dorieseavey@bsky.social

The withdrawn PHMSA revisions were the first federal upgrades to leak detection & repair standards since the 1970s. They were much needed due to technology changes and climate change threats, and would have required far greater attention to identifying and fixing more leaks.

A Win for Farmers and Tribes Brings New Hope to the Klamath In the long-contentious Klamath River watershed, an experiment that turned a barley field into a wetland not only improved water quality. It also offered a path forward for restoring populations of tw...

Here's my latest, a story about the Klamath River basin that, for a change, is upbeat. e360.yale.edu/features/kla...

The infrastructure investments of the past four years represent the most significant progress since the Eisenhower era. But they are neither guaranteed nor permanent. If Congress and the Trump administration don’t act now, we won’t just cede economic advantage. We’ll see energy costs spike…

Electric bills are expected to keep climbing this summer along with the temperatures. The Energy Information Administration expects the average U.S. residential electric bill to be about 4% higher this summer than last, mostly because of a jump in natural-gas prices, the largest source of power generation. Natural gas deliveries to power plants will cost about 50% more from June through September than last year. Hugh Wynne, an analyst with Sector & Sovereign Research, said expected increases in liquefied natural gas exports are likely to continue to pressure power prices in the long term. “The more we export gas, the more the domestic price will begin to reflect the international price,” Wynne said.

LNG exports and data centers are already driving up electricity costs.

The repeal of clean energy incentives will make electricity even more expensive for all Americans
www.wsj.com/business/ene...

In Florida, NextEra Energy’s Florida Power & Light is asking regulators to let it increase rates between 1% and 5% a year through 2029. The utility says it needs to invest in the grid and new generation. Since 2021, its labor costs are up 16%, wires and cables 30%, utility poles 49% and transformers 101%. The frenzy over artificial intelligence, along with new manufacturing and the adoption of electric vehicles, is helping drive U.S. power demand forecasts higher for the first time in two decades. The U.S. wants to build more gas-fired power plants to meet the soaring demand, but construction can cost three times as much as it did a few years ago, utility executives say. Across the U.S., the growing pains are sparking fights over how to pay for upgrades and costs. About $9.3 billion in additional electricity costs will begin trickling down this month to customers in the PJM Interconnection, the country’s largest grid operator and wholesale electricity market. The main cause is the “unprecedented” demand from new and planned data centers, according to a report from Monitoring Analytics, the independent grid monitor for PJM, which provides power to 13 states and Washington, D.C.

maybe utility regulators shouldnt sign off on new gas-fired power plants that cost 3x more than they used to.

Also, why should ratepayers pick up billions of dollars' worth of costs for data centers?

LNG terminals threaten to push Calcasieu River pollution ‘beyond repair’ | The Lens The shrimp stopped coming up the Calcasieu River after Venture Global built its Liquified Natural Gas terminal. The river’s ongoing pollution, on top of decades of hazardous waste dumping, earned the ...

After Venture Global built its Liquified Natural Gas terminal, the shrimp stopped coming up the river. Ongoing pollution earned the Calcasieu the #9 slot on American Rivers’ 2025 list of most endangered rivers. @thelensnola.bsky.social @americanrivers.bsky.social
thelensnola.org/2025/04/28/l...

Elon Musk’s xAI accused of pollution over Memphis supercomputer Hearing scheduled for Friday as residents receive anonymous leaflets that downplay pollution dangers

AI rides a tandem bicycle with fracking.

Elon Musk’s xAI—which powers his chatbot Grok—is serviced by fracked gas-fueled turbines, none of which have air permits.

Combustion of methane fills the air with NO2. Which makes ozone (smog). Which kills people.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

The Loan Programs Office (LPO) is one of the most quietly effective tools the federal government has. It is the center of our industrial policy providing loans that banks won't give for energy innovation. It funds real projects. Battery factories. Nuclear reactors. Geothermal energy. Car factories.

A tsunami of uncertainty for clean energy Podcast Episode · Open Circuit · 04/18/2025 · 59m

Energy dominance, what energy dominance. Over the first 100 days this administration has pissed off oil&gas, LNG, nuclear, geothermal, critical minerals, solar, wind, batteries, and innovation.

Even with the economic downturn we still have load growth.

During the transition away from fossil fuel we'll see various sectors where incumbents will see revenues drop steadily bit because margins are so dependent on revenue they stop being profitable.

If a company stops being profitable it has to pivot from it's existing products/services or go bankrupt.

The Hidden Climate Costs of Exporting US Liquefied Natural Gas - Inside Climate News An exclusive Inside Climate News analysis found that a single year of greenhouse gas emissions from tankers carrying LNG from the United States more than cancels out the annual reductions achieved thr...

"a single year of greenhouse gas emissions from tankers carrying LNG from the United States more than cancels out the annual reductions achieved through driving all the electric vehicles currently on U.S. roads"

This is just from the ships themselves

insideclimatenews.org/news/1604202...

This type of strident framing is very much looked down on in news media circles. But when we stop and observe climate change from the perspective of physical science, it's hard to deny that our behaviour looks unhinged.

Ending Cooperative Agreements’ Funding to Princeton University On Tuesday, April 8, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced that nearly $4 million in funding is ending to Princeton University after a detailed, careful, and thorough review of the...

