Latest news with #Energy
Newsweek
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Most Accurate Pollster Finds New Lead 2028 Democratic Candidate
Based on factual reporting, incorporates the expertise of the journalist and may offer interpretations and conclusions. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. American pollster AtlasIntel found in its most recent survey that former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is leading the pack for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. Newsweek reached out to Buttigieg's talent agency via email outside normal business hours and to former vice president Kamala Harris via online form. Why It Matters The veteran pollster and election analyst Nate Silver touted AtlasIntel as "top-rated" and the most accurate pollster of the 2024 presidential election. This month's survey from AtlasIntel comes as the Democratic Party has drawn criticism for lacking a clear message following Harris's loss to President Donald Trump in November. The party's lack of direction has led to a number of high-profile clashes between its more progressive members and establishment leaders heading into the 2026 midterm elections. What To Know The AtlasIntel poll surveyed a total of 3,469 U.S. adults and was conducted from May 21 to May 27 and had a margin or error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Among those who identified as Democrats, 31.5 percent ranked Buttigieg as their top choice for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most progressive members of the party, came in second place with 19.4 percent and Harris ranked third with 16.6 percent of the vote. Other top candidates included Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey (10.4 percent), California Governor Gavin Newsom (7.1 percent), Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (4.8 percent) and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (3.7 percent). Among Republican voters, 37.3 percent said they would want Vice President JD Vance to be the party's 2028 presidential nominee, followed by State Secretary Marco Rubio at 18.7 percent. Donald Trump Jr. secured 8.8 percent of the vote and Florida Governor snagged 7 percent. But 15.6 percent of Republican voters said they would choose "none of the above," according to the poll. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is joined by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as she delivers opening remarks during a plenary meeting with Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders in the Loy... U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is joined by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as she delivers opening remarks during a plenary meeting with Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders in the Loy Henderson Room at the State Department on May 13, 2022 in Washington, DC. MoreWhen respondents were asked which party they would most likely vote for if the midterm elections were held today, 50.9 percent said they would pick a Democratic candidate and 41.7 percent said they would choose a Republican. Around 7.1 percent of respondents said they didn't know how they would vote, and 0.4 percent said they would not vote at all. What People Are Saying During a Substack Live Interview published on May 13, Pete Buttigieg said of a potential presidential bid: "There are times I follow that process and decided to run, and there are times I followed that process and decided not to run — and the process can lead you to surprising places," adding that "any kind of decision process there is a long way off." Harris, speaking about her plans earlier this year while visiting sites impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires, said: "My plans are to be in touch with my community, to be in touch with the leaders and figure out what I can do to support them...I am here and would be here regardless of the office I hold, because it is the right thing to do, which is to show up in your community and thank the folks who are on the ground." What Happens Next Candidates are likely to wait until after the 2026 midterm elections to declare their intention to run, but speculation about the field of candidates will remain—and most likely ramp up—in the months ahead.
The Advertiser
4 hours ago
- General
- The Advertiser
High sea hopes for treaty to preserve vast underwater
Between Australia and New Zealand sits a chain of underwater volcanoes that are home to an abundance of fish, ancient corals and other marine life. Known as Lord Howe Rise, the vast underwater landscape largely exists outside state maritime boundaries, beneath the high seas. That makes the ecologically-rich habitat fair game for industrial fishing, including long-lining and bottom-trawling techniques in the spotlight following the latest instalment from acclaimed nature documentarian David Attenborough. Footage in Ocean powerfully reveals to viewers for the first time, trawlers dragging heavy nets across the sea bed in an indiscriminate search for just a few prized species. As well as scooping up vast volumes of bycatch, such trawling has been found to churn up carbon that would have otherwise stayed locked in place on the sea floor, some of which ends up in the atmosphere to fuel climate change. The documentary lands ahead of a major United Nations ocean conference in France in June. Conservation groups are hopeful the film will help garner support for a landmark treaty to better protect the roughly two-thirds of marine habitat outside the boundaries of individual