations in there for how to improve the interconnection process, how to improve things in batches. To return to a theme here, a lot of that has to do with just more and better planning on the ISO's parts.Once again, like, think in advance a little bit and you can skip some of this case by case stuff, but I encourage people to go listen to that pod. Another one, which we've touched on slightly, which I also did a pod on, is just and I think this is so important is just the capacity of the agencies that are doing these reviews. These are at the state level and at the federal level. These agencies have been cut to the bone. They're all, all understaffed, desperately behind, and that, of course, makes things go slower. So all these people who are whinging about reviews, if they're not talking about bulking up agency capacity, I just have trouble taking them seriously because that is the lowest hanging fruit you could do.But I did a whole pod on that several weeks ago about government capacity and about some of the provisions in the IRA that are meant to bulk up capacity at these agencies. It's just a matter of money and hiring. So we're going to check that one off the list. Let's talk a little bit about this next recommendation, which is about more publicly owned energy and transmission. What do you mean by that? What would that look like?Johanna BozuwaYeah, so this is kind of trying to answer the question of building where private companies will not, right? Like, we do have this problem of not having the long-range solution in the mind's eye, right? And we have this system in which there isn't a lot of this coordination that's in the mind's eye of a developer, right? Like, they're focused on their development, whereas the state government, federal government, has a little bit more of like, "Okay, what are we trying to accomplish? We are trying to handle the climate crisis. And that means we need to move as quickly as possible to deploy as much renewable energy as possible.And it turns out we actually do have some capacity and to actually build this ourselves." And we've done this in the past, admittedly, in a much less dense energy system. But the New Deal is a really good example of this, where the U.S. either directly financed or built itself a massive amount of transmission and energy infrastructure, like the Rural Electrification Administration that FDR put in place. It electrified 80% of the United States land mass in ten years. And when we're talking about the climate crisis, I would like to go at that clip. So I think if there are ways for us where we have a standstill where things aren't getting built fast enough, where can the federal government, the state government come in with a little political muscle and do that building?And I think that there are additional kind of benefits to doing this too, which include the fact that if you're building public renewables, for instance, you're also probably going to value having higher and better-paid jobs. You are probably going to, in comparison to a private developer, probably thinking a little bit more about some of those community benefits. And I think that there's a real win there that actually kind of creates a baseline for the rest of the private industry in a good way too.David RobertsInstead of just nudging and incentivizing private developers to do these things, we could just do them.Johanna BozuwaWe could just do them and we can also show them the way a little bit too. Right. Like right now, right. We just have the Inflation Reduction Act. Fabulous. We love the climate investments. It's so great. And also it just largely relies on tax incentives, right. And in those it's like you get a little bit more if you use local steel and if you have high wage jobs, all these things. And we could also just do that, build some public renewables and make it happen ourselves. And also when you have, particularly from a job perspective, right, like a public renewables entity that's building these developments with high wage work, that means that the private developers are afraid that they're going to lose all of their workers.So then they have to raise their wages too, which is a good thing.David RobertsRace to the top, I think they call that.Johanna BozuwaI would love a race to the top instead of a race to the bottom in our renewable energy world.David RobertsYes. Okay, we got to keep moving here. There's a long list. The next one is something we covered, I think, on the Thea Riofrancos post, which is just we know we have to build a lot of stuff, but that's not a fixed quantity of stuff we have to build. Right. We can be more efficient with how we use materials. We can try to build in a less material intensive way. So, you know, what Theo was talking about is encourage more walking and biking and multimodal transportation rather than cars, cars, cars. Like that's a choice. And there are other choices we could make to build a clean, but the less material intensive version of clean.There's a lot of different ways we can guide things in that direction.Johanna BozuwaOh yeah, absolutely.David RobertsEveryone should go listen to that podcast, too. This pod is like an advertisement for all my other pods.Johanna BozuwaI love it, I love it. Yeah. And just to kind of emphasize, the more that we can invest in efficiency, the fewer transmission lines we might have to build, right? Like if we have a bunch of houses that aggressively go in on multi units. Like, we're having more people housed in multi units. We're creating urban density. We're making the houses that we already have more efficient. All of those things accumulate and make it so that we actually don't have to do the same level of massive deployment, which is a huge win. So we have to — I think it's like questioning some of the assumptions, too, of how much do we need to build.David RobertsRight. Maybe not all our private vehicles need to be the size of military tanks and weigh three tons. This segues perfectly into the next one, which I feel like is underappreciated, which is supporting distributed energy resources. Talk about why that's part of going faster here. How does that fit into this picture?Johanna BozuwaSo let's say we're able to add rooftop solar to a lot of the rooftops that are around and implement microgrids and put in storage. These are all, again, things that are going to be a lot easier probably to deploy because they're smaller. There's less of this zoning permitting etc. that has to happen when it comes to some of the bigger stuff, where you're going to maybe need environmental review. And so by making those investments in distributed energy resources, you're actually lightening the load again on transmission development.David RobertsRight. It's kind of a piece of the previous one, really.Johanna BozuwaTotally.David RobertsIt's about being less material intensive.Johanna BozuwaExactly. And I also think the added benefit of doing that, of course, is the fact that we live in unreliable times and it adds additional reliability potential by having things like microgrids deployed.David RobertsYes, many future pods on that particular subject are in the works, are cooking in the Volts oven. Let's go to the second big category here, and this is where I have a little bit of skepticism. So this category is "Enhance community participation and consent." So this is what I want to talk about: You say, let's bring communities in more and earlier. And of course, I think most people, at least most people in my world, when they hear "more community involvement," their palms start sweating. They envision these local zoning meetings with old people shouting at city officials.They envision nothing ever getting done, everything getting blocked, NIMBY's everywhere. You have this sentence where it says, "Strengthening community participation early in the process will likely move projects forward faster without as much community opposition." Do we know that to be true? I want that to be true. I like the idea of it. Do we know that?Johanna BozuwaGreat question. It's worth interrogating. I'm going to borrow a little bit from my colleague that we've already referenced today, Thea Riofrancos, that she often says which is "Sometimes going fast isn't actually fast." So, you know, if we streamline, right, or NEPA gets streamlined or many of these other permitting processes, you cut the red tape and therefore you are steamrolling communities affected by the infrastructure. You're potentially hardening them against the project. And when they feel mad or disenfranchised, chances are they're going to throw the book at you. They're going to throw the book to stop the project. We talked about these arbitrary dates set by some of the permitting system.You're actually putting yourself up for far more potential litigation and drawn out legal battles because you actually haven't done the work that's necessary to bring that group on side, nor do you have all of your ducks in a row. So I think that there is a justification for defraying conflict and making our odds better at doing that. I'm not saying that we're not going to run into problems and there isn't going to be this annoying mob of Karens that's going to show up every once in a while. But I do think that our odds do look better when we do involve community.David RobertsThere's a cynical point of view here which says communities are always going to have their Karens. There's always going to be somebody who objects, no matter how early, no matter how much you consult, there's always going to be somebody who doesn't want something near them. The only way in the end to overcome this problem is to take those instruments of delay out of their hands, including the litigation tool, including the environmental review tool, including the community review tool, and just get a little bit more Chinese about the whole thing. Just go do stuff, even if — bulldoze, basically.I know we want to resist that conclusion, but I wish we knew better. I wish we had better models of moving quickly.Johanna BozuwaSo I think actually, since you mentioned the Chinese, I'm going to mention the Danish. And I think that part of this is actually like — we have this problem, right, that we know that deploying renewable energy, deploying clean energy is just incredibly important for the climate crisis. But the benefits are diffuse where the potential negative is pretty concentrated when it comes to these things. And so I think one question we can ask or the