Energy News for week ending October 25, 2019

A Whole New Industry | Cash for Carbon | The Sounds of Climate Change

Good afternoon. It’s Friday, so let’s get to this week’s energy news.

We start with a story from New Hampshire Public Radio, “’A Whole New Industry’: N.H. To Work With Neighboring States On Offshore Wind in Gulf of Maine. New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts will work together on large-scale offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine…Taylor Caswell, commissioner of the state’s Department of Business and Economic Affairs, said at the meeting that he thinks Northern New England could add tens of thousands of jobs building these offshore turbine farms, and the transmission infrastructure to bring their power on-shore. ‘This is not just a project. This is not just an individual, “we’re going to find a site and put a couple of turbines up,”’ Caswell says. ‘This is the establishment of, really, a whole new industry.’ The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management plans to hold the first meeting of a three-state task force on the issue in mid-December. The New England group is the third regionalized wind group BOEM has formed, after ones in the New York area and the Carolinas. The group’s first job would be to help choose specific areas for offshore wind leasing in the federal waters of the Gulf of Maine – likely at least 30 miles out to sea.”

Next up is a story from the New York Times, “Cash for Carbon: Schumer Climate Plan Would Help Consumers Buy Electric Cars. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, is preparing a $450 billion climate change initiative that aims to replace about a fifth of the nation’s traditional gasoline-powered vehicles with hybrid, electric or hydrogen fuel-cell cars and trucks in the next 10 years…Mr. Schumer’s new plan…is specific and is aimed at rapidly replacing 63 million of the 270 million cars on American roads with zero-emissions or near-zero-emissions vehicles. If enacted, it would take a significant slice out of carbon dioxide pollution from automobiles, America’s largest producer of planet-warming emissions…The bill would also include $45 billion to help cities and states install electric vehicle charging stations, and $17 billion to help automakers build or retool factories to manufacture hybrid, electric and hydrogen vehicles.”

The last highlight story for this week comes from National Geographic, “Hear the sounds of climate change—with earthquake monitors. Seismometers on the West Coast can hear the ocean bouncing off the seafloor as it is disturbed by a hurricane approaching the East Coast, with more intense tropical cyclones producing louder seismic roars. They can also hear the cracking of ice when temperatures fluctuate, the recoil of an ice sheet as part of it breaks free, and the explosive growth of icy crevasses. Tropical cyclones will likely get more intense, and the Earth’s ice will increasingly disintegrate as the planet warms. In recent decades, the potential for seismometers to track the consequences of climate change has become increasingly evident. Scientists are still trying to understand the crucial nuances of each seismic signal, sometimes turning to small-scale recreations of the natural world in the lab to try to pry out the causes of separate seismic sonatas. But as seismometers continue to increase in sensitivity and decrease in cost, says Bohon, the nascent field of environmental seismology will continue to bear fruit.”

That’s the recap for this week. Have a great weekend.

Natural Gas/Oil/Pipeline/Drilling

Cuomo threatens to pull plug on National Grid as he rails against utility company’s power, NY Daily News

‘Weak Engineering Management’ Probable Cause Of Columbia Gas Explosions, NTSB Says, CBS Boston / WBZ

Weymouth compressor foes vow to continue fight, Wicked Local

Weymouth council candidates vow to fight compressor statoin, Wicked Local

More delays, cost increases for two East Coast natural gas pipelines, IEEFA

Williams CEO Says Its Gas Pipe Can Help Cuomo’s N.Y. Green Goals, Bloomberg

Planned natural gas release angers compressor station opponents, Patriot Ledger

Oil company looks to lure customers burned by National Grid, Crain’s New York

Report details how ExxonMobil and fossil fuel firms sowed seeds of doubt on climate change, Los Angeles Times

Oil Companies Rejected by Supreme Court on Climate Change Suits, Bloomberg