countries. The high seas biodiversity agreement would lay the foundations to safeguard 30 per cent of the world's oceans by 2030 in marine sanctuaries, helping preserve threatened species and support fish stocks for communities reliant on the food source. Australia was a founding signatory to the agreement in 2023 and the re-elected Albanese government has promised to ratify its commitment "as quickly as possible", according to thee Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. "Australia is one of a small number of countries that requires implementing legislation to be in place before the treaty can be ratified," a spokesperson says. A multi-agency government delegation still being finalised is set to attend to conference in France. To bring the treaty into force, 60 countries need to enshrine the treaty in national law via ratification. So far, about 40 have either done so or signalled that they will. WWF-Australia head of oceans and sustainable development Richard Leck is confident the treaty will come into force. "But it means countries like Australia, who have indicated they support the treaty, really need to step up to their parliamentary processes and make sure that that actually gets through their systems," he says. Greenpeace Australia Pacific senior oceans campaigner Georgia Whittaker says marine animals are being "pushed closer to the brink of extinction" every day that passes without stronger protections. Fresh analysis of fisheries data from the environmental campaigners reveals damage caused by industrial longline fishing - long stretches of baited hooks - to shark populations. Almost half a million near-threatened blue sharks were taken as bycatch in the the central and western Pacific in 2023, the highest number ever recorded and double 2015 numbers. Greenpeace has been angling for a marine sanctuary in the Lord Howe Rise and Tasman Sea region in anticipation of the oceans treaty going ahead. Marine scientist and Research Connect Blue director Rachel Przeslawski says there is still much to learn about the diverse underwater tracts off Australia's east coast. The mighty chain of seamounts - underwater mountains - experience an inverse relationship to biodiversity to that of their on-land cousins. Life is most abundant higher on the peaks, where there's more sunlight and nutrients, with visiting humpback whales and other migratory species among the creatures found in their midst. The deeper waters of the surrounding abyssal plains tend to host sparser populations of "weird critters" that have adapted to dark, nutrient-poor and hostile conditions. Some seamounts are as shallow as 200m and a few breach the surface, Lord Howe Island and Middleton and Elizabeth reefs among them. Australian trawlers are no longer active in the area but vessels from other countries are causing damage, Dr Przeslawski tells AAP, with sea beds taking years or even decades to recover. She says any marine sanctuaries devised under a high seas agreement would ideally be completely no-take. Many existing marine parks are only partially protected, with permitted sections to be fished or mined. "Is it going to be toothless?" Dr Przeslawski asks. "Or will it actually have some bite and the ability to affect some of these really ecologically damaging activities?" Between Australia and New Zealand sits a chain of underwater volcanoes that are home to an abundance of fish, ancient corals and other marine life. Known as Lord Howe Rise, the vast underwater landscape largely exists outside state maritime boundaries, beneath the high seas. That makes the ecologically-rich habitat fair game for industrial fishing, including long-lining and bottom-trawling techniques in the spotlight following the latest instalment from acclaimed nature documentarian David Attenborough. Footage in Ocean powerfully reveals to viewers for the first time, trawlers dragging heavy nets across the sea bed in an indiscriminate search for just a few prized species. As well as scooping up vast volumes of bycatch, such trawling has been found to churn up carbon that would have otherwise stayed locked in place on the sea floor, some of which ends up in the atmosphere to fuel climate change. The documentary lands ahead of a major United Nations ocean conference in France in June. Conservation groups are hopeful the film will help garner support for a landmark treaty to better protect the roughly two-thirds of marine habitat outside the boundaries of individual countries. The high seas biodiversity agreement would lay the foundations to safeguard 30 per cent of the world's oceans by 2030 in marine sanctuaries, helping preserve threatened species and support fish stocks for communities reliant on the food source. Australia was a founding signatory to the agreement in 2023 and the re-elected Albanese government has promised to ratify its commitment "as quickly as possible", according to thee Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. "Australia is one of a small number of countries that requires implementing legislation to be in place before the treaty can be ratified," a spokesperson says. A multi-agency government delegation still being finalised is set to attend to conference in France. To bring the treaty into force, 60 countries need to enshrine the treaty in national law via ratification. So far, about 40 have either done so or signalled that they will. WWF-Australia head of oceans and sustainable development Richard Leck is confident the treaty will come into force. "But it means countries like Australia, who have indicated