Yesterday the Trump administration put out a press release titled “President Donald J. Trump Unleashes America’s Energy Potential”. In it, the release describes how Trump has done this: Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord Rescinding the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan Fast-tracking approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline Ending the Obama Administration’s coal leasing moratorium on Federal land Rescinding the […]

A new law called the Energy Policy Modernization Act is on the fast track to being sent to President Obama to sign into law. Inside this bill is a small provision that could have wide ranging impacts. An amendment introduced by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski would designate the burning of wood and wood products for energy as “carbon neutral”. The […]

Earlier this year, the group Clean Energy Now created a website that allows Michigan energy consumers to choose the sources for their energy needs and to compare those choices to what they have now. The new site, PicMyEnergyMix.com, is interactive, allowing the user to make choices about the mix of sources that power their lives. When you have completed the […]

If you listen to DTE Energy and Consumers Energy tell the story, Michigan is perched on the precipice of an impending energy crisis of epic proportions. New ads running television – over 400 in the past two months – tell us that, thanks to federal regulations, many of our coal-fired power plants will be shut down. The result, they suggest, […]

Last October, I wrote about an exciting new project in Detroit called the Veterans Green Village to bring green energy projects to the city and put military veterans to work. I have stayed in contact with Gordon Soderberg (pictured right) who heads up the project. His group has teamed up with the Motor City Blight Busters of Detroit to create […]

“What I learned from my military experience is that…there’s no way this is sustainable and there’s gonna be one day when we go back and die for this stuff.” I meet a lot of really terrific people in my travels but Gordon Soderberg is one of he most selfless, compassionate men I’ve met in a very long time. He has […]

Last week, the BlueGreen Alliance announced the launch of its “Repair America” campaign designed to push action on repairing crucial national infrastructure across the country and create thousands of valuable jobs in the process. The BlueGreen Alliance is a partnership of labor and environmental groups working to expand the number of jobs in the renewable energy sector. Over 100 people […]

Ensuring our energy policy doesn’t compromise our water supply

In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (pdf) into law. This comprehensive law does everything from providing new subsidies and incentives for renewable energy production (like wind, solar, biomass, wave & tidal, and geothermal) and tax breaks for energy conservation improvements on homes to providing incentives for increased drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and exempting oil and gas producers from certain requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act. It even extended Daylight Savings Time by a week. There’s a fine summary of this 551 page bill HERE.

One of the components of the Energy Policy Act was Section 979 which compelled Energy Secretary to study the interaction and interplay of water-related issues and energy-related issues. The intent was to ensure that we fully understand how our country’s energy policy impacts our water resources.

The study is eight years late and there’s a petition to sign to move it forward. Details are after the jump.

And they’re off! Last night the Michigan Energy & Environment for Obama Team kicked off its effort to reelect President Obama at the Arbor Brewing Company in Ann Arbor. Environmental luminaries from around the state were in attendance in cluding Ken Berlin, the Director of the National Energy & Environment Team. Berlin told us that the team formed 18 months […]

I have been following the plans by Wolverine Power to build a new coal-fired power plant in Rogers City, Michigan pretty closely. In May of last year, I blogged about the denial of their permit by the Granholm administration. Then, in April this year, I wrote about how the zombie power plant had risen from the dead. Today, the zombie […]

Remember when Ronald Reagan pulled down the solar panels installed on the White House by Jimmy Carter under the guise of routine maintenance and cleaning and then never put them back up? Well a similar effort may be underway. When she took over as Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi initiated the “Green the Capitol” initiative. Incoming Republicans are eyeing […]