permit reviewers or whatever it is, or how we're thinking about developing these projects, is getting in their shoes and asking, what is in it for me?We can pay people to have some of this stuff, right? So the Danish government in the 1990s was building out a bunch of wind. And so one of the ways that they incentivized this wind development was by incentivizing that part of it is owned by the local government to give them a revenue stream. And that actually helped to limit the controversy. And you'll see that in Denmark, people have kind of higher concepts or like the polling is better for wind. And I was talking with this professor, Nick Pevzner from University of Pennsylvania, who was discussing this really interesting particular instance in which in one of these towns where they were going to be around the offshore wind, they actually brought in landscape architects to design the offshore wind. So that it would be aesthetically pleasing.David RobertsThe Danes give a shi-, give a dang, about how things look like. What a thought.Johanna BozuwaHuge difference.David RobertsYes, I know. You look at what's the one waste incineration plant in the middle of the town that's like gorgeous. It's got a laser display, I think it's got a ski hill on it. All these kind of things. It seems like we don't care here in the US. How ugly things are. Witness any sort of midsize town or strip mall or the periphery of any city. Everything's just like plain and ugly. Like what if we made things look nice that might improve community —Johanna BozuwaWe deserve nice things. Communities deserve nice things.David RobertsWe can have nice things. And you talk about we should do what's called a "Cumulative impact analysis."Johanna BozuwaYes.David RobertsAgain, to me on first blush that sounds like oh, bigger and more analysis: Surely that's going to slow things down. So how do you see that working?Johanna BozuwaWell, again, this kind of takes us to our planning. Right. Like cumulative impact analysis which New Jersey and New York have put in place is this way to discern not just the impact of the project but the accumulated impact of that project and what's already come to date. And I think what you would find in cumulative impact in these places, is that actually it's doing some of what we were talking about before, which is trying to fight off the bad and build more of the good. So that's a way to stop new fossil fuel infrastructure but maybe see benefit around solar or something like that.These are actually tools that, yes, as you say, at first glance you might think, "Oh my gosh, more? Really?" But what it's doing is assuring some of that larger meso level discerning and also in a lot of ways these are environmental justice tools too. Right. The reason that they're doing that is because it has so consistently been the same community that has had to shoulder the coal plant, then the gas plant, then the pipeline, then another cement factory. Right. And so they're trying to say, "Okay wait, this is out of control. Let's think about where we're putting this and how that's going to burden people."David RobertsSo the last category here is "Empower a just transition." And I don't think we need to go piece by piece through here since these are very familiar asks from progressive climate people, which is just stop permitting new fossil fuel facilities. Protect the communities that are getting hurt by fossil fuel pollution and set emission reduction targets that will phase out fossil fuels. I think those are all pretty straightforward. I do think the point here, though the larger point you're making with this section is worth underlining because it seems obvious to me, but also frequently left out of this debate, which is if you want to get renewable energy built faster: One way you could do that is through statute and regulation forcing fossil fuel out. Like, nothing's going to speed up renewable energy more than forcing fossil fuels out. Right. It seems so obvious, but it's weirdly left out here.Johanna BozuwaVery weirdly left out. It's a bizarre kind of development that we've seen in the climate realm, right? The IRA, for instance, that is a bill that is great. It creates a lot of carrots, but basically no sticks. And the reality is we need sticks if we're actually going to do this, right, as we were talking about at the kind of outset of the show, we can't let just the entire pie keep on getting bigger and bigger. We actually need to get rid of the fossil fuels. That's the point of what we're doing here. They're the reason that we have the climate crisis.And so, the best way to get rid of them is to just regulate them out of existence, like eliminate them. And I also think there's a certain amount of private industry hates regulation, but they do love certainty. So what is more certain than a decarbonization mandate that says, like, well, you need to be done by this date? And that actually gets us to more of the displacement than when we just say "Build, build, build just hopefully build the right thing for us, please please."David RobertsYes, I think that's true on several micro levels and it's true on a macro level too. One thing that would help us go faster is if we could just clearly articulate our goals. But we're sort of just hampered by having to beg Joe Manchin for his vote. And to get Joe Manchin's vote, you have to pretend that the whole pie is going to get bigger, that everything's going to grow. That's explicitly the grounds upon which he voted yes on Iraq. He sets it outright. He's like, I voted yes because I thought it was going to grow renewable energy and fossil fuels.In some sense, politically, we can't just come out and say the goal is to get rid of fossil fuels. That's where we're headed. It would just help everybody, private developers, state and local governments, if we were just on the same friggin page. Instead of sort of like backing into this, we're just backing into everything we do. Trying to sort of like wink wink at one another. Like we know what we're doing, they don't know what we're doing. It's just a bunch of confusion.Johanna BozuwaRight? And I think that it's also a little bit laughable because they obviously know what we're trying to do, right? Like, we're not really hiding the bag. And I think that this speaks to the need for us to be like, this is a 20-year fight, we're not done with the fight the progressive left needs to keep — we can't just have IRA and think that we're done and can wipe our hands. I mean, even this conversation that has come up on permitting shows that people are hungry and need more. And the question is okay, how do we build the actual political power so that Manchin isn't the one that's in the driver's seat?David RobertsYes.Johanna BozuwaI think one kind of last thing on this kind of community consent piece or community engagement that makes me really nervous to tie us back to the permitting realm, right. Is that the people who are potentially going to be railroaded by infrastructure that they don't want is rural America. And if you are pissing off rural parts of the United States right now, that's a very short-sighted game to be playing, right. Because you are potentially taking these rural folk who have just been beaten back again and again, and you're turning them to the right, to a growing fascist right, and giving away a massive voting bloc that is going to be crucial for us to continue to win and win again and keep winning until we actually solve the climate crisis.So I think when it comes to this kind of larger political project that we're doing on from a progressive perspective, we have to be wary of this idea that this is — not a get it fixed quick scheme.David RobertsYes. We do not want to tick off these particular communities any more than they're ticked off. I think if you talk to Biden administration officials sort of behind the scenes, they will tell you that part of the design of IRA, part of the thinking behind it is we need to flood these areas of the country that were hollowed out by neoliberalism, hollowed out by globalism. We need to flood them with new economic activity and new development or else our democracy is screwed. But it is also the case that you can't just go stomping things down here and there, willy-nilly, without community consent.They need to have a feeling that they're involved in where and how this is done.Johanna BozuwaYeah, we're trying to bring them into the fight for a populist amazing future, and shoving this down their throats I just don't think is the most effective tactic. And if you look back to the New Deal, right, so much of it was workers. It was people that were in more of rural America. There were so many of these folks who were standing up and fighting. And if we're not setting ourselves up for that same kind of sea change, then I'm afraid we're not going to be able to win this thing.David RobertsOkay. We are just about out of time. So just to kind of review, this is just, I think the point of your report, point of all this is to say the question of speed is not the same as the question of permitting. Technically speaking, permitting is a relatively small piece of the puzzle here. There's lots of other things we could be doing to speed things up that have nothing technically to do with NEPA or even technically to do with permitting. And we've reviewed a lot of them here, and I would commend people to your report to get a fuller picture of them and to think about them.But let me finish, I guess with, this is all a vision. I love this vision, but politics are politics and we live in a fallen world, et cetera, et cetera. So toward the end of last session, there was this chance to have a permitting deal, and basically it was these sort of arbitrary caps on NEPA reviews, the length of NEPA reviews and the Mountain Valley pipeline in exchange for some pretty substantial transmission stuff, some pretty substantial stuff on transmission, federal transmission planning. The progressive movement rallied to kill that. They called it Manchin's dirty deal. They rallied, they killed it.And what ended up happening was the NEPA stuff squeezed through somewhere else. The Mountain Valley pipeline squeezed through somewhere else, and the transmission stuff died. Looking back on that, do you think that was the right political move for the progressive movement to fight that bill? And more broadly, do you think the progressive movement is prepared to sort of make the political trade-offs