Extraordinary announcement behind cutting funding to one of the world's leading climate institutes, GFDL. Apparently it's (amongst other reasons) because climate modelling is leading to climate anxiety and therefore should be stopped. www.commerce.gov/news/press-r...

What Is An Emergency? Thinking as calmly as possible about where we find ourselves

"The 'emergency' Trump is *actually* responding to—the one that motivated his Big Oil donors to donate $500m in the last election cycle—is the rapid increase in renewable energy deployment" says @billmckibben.bsky.social

#climatecrisis
billmckibben.substack.com/p/what-is-an...

Today's US EO orders the Attorney General to identify + take expeditious action to stop enforcement of "all State & local laws... purporting to address “climate change” or involving “environmental, social, and governance” initiatives, “environmental justice,” carbon or “greenhouse gas” emissions."

Trump to sign executive orders aimed at reviving coal A major focus will be on keeping coal-fired electricity generators running past the dates of their scheduled retirements.

We're going to become energy dominant by *checks notes* wastefully subsidizing the most uneconomical sources of energy
www.eenews.net/articles/tru...

Chemical industry seeks exemptions from US pollution rules as part of Trump administration offer Industry groups representing hundreds of chemical and petrochemical manufacturers are seeking blanket exemptions from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsen...

It's okay when the elephants you find in mouseholes are of the deregulatory variety apnews.com/article/trum...

WH orders increase in national forest logging, particularly in California.

“The Trump administration and its allies . . . are aiming to deepen the pockets of private industry to log across our shared, public forests, while sidestepping public review,” said Wilderness Society’s Josh Hicks.

Corporate utilities largely silent on Trump layoffs of staff who manage LIHEAP We asked utilities for comment: many defended LIHEAP broadly; none criticized the Administration or the staffing cuts.

Our @energyandpolicy.org team asked 46 utilities about Trump layoffs that threaten a crucial energy assistance program they say they support -- one that literally prevents Americans from freezing to death in their homes.

Few responded. None criticized the cuts. energyandpolicy.org/corporate-ut...

Another major federal program illegally and unconstitutionally eliminated.

banks are financing the climate crisis, not just reacting to it

Today, the Illinois Commerce Commission denied a motion filed by Peopels Gas asking for a stay of its requirement to file a long term gas infrastructure plan this summer.

Illinois PIRG filed a reply to the motion arguing for denial - as did ICC staff.

pirg.org/illinois/upd...

Rising Massachusetts gas bills: What role are GSEP and other… | Dorie Seavey Here is Part 2 of my investigation into what's driving higher gas bills in Massachusetts. I take a careful look at the role of capital spending through GSEP…

Here's my new article investigating the impact of high levels of gas utility capital spending on customer bills in MA. For the 3 largest cos., basic delivery charges have been increasing 15-20%/year for the last decade. An overbuilt gas system is the elephant-in-the-room driving up customer bills.

The media does a great job of telling us all that methane emissions are down in US oil and gas production and one of their big unsubstantiated claims is that oil and gas producers are actively working to address the issue.

There is no evidence for that. Quite the opposite, actually.

CT Lawmaker Eyeing PURA Seat Owes Struggling Ratepayer Over $1 Million CT Lawmaker

😳 Staff at CT's PURA once said that the guy now being considered for a Commissioner seat, who once ran a competitive retail supplier, “should not be permitted to engage with the electric supplier market or electric utility customers in any capacity in the future.” energyandpolicy.org/ct-lawmaker-...

The American Gas Assoc reports that gas utility capital spending on distribution infrastructure increased 26X over the last 50 years while natural gas use per residential customer fell 51%. This is the fundamental dynamic driving higher customer bills across the country @hotandtoxic.bsky.social

Mass Save is not the culprit: Understanding the true drivers behind rising gas bills in Massachusetts by Dorie Seavey, PhD Home heating costs in Massachusetts have jumped dramatically in recent months leading to public outcry and pushback. Recently, legislators and the Governor directed the state’s en...

Gas utilities mislead by blaming Mass Save for the bill increases. For Boston Gas, for ex, 40% of the increase is due to higher delivery charges, 44% to higher gas supply charges, and only 15% for Mass Save. See this analysis for the facts. @miriamwasser.bsky.social www.linkedin.com/pulse/mass-s...

U.S. Congress repeals methane fee on oil and gas - Gas Outlook As part of the Trump administration’s deregulatory blitz, Congress scrapped a key climate policy from the Biden era.

U.S. Congress repeals methane fee on oil and gas

gasoutlook.com/analysis/u-s...

Mass Save is not the culprit: Understanding the true drivers behind rising gas bills in Massachusetts by Dorie Seavey, PhD Home heating costs in Massachusetts have jumped dramatically in recent months leading to public outcry and pushback. Recently, legislators and the Governor directed the state’s en...

MA gas utilities have been quick to implicate the state’s ratepayer-funded energy efficiency program, Mass Save, as the cause of soaring winter heating bills. But a careful look at charges for the 3 largest investor-owned utilities shows this is not true. My analysis makes the charges transparent.

What we know about the construction project that led to ruptured gas main in Philly NBC10 investigative reporter Claudia Vargas looks into the construction project that led to a ruptured gas main that caused evacuations in North Philadelphia on Thursday.

"What we know about the construction project that led to ruptured gas main in Philly."

www.nbcphiladelphia.com/investigator...