Pam Radtke
@pradtke.bsky.social
Climate, energy and Louisiana reporter for @floodlightnews.org. Trying to explain in plain language the firehose of developments on LNG, Carbon Capture and electric utilities.
Louisiana energy regulators get $15 million a year — from your power bill — to spend on energy efficiency projects in public facilities of their choosing. Who monitors the program? No one. floodlightnews.org/80-million-f...
$80 million, few rules: Louisiana’s energy efficiency ‘slush fund’
One of the least energy efficient states allows elected commissioners to use ratepayer money for ‘patronage’ projects — with little oversight
floodlightnews.org
Regulators in Louisiana voted along party lines to cancel an energy-efficiency program 14 years in the making. One official called it “a punch to the face to all Louisianians who are struggling to pay their bills.” Reporting by @pradtke.bsky.social via @floodlightnews.org
Louisiana kills energy-efficiency program in eleventh hour
Energy regulators voted along party lines to cancel the program. One official called it “a punch to the face to all Louisianians who are struggling to pay…
ow.ly
The Louisiana Public Service Commission might scrap an energy efficiency program after it spent more than $500K to put it in place – and took 14 years to come up with the program. Our @wesmuller.bsky.social & @pradtke.bsky.social w/ @floodlightnews.org report lailluminator.com/2025/04/15/l...
La. Public Service Commission might scrap new energy efficiency program • Louisiana Illuminator
The Louisiana Public Service Commission will consider terminating a statewide energy efficiency program that it spent 14 years creating.
lailluminator.com
Solar advocates flooded Capitol Hill this week to save the Inflation Reduction Act. They say cutting tax credits now would stall progress, kill jobs, and raise costs. NEW in @floodlightnews.org from @pradtke.bsky.social:
As Congress slashes spending, will clean energy tax credits survive?
Solar boosters say repealing Inflation Reduction Act incentives could drive up electricity costs, stall manufacturing and slow climate progress.
floodlightnews.org
Louisiana utilities are providing dirty power at higher and higher (and higher and higher) prices, and the state's industrial customers are getting sick of it. They want to opt out and procure their own (renewable) energy.
US electricity prices are surging. These companies want out.
Citing few renewable options and projected price jumps, industries in Louisiana propose their own power generation, free from monopoly utilities
floodlightnews.org
Increasing electric rates are out of control. Never has there been a bigger gulf b/t utility shareholder interests & those of ratepayers (including industrial customers, which as this @pradtke.bsky.social story notes, want direct access to cheap renewables!): floodlightnews.org/us-electrici...
US electricity prices are surging. These companies want out.
Citing few renewable options and projected price jumps, industries in Louisiana propose their own power generation, free from monopoly utilities
floodlightnews.org
#Oil And Gas Money Shapes Research, ‘Echo Chamber’ In Higher #Education #news #environment @pradtke.bsky.social reports for @floodlightnews.org @halleparker.bsky.social reports for @wwno.org & @WRKF @piperhutch.bsky.social reports for @lailluminator.com floodlightnews.org/fueling-know...
Fueling Knowledge: Oil and gas money shapes research, creates ‘echo chamber’ in higher education
Louisiana’s flagship university is looking to partner more closely with petrochemical industries in the state
floodlightnews.org
Fossil fuel Companies and higher ed seem To go hand in hand at LSU and other universities. Here’s why that might be a problem. Check out the story and podcast here:
Fueling Knowledge: Oil and gas money shapes research, creates ‘echo chamber’ in higher education
Louisiana’s flagship university is looking to partner more closely with petrochemical industries in the state
floodlightnews.org
Power for massive data centers like the one proposed in NE Louisiana could come at ‘staggering’ cost to consumers, @pradtke.bsky.social reports for @floodlightnews.org lailluminator.com/2025/03/06/d...
Power for data centers could come at ‘staggering’ cost to consumers • Louisiana Illuminator
A new report from Harvard’s Electricity Law Initiative says U.S. consumers will pay billions of dollars to build new power plants to serve data centers.
lailluminator.com
Fantastic reading in report from @aripeskoe.bsky.social on the potential costs of data center power for every day consumers. Read about it here floodlightnews.org/power-for-da...