which are going to be necessary since a lot of this stuff that you list in your report is just going to be very difficult with today's current political distribution of power?Johanna BozuwaYeah, great question, and I think my answer is that the progressive movement still did the right thing. We needed to fight — or the progressive movement folks who were in those fights needed to fight off and make very clear the MVP is not something that we can have — this permitting that's going to expand. It was a big toad to swallow. And I think if we look at some of the transmission stuff, like, sure, it was fine. Was it the things that we were fully looking for? I think it was Hickenlooper's bill, big wires that was in some of those kind of final fights, right.With the Fiscal Responsibility Act, his bill included something like a 30% interregional transfer. The DOE says we need a 120% increase in interregional transfer. That's just not even at the scale that we need, and we'd be giving up so much for it. So, yeah, we didn't fully win that fight, but I think that from what I'm hearing, kind of at the congressional level, there is the potential for another bite at the apple on transmission. There is still some, as we said earlier, right, everyone agrees that transmission is a boondoggle right now and a hot mess. So I think that should be one of the things that we're thinking about as the progressive movement.How do we do that? Right? But I don't think I would go back in time and say "Eh, we should just accept Manchin's deal." I think that it was an important political flag to stamp in the ground that, no, we actually don't believe that we should be expanding fossil fuels and renewable energy at the same time because that's not what we need to do. Saying all that, I do think there are things that we can be doing right now to advance transmission. For instance, FERC is looking at some of these interconnection issues right now. Biden should not rest on his laurels until he gets someone approved and appointed to the FERC board.David RobertsHey, there's Joe Manchin again being a jerk.Johanna BozuwaI know, it's so true. But there are things and again, we've already talked on this pod about stuff that can be done at the state level, too. We still have some cards to play in our hand to accelerate and prove our case increasingly and build the case for more federal implementation, too.David RobertsJohanna, thanks so much for coming on. I feel like lately the progressive environmental left has appeared in mainstream media and social media more as a weird caricature viewed from a distance than been able to speak for itself. So I'm glad to be able to have you on so we can talk through a little bit about how progressives see this and the larger issues at play and their specific recommendations, all of which I think are great. So people should check out your report. And thanks for sharing your time with us.Johanna BozuwaThank you so much for having me today, David. It's lovely.David RobertsThank you for listening to the Volts podcast. It is ad-free, powered entirely by listeners like you. If you value conversations like this, please consider becoming a paid Volts subscriber at volts.wtf. Yes, that's volts.wtf so that I can continue doing this work. Thank you so much, and I'll see you next time. Get full access to Volts at www.volts.wtf/subscribe

Drew Salyer is a driving force in the world of regulations. With over two decades of experience in the industry, he has successfully navigated the complex landscape of Department of Transportation (DOT) and Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) regulations. His deep understanding of these regulations, combined with his strategic leadership, has helped countless companies streamline their operations while ensuring full compliance. Listen as Tim Linville and Kent Crytzer talk with Drew about a new safety partnership between CEA and Drive Team. LinkedInWebsitePhone: 330-922-3100

Robotaxis can offer paid rides in San Francisco around the clock after Alphabet's Waymo and GM's Cruise got approval from California's Public Utilities Commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to host Jeff Cranks as he converses with Jesse Mallory about the recent surge in utility bills in Colorado. Jeff and Jesse shed light on the role of the three-member Public Utilities Commission in these increases. This episode focuses on the significant and detrimental effects these price hikes are having on the lives of everyday individuals. #americanpotential    Check out American Potential here: https://americanpotential.com

Stacy Miller explains how she represents the city of Minneapolis in state forums, including the Public Utilities Commission, and what's at stake in decisions made by the state.… Read More

Rich in natural resources, the Co‑operative Republic of Guyana has been experiencing an economic boom in recent years, whilst also trying to ensure more equitable access to telecoms services, particularly to its citizens that live in its hinterland. Dela Britton, Chairperson of the Public Utilities Commission (Guyana) discusses, among other things: Guyana's telecoms sector; how Guyana can narrow the digital divide; and how she would like to see the Commission and Guyana's telecoms sector evolve.   The episode, show notes and links to some of the things mentioned during the episode can be found on the ICT Pulse Podcast Page (www.ict-pulse.com/category/podcast/)    Enjoyed the episode?  Do rate the show and leave us a review!     Also, connect with us on: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ICTPulse/  Instagram –  https://www.instagram.com/ictpulse/  Twitter –  https://twitter.com/ICTPulse  LinkedIn –  https://www.linkedin.com/company/3745954/admin/  Join our mailing list: http://eepurl.com/qnUtj    Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell Podcast editing support:  Mayra Bonilla Lopez   ---------------- Also, Sponsorship Opportunities! The ICT Pulse Podcast is accepting sponsors! Would you like to partner with us to produce an episode of the podcast, or highlight a product or service to our audience? Do get in touch at info@ict-pulse.com with “Podcast Sponsorship” as the subject, or via social media @ictpulse, for more details.   _______________

Progressives back Mike Johnston in Denver mayor's race | Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs slate of clean energy bills | $11B in federal funds allocated for rural clean energy projects | Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples crisis commission meets in Flagstaff, AZ (WARNING: contains graphic descriptions of violence) | Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs nation's first Right-to-Repair law | Violent Femmes perform their self-titled debut in Denver, Austin and Houston this week.  Song playsIntro by hostWelcome to High Country - politics in the American West. My name is Sean Diller; regular listeners might know me from Heartland Pod's Talking Politics, every Monday.Support this show and all the work in the Heartland POD universe by going to heartlandpod.com and clicking the link for Patreon, or go to Patreon.com/HeartlandPod to sign up. Membership starts at $1/month, with even more extra shows and special access at the higher levels. No matter the level you choose, your membership helps us create these independent shows as we work together to change the conversation.Alright! Let's get into it: COLORADO NEWSLINE: Progressives back Mike Johnston in Denver mayor's raceBY: CHASE WOODRUFF - MAY 15, 2023 4:00 AMAs ballots begin to hit mailboxes for Denver's June 6th runoff election, Johnston and Kelly Brough, the other top-two finisher in April's first round of voting - have rolled out a veritable smorgasbord of endorsement announcements.Former mayoral candidates Ean Thomas Tafoya, Terrance Roberts, Jim Walsh, Al Gardner and Leslie Herod all endorsed Mike Johnston. Rep Herod (who was my preferred choice for mayor) said “Having shared countless debate and forum stages with Mike over the past months, I know that he has the passion, commitment, and vision to tackle Denver's toughest problems. Mike and I share the value of public service, hard work, and doing right by our communities, and I am excited to work with him to deliver on our progressive vision for Denver.”Meanwhile, Brough, the former Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce head who secured her spot in the runoff with just over 20% of the first-round vote, has picked up endorsements from Democratic state Sen. Chris Hansen as well as Thomas Wolf, an investment banker who campaigned on harsh anti-homelessness policies and received 1% of the vote for Mayor in April.Sen. Hansen said “Denver needs a proven executive — Kelly Brough is the leader we can trust to deliver results. It's going to take all of us to tackle Denver's biggest challenges, and I'm proud to join Kelly's team.”Brough also picked up endorsements from Democratic state Rep. Alex Valdez and former Tattered Cover CEO Kwame Spearman, both of whom entered the mayor's race but later withdrew. Brough and Johnston emerged from the crowded field of mayoral candidates after becoming by far the race's two best-funded candidates, each raising about $1MM in direct contributions and benefiting from millions more in outside super PAC expenditures from billionaires and real-estate interests.After a first round that featured a wide range of perspectives and ideologies, the runoff campaign has featured few stark disagreements on policy between the two candidates, both of whom are veteran figures in Colorado's centrist political establishment.Brough served as then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's chief of staff from 2006 to 2009, then led the conservative-leaning Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce for 12 years before stepping down ahead of her mayoral run. Some of her top endorsers include former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, both Democrats.On Friday, she touted the endorsement of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, a coalition of clergy and civil rights leaders in the city's Black community. Pastor Paul Burleson, the Alliance's vice president of political affairs, said that Brough's experience is key to her appeal.Brough has also picked up endorsements from the Denver Police Protective Association and other unions representing law enforcement officers and firefighters. She was one of the only candidates in the mayor's