they support the treaty, really need to step up to their parliamentary processes and make sure that that actually gets through their systems," he says. Greenpeace Australia Pacific senior oceans campaigner Georgia Whittaker says marine animals are being "pushed closer to the brink of extinction" every day that passes without stronger protections. Fresh analysis of fisheries data from the environmental campaigners reveals damage caused by industrial longline fishing - long stretches of baited hooks - to shark populations. Almost half a million near-threatened blue sharks were taken as bycatch in the the central and western Pacific in 2023, the highest number ever recorded and double 2015 numbers. Greenpeace has been angling for a marine sanctuary in the Lord Howe Rise and Tasman Sea region in anticipation of the oceans treaty going ahead. Marine scientist and Research Connect Blue director Rachel Przeslawski says there is still much to learn about the diverse underwater tracts off Australia's east coast. The mighty chain of seamounts - underwater mountains - experience an inverse relationship to biodiversity to that of their on-land cousins. Life is most abundant higher on the peaks, where there's more sunlight and nutrients, with visiting humpback whales and other migratory species among the creatures found in their midst. The deeper waters of the surrounding abyssal plains tend to host sparser populations of "weird critters" that have adapted to dark, nutrient-poor and hostile conditions. Some seamounts are as shallow as 200m and a few breach the surface, Lord Howe Island and Middleton and Elizabeth reefs among them. Australian trawlers are no longer active in the area but vessels from other countries are causing damage, Dr Przeslawski tells AAP, with sea beds taking years or even decades to recover. She says any marine sanctuaries devised under a high seas agreement would ideally be completely no-take. Many existing marine parks are only partially protected, with permitted sections to be fished or mined. "Is it going to be toothless?" Dr Przeslawski asks. "Or will it actually have some bite and the ability to affect some of these really ecologically damaging activities?" Between Australia and New Zealand sits a chain of underwater volcanoes that are home to an abundance of fish, ancient corals and other marine life. Known as Lord Howe Rise, the vast underwater landscape largely exists outside state maritime boundaries, beneath the high seas. That makes the ecologically-rich habitat fair game for industrial fishing, including long-lining and bottom-trawling techniques in the spotlight following the latest instalment from acclaimed nature documentarian David Attenborough. Footage in Ocean powerfully reveals to viewers for the first time, trawlers dragging heavy nets across the sea bed in an indiscriminate search for just a few prized species. As well as scooping up vast volumes of bycatch, such trawling has been found to churn up carbon that would have otherwise stayed locked in place on the sea floor, some of which ends up in the atmosphere to fuel climate change. The documentary lands ahead of a major United Nations ocean conference in France in June. Conservation groups are hopeful the film will help garner support for a landmark treaty to better protect the roughly two-thirds of marine habitat outside the boundaries of individual countries. The high seas biodiversity agreement would lay the foundations to safeguard 30 per cent of the world's oceans by 2030 in marine sanctuaries, helping preserve threatened species and support fish stocks for communities reliant on the food source. Australia was a founding signatory to the agreement in 2023 and the re-elected Albanese government has promised to ratify its commitment "as quickly as possible", according to thee Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. "Australia is one of a small number of countries that requires implementing legislation to be in place before the treaty can be ratified," a spokesperson says. A multi-agency government delegation still being finalised is set to attend to conference in France. To bring the treaty into force, 60 countries need to enshrine the treaty in national law via ratification. So far, about 40 have either done so or signalled that they will. WWF-Australia head of oceans and sustainable development Richard Leck is confident the treaty will come into force. "But it means countries like Australia, who have indicated they support the treaty, really need to step up to their parliamentary processes and make sure that that actually gets through their systems," he says. Greenpeace Australia Pacific senior oceans campaigner Georgia Whittaker says marine animals are being "pushed closer to the brink of extinction" every day that passes without stronger protections. Fresh analysis of fisheries data from the environmental campaigners reveals damage caused by industrial longline fishing - long stretches of baited hooks - to shark populations. Almost half a million near-threatened blue sharks were taken as bycatch in the the central and western Pacific in 2023, the highest number ever recorded and double 2015 numbers. Greenpeace has been angling for a marine sanctuary in the Lord Howe Rise and Tasman Sea region in anticipation of the oceans treaty going ahead. Marine scientist and Research Connect Blue director Rachel Przeslawski says there is still much to learn about the diverse underwater tracts off Australia's east coast. The mighty chain of seamounts - underwater mountains - experience an inverse relationship