Power for data centers could come at ‘staggering’ cost to consumers
New report highlights how traditional ways of setting rates don’t fit Big Tech’s massive, immediate demand for more electricity
floodlightnews.org
"Carbon capture incentives are 'another subsidy for oil.'" Our ED @carolynraff.bsky.social quoted in NEW piece by @pradtke.bsky.social in the @lailluminator.com: lailluminator.com/2025/02/28/c... Links to our report (first comment) on the false promises and health harms of #EOR. #CSS #pipelines #45Q
Capturing carbon dioxide, sold as climate solution, rebranded as oil industry boost • Louisiana Illuminator
Billions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing capture and storage of carbon dioxide may instead go to fossil fuel companies to help boost production of oil.
lailluminator.com
insideclimatenews.org/news/1702202... Nice read from @pradtke.bsky.social
CO2 Pipeline Company Draws $2.4m Fine for Menacing Federal Inspectors - Inside Climate News
Workers were manufacturing pipeline to replace a ruptured section of carbon dioxide line that sent 45 people to the hospital in Mississippi.
insideclimatenews.org
Elon Musk's xAI wants to use gas turbines long-term at Memphis site, documents show
Elon Musk's xAI wants to use gas turbines long-term at Memphis site, documents show
xAI has filed for a permit with the Shelby County Department of Health that would allow for 15 gas turbines to operate 24/7 at its Memphis site.
commercialappeal.com
Remember that Exxon-owned CO2 pipeline that leaked in Mississippi a few years ago and sent 45 people to the hospital? When federal inspectors showed up recently, they were "taunted, pushed and blocked from doing their jobs." floodlightnews.org/email/904c7b...
CO2 pipeline company draws $2.4M fine for menacing federal inspectors
Workers were manufacturing pipeline to replace a ruptured section of carbon dioxide line that sent 45 people to the hospital in Mississippi
floodlightnews.org
Company that owns ruptured CO2 Mississippi pipeline and another that leaked in Calcasieu Parish has been fined $2.4 million for menacing federal inspectors. @pradtke.bsky.social reports for @floodlightnews.org lailluminator.com/2025/02/12/p...
Pipeline company fined $2.4 million for menacing federal inspectors • Louisiana Illuminator
Federal inspectors sent to examine a carbon dioxide pipeline being built to replace one that failed in Mississippi were taunted, pushed and blocked from doing their jobs, according to a federal notice...
lailluminator.com
SCOOP: Denbury/Exxon draws $2.4M fine for menacing inspectors examining work to replace Saratia CO2 pipeline
CO2 pipeline company draws $2.4M fine for menacing federal inspectors
Workers were manufacturing pipeline to replace a ruptured section of carbon dioxide line that sent 45 people to the hospital in Mississippi
floodlightnews.org
A tale of two realities. If a company can build a data center on private land, without having to jump through red tape and doesn't have to procure and build renewable energy, capitalism says the later wins, 9 out of 10 times www.ft.com/content/63c3... vs. www.utilitydive.com/news/biden-d...
AI set to fuel surge in new US gas power plants
Climate targets in peril as Big Tech turns to fossil fuels to feed energy demand
ft.com
If you're interested in seeing how the stripes look in your area, I've updated graphics to this interactive tool to see temperature and precipitation stripes for each US county! storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/36fb... #ClimateStripes #ShowYourStripes
Climate Stripes for U.S. States and Counties
U.S. state and county-level "climate stripes" images using NOAA yearly temperature and precipitation data.
storymaps.arcgis.com
Jared Rennie@jjrennie.bsky.social · 2y ago2024 was the warmest year on record globally. Here's the global climate stripe, using NOAA/NCEI Data #ClimateStipes #ShowYourStripes #StateOfClimate @edhawkins.org
Word of the Day is ‘uhtcearu’ [ucht-kay-aru, with the 'ch' as in the Scottish ‘loch']: Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn', when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.
It has come to my attention that a former analyst at the Illinois Commerce Comm'n has written a novel about a "left-wing radical" who "settles down and sells out as a gas utility regulator." Just thought you would want to know:
A new analysis shows LNG export terminals harm the climate — but stops short of recommending a halt to the booming industry, @pradtke.bsky.social reports for @floodlightnews.org lailluminator.com/2024/12/18/e...
Federal gas export study not the final word on LNG projects • Louisiana Illuminator
A green light doesn’t necessarily mean go for 18 projects in limbo pending study on whether LNG exports are in the public interest.
lailluminator.com
