Pam Radtke/Floodlight

Polluting Democracy

Private calls and campaign cash: Louisiana regulators’ ties to the utilities they oversee

The state is tied for dead last in renewable energy adoption. Little surprise, with so much fossil fuel money flowing to its commissioners.

Polluting Democracy

Utility regulators take millions from industries they oversee. What could go wrong?

The clean energy transition, for one, a Floodlight analysis of campaign finance data reveals.

Gulf Coast

California calls plastics recycling tech a ‘stunt’; to Louisiana it’s economic development

ExxonMobil wants millions in tax breaks for a Baton Rouge project that would create no jobs, pollute the environment and recycle few plastics

Gulf Coast

Crowd size forces Louisiana to postpone hearing on proposed ammonia plant

The public hearing for the St. Charles Clean Fuels Plant will be rescheduled after more than 200 people show up in space meant for 60

Gulf Coast

Fishers, environmental groups fight massive LNG terminal in court

In the last two months, judges rejected approvals on three Gulf Coast methane facilities, sending them back to a federal agency for further review

Gulf Coast

Louisiana utility commission OKs major donor’s plan to buy Entergy gas system

A Bernhard Capital Partners subsidiary — new to the natural gas business — is buying gas systems in Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico

Carbon Capture

A company wanted to store carbon under US forests; it may get its wish

The U.S. Forest Service said ‘no’ when CapturePoint asked to put carbon capture projects under national forests. The agency is now reconsidering.

LNG

Flouting Biden pause, agency OK’s largest LNG terminal in US

Whether the Louisiana project is built may hinge on federal study of climate and economic impact of the burgeoning liquefied natural gas industry

Gulf Coast

Is US offshore wind dead in the water — or just poised for the next big gust?

The Biden Administration wants to boost offshore wind. But other forces, including cost, political opposition and disinformation, have slowed adoption.

Gulf Coast

Louisiana energy company plans to float above climate damage — literally

Utility argues natural gas plant would keep offshore oil and gas servicing companies, and nation’s only deepwater oil port, operational.

Utilities

Will bitcoin and data centers risk US climate goals?

US energy use has been flat. But new industries are forcing a boost in utility forecasts for demand, potentially harming efforts to cut emissions.

Gulf Coast

Secrecy around gas export terminals leaves public in the dark on dangers

As liquefied natural gas terminals grow exponentially along the U.S. Gulf Coast, experts raise alarm on low-risk, high-consequence events

Gulf Coast

Plan to stash planet-heating carbon dioxide under U.S. national forests alarms critics

Around 140 groups have called for an extension of public comment period over U.S. Forest Service proposal amid questions about safety and impact.

Gulf Coast

LSU’s new energy institute faces global challenges, local skepticism

In Louisiana, the energy transition away from high-intensity carbon fuels is focused on things such as creating lower-carbon hydrogen and capturing climate-warming carbon from industry and directly from the air.

Gulf Coast

A known risk: How carbon stored underground could find its way back into the atmosphere

Generous federal tax credits are driving the onrush of carbon capture and storage projects being proposed in the U.S. But like a game of whack-a-mole, there’s a chance the planet-warming emissions could seep back up into the atmosphere after they are injected underground.

Gulf Coast

Carbon-capture gold rush an ‘insult’ to locals in emissions-hit Louisiana

Millions of dollars of investments in new carbon capture projects in Louisiana – with more announced this week, are unwelcome developments to some environmental activists in the state.