Anti-solar group spreads misinformation in rural America

SOLAR: Founded by a conservative political operative to fight a rural Virginia solar farm, a so-called citizens group that spreads misinformation to fight arrays on farmland has since exported its playbook to 11 other states. (NPR/​Floodlight)

ALSO:
• They’ve become cheaper, more efficient, and don’t rely on materials from China: why a made-in-Ohio solar panel technology is poised to take off. (Energy News Network)
• A federal plan to expand solar on public lands sparks tension between clean energy advocates and environmentalists. (Inside Climate News)
• Chicago-based utility ComEd expects to double its number of community solar projects, bringing online 150 total projects by the end of 2023. (PV Magazine)

OIL & GAS:
• ​“There is just no excuse:” The International Energy Agency says the fossil fuel industry is refusing to take cheap and easy steps to fight methane emissions. (Associate Press)
• Climate advocates and experts urge the Biden administration not to approve three oil terminal projects off the Texas coast, saying their huge emissions potential amounts to a ​“carbon bomb.” (Guardian)
• Researchers find exposure to oil and gas wastewater causes lasting harm to freshwater species critical to the food chain. (Inside Climate News)
• U.S. senators from New Mexico introduce a bill to increase federal funding for finding, studying and plugging abandoned oil and gas wells. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

ELECTRIFICATION: Alaska efficiency advocates say heat pump sales have soared following steep natural gas, propane and heating oil price hikes. (Wired)

AVIATION: United Airlines and other companies partner on a $100 million project to develop and produce sustainable aviation fuel. (New York Times)

GRID:
• Solar installer Sunrun partners with a grid management software platform with hopes of turning battery-equipped homes into virtual power plants. (Canary Media)
• Heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar is building a proving ground in Arizona to test solar, wind and microgrids that would power mining complexes. (Arizona Daily Star)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: New federal tax credits are already making used electric vehicles more affordable. (Bloomberg)

UTILITIES: Massachusetts’ U.S. senators want the state utilities’ department to expedite municipalities’ requests to form community choice aggregation programs to get cheaper, greener energy. (Boston Globe)

CLIMATE:
• Texas farmers abandoned 74% of their planted crops in 2022 because of climate change-driven drought and heat, inflating the price of related products like diapers, tampons and cotton balls. (New York Times)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers develop a ​“truly efficient and inexpensive” carbon sink process for removing carbon dioxide from the ocean. (news release)

COAL ASH: Activists in Memphis, Tennessee, fight the Tennessee Valley Authority’s trucking of toxic coal ash through vulnerable neighborhoods to a nearby landfill. (WHBQ)

UTILITIES: A Native American tribe based in northwestern Michigan receives nearly $100,000 in federal funding to study the feasibility of creating a tribal utility. (MiBiz)