race to endorse a return of “qualified immunity,” a legal doctrine that bars people from suing law enforcement officers in their individual capacity. Colorado lawmakers, led by Herod, passed a landmark police reform bill that abolished qualified immunity in the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020. - Just one reason I love Leslie Herod.During his time in the state Senate, Mike Johnston became one of the state's leading champions of education reform, a movement that has galled teachers' unions and progressives who've accused him of undermining public education. From 2020 to 2022 he was the CEO of Gary Community Ventures, a Denver-based philanthropic organization founded by oil tycoon Sam Gary.Though hardly a progressive firebrand himself, Johnston spoke at Wednesday's event of the coalition he hopes to build as mayor. Along with former mayoral rivals, he received endorsements from Democratic state Sens. Julie Gonzales (another legislator I have tremendous respect for) and James Coleman (who is my state senator but someone whom I don't know much about), adding to a list of supporters that also includes former Mayor Federico Peña and former Colorado House Speaker Terrance Carroll.Rep. Leslie Herod said “Make no mistake: We are the progressives in this race, and we have chosen to back Mike. We are the candidates who have consistently spoken about putting people over structures, putting people over businesses — people always first.”So for my part I'll be following State Sen. Julie Gonzales and Rep. Leslie Herod, voting for Mike Johnston.Final thought: Johnston might not be seen as progressive, but if he wins this election assembling a progressive coalition to bear a developer/business-backed candidate in Kelly Brough, then progressives should absolutely have a strong voice in the Johnston administration if he wants to keep his job. But first he's got to win.COLORADO NEWSLINE: Gov. Jared Polis signs slate of clean energy measures, utility regulation billBY: CHASE WOODRUFF - MAY 11, 2023 5:36 PMGov. Jared Polis has signed into law a bill that commits Colorado for the first time to a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target, along with other measures to address spiking utility rates and the state's long-term energy future.Flanked by Democratic lawmakers and state energy officials, Polis signed Senate Bill 23-16 at an event at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The bill, a wide-ranging package of reforms aimed at boosting clean energy efforts in a variety of industries, was approved on party-line votes by Democratic majorities in the General Assembly just before its adjournment on May 8.SB-16 sets a statutory goal of a 100% reduction in Colorado's greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, revising that target upwards from a 90% goal set by the Legislature in 2019. It's the first time the state has formally established the net-zero goal that scientists with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have said is necessary to avert the most catastrophic impacts of global warming.To get there, the bill contains what sponsors called a “potpourri” of measures to accelerate the transition to clean energy, including sections that streamline the process for the installation of electric transmission lines and rooftop solar panels; stricter requirements on large insurance companies to assess climate risk; tax credits for the purchase of electric-powered lawn equipment; and more authority for the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to regulate carbon capture projects.COGCC chair Jeff Robbins applauded the bill's efforts to encourage carbon capture, which he called “critical as a tool in addressing climate change.”“The COGCC is well poised with its resources and regulatory understanding to now help carbon storage be deployed safely and responsibly in Colorado,” Robbins said in a press release.Gov. Polis also signed House Bill 23-1252, which establishes a new state grant program for geothermal energy projects and requires large natural-gas utilities to develop emissions-reducing “clean heat plans.”Senate Bill 23-291, a package of reforms to state utility regulations, and House Bill 23-1234, a bipartisan measure aimed at streamlining permitting and inspection processes for solar projects were also both signed into law. SB-291 emerged from hearings held earlier this year by the Joint Select Committee on Rising Utility Rates, a special panel of lawmakers convened by Democratic leaders following sharp increases in many Coloradans' utility bills in 2022.It directs the state's Public Utilities Commission to more closely scrutinize how privately-owned utilities manage volatility in natural-gas prices, the main culprit in rate increases that caused the average monthly payment for customers of Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest utility, to rise by more than 50% last year. Other provisions in the bill are aimed at assessing the long-term future of natural gas infrastructure as more homes and businesses transition to all-electric heating and cooking appliances.In a press release, Advanced Energy United, an industry group representing clean energy companies, said the legislation creates a “national model” for dealing with volatility in the natural gas market.“This bill will help make Colorado's energy system more affordable long-term, and should be seen as a model for states across the country on how to manage high gas prices and a transition to cost-saving alternatives to gas, like high-efficiency heat pumps, rooftop solar and battery storage,” said Emilie Olson, a senior principal at Advanced Energy United.House Bill 23-1272, creates or extends a variety of clean energy tax credits, including incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles, e-bikes, electric heat pumps, industrial decarbonization technologies and more.Gov. Polis said “These exciting money-saving changes for Coloradans mean reliable, lower energy costs and good-paying jobs, as we continue to fuel the innovation that makes Colorado a national leader in clean energy. We are cutting red tape, creating good paying jobs and improving air quality as we continue to make bold progress towards achieving 100% renewable energy by 2040.”ARIZONA MIRROR: Rural electric co-ops to get $10.7B in USDA funds for clean energy grants, loansBY: JACOB FISCHLER - MAY 16, 2023 7:11 AMThe U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin to administer two loan and grant programs worth nearly $11 billion to boost clean energy systems in rural areas, administration officials said Tuesday. The programs are the New ERA program for rural electric cooperatives, and the PACE program for other energy providers. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the funding “continues an ongoing effort to ensure that rural America is a full participant in this clean energy economy.”White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said, “Rural areas can have more difficulty than more urban ones in attracting private sector investment. The programs are intended to allow those rural areas to take advantage of an industry-wide trend to invest in clean energy production.He said, “There's a favorable wind blowing here. This allows rural communities to put up a sail.”The programs are meant to put rural electric cooperatives on equal footing with larger privately owned companies that have already put major funding into clean energy deployment.The programs represent the largest single funding effort for rural electrification since President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936.The money is meant not only to address the climate impacts of fossil fuel energy and reduce home energy costs, but to act as an economic engine for rural areas.Rural electric cooperatives are eligible for the New ERA program, and up to 25% of the funding in that program can be in the form of direct grants. Utilities can use the money to build renewable energy systems, zero-emission systems and carbon capture facilities.The USDA will begin to accept initial applications for funding on July 31. Applicants are expected to write more detailed proposals for funding after the USDA accepts their initial applications.The PACE program provides loans to renewable energy developers and electric service providers “to help finance large-scale solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower projects and energy storage in support of renewable energy systems,” the release said. The program is targeted to “vulnerable, disadvantaged, Tribal and energy communities,” the release said. It's in line with a Biden administration goal to allocate at least 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal spending to disadvantaged communities.The USDA can forgive up to 40% of most of the loans in the program. Up to 60% of loans to applicants in some U.S. territories and tribal communities can be forgiven.Initial applications for that program will open June 30.ARIZONA MIRROR:National commission on the MMIP crisis meets in Arizona to hear testimony, recommendationsBY: SHONDIIN SILVERSMITH - MAY 15, 2023 1:50 PMFive empty chairs sat at the front of the Not Invisible Act Commission hearing, each wrapped in a shawl, blanket or quilt representing a different group of individuals impacted by human trafficking or with a loved one who is missing or murdered.