Millions of Illinoisans could see higher energy bills next year, but the size of those increases will be determined by a state agency that has recently had its oversight powers expanded.
Energy
‘Unprecedented’ number of rate cases pending before Illinois Commerce Commission
Utilities companies like ComEd and Peoples Gas make money by delivering energy. The rates they’re seeking to hike are for distribution, including infrastructure like pipes and transmission lines, and the profit they can tack on to those costs.
Politicians have blasted the notion of banning gas stoves after a federal regulator seemed open to it. It turns out, there are no plans to shut off the stoves for now — but there are significant concerns about their health risks.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced a “major scientific breakthrough” Tuesday in the decadeslong quest to harness fusion, the energy that powers the sun and stars.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the agreement would strike a blow against climate change that scientists say has already begun to cause disasters such as floods and strong storms.
Illinois environmental groups were quick to condemn the Supreme Court’s limits on the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and placed the state in opposition to the justices’ stance.
Power operators in the Central US, in their summer readiness report, have already predicted “insufficient firm resources to cover summer peak forecasts.” That assessment accounted for historical weather and the latest NOAA outlook that projects for more extreme weather this summer.
According to AAA, the current price of a gallon of regular gas in the Chicago Metro area is now $5.56, up from $3.37 one year ago. The price of premium is well over $6.00.
States that contribute to ground-level ozone, or smog, are required to submit plans ensuring that coal-fired power plants and other industrial sites don’t add significantly to air pollution in other states.
The administration said in a legal filing that a Feb. 11 ruling by a Louisiana federal judge will affect dozens of rules by at least four federal agencies. Among the immediate effects is an indefinite delay in planned oil and gas lease sales on public lands in a half-dozen states in the West.
Cook County is aiming to reach 100% renewable electricity by 2030, but can’t get there on its own. So it’s looking for a renewable energy developer, who would front the costs of building a solar or wind farm to generate green electricity for county buildings.
The long-awaited report by the Interior Department stops short of recommending an end to oil and gas leasing on public lands, as many environmental groups have urged. But officials said the report would lead to a more responsible leasing process that provides a better return to U.S. taxpayers.
The $555 billion plan for climate spending is the centerpiece of a sweeping domestic policy package Biden and congressional Democrats presented Thursday, hours before the president traveled to Europe for another summit ahead of the climate meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.
As U.N. officials gaveled the climate summit to its formal opening in Glasgow, the heads of the world’s leading economies at the close of their own separate talks in Italy made pledges including stopping international financing of dirty-burning coal-fired power plants by next year.
Leaders of the world’s biggest economies agreed Sunday to stop funding coal-fired power plants in poor countries and made a vague commitment to seek carbon neutrality “by or around mid-century” as they wrapped up a Rome summit before the much larger United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
Thousands of Puerto Ricans are taking to the streets to protest massive blackouts. The island’s antiquated power grid has long been unreliable, and it was decimated by Hurricane Maria in 2017. This summer, officials hoped the privatization of the power grid by LUMA Energy would help.