to biodiversity to that of their on-land cousins. Life is most abundant higher on the peaks, where there's more sunlight and nutrients, with visiting humpback whales and other migratory species among the creatures found in their midst. The deeper waters of the surrounding abyssal plains tend to host sparser populations of "weird critters" that have adapted to dark, nutrient-poor and hostile conditions. Some seamounts are as shallow as 200m and a few breach the surface, Lord Howe Island and Middleton and Elizabeth reefs among them. Australian trawlers are no longer active in the area but vessels from other countries are causing damage, Dr Przeslawski tells AAP, with sea beds taking years or even decades to recover. She says any marine sanctuaries devised under a high seas agreement would ideally be completely no-take. Many existing marine parks are only partially protected, with permitted sections to be fished or mined. "Is it going to be toothless?" Dr Przeslawski asks. "Or will it actually have some bite and the ability to affect some of these really ecologically damaging activities?" Between Australia and New Zealand sits a chain of underwater volcanoes that are home to an abundance of fish, ancient corals and other marine life. Known as Lord Howe Rise, the vast underwater landscape largely exists outside state maritime boundaries, beneath the high seas. That makes the ecologically-rich habitat fair game for industrial fishing, including long-lining and bottom-trawling techniques in the spotlight following the latest instalment from acclaimed nature documentarian David Attenborough. Footage in Ocean powerfully reveals to viewers for the first time, trawlers dragging heavy nets across the sea bed in an indiscriminate search for just a few prized species. As well as scooping up vast volumes of bycatch, such trawling has been found to churn up carbon that would have otherwise stayed locked in place on the sea floor, some of which ends up in the atmosphere to fuel climate change. The documentary lands ahead of a major United Nations ocean conference in France in June. Conservation groups are hopeful the film will help garner support for a landmark treaty to better protect the roughly two-thirds of marine habitat outside the boundaries of individual countries. The high seas biodiversity agreement would lay the foundations to safeguard 30 per cent of the world's oceans by 2030 in marine sanctuaries, helping preserve threatened species and support fish stocks for communities reliant on the food source. Australia was a founding signatory to the agreement in 2023 and the re-elected Albanese government has promised to ratify its commitment "as quickly as possible", according to thee Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. "Australia is one of a small number of countries that requires implementing legislation to be in place before the treaty can be ratified," a spokesperson says. A multi-agency government delegation still being finalised is set to attend to conference in France. To bring the treaty into force, 60 countries need to enshrine the treaty in national law via ratification. So far, about 40 have either done so or signalled that they will. WWF-Australia head of oceans and sustainable development Richard Leck is confident the treaty will come into force. "But it means countries like Australia, who have indicated they support the treaty, really need to step up to their parliamentary processes and make sure that that actually gets through their systems," he says. Greenpeace Australia Pacific senior oceans campaigner Georgia Whittaker says marine animals are being "pushed closer to the brink of extinction" every day that passes without stronger protections. Fresh analysis of fisheries data from the environmental campaigners reveals damage caused by industrial longline fishing - long stretches of baited hooks - to shark populations. Almost half a million near-threatened blue sharks were taken as bycatch in the the central and western Pacific in 2023, the highest number ever recorded and double 2015 numbers. Greenpeace has been angling for a marine sanctuary in the Lord Howe Rise and Tasman Sea region in anticipation of the oceans treaty going ahead. Marine scientist and Research Connect Blue director Rachel Przeslawski says there is still much to learn about the diverse underwater tracts off Australia's east coast. The mighty chain of seamounts - underwater mountains - experience an inverse relationship to biodiversity to that of their on-land cousins. Life is most abundant higher on the peaks, where there's more sunlight and nutrients, with visiting humpback whales and other migratory species among the creatures found in their midst. The deeper waters of the surrounding abyssal plains tend to host sparser populations of "weird critters" that have adapted to dark, nutrient-poor and hostile conditions. Some seamounts are as shallow as 200m and a few breach the surface, Lord Howe Island and Middleton and Elizabeth reefs among them. Australian trawlers are no longer active in the area but vessels from other countries are causing damage, Dr Przeslawski tells AAP, with sea beds taking years or even decades to recover. She says any marine sanctuaries devised under a high seas agreement would ideally be completely no-take. Many existing marine parks are only partially protected, with permitted sections to be fished or mined. "Is it going to be toothless?" Dr Przeslawski asks. "Or will it actually have some bite and the ability to affect some of these really ecologically damaging activities?"
