Good Week for Power Lines, Bad Week for Offshore Wind

Greenlink’s good day – The Interior Department has approved NV Energy’s Greenlink West power line in Nevada, a massive step forward for the Biden administration’s pursuit of more transmission.

• The project will be linked to Arevia Power’s Libra Solar Project, which the BLM finished reviewing last month .
• Interior also released a draft environmental review for the Greenlink North transmission project, a companion to Greenlink West.
• While these approvals might lift the weight off some YIMBY chests, I wouldn’t be too sure this fight is over, judging by recent Fight interviewee Patrick Donnelly’s claim to the press that this decision could lead to listing the sage grouse as an endangered species. Do I smell litigation?

States’ offshore muddle – We saw a lot of state-level offshore wind movement this past week… and it wasn’t entirely positive. All of this bodes poorly for odds of a kumbaya political moment to the industry’s benefit any time soon.

• Massachusetts and Rhode Island picked three new projects that will ultimately produce less power than they wanted . Connecticut did not pick any projects despite expectations it would do so, delaying the decision to a later, unspecified date.
• Oregon got the federal go-ahead for offshore development in its waters. But this received backlash from the state’s two senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, who said the process was “rushed. ”
• It wasn’t all bad news. Last week, Delaware Gov. John Carney signed into law legislation teeing up an offshore wind procurement program.
• But I’m watching to see if an Oregon-esque situation plays out in Delaware, a state with many politicians supportive of offshore wind but that also can struggle with assuaging local development concerns .

Chumash loophole – Offshore wind did notch one win in northern California by securing an industry exception in a large marine sanctuary, providing for farms to be built in a corridor of the coastline.

• The final Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary arrives with both an opening for offshore wind projects currently being planned and the blessing of the North Chumash Tribal Council – what appears to be a win-win.
• Regulators say they’ll consider a potential expansion of the sanctuary in the “coming years” after transmission cables have been approved.

Here’s what else I’m watching …

• The Supreme Court is apparently swamped with emergency requests from the energy industry and Republican states to intervene in anti-pollution regulation.
• In Maine, activists are pushing the state to get more aggressive with its climate plans .
• In Washington state, a ballot initiative threatens to repeal the state’s “cap and invest” climate law.

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