“We want to allow space for representing our relatives,” commission member Grace Bulltail said, noting the traditions in many Indigenous families to always preserve a space for absent loved ones. “We're doing that to honor our loved ones,” Bulltail said, explaining that, by putting the chairs there, the commission hearing was holding space for them.The chair wrapped in a red shawl with white and yellow handprints honored the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The chair wrapped in a red, orange, bridge, and white Native design shawl with a black blazer draped over it was to honor the missing and murdered Indigenous men and boys. Another chair was wrapped in a light blue, white and purple quilt. Pinned to the quilt was a picture of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike, a Navajo girl who was abducted and killed on the Navajo Nation in 2016. This chair honored Indigenous children.The chair wrapped in a maroon shawl with floral designs honored the LGBTQI and two-spirit Indigenous community. The chair wrapped in a brown Pendleton honored Indigenous veterans.The Not Invisible Act Commission, organized by the U.S. Department of the Interior,  held a public hearing at the Twin Arrows Casino near Flagstaff to hear testimony and recommendations from victims and families impacted by human trafficking and the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples crisis. The commission also heard from local tribal leaders and advocates. The Not Invisible Act was passed into law in October 2020, establishing the commission as a cross-jurisdictional advisory committee of federal and non-federal members, including law enforcement, tribal leaders, federal partners, service providers, family members of missing and murdered individuals, and survivors.The meeting at Twin Arrows was the commission's third public hearing. This summer, it has four more planned in Minnesota, northern California, New Mexico and Montana. The hearings are being held in communities impacted most by the MMIP crisis.Commissioners heard emotional testimony from Seraphine Warren and Pamela Foster as they shared their experiences of losing a loved one and advocated for change.Ms. Warren is the niece of Ella Mae Begay, a Navajo woman who went missing from her home in Sweetwater, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation on June 15, 2021. Warren continued to advocate for not only her aunt but all Indigenous people.Speaking through tears, she told her aunt's story. “I know it wasn't her legacy to be stolen or to be murdered,” Warren said. “Just because she isn't here doesn't mean she can't be part of change.”Begay is still missing, but there have been developments in her case. In March, Preston Henry Tolth, 23, of New Mexico, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Phoenix for assault and carjacking.The indictment alleges that, on June 15, 2021, Tolth assaulted Begay, resulting in serious bodily injury, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Tolth then took her Ford F-150 pickup truck and drove it from Arizona to New Mexico with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury to Begay.Warren said during Tolth's arraignment hearing on April 7 in Flagstaff that she heard details about the night her aunt went missing that she was not ready for.Warren, in tears, told the commission that Tolth told federal agents that he “snapped” and struck her in the face multiple times, causing her to bleed from the nose and mouth. Tolth told authorities that he wasn't sure if she was dead, Warren said, and when he drove away, he said he regretted hitting her, since all he wanted was the truck.Tolth is being held in custody and is expected to go to trial later in May.Pamela Foster is the mother of Ashlynne Mike, the 11-year-old Navajo girl abducted and killed on the Navajo Nation in 2016. Foster has been at the forefront of advocacy efforts for Indigenous children and people since she lost her daughter. On the afternoon of May 2, 2016, Ashlynne Mike and her 9-year-old brother, Ian Mike, didn't make it home from school. When they got off the school bus in Shiprock, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation, a predator tricked them into getting into his van by promising them a ride home.Hours later, passersby found Ian Mike wandering alone in the area. Police located Ashlynne Mike's body on May 3, 2016, and discovered she had been sexually assaulted, strangled, and bludgeoned repeatedly with a tire iron.She said, “I miss my daughter every single day. I became a voice for my daughter the moment I received word that her life was taken from her.”She talked about how the system failed when her children were missing in 2016. She said that May 1 to May 6 is a nightmare for her every year, because she relives what happened to her children.Foster talked about the hours from when her children disappeared to when they found her daughter's body; she ran into countless obstacles that left her without support.“It was very hard to sit there and know that there were no resources available for my children,” Foster said. “I absolutely had nothing.”She said local law enforcement was not adequately trained to handle child abductions. There was no clear communication between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Instead of searching for her children, Foster said they were trying to figure out exactly what protocols were needed to start looking.“Time was lost,” Foster said, and they did not send out an AMBER Alert until the following day. Foster recalled the alert went out at 2 a.m., and she said that helped no one because not many people were awake then. She remembers hearing officers from the neighboring jurisdictions tell her they couldn't go out to look for her daughter until they were given the clearance to do so by the Navajo Nation Police Department. Foster said it frustrated her how long it took for that to happen. She said the anger and hurt about what happened to Ashlynne led her to be a voice for her daughter.“I promised her I would do something for all of our other Indigenous children. To give them the protection that they need so they don't go through the same thing.”Foster has led many grassroots efforts to support Indigenous children, including advocating and petitioning for the AMBER Alert system to include Indian Country.Foster said she wanted to change, and she knew the justice system in Indian Country needed to be updated, so she focused her efforts on the AMBER Alert system. Her advocacy resulted in the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018, which makes tribes eligible for AMBER Alert grants to integrate into state and regional AMBER Alert communication plans.“I always say that I've never received justice for what happened to my daughter because nothing can bring her back,” Foster said. “There will never be justice, but we can learn how to move forward in changing laws to make things better for our people.”The goal of the hearing was for the federal commissioners to listen and hear recommendations on the best course of action for the MMIP crisis. Commissioners will use the suggestions to develop their final report for the Department of Interior.Foster's big recommendation was not only geared at the commissioners, but other attendees of the hearing. She encouraged them to tell their tribal leaders to receive the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act training. “It is free,” she said, adding that it is a vital program for Indigenous communities because it will train police officers and social workers from the tribe. Because tribes are sovereign nations, the Department of Justice has to receive a request in order to run the training on tribal land: “Have your tribal leaders request this training for your community because the children are our next generation,” Foster said. “There's still a lot of tribes that need to be trained.”When Seraphine Warren was finished sharing her aunt's story, she laid out her recommendations. “Transparency and swift action is key,” she said, “which means that when a person is missing, law enforcement should immediately inform all jurisdictions and issue press releases to media channels to inform the public.”“Family members need to be regularly and constantly updated with the progress of the investigation, and families should be prioritized if any remains are found in any jurisdiction.” Some of the other recommendations included allowing families to hire private investigators, providing them access to case files, supporting families in organizing their task force, providing families with constant and reliable access to grief counseling services, medical attention, financial and legal assistance, and safe housing for families of missing or murdered loved ones. ASSOCIATED PRESS: If you're not first, you're last. DENVER (AP) — Sitting in front of a hulking red tractor, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill Tuesday making Colorado the first state to ensure farmers can fix their own tractors and combines with a “right to repair” law — which compels manufacturers to provide the necessary manuals, tools, parts and software farmers would need.Colorado, home to high desert ranches and sweeping farms on the plains, took the lead on the issue following a nationwide outcry from farmers that manufacturers blocked them from making fixes and forced them to wait precious days or even weeks for an official servicer to arrive — delays that hurt profits.While farmers wait and their increasingly high-tech tractors or combines sit idle, a hailstorm could decimate an entire crop. Or, a farmer could miss the ideal planting window for their crops to grow.Lawmakers in at least 10 other states have introduced similar legislation, including in Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas and Vermont. But Colorado has taken the lead. At the signing ceremony Tuesday afternoon, under a light drizzle of rain, Gov. Polis said: “This bill will save farmers and ranchers time and money and support the free market in repair” before exclaiming, “first in the nation!”Behind the governor and arrayed farmers and lawmakers sat a red Steiger 370 tractor owned by a farmer named Danny Wood. Wood's tractor has flown an American flag reading “Farmers First,” and it has been one of two of his machines to break down, requiring long waits before servicers arrived to enter a few lines of computer code, or make a fix that Wood could have made himself.As the signing ceremony ended, Gov. Polis and Rep. Brianna Titone, who ran the bill in the state House, climbed inside the tractor for a photo as the ceremony ended.Great job, Rep. Titone! Huge win for this up-and-coming legislator. When I first saw her speak announcing her initial candidacy in 2017, I didn't know what to expect. Honestly, I didn't expect a lot, and I didn't particularly expect her to even win. And then, winning that seat was just the first of many instances where I've seen her demonstrate a level of depth, grit, and smarts that rival any of her peers. Great job Rep. Titone, you rock. CONCERT PICK OF THE WEEK: Violent Femmes - performing their self-titled album - Levitt Pavilion in Denver on Sunday May 21. The cult favorite folk punk band from Milwaukee is celebrating 40 years since the release of their first album in 1983. More info at vfemmes.comWelp, that's it for me! From Denver I'm Sean Diller. Original reporting for the stories in today's show comes from Colorado Newsline, Arizona Mirror, Denver Post, Associated Press and Denver's Westword.Thank you for listening! See you next time.