Perth Now
8 hours ago
- General
- Perth Now
High sea hopes for treaty to preserve vast underwater
Between Australia and New Zealand sits a chain of underwater volcanoes that are home to an abundance of fish, ancient corals and other marine life. Known as Lord Howe Rise, the vast underwater landscape largely exists outside state maritime boundaries, beneath the high seas. That makes the ecologically-rich habitat fair game for industrial fishing, including long-lining and bottom-trawling techniques in the spotlight following the latest instalment from acclaimed nature documentarian David Attenborough. Footage in Ocean powerfully reveals to viewers for the first time, trawlers dragging heavy nets across the sea bed in an indiscriminate search for just a few prized species. As well as scooping up vast volumes of bycatch, such trawling has been found to churn up carbon that would have otherwise stayed locked in place on the sea floor, some of which ends up in the atmosphere to fuel climate change. The documentary lands ahead of a major United Nations ocean conference in France in June. Conservation groups are hopeful the film will help garner support for a landmark treaty to better protect the roughly two-thirds of marine habitat outside the boundaries of individual countries. The high seas biodiversity agreement would lay the foundations to safeguard 30 per cent of the world's oceans by 2030 in marine sanctuaries, helping preserve threatened species and support fish stocks for communities reliant on the food source. Australia was a founding signatory to the agreement in 2023 and the re-elected Albanese government has promised to ratify its commitment "as quickly as possible", according to thee Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. "Australia is one of a small number of countries that requires implementing legislation to be in place before the treaty can be ratified," a spokesperson says. A multi-agency government delegation still being finalised is set to attend to conference in France. To bring the treaty into force, 60 countries need to enshrine the treaty in national law via ratification. So far, about 40 have either done so or signalled that they will. WWF-Australia head of oceans and sustainable development Richard Leck is confident the treaty will come into force. "But it means countries like Australia, who have indicated they support the treaty, really need to step up to their parliamentary processes and make sure that that actually gets through their systems," he says. Greenpeace Australia Pacific senior oceans campaigner Georgia Whittaker says marine animals are being "pushed closer to the brink of extinction" every day that passes without stronger protections. Fresh analysis of fisheries data from the environmental campaigners reveals damage caused by industrial longline fishing - long stretches of baited hooks - to shark populations. Almost half a million near-threatened blue sharks were taken as bycatch in the the central and western Pacific in 2023, the highest number ever recorded and double 2015 numbers. Greenpeace has been angling for a marine sanctuary in the Lord Howe Rise and Tasman Sea region in anticipation of the oceans treaty going ahead. Marine scientist and Research Connect Blue director Rachel Przeslawski says there is still much to learn about the diverse underwater tracts off Australia's east coast. The mighty chain of seamounts - underwater mountains - experience an inverse relationship to biodiversity to that of their on-land cousins. Life is most abundant higher on the peaks, where there's more sunlight and nutrients, with visiting humpback whales and other migratory species among the creatures found in their midst. The deeper waters of the surrounding abyssal plains tend to host sparser populations of "weird critters" that have adapted to dark, nutrient-poor and hostile conditions. Some seamounts are as shallow as 200m and a few breach the surface, Lord Howe Island and Middleton and Elizabeth reefs among them. Australian trawlers are no longer active in the area but vessels from other countries are causing damage, Dr Przeslawski tells AAP, with sea beds taking years or even decades to recover. She says any marine sanctuaries devised under a high seas agreement would ideally be completely no-take. Many existing marine parks are only partially protected, with permitted sections to be fished or mined. "Is it going to be toothless?" Dr Przeslawski asks. "Or will it actually have some bite and the ability to affect some of these really ecologically damaging activities?"
