Joshua Basseches

LA Wildfire Survivors Want to Rebuild All-Electric, but a Utility Is Using Customer Funds to Incentivize Gas Appliances - Inside Climate News California’s utility regulator said it would eliminate ratepayer-funded incentives for gas appliances in new construction, but created an exception that allows rebates for them in wildfire rebuilds.

SoCalGas is using *efficiency funding* collected from ratepayers to push LA wildfire survivors who lost their homes to build back with *gas* rather than all-electric.

Truly bleak stuff. This should not be allowed. Where are our regulators at the CPUC?
insideclimatenews.org/news/0312202...

Congratulations Josh!

Great piece!

Three Ideas for Lowering Electricity Costs For starters, recognize that clean energy is cheap energy.

Electricity prices are soaring while utilities rake in billions in profit. Here's three ideas to bring bills down:
1) Make power cheap in the middle of the day
2) Stop utility profiteering
3) Keep climate impacts off bills

My latest in @theatlantic.com.
www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...

Story also has great quotes from Former FERC Chair Mark Christie about how PJM is an "insider's game." True. But lest you think vertically-integrated monopolies are a solution, my research finds PUCs to be just as much an "insider's game" (albeit with state-by-state variation). (2/2)

Members of America’s Largest Power Grid Can’t Agree on How to Power Data Centers - Inside Climate News With no consensus among stakeholders, PJM Interconnection’s 10-member board now must craft a policy for surging data-center demand that has already driven up electricity prices for millions.

"The Garden State saw that frustration show up in polling, with a recent statewide survey finding large majorities of voters in both parties saying data centers should shoulder more of the grid costs instead of ordinary households." (1/2)
insideclimatenews.org/news/2611202...

County Planning Commission in Virginia Delays Vote Again on Proposed Gas Plant That Aims to Link to PJM Grid - Inside Climate News Fluvanna County planners will vote in January to assess whether a proposal by Tenaska Energy fits its comprehensive plan.

Local control can impede all kinds of generation -- renewable and fossil fueled alike. Of course, only the latter adversely affects public health:
insideclimatenews.org/news/2611202...

“The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment.” That’s the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s mission statement, last updated on July 23, 2025.

Annals of hypocrisy.

Alabama Power says it will freeze electricity rates through 2027: ‘We know budgets are tight’ CFO Moses Feagin said the decision came after conversations with the PSC and the Alabama Attorney General’s Office.

Good news for AL ratepayers, but we also need to know more about these "internal cost containment measures" that will be used to replace revenue. Regulated monopolies should ALWAYS be using such measures, & it does beg the question, why now and not before?
www.al.com/news/2025/11...

EPA moves to roll back Biden-era particulate limits, signaling a major shift in clean air policy The agency asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn the 2024 “soot standard,” citing incomplete scientific analysis and projected compliance costs.

Remember when Trump used to say he wants "the cleanest air and the cleanest water."?
www.utilitydive.com/news/epa-rol...

No more PJM data centers unless they can be reliably served: market monitor The PJM Interconnection’s market monitor urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to rule that large data centers can only come online if the grid operator can still meet reliability metrics.

It goes without saying that PJM should not be interconnecting data centers when system reliability cannot be assured:
www.utilitydive.com/news/pjm-dat...

Report launch day! Check out this project with @cplusc.bsky.social looking back on Maine's public power ballot initiative. Despite a classic case of corporate capture and a loss at the polls, this is a hopeful story that (imo) has a lot to teach us
@smconstantino.bsky.social #energysky

Check this out 👇

Professors Launch PAC to Fight Back Against Trump’s Attacks The American Association of University Professors, a union whose members are fighting policies from the Trump administration and GOP Congress, launched a PAC this week to spend in federal elections.

We launched a PAC!

“This PAC is an extension of our fight to ensure a future for American higher ed through bipartisan legislation that recognizes that college can be tuition-free, debt-free, welcoming to all, conducive to academic freedom & offer jobs with dignity.”

- Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

We created health guidelines for fighting loneliness - here’s what we recommend Guidelines for social well-being can help health care providers identify when someone is socially isolated and provide goals and standards for policymakers.

Loneliness is now considered a public health crisis. An international team of public policy researchers has created the first official health guidelines for tackling it, and the recommendations go beyond just telling people to socialize more.

The process that led to this, however, leaves much to be desired. For this reason, I use it as case study in my environmental politics class of challenges of siting energy infrastructure crossing jurisdictional boundaries (as so much of it does, & will need to in future). (2/2)

Controversial hydropower project gets final Maine permit despite losing referendum The energy company Avangrid has received the final permit it needs from Maine to build a controversial hydropower transmission line to power hundreds of thousands of homes in Massachusetts. The projec...

This is great news for a New England grid that desperately needs a non-intermittent source of clean power to satisfy both state climate and clean energy laws and rising electricity demand. (1/2)
www.nbcboston.com/news/local/c...

Climate fight lingers for rural energy grants The Trump administration's changes to the Rural Energy for America Program are facing bipartisan pushback.

The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) enjoys bipartisan support:
www.eenews.net/articles/cli...

SCC approves Dominion gas plant in Chesterfield Dominion Energy can go ahead with a controversial gas-fired power plant on the site of its Chesterfield power station, the State Corporation Commission said.

This is exactly the kind of horrible decision being thrust upon unwilling communities because Virginia is the data center capital of the world. "SCC approves Dominion gas plant in Chesterfield" richmond.com/news/state-r...

Public comments open until January 7 (2/2):
www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-H...

EPA throws another lifeline to coal-fired power plants The agency proposed extending the length of time that 11 plants can dispose of toxic coal ash in large, unlined ponds.

EPA wants to delay toxic coal ash disposal requirements: (1/)
www.eenews.net/articles/epa...

Rhode Island’s emissions tick up, endangering 2030 climate target A new report finds the state needs to cut emissions 4.5 percent annually, year after year, to meet its goals.

Rhode Island is the latest U.S. state at risk of missing its statutory economy-wide GHG emissions reduction targets. Transportation sector emissions (which states have a limited toolkit to tackle, relative to electricity or buildings) are most responsible.
www.eenews.net/articles/rho...

Your New England home insurance could vanish. Climate change explains why. - The Boston Globe From Connecticut to Maine, coastal communities are feeling the pinch of higher home insurance rates and fewer options for coverage.

Home insurance crisis hits New England:
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/25/s...

FERC urged to reject 370-MW NorthWestern Colstrip PPA The Montana Environmental Information Center contends the power purchase agreement with Mercuria could harm NorthWestern Energy’s ratepayers.

Some sketchy transactions going on in Montana ...
www.utilitydive.com/news/ferc-no...

Robert Reich A Warning from 1994 of a Two-Tiered Society | Robert Reich

31 years ago this month, I warned that America was becoming a two-tiered society composed of a few winners and a larger group left behind, whose anger and disillusionment could be easily manipulated.

I took a lot of heat for this speech. Watch and tell me if I was wrong.

New Jersey’s next governor wants to freeze rates; its largest power company wants to spend It puts Mikie Sherrill's affordability agenda on a collision course with her goal of boosting the state’s energy supplies.

Allowing monopoly investor-owned utilities -- not disciplined by market forces -- to get back into the generation business after the state intentionally decided to restructure in 1999 is completely at odds with Sherrill's promises to freeze rates:
www.eenews.net/articles/new...

Electricity prices jump after Trump rejects disaster aid for Michigan utilities The president denied the state’s request for federal aid to rebuild power lines after a fierce ice storm last March, a move that could force thousands of

This president and his administration have no regard for rural Michiganders (who largely voted for him) struggling to pay their electric bills:
www.eenews.net/articles/ele...

Love it!

#GoBlue!

Working on syllabi for spring semester. After a semester of research leave, I'm looking forward to getting back in the classroom and seeing how Gen Z is processing the insanity of the world we are living in.