The Future of Heat Initiative has more affordability primers for you! Because gas utilities are actually pipe companies and the pipes ain't getting cheaper. #7 Connecticut #8 Rhode Island thefutureofheat.com/publications
dorieseavey@bsky.social
@dorieseavey.bsky.social
Energy economist focused on clean heating and the future of fossil gas. Senior Research Scientist at Groundwork Data.
In Illinois, as in Massachusetts, residential customers are using less natural gas. But because of how utilities have invested in their distribution systems, utility bills are still going up. The pattern spells trouble, and it's present in other states too (stay tuned for those).
Justin Gundlach@justingundlach.bsky.social · 8mo agoHere is the Massachusetts primer. Primers for other states will follow. 2/5
The withdrawn PHMSA revisions were the first federal upgrades to leak detection & repair standards since the 1970s. They were much needed due to technology changes and climate change threats, and would have required far greater attention to identifying and fixing more leaks.
Pipeline Safety Trust @pstrust.bsky.social · last yr."Pipeline operators still need to meet the legal requirement, but they no longer have PHMSA's guidance on how to do it properly," Caram said.
Here's my latest, a story about the Klamath River basin that, for a change, is upbeat. e360.yale.edu/features/kla...
A Win for Farmers and Tribes Brings New Hope to the Klamath
In the long-contentious Klamath River watershed, an experiment that turned a barley field into a wetland not only improved water quality. It also offered a path forward for restoring populations of tw...
e360.yale.edu
The infrastructure investments of the past four years represent the most significant progress since the Eisenhower era. But they are neither guaranteed nor permanent. If Congress and the Trump administration don’t act now, we won’t just cede economic advantage. We’ll see energy costs spike…
LNG exports and data centers are already driving up electricity costs. The repeal of clean energy incentives will make electricity even more expensive for all Americans www.wsj.com/business/ene...
maybe utility regulators shouldnt sign off on new gas-fired power plants that cost 3x more than they used to. Also, why should ratepayers pick up billions of dollars' worth of costs for data centers?
After Venture Global built its Liquified Natural Gas terminal, the shrimp stopped coming up the river. Ongoing pollution earned the Calcasieu the #9 slot on American Rivers’ 2025 list of most endangered rivers. @thelensnola.bsky.social @americanrivers.bsky.social thelensnola.org/2025/04/28/l...
LNG terminals threaten to push Calcasieu River pollution ‘beyond repair’ | The Lens
The shrimp stopped coming up the Calcasieu River after Venture Global built its Liquified Natural Gas terminal. The river’s ongoing pollution, on top of decades of hazardous waste dumping, earned the ...
thelensnola.org
AI rides a tandem bicycle with fracking. Elon Musk’s xAI—which powers his chatbot Grok—is serviced by fracked gas-fueled turbines, none of which have air permits. Combustion of methane fills the air with NO2. Which makes ozone (smog). Which kills people. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Elon Musk’s xAI accused of pollution over Memphis supercomputer
Hearing scheduled for Friday as residents receive anonymous leaflets that downplay pollution dangers
theguardian.com
The Loan Programs Office (LPO) is one of the most quietly effective tools the federal government has. It is the center of our industrial policy providing loans that banks won't give for energy innovation. It funds real projects. Battery factories. Nuclear reactors. Geothermal energy. Car factories.
Energy dominance, what energy dominance. Over the first 100 days this administration has pissed off oil&gas, LNG, nuclear, geothermal, critical minerals, solar, wind, batteries, and innovation. Even with the economic downturn we still have load growth.
A tsunami of uncertainty for clean energy
Podcast Episode · Open Circuit · 04/18/2025 · 59m
podcasts.apple.com
During the transition away from fossil fuel we'll see various sectors where incumbents will see revenues drop steadily bit because margins are so dependent on revenue they stop being profitable. If a company stops being profitable it has to pivot from it's existing products/services or go bankrupt.
Jan Rosenow@janrosenow.bsky.social · last yr.⚠️ The gas grid death spiral in action. As more homes electrify, gas demand falls. Prices rise. Disconnect fees go up. Fewer customers = higher costs for those left behind. Frank Energy just quit NZ’s residential gas market — a textbook case. www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
"a single year of greenhouse gas emissions from tankers carrying LNG from the United States more than cancels out the annual reductions achieved through driving all the electric vehicles currently on U.S. roads" This is just from the ships themselves insideclimatenews.org/news/1604202...
The Hidden Climate Costs of Exporting US Liquefied Natural Gas - Inside Climate News
An exclusive Inside Climate News analysis found that a single year of greenhouse gas emissions from tankers carrying LNG from the United States more than cancels out the annual reductions achieved thr...
insideclimatenews.org
This type of strident framing is very much looked down on in news media circles. But when we stop and observe climate change from the perspective of physical science, it's hard to deny that our behaviour looks unhinged.
Dave Vetter@davidrvetter.bsky.social · last yr.🚨NEW: Europe ‘Frankly Insane’ To Keep Importing Fossil Fuels, says @frediotto.bsky.social. There are dozens of stories about the new @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social climate report, so I thought I'd highlight something a little different.
Extraordinary announcement behind cutting funding to one of the world's leading climate institutes, GFDL. Apparently it's (amongst other reasons) because climate modelling is leading to climate anxiety and therefore should be stopped. www.commerce.gov/news/press-r...
