Related items

• Enviros cheer new Biden plan to limit fossil pollution
  in Feedbag
  By Thomas Fraser

  WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on May 11 proposed new carbon pollution standards for coal and gas-fired power plants to protect public health and reduce harmful pollutants.

  EPA’s proposed standards are expected to deliver up to $85 billion in climate and public health benefits over the next two decades and avoid up to 617 million metric tons of total carbon dioxide (CO₂) through 2042.

  EPA estimates that in 2030 alone, the proposed standards will prevent more than 300,000 asthma attacks; 38,000 school absence days; 1,300 premature deaths; 38,000 school absence days; and 66,000 lost work days.

  Dr. Stephen A. Smith, Executive Director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy: “Individuals and communities across the country are doing whatever they can to protect against the immense dangers of climate pollution and are depending on the federal government to do the same. Federal limits on climate pollution from power plants are a critically needed and long overdue protection for public health and the environment. 

  “We will be reviewing the proposal and hope that the proposal hits the mark in giving our communities the safeguards they need from deadly fossil pollution.”

  EPA will be taking comments on these proposals for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

  — SACE

• Activists urge TVA to take advantage of historic US climate bill for energy-efficiency improvements
  in News
  By Dulce Torres Guzman

  A hopper car on a train filled with coal to be delivered to a TVA coal-fired plant. John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout

  Climate bill designates TVA as a potential recipient of clean energy investments and loans

  This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.

  KNOXVILLE — Clean-energy advocates are urging the Tennessee Valley Authority to use funds provided through the Inflation Reduction Act to deliver environmentally friendly energy to Tennessee customers. 

  The massive bill Congress passed Friday includes $370 billion for clean energy investments and listed TVA as an entity that is eligible to take advantage of clean energy credits and loans to significantly reduce the cost of energy-efficient infrastructure. 

  On Aug. 12, the Clean Up TVA Coalition, including the Sierra Club, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Appalachian Voices, urged TVA to take advantage of the legislation and make funds available to its affiliated local power companies, which can then offer energy-efficient options for customers.

• SACE sees many silver linings in Senate climate bill; House passage expected
  in News
  By Amy Rawe

  A rainbow pierces gray skies during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. United Nations
  

  Climate activists stress positives of Senate climate bill despite its shortcomings 

  Amy Rawe is communications director for Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

  KNOXVILLE — The U.S. Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), an estimated $430 billion bill, of which approximately $370 billion will be allocated to investments in clean energy and to address climate change.

  It’s the single largest climate investment in U.S. history, and if it passes the House, will put the country on a path to be able to achieve roughly 40 percent emissions reduction from 2005 levels by 2030, reestablishing our influence in meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

• SACE released its annual utility decarbonization tracking report, and it’s not pretty
  in News
  By Heather Pohnan and Maggie Shober

  Bloomberg reports that methane leaks from the natural gas sector may be far worse than estimated by the EPA. While replacing coal-fired power plants with natural gas ones reduces air pollution it may not help at all with climate change because methane is 30 times more effective as a greenhouse gas than CO₂.  Image source: Kayrros SAS

  Report: Many utilities are not reducing carbon emissions despite public assurances to the contrary

  KNOXVILLE — Global greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 and experience rapid and deep reductions to avoid a potentially catastrophic future, according to a new analysis by air-quality and climate advocates. Emissions must reach net zero by the early 2050s to limit warming to 1.5 degrees (C) in order to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

  Many utilities and municipalities have acknowledged this dynamic, but the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy s fourth annual “Tracking Decarbonization in the Southeast" report highlights that current utility resource plans are not in line with this overarching target. Obstacles to getting utilities on track that are discussed in our report include: increasing reliance on fossil gas, underutilizing energy efficiency, and placing limitations on popular technologies such as rooftop solar. There’s still a lot of work to do before any Southeast utility is on track to decarbonize.

• New SACE report documents shortfalls and headwinds against utility decarbonization
  in Air
  By Amy Rawe

  Southern Alliance for Clean Energy's fourth annual “Tracking Decarbonization in the Southeast: Generation and Carbon Emissions” report will be released Wednesday, June 22

  Amy Rawe is communications director for Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

  KNOXVILLE — The report examines power-sector generation and emissions throughout the Southeast, which is home to some of the biggest utility systems in the nation, including Duke Energy, Southern Company, NextEra Energy, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

  Many of these Southeastern utilities have been in the national spotlight for their professed commitment to decarbonization, but there are often inconsistencies between stated goals and resource plans.

• TVA reopens public meetings to .... the public
  in News
  By Bri Knisley

  A public demonstration in September 2021 in Market Square in Knoxville demanding TVA resume public meetings with reasonable pandemic safeguards. Courtesy Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

  After pandemic starts and stutters, TVA finally allows personal public input at meetings

  KNOXVILLE

  For the first time in nearly two years, the publicly owned Tennessee Valley Authority will host a public listening session on the day prior to its next board of directors meeting.