Progressives back Mike Johnston in Denver mayor's race | Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs slate of clean energy bills | $11B in federal funds allocated for rural clean energy projects | Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples crisis commission meets in Flagstaff, AZ (WARNING: contains graphic descriptions of violence) | Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs nation's first Right-to-Repair law | Violent Femmes perform their self-titled debut in Denver, Austin and Houston this week.  Song playsIntro by hostWelcome to High Country - politics in the American West. My name is Sean Diller; regular listeners might know me from Heartland Pod's Talking Politics, every Monday.Support this show and all the work in the Heartland POD universe by going to heartlandpod.com and clicking the link for Patreon, or go to Patreon.com/HeartlandPod to sign up. Membership starts at $1/month, with even more extra shows and special access at the higher levels. No matter the level you choose, your membership helps us create these independent shows as we work together to change the conversation.Alright! Let's get into it: COLORADO NEWSLINE: Progressives back Mike Johnston in Denver mayor's raceBY: CHASE WOODRUFF - MAY 15, 2023 4:00 AMAs ballots begin to hit mailboxes for Denver's June 6th runoff election, Johnston and Kelly Brough, the other top-two finisher in April's first round of voting - have rolled out a veritable smorgasbord of endorsement announcements.Former mayoral candidates Ean Thomas Tafoya, Terrance Roberts, Jim Walsh, Al Gardner and Leslie Herod all endorsed Mike Johnston. Rep Herod (who was my preferred choice for mayor) said “Having shared countless debate and forum stages with Mike over the past months, I know that he has the passion, commitment, and vision to tackle Denver's toughest problems. Mike and I share the value of public service, hard work, and doing right by our communities, and I am excited to work with him to deliver on our progressive vision for Denver.”Meanwhile, Brough, the former Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce head who secured her spot in the runoff with just over 20% of the first-round vote, has picked up endorsements from Democratic state Sen. Chris Hansen as well as Thomas Wolf, an investment banker who campaigned on harsh anti-homelessness policies and received 1% of the vote for Mayor in April.Sen. Hansen said “Denver needs a proven executive — Kelly Brough is the leader we can trust to deliver results. It's going to take all of us to tackle Denver's biggest challenges, and I'm proud to join Kelly's team.”Brough also picked up endorsements from Democratic state Rep. Alex Valdez and former Tattered Cover CEO Kwame Spearman, both of whom entered the mayor's race but later withdrew. Brough and Johnston emerged from the crowded field of mayoral candidates after becoming by far the race's two best-funded candidates, each raising about $1MM in direct contributions and benefiting from millions more in outside super PAC expenditures from billionaires and real-estate interests.After a first round that featured a wide range of perspectives and ideologies, the runoff campaign has featured few stark disagreements on policy between the two candidates, both of whom are veteran figures in Colorado's centrist political establishment.Brough served as then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's chief of staff from 2006 to 2009, then led the conservative-leaning Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce for 12 years before stepping down ahead of her mayoral run. Some of her top endorsers include former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, both Democrats.On Friday, she touted the endorsement of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, a coalition of clergy and civil rights leaders in the city's Black community. Pastor Paul Burleson, the Alliance's vice president of political affairs, said that Brough's experience is key to her appeal.Brough has also picked up endorsements from the Denver Police Protective Association and other unions representing law enforcement officers and firefighters. She was one of the only candidates in the mayor's race to endorse a return of “qualified immunity,” a legal doctrine that bars people from suing law enforcement officers in their individual capacity. Colorado lawmakers, led by Herod, passed a landmark police reform bill that abolished qualified immunity in the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020. - Just one reason I love Leslie Herod.During his time in the state Senate, Mike Johnston became one of the state's leading champions of education reform, a movement that has galled teachers' unions and progressives who've accused him of undermining public education. From 2020 to 2022 he was the CEO of Gary Community Ventures, a Denver-based philanthropic organization founded by oil tycoon Sam Gary.Though hardly a progressive firebrand himself, Johnston spoke at Wednesday's event of the coalition he hopes to build as mayor. Along with former mayoral rivals, he received endorsements from Democratic state Sens. Julie Gonzales (another legislator I have tremendous respect for) and James Coleman (who is my state senator but someone whom I don't know much about), adding to a list of supporters that also includes former Mayor Federico Peña and former Colorado House Speaker Terrance Carroll.Rep. Leslie Herod said “Make no mistake: We are the progressives in this race, and we have chosen to back Mike. We are the candidates who have consistently spoken about putting people over structures, putting people over businesses — people always first.”So for my part I'll be following State Sen. Julie Gonzales and Rep. Leslie Herod, voting for Mike Johnston.Final thought: Johnston might not be seen as progressive, but if he wins this election assembling a progressive coalition to bear a developer/business-backed candidate in Kelly Brough, then progressives should absolutely have a strong voice in the Johnston administration if he wants to keep his job. But first he's got to win.COLORADO NEWSLINE: Gov. Jared Polis signs slate of clean energy measures, utility regulation billBY: CHASE WOODRUFF - MAY 11, 2023 5:36 PMGov. Jared Polis has signed into law a bill that commits Colorado for the first time to a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target, along with other measures to address spiking utility rates and the state's long-term energy future.Flanked by Democratic lawmakers and state energy officials, Polis signed Senate Bill 23-16 at an event at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The bill, a wide-ranging package of reforms aimed at boosting clean energy efforts in a variety of industries, was approved on party-line votes by Democratic majorities in the General Assembly just before its adjournment on May 8.SB-16 sets a statutory goal of a 100% reduction in Colorado's greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, revising that target upwards from a 90% goal set by the Legislature in 2019. It's the first time the state has formally established the net-zero goal that scientists with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have said is necessary to avert the most catastrophic impacts of global warming.To get there, the bill contains what sponsors called a “potpourri” of measures to accelerate the transition to clean energy, including sections that streamline the process for the installation of electric transmission lines and rooftop solar panels; stricter requirements on large insurance companies to assess climate risk; tax credits for the purchase of electric-powered lawn equipment; and more authority for the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to regulate carbon capture projects.COGCC chair Jeff Robbins applauded the bill's efforts to encourage carbon capture, which he called “critical as a tool in addressing climate change.”“The COGCC is well poised with its resources and regulatory understanding to now help carbon storage be deployed safely and responsibly in Colorado,” Robbins said in a press release.Gov. Polis also signed House Bill 23-1252, which establishes a new state grant program for geothermal energy projects and requires large natural-gas utilities to develop emissions-reducing “clean heat plans.”Senate Bill 23-291, a package of reforms to state utility regulations, and House Bill 23-1234, a bipartisan measure aimed at streamlining permitting and inspection processes for solar projects were also both signed into law. SB-291 emerged from hearings held earlier this year by the Joint Select Committee on Rising Utility Rates, a special panel of lawmakers convened by Democratic leaders following sharp increases in many Coloradans' utility bills in 2022.It directs the state's Public Utilities Commission to more closely scrutinize how privately-owned utilities manage volatility in natural-gas prices, the main culprit in rate increases that caused the average monthly payment for customers of Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest utility, to rise by more than 50% last year. Other provisions in the bill are aimed at assessing the long-term future of natural gas infrastructure as more homes and businesses transition to all-electric heating and cooking appliances.In a press release, Advanced Energy United, an industry group representing clean energy companies, said the legislation creates a “national model” for dealing with volatility in the natural gas market.