Ending Cooperative Agreements’ Funding to Princeton University
On Tuesday, April 8, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced that nearly $4 million in funding is ending to Princeton University after a detailed, careful, and thorough review of the...
commerce.gov
"The 'emergency' Trump is *actually* responding to—the one that motivated his Big Oil donors to donate $500m in the last election cycle—is the rapid increase in renewable energy deployment" says @billmckibben.bsky.social #climatecrisis billmckibben.substack.com/p/what-is-an...
What Is An Emergency?
Thinking as calmly as possible about where we find ourselves
billmckibben.substack.com
Today's US EO orders the Attorney General to identify + take expeditious action to stop enforcement of "all State & local laws... purporting to address “climate change” or involving “environmental, social, and governance” initiatives, “environmental justice,” carbon or “greenhouse gas” emissions."
Aurora Groovealis@auroragroove.bsky.social · last yr.This executive order confirms that. They are attacking all "state laws" that address climate change, ESG, environmental justice and/or greenhouse gases. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
We're going to become energy dominant by *checks notes* wastefully subsidizing the most uneconomical sources of energy www.eenews.net/articles/tru...
Trump to sign executive orders aimed at reviving coal
A major focus will be on keeping coal-fired electricity generators running past the dates of their scheduled retirements.
eenews.net
It's okay when the elephants you find in mouseholes are of the deregulatory variety apnews.com/article/trum...
Chemical industry seeks exemptions from US pollution rules as part of Trump administration offer
Industry groups representing hundreds of chemical and petrochemical manufacturers are seeking blanket exemptions from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsen...
apnews.com
WH orders increase in national forest logging, particularly in California. “The Trump administration and its allies . . . are aiming to deepen the pockets of private industry to log across our shared, public forests, while sidestepping public review,” said Wilderness Society’s Josh Hicks.
San Francisco Chronicle@sfchronicle.com · last yr.In a move that could substantially reshape California’s natural landscape, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued an emergency order Friday to accelerate timber harvesting across nearly 113 million acres of national forests.
Our @energyandpolicy.org team asked 46 utilities about Trump layoffs that threaten a crucial energy assistance program they say they support -- one that literally prevents Americans from freezing to death in their homes. Few responded. None criticized the cuts. energyandpolicy.org/corporate-ut...
Corporate utilities largely silent on Trump layoffs of staff who manage LIHEAP
We asked utilities for comment: many defended LIHEAP broadly; none criticized the Administration or the staffing cuts.
energyandpolicy.org
Another major federal program illegally and unconstitutionally eliminated.
banks are financing the climate crisis, not just reacting to it
Corbin Hiar@corbinhiar.bsky.social · last yr.Top Wall Street institutions are prepping for global warming that blows past the Paris Agreement. "We now expect a 3°C world," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote, a scenario in which harvest failures are widespread and sea-level rise is measured in feet rather than inches. www.eenews.net/articles/big...
Today, the Illinois Commerce Commission denied a motion filed by Peopels Gas asking for a stay of its requirement to file a long term gas infrastructure plan this summer. Illinois PIRG filed a reply to the motion arguing for denial - as did ICC staff. pirg.org/illinois/upd...
Regulators deny Peoples Gas attempt to delay transparent planning
The Illinois Commerce Commission denied a motion by Peoples Gas to stay its requirement to file a long term infrastrucutre plan this summer
pirg.org
Here's my new article investigating the impact of high levels of gas utility capital spending on customer bills in MA. For the 3 largest cos., basic delivery charges have been increasing 15-20%/year for the last decade. An overbuilt gas system is the elephant-in-the-room driving up customer bills.
Rising Massachusetts gas bills: What role are GSEP and other… | Dorie Seavey
Here is Part 2 of my investigation into what's driving higher gas bills in Massachusetts. I take a careful look at the role of capital spending through GSEP…
linkedin.com
The media does a great job of telling us all that methane emissions are down in US oil and gas production and one of their big unsubstantiated claims is that oil and gas producers are actively working to address the issue. There is no evidence for that. Quite the opposite, actually.
Oilfield Witness@oilfieldwitness.bsky.social · last yr."For instance, the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) uses satellite data to detect methane emissions notify companies and governments." "In the two years since its launch, MARS has sent out over 1,200 alerts for major methane leaks. Only 1% of those have led to responses."
😳 Staff at CT's PURA once said that the guy now being considered for a Commissioner seat, who once ran a competitive retail supplier, “should not be permitted to engage with the electric supplier market or electric utility customers in any capacity in the future.” energyandpolicy.org/ct-lawmaker-...
CT Lawmaker Eyeing PURA Seat Owes Struggling Ratepayer Over $1 Million
CT Lawmaker
energyandpolicy.org
The American Gas Assoc reports that gas utility capital spending on distribution infrastructure increased 26X over the last 50 years while natural gas use per residential customer fell 51%. This is the fundamental dynamic driving higher customer bills across the country @hotandtoxic.bsky.social
MA gas utilities have been quick to implicate the state’s ratepayer-funded energy efficiency program, Mass Save, as the cause of soaring winter heating bills. But a careful look at charges for the 3 largest investor-owned utilities shows this is not true. My analysis makes the charges transparent.
Mass Save is not the culprit: Understanding the true drivers behind rising gas bills in Massachusetts
by Dorie Seavey, PhD Home heating costs in Massachusetts have jumped dramatically in recent months leading to public outcry and pushback. Recently, legislators and the Governor directed the state’s en...
linkedin.com