West Australian
8 hours ago
- General
- West Australian
High sea hopes for treaty to preserve vast underwater
Between Australia and New Zealand sits a chain of underwater volcanoes that are home to an abundance of fish, ancient corals and other marine life. Known as Lord Howe Rise, the vast underwater landscape largely exists outside state maritime boundaries, beneath the high seas. That makes the ecologically-rich habitat fair game for industrial fishing, including long-lining and bottom-trawling techniques in the spotlight following the latest instalment from acclaimed nature documentarian David Attenborough. Footage in Ocean powerfully reveals to viewers for the first time, trawlers dragging heavy nets across the sea bed in an indiscriminate search for just a few prized species. As well as scooping up vast volumes of bycatch, such trawling has been found to churn up carbon that would have otherwise stayed locked in place on the sea floor, some of which ends up in the atmosphere to fuel climate change. The documentary lands ahead of a major United Nations ocean conference in France in June. Conservation groups are hopeful the film will help garner support for a landmark treaty to better protect the roughly two-thirds of marine habitat outside the boundaries of individual countries. The high seas biodiversity agreement would lay the foundations to safeguard 30 per cent of the world's oceans by 2030 in marine sanctuaries, helping preserve threatened species and support fish stocks for communities reliant on the food source. Australia was a founding signatory to the agreement in 2023 and the re-elected Albanese government has promised to ratify its commitment "as quickly as possible", according to thee Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. "Australia is one of a small number of countries that requires implementing legislation to be in place before the treaty can be ratified," a spokesperson says. A multi-agency government delegation still being finalised is set to attend to conference in France. To bring the treaty into force, 60 countries need to enshrine the treaty in national law via ratification. So far, about 40 have either done so or signalled that they will. WWF-Australia head of oceans and sustainable development Richard Leck is confident the treaty will come into force. "But it means countries like Australia, who have indicated they support the treaty, really need to step up to their parliamentary processes and make sure that that actually gets through their systems," he says. Greenpeace Australia Pacific senior oceans campaigner Georgia Whittaker says marine animals are being "pushed closer to the brink of extinction" every day that passes without stronger protections. Fresh analysis of fisheries data from the environmental campaigners reveals damage caused by industrial longline fishing - long stretches of baited hooks - to shark populations. Almost half a million near-threatened blue sharks were taken as bycatch in the the central and western Pacific in 2023, the highest number ever recorded and double 2015 numbers. Greenpeace has been angling for a marine sanctuary in the Lord Howe Rise and Tasman Sea region in anticipation of the oceans treaty going ahead. Marine scientist and Research Connect Blue director Rachel Przeslawski says there is still much to learn about the diverse underwater tracts off Australia's east coast. The mighty chain of seamounts - underwater mountains - experience an inverse relationship to biodiversity to that of their on-land cousins. Life is most abundant higher on the peaks, where there's more sunlight and nutrients, with visiting humpback whales and other migratory species among the creatures found in their midst. The deeper waters of the surrounding abyssal plains tend to host sparser populations of "weird critters" that have adapted to dark, nutrient-poor and hostile conditions. Some seamounts are as shallow as 200m and a few breach the surface, Lord Howe Island and Middleton and Elizabeth reefs among them. Australian trawlers are no longer active in the area but vessels from other countries are causing damage, Dr Przeslawski tells AAP, with sea beds taking years or even decades to recover. She says any marine sanctuaries devised under a high seas agreement would ideally be completely no-take. Many existing marine parks are only partially protected, with permitted sections to be fished or mined. "Is it going to be toothless?" Dr Przeslawski asks. "Or will it actually have some bite and the ability to affect some of these really ecologically damaging activities?"
