Energy justice in the news
National:
Power outages on the island have been a long-running source of frustration for Puerto Ricans who rely on a fragile and poorly-maintained power grid, with modernization efforts slow to materialize over several decades, first by a publicly-owned entity and today by a private caretaker. The highly centralized grid has one major power line which, if compromised, shatters the entire system. The grid continues to suffer from a history of underinvestment and an outdated energy infrastructure, making it vulnerable to natural disasters and prone to extensive outages. “Because the whole system hasn’t been properly cared for or modernized, we are in a position where anytime a storm hits or there is some sort of natural disaster, the whole grid falls apart,” said López Varona of the Center for Popular Democracy, an advocacy group organizing recovery efforts for Puerto Rico.
***Many Puerto Rico-based environmental and community-based organizations are providing relief services across the island. Please consider supporting their efforts and spreading the word about their work.
Manchin ends pipeline push, easing path for spending bill. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has abandoned, for now, his push to speed up the permitting process for energy projects, easing the Senate’s path toward passing a stopgap spending bill that would keep the federal government running when the fiscal year ends at midnight Friday.
Note on article: This is a major victory for Indigenous leaders and frontline communities that organized, protested, picketed, held Congressional sit-ins and more to reject this major drawback in the Inflation Reduction Act. Read this statement from the Climate Justice Alliance on the cautious victory.
EPA Launches New Environmental Justice Office The new office will have more than 200 employees and work at both the federal level and in the agency’s 10 regional offices. Its duties will include working with underserved communities to meet their needs, incorporating environmental justice concerns into the broader EPA mission, making sure all EPA-funded groups follow civil rights laws and distributing technical assistance and grants. Immediately, it will channel the $3 billion in climate and environmental justice block grants approved by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Local:
Hawaiian Electric Buys Tree-Burning Biomass Generator The Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI) holding company owns the Public Utilities Commission regulated Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation regulated American Savings Bank, and the unregulated Pacific Current. HECO owns Maui Electric Company (MECO), Hawai`i Electric Light Company (HELCO), and Renewable Hawai`i (operationally inactive). The HECO Companies build and own renewable energy projects while their sister company, Pacific Current, invests in and buys existing renewable energy companies owned by independent power companies.
Larry Ellison Wants Off Lanai’s Electric Grid. That Could Be A Problem For Everyone Else Electricity customers on Lanai could see their already super-high power bills skyrocket even further if a proposal by ultra-billionaire and island owner Larry Ellison moves forward. Ellison’s sustainability-focused company Pulama Lanai intends to design a microgrid and remove two resorts that consume about 40% of the island’s power off the existing grid owned by Hawaiian Electric. The exclusive resorts — the Four Season Lanai and Sensei Lanai — are both owned by Ellison, co-founder of Oracle. Ellison bought nearly all of Lanai in 2012 for a reported $300 million.