“This bill will help make Colorado's energy system more affordable long-term, and should be seen as a model for states across the country on how to manage high gas prices and a transition to cost-saving alternatives to gas, like high-efficiency heat pumps, rooftop solar and battery storage,” said Emilie Olson, a senior principal at Advanced Energy United.House Bill 23-1272, creates or extends a variety of clean energy tax credits, including incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles, e-bikes, electric heat pumps, industrial decarbonization technologies and more.Gov. Polis said “These exciting money-saving changes for Coloradans mean reliable, lower energy costs and good-paying jobs, as we continue to fuel the innovation that makes Colorado a national leader in clean energy. We are cutting red tape, creating good paying jobs and improving air quality as we continue to make bold progress towards achieving 100% renewable energy by 2040.”ARIZONA MIRROR: Rural electric co-ops to get $10.7B in USDA funds for clean energy grants, loansBY: JACOB FISCHLER - MAY 16, 2023 7:11 AMThe U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin to administer two loan and grant programs worth nearly $11 billion to boost clean energy systems in rural areas, administration officials said Tuesday. The programs are the New ERA program for rural electric cooperatives, and the PACE program for other energy providers. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the funding “continues an ongoing effort to ensure that rural America is a full participant in this clean energy economy.”White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said, “Rural areas can have more difficulty than more urban ones in attracting private sector investment. The programs are intended to allow those rural areas to take advantage of an industry-wide trend to invest in clean energy production.He said, “There's a favorable wind blowing here. This allows rural communities to put up a sail.”The programs are meant to put rural electric cooperatives on equal footing with larger privately owned companies that have already put major funding into clean energy deployment.The programs represent the largest single funding effort for rural electrification since President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936.The money is meant not only to address the climate impacts of fossil fuel energy and reduce home energy costs, but to act as an economic engine for rural areas.Rural electric cooperatives are eligible for the New ERA program, and up to 25% of the funding in that program can be in the form of direct grants. Utilities can use the money to build renewable energy systems, zero-emission systems and carbon capture facilities.The USDA will begin to accept initial applications for funding on July 31. Applicants are expected to write more detailed proposals for funding after the USDA accepts their initial applications.The PACE program provides loans to renewable energy developers and electric service providers “to help finance large-scale solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower projects and energy storage in support of renewable energy systems,” the release said. The program is targeted to “vulnerable, disadvantaged, Tribal and energy communities,” the release said. It's in line with a Biden administration goal to allocate at least 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal spending to disadvantaged communities.The USDA can forgive up to 40% of most of the loans in the program. Up to 60% of loans to applicants in some U.S. territories and tribal communities can be forgiven.Initial applications for that program will open June 30.ARIZONA MIRROR:National commission on the MMIP crisis meets in Arizona to hear testimony, recommendationsBY: SHONDIIN SILVERSMITH - MAY 15, 2023 1:50 PMFive empty chairs sat at the front of the Not Invisible Act Commission hearing, each wrapped in a shawl, blanket or quilt representing a different group of individuals impacted by human trafficking or with a loved one who is missing or murdered.“We want to allow space for representing our relatives,” commission member Grace Bulltail said, noting the traditions in many Indigenous families to always preserve a space for absent loved ones. “We're doing that to honor our loved ones,” Bulltail said, explaining that, by putting the chairs there, the commission hearing was holding space for them.The chair wrapped in a red shawl with white and yellow handprints honored the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The chair wrapped in a red, orange, bridge, and white Native design shawl with a black blazer draped over it was to honor the missing and murdered Indigenous men and boys. Another chair was wrapped in a light blue, white and purple quilt. Pinned to the quilt was a picture of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike, a Navajo girl who was abducted and killed on the Navajo Nation in 2016. This chair honored Indigenous children.The chair wrapped in a maroon shawl with floral designs honored the LGBTQI and two-spirit Indigenous community. The chair wrapped in a brown Pendleton honored Indigenous veterans.The Not Invisible Act Commission, organized by the U.S. Department of the Interior,  held a public hearing at the Twin Arrows Casino near Flagstaff to hear testimony and recommendations from victims and families impacted by human trafficking and the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples crisis. The commission also heard from local tribal leaders and advocates. The Not Invisible Act was passed into law in October 2020, establishing the commission as a cross-jurisdictional advisory committee of federal and non-federal members, including law enforcement, tribal leaders, federal partners, service providers, family members of missing and murdered individuals, and survivors.The meeting at Twin Arrows was the commission's third public hearing. This summer, it has four more planned in Minnesota, northern California, New Mexico and Montana. The hearings are being held in communities impacted most by the MMIP crisis.Commissioners heard emotional testimony from Seraphine Warren and Pamela Foster as they shared their experiences of losing a loved one and advocated for change.Ms. Warren is the niece of Ella Mae Begay, a Navajo woman who went missing from her home in Sweetwater, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation on June 15, 2021. Warren continued to advocate for not only her aunt but all Indigenous people.Speaking through tears, she told her aunt's story. “I know it wasn't her legacy to be stolen or to be murdered,” Warren said. “Just because she isn't here doesn't mean she can't be part of change.”Begay is still missing, but there have been developments in her case. In March, Preston Henry Tolth, 23, of New Mexico, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Phoenix for assault and carjacking.The indictment alleges that, on June 15, 2021, Tolth assaulted Begay, resulting in serious bodily injury, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Tolth then took her Ford F-150 pickup truck and drove it from Arizona to New Mexico with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury to Begay.Warren said during Tolth's arraignment hearing on April 7 in Flagstaff that she heard details about the night her aunt went missing that she was not ready for.Warren, in tears, told the commission that Tolth told federal agents that he “snapped” and struck her in the face multiple times, causing her to bleed from the nose and mouth. Tolth told authorities that he wasn't sure if she was dead, Warren said, and when he drove away, he said he regretted hitting her, since all he wanted was the truck.Tolth is being held in custody and is expected to go to trial later in May.Pamela Foster is the mother of Ashlynne Mike, the 11-year-old Navajo girl abducted and killed on the Navajo Nation in 2016. Foster has been at the forefront of advocacy efforts for Indigenous children and people since she lost her daughter. On the afternoon of May 2, 2016, Ashlynne Mike and her 9-year-old brother, Ian Mike, didn't make it home from school. When they got off the school bus in Shiprock, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation, a predator tricked them into getting into his van by promising them a ride home.Hours later, passersby found Ian Mike wandering alone in the area. Police located Ashlynne Mike's body on May 3, 2016, and discovered she had been sexually assaulted, strangled, and bludgeoned repeatedly with a tire iron.She said, “I miss my daughter every single day. I became a voice for my daughter the moment I received word that her life was taken from her.”She talked about how the system failed when her children were missing in 2016. She said that May 1 to May 6 is a nightmare for her every year, because she relives what happened to her children.Foster talked about the hours from when her children disappeared to when they found her daughter's body; she ran into countless obstacles that left her without support.“It was very hard to sit there and know that there were no resources available for my children,” Foster said. “I absolutely had nothing.”She said local law enforcement was not adequately trained to handle child abductions. There was no clear communication between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Instead of searching for her children, Foster said they were trying to figure out exactly what protocols were needed to start looking.