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Committee backs clean energy credit reform estimated to produce $67M yearly in ratepayer savings
Natural gas meter. (Photo by Bill Oxford/ Getty Images) The legislative committee tasked with wading through the many proposals brought forward this session to address the problems with the state's clean energy credit program is advancing a bill that critics say doesn't go far enough. On Thursday night, the Maine Legislature's Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee voted along party lines with the majority in favor of an amended version of LD 1777. The bill Democrats advanced to the full Legislature asks the Governor's Energy Office to develop a successor program for front-of-the-meter net energy billing projects sometime next year. The Public Utilities Commission would need to approve the plan, but only if the benefits to ratepayers outweighs the costs. Net energy billing is a utility program designed to encourage customers to install or participate in small-scale renewable energy projects like solar panels by offering credits to offset their electricity bills. It was expanded in 2019 so customers can use renewable energy generators located outside of their property but within the same utility service territory, such as a community solar project. Front-of-the-meter projects include community solar projects and those included in the state's current tariff rate program, which is used by nonresidential customers. If LD 1777 is enacted, front-of-the-meter projects would no longer be eligible to participate in net energy billing once the successor program is in place. 'I hope that it will lead to the survival in a sustainable way and, perhaps, in a more economically just way for this really important set of programs and for the value that it has produced, as it certainly has,' said Rep. Sophie Warren (D-Scarborough), the bill's sponsor. While the committee rejected other proposals, including those to repeal net energy billing entirely, it carried over some legislation such as LD 1936 that could serve as vehicles for further tweaks to the program in the next legislative session. As LD 1777 advances to the full Maine House of Representatives and Senate, proponents of solar energy fear these changes could harm the future of the industry. During the committee discussion Thursday, Public Advocate Heather Sanborn said if passed the annual savings for ratepayers statewide over the next 16 years are estimated to be an average of $47 million from proposed changes to the tariff rate program and $20 million from changes to the kilowatt hour program. Currently, the kilowatt hour program is open to all customers and provides kilowatt hour credits on participating customers' bills if they install renewable energy generators such as solar panels or join a community solar project, where customers receive a portion of a solar farm's credits. The credits expire after 12 months. This program, in particular, has come under fire for providing generous incentives to solar farm developers that utility customers are helping pay for. LD 1777 creates a monthly charge for kilowatt hour projects starting January 2026 to offset the associated costs currently passed on to ratepayers. There are 1,000 kilowatts in a megawatt and most community solar projects run between one and five megawatts. As of May 20, Maine has 300 community solar projects with a total capacity of just over 1,000 megawatts, according to the Governor's Energy Office's solar dashboard. The proposal outlines a charge of $4.10 per kilowatt of capacity for projects between three and five megawatts and $1.20 per kilowatt of capacity for projects between one and three megawatts. However, Warren said those may be adjusted to whatever number is necessary to achieve $20 million in ratepayer savings in the first year. The tariff rate program for nonresidential customers provides dollar credits for those who use their own projects or share in someone else's. The Public Utilities Commission sets an annual rate for the credits, which also expire after 12 months, depending on the customer's size and utility provider. However, Warren's legislation establishes new, tiered tariff rates for certain projects starting January 2026. The new rates would vary depending on the project's capacity. Republicans on the energy committee opposed the bill, with multiple of them saying it doesn't go far enough to fix the problems net energy billing has created in the state. Sen. Nicole Grohoski (D-Hancock) agreed, but voted in favor because 'doing nothing would be completely irresponsible,' she said. However, she said that if more needs to be done to modify net energy billing in the future to support Maine people who are struggling to keep up with electricity bills, she vowed to 'be loud' about it — whether she's still in office or not. Similarly, Rep. Chris Kessler (D-South Portland) said he was voting in favor 'with a heavy heart.' Admitting it may make him a 'unicorn,' committee co-chair Sen. Mark Lawrence (D-York) said he has been pleased with net energy billing. Though she was disappointed the committee couldn't come to a unanimous vote, Rep. Valli Geiger (D-Rockland) said her fear would be that the legislation goes too far in potentially deterring solar. She said climate change is an existential threat and renewable energy is the only path forward. Maine's clean energy sector has admitted net energy billing can be improved, but has cautioned lawmakers against retroactive changes to the program that could undermine investor confidence. Many of them were disappointed in the committee's decision to advance LD 1777, which they feel includes 'drastic' concessions for the solar industry, according to a news release after the vote. 'The Legislature today chose to both harm participants retroactively and threaten the future of the industry,' said Eliza Donoghue, executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association. 'While the program can certainly be improved, it should not occur at the expense of the people and businesses that invested in good faith for our clean energy future.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