  Since shifting to virtual board meetings in 2020, TVA diverged from other utilities across the country by not holding a single virtual public listening session. In addition, written comments submitted by ratepayers prior to board meetings have not been shared with the media or the public. 

• SACE works to keep us all warm this winter
  in Feedbag
  By Thomas Fraser

  This is a submission from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

  After public advocacy from Knoxville community members, the KUB board passed a resolution that will deliver $5 million for emergency bill assistance to benefit those most in need, and an additional $1 million for weatherization to improve the comfort of people’s homes while lowering their bills by increasing energy efficiency. These funds are part of a pandemic relief credit from TVA.

  KUB staff proposed a resolution in October that would have allocated $1.3 million of the total $7.3 million TVA pandemic recovery credit toward payment of debt owed by KUB customers, and the remaining $6 million would be distributed as a monthly bill credit for all residential and small business KUB customers. This would have resulted in an average savings of $17 over 12 months, or about $1.40 per month for all KUB customers, regardless of their level of need for pandemic relief. 

  Knoxville Water and Energy for All (KWEA), a coalition which SACE is a part of, circulated a petition asking that KUB instead forgive all debt owed by KUB customers, and then use the remaining funds to assist households who were struggling to pay their KUB bills. KWEA delivered nearly 200 petition signatures, and the KUB board asked that the resolution be amended. 

  As a result of our coalition’s advocacy, the KUB board allocated not only the originally proposed $1.3 million for debt relief, but also the remaining $6 million for customers in need. 

  While KUB did not pledge to forgive all debt, this is certainly a major win for the community.

  The KUB Board’s decision to reallocate funds demonstrates the power of our community speaking up to advocate for ourselves and our neighbors. 

• Report: Electric vehicles could add $47 billion annually to Southeast economy
  in News
  By Stan Cross and Heather Pohnan 

  Because most electricity is generated locally, shifting to electric transportation might save consumers money at the plug.

  (This story was reported and written by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy).

  Electrifying transportation could provide an economic boon for Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee. That’s what the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) reveals in a new analysis, “Retained Transportation Fuel Spending in the Southeast: Electric vs. Internal Combustion Vehicles.”

   

  SACE analyzed how much consumers spend on gas and diesel and how much of that transportation fuel spending remains in a given Southeast state and how much leaves. The analysis then looked at what happens if all on-road gas and diesel-powered cars, trucks, and buses are replaced with vehicles that drive entirely on electricity.

  DOWNLOAD THE REPORT
  WATCH THE REPORT WEBINAR

  What We Found: $47 Billion on the Table

  FUELING TRANSPORTATION IS EXPENSIVE

  Southeast consumers spend approximately $94 billion on gas and diesel fuels annually. And because the region has nearly no oil production or refining operations, only about one-third of that amount — approximately $30 billion — is retained in our region’s economy, and the rest leaves to pay for the imported fuels. That adds up to $64 billion leaking out of our region’s economy every year. 

• Clean-energy advocates take demands to base of TVA towers and power
  in Air
  By Thomas Fraser

  Alex Pulsipher holds a sign demanding that TVA transition to 100 percent renewable energy at a rally Wednesday in Market Square in Knoxville. Courtesy Amy Rawe/Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

  Varied environmental groups offer unified plea for clean energy, coal ash management and accountability from TVA

  It was people power generating energy at Market Square in downtown Knoxville on Wednesday.

  A coalition of civic and environmental groups and their representatives met at the bottom of the two Tennessee Valley Authority towers urging the public utility to reopen meetings to public comment; swear off all fossil fuels by 2030; and carefully tend to the needs of those affected by coal ash and devise a plan to contain it for the safety of current and future generations.

• 100 citizens attend ‘People’s Hearing’ on TVA and demand more accountability, transparency
  in Air
  By Rick Herron

  Attendees raise concerns about coal ash; call for more clean energy, transparency and public engagement from TVA

  Nearly 100 people from Tennessee and other states served by the Tennessee Valley Authority joined a virtual People’s TVA Hearing. The hearing on Aug. 4 was organized by the Tennessee Valley Energy Democracy Movement (TVEDM). It included a public comment session and multiple breakout sessions for attendees to discuss specific issues facing TVA and the Tennessee Valley. 

  TVA has not held any public listening sessions in a year and a half because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and attendees called on TVA to resume such sessions as soon as possible when the pandemic ebbs.

  “TVA talks a good game about being public power but they are simply not walking the walk,” said Barbara Mott of Knoxville. “Hiding from the people is not the answer.”