“Time was lost,” Foster said, and they did not send out an AMBER Alert until the following day. Foster recalled the alert went out at 2 a.m., and she said that helped no one because not many people were awake then. She remembers hearing officers from the neighboring jurisdictions tell her they couldn't go out to look for her daughter until they were given the clearance to do so by the Navajo Nation Police Department. Foster said it frustrated her how long it took for that to happen. She said the anger and hurt about what happened to Ashlynne led her to be a voice for her daughter.“I promised her I would do something for all of our other Indigenous children. To give them the protection that they need so they don't go through the same thing.”Foster has led many grassroots efforts to support Indigenous children, including advocating and petitioning for the AMBER Alert system to include Indian Country.Foster said she wanted to change, and she knew the justice system in Indian Country needed to be updated, so she focused her efforts on the AMBER Alert system. Her advocacy resulted in the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018, which makes tribes eligible for AMBER Alert grants to integrate into state and regional AMBER Alert communication plans.“I always say that I've never received justice for what happened to my daughter because nothing can bring her back,” Foster said. “There will never be justice, but we can learn how to move forward in changing laws to make things better for our people.”The goal of the hearing was for the federal commissioners to listen and hear recommendations on the best course of action for the MMIP crisis. Commissioners will use the suggestions to develop their final report for the Department of Interior.Foster's big recommendation was not only geared at the commissioners, but other attendees of the hearing. She encouraged them to tell their tribal leaders to receive the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act training. “It is free,” she said, adding that it is a vital program for Indigenous communities because it will train police officers and social workers from the tribe. Because tribes are sovereign nations, the Department of Justice has to receive a request in order to run the training on tribal land: “Have your tribal leaders request this training for your community because the children are our next generation,” Foster said. “There's still a lot of tribes that need to be trained.”When Seraphine Warren was finished sharing her aunt's story, she laid out her recommendations. “Transparency and swift action is key,” she said, “which means that when a person is missing, law enforcement should immediately inform all jurisdictions and issue press releases to media channels to inform the public.”“Family members need to be regularly and constantly updated with the progress of the investigation, and families should be prioritized if any remains are found in any jurisdiction.” Some of the other recommendations included allowing families to hire private investigators, providing them access to case files, supporting families in organizing their task force, providing families with constant and reliable access to grief counseling services, medical attention, financial and legal assistance, and safe housing for families of missing or murdered loved ones. ASSOCIATED PRESS: If you're not first, you're last. DENVER (AP) — Sitting in front of a hulking red tractor, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill Tuesday making Colorado the first state to ensure farmers can fix their own tractors and combines with a “right to repair” law — which compels manufacturers to provide the necessary manuals, tools, parts and software farmers would need.Colorado, home to high desert ranches and sweeping farms on the plains, took the lead on the issue following a nationwide outcry from farmers that manufacturers blocked them from making fixes and forced them to wait precious days or even weeks for an official servicer to arrive — delays that hurt profits.While farmers wait and their increasingly high-tech tractors or combines sit idle, a hailstorm could decimate an entire crop. Or, a farmer could miss the ideal planting window for their crops to grow.Lawmakers in at least 10 other states have introduced similar legislation, including in Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas and Vermont. But Colorado has taken the lead. At the signing ceremony Tuesday afternoon, under a light drizzle of rain, Gov. Polis said: “This bill will save farmers and ranchers time and money and support the free market in repair” before exclaiming, “first in the nation!”Behind the governor and arrayed farmers and lawmakers sat a red Steiger 370 tractor owned by a farmer named Danny Wood. Wood's tractor has flown an American flag reading “Farmers First,” and it has been one of two of his machines to break down, requiring long waits before servicers arrived to enter a few lines of computer code, or make a fix that Wood could have made himself.As the signing ceremony ended, Gov. Polis and Rep. Brianna Titone, who ran the bill in the state House, climbed inside the tractor for a photo as the ceremony ended.Great job, Rep. Titone! Huge win for this up-and-coming legislator. When I first saw her speak announcing her initial candidacy in 2017, I didn't know what to expect. Honestly, I didn't expect a lot, and I didn't particularly expect her to even win. And then, winning that seat was just the first of many instances where I've seen her demonstrate a level of depth, grit, and smarts that rival any of her peers. Great job Rep. Titone, you rock. CONCERT PICK OF THE WEEK: Violent Femmes - performing their self-titled album - Levitt Pavilion in Denver on Sunday May 21. The cult favorite folk punk band from Milwaukee is celebrating 40 years since the release of their first album in 1983. More info at vfemmes.comWelp, that's it for me! From Denver I'm Sean Diller. Original reporting for the stories in today's show comes from Colorado Newsline, Arizona Mirror, Denver Post, Associated Press and Denver's Westword.Thank you for listening! See you next time.

Get a FREE “Fake News Stops Here” mug when you buy an annual subscription to The Texan: https://go.thetexan.news/mug-fake-news-stops-here-2022/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=weekly_roundup The Texan's Weekly Roundup brings you the latest news in Texas politics, breaking down the top stories of the week with our team of reporters who give you the facts so you can form your own opinion. Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Got questions for the reporting team? Email editor@thetexan.news — they just might be answered on a future podcast. This week on The Texan's Weekly Roundup, the team discusses: The Texas Senate passing its version of the state budget with $6 billion more in spending than the HouseLt. Gov. Dan Patrick open to forcing a special session to pass school choice legislationThe House passing sunset renewal bills for the Public Utilities Commission and ERCOT gridA bill to ban “sexually explicit material” in schools receiving initial approval in the HouseEight Democrats joining House Republicans to pass a local government preemption billThe House giving initial approval to a bill to limit the death penalty in specific casesTwo lone bills in the House and Senate to reform grand juries in TexasThe House Education Committee hearing testimony on a bill to require parental consent for children's psychological examsBills to address damage to land from trespassing related to illegal immigrationTexas Congressman Lance Gooden endorsing Donald Trump for 2024 after meeting with Ron DeSantisTexas renewable and natural gas energy crowding out growth of nuclear powerThe upcoming trials for deputies of a Smith County constable convicted on charges of theft and official oppressi

California's three largest power companies - Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric - submitted a joint proposal to the Public Utilities Commission outlining a fixed rate restructuring that would be based on one's income. SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its powerful Starship rocket -- which is expected to eventually carry passengers to the moon and Mars -- that was set for Monday morning. Police in New Mexico released body camera footage after officers shot and killed a homeowner and shot at the man's wife earlier this month while responding to the wrong address. It started with the revelation on one of the leaked briefing slides that noted there are 14 U.S. troops in Ukraine. It soon ballooned into allegations of lying and coverup. “The Biden Admin and Pentagon have been caught lying about the war they are funding and fighting against Russia in Ukraine,” tweeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a fierce critic of U.S. support for Ukraine who has introduced articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden. A new ranking from Niche, a school review website, says California's top elementary schools are split between Northern and Southern California — mostly concentrated in the Bay and Los Angeles areas. At least seven people are dead, including one child, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato after several gunmen stormed the La Palma resort on Saturday, according to authorities. Artificial intelligence imaging can be used to create art, try on clothes in virtual fitting rooms or help design advertising campaigns.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.