Energy

An oil pumpjack casts a shadow on a wall as it pulls oil from the Permian Basin oil field on March 14, 2022, in Odessa, Texas. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

U.S. House passes sweeping energy bill pushing back against Biden climate policies

BY: - March 30, 2023

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House on Thursday approved a bill packed with Republican energy priorities meant to counteract the Biden administration’s approach and boost U.S. oil and gas production. Numbered H.R. 1 as a signal that energy policy is the House majority’s top legislative priority, the bill includes a package of GOP proposals, ranging from […]

Wind turbines in a Wisconsin field. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Here’s where renewable power is increasing (and where it’s not)

BY: - March 29, 2023

Despite supply-chain problems amid the lingering effects of the pandemic, 2022 saw major increases in solar and wind power in the United States, though that growth varied by state, according to a report released last month by a nonprofit focused on climate change. Nationally, electricity generated from solar and wind grew 16% from 2021, with […]

(Getty Images)

State regulators approve partial rollback of natural gas price increase

BY: - March 28, 2023

MidAmerican Energy’s 6% natural gas rate increase in South Dakota will be rolled back to 5.4%. The over 100,000 South Dakotans who get natural gas from the company can expect the change to take effect in May. The rate change will affect commercial customers as well as residential. MidAmerican proposed the 6% increase last May. […]

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Nebraska, speaks March 7, 2023, during a hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate and Nuclear Safety. (Screenshot/subcommittee video)

U.S. Senate panel probes how crypto mining increases energy consumption

BY: - March 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — The so-called mining for digital assets, or cryptocurrency, consumes as much electricity as some entire nations, and U.S. senators explored the issue Tuesday in what they said was their first-ever hearing focused on the energy implications of digital currency.   Crypto mining in both Nebraska and Pennsylvania was discussed in particular by the members […]

A sign displays the names of the state's three elected public utilities commissioners outside of their Pierre office in January 2023. (South Dakota Searchlight/Joshua Haiar)

NorthWestern Energy considers building a nuclear plant in South Dakota

BY: - February 28, 2023

An energy company is looking into the possibility of building a small nuclear plant in South Dakota. The company, NorthWestern Energy, is targeting a potential construction date in 2030. The plant would produce between 80 and 320 megawatts. Conventional, large nuclear reactors can produce over 700 megawatts.  “A decision has not been made whether or […]

A whale surfaces on July 8, 2018, just east of Montauk, New York in the Block Island Sound. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Wind and whales: ‘No evidence’ links projects to deaths

BY: - February 28, 2023

The U.S. offshore wind power industry is in its infancy, with just a handful of turbines installed along the Atlantic coast. But they’re already being blamed for the deaths of whales that have washed up on beaches in New Jersey, New York, Virginia and elsewhere.  A Fox News story on Feb. 13 made strenuous attempts […]

Pike Electric service trucks line up after a snow storm on Feb. 16, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

After a series of winter storms, regulators approve new standards for power plants

BY: - February 22, 2023

Two years after Winter Storm Uri, which caused a massive power failure in Texas that caused more than 200 deaths, and just two months after another storm, Elliott, forced blackouts in parts of the South, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved new extreme cold reliability standards for power plants.  However, the vote last week […]

A no trespassing sign is posted in front of a Pacific Gas & Electric electrical substation on Jan. 26, 2022, in Petaluma, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Federal-state task force grapples with grid protection

BY: - February 16, 2023

A federal task force wrestled with the costs and benefits of better shielding the nation’s tens of thousands of electric substations from a growing number of attacks, like a neo-Nazi plot the FBI says it foiled earlier this month in Maryland, another that knocked out power to thousands in North Carolina in December and more […]

The South Dakota State Capitol, as seen on Nov. 2, 2022.

Committee rejects bill to stop carbon pipelines from using eminent domain

BY: - February 16, 2023

A state Senate committee unanimously rejected a bill Thursday that would prevent two proposed carbon pipeline projects from using eminent domain.  The bill had already passed the House of Representatives 40-28, but it was defeated 9-0 in the Senate Commerce and Energy Committee. Opponents of the bill said it would be unfair to remove the […]

Wind turbines in Hardin County, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2023. (Robert Zullo/ States Newsroom)

Across the country, a big backlash to new renewables is mounting 

BY: - February 15, 2023

BUCYRUS, Ohio — In four terms as a county elected official in northern Ohio, it was the most contentious issue Doug Weisenauer had ever seen. The state legislature had newly empowered county governments to drastically restrict wind and solar power development, a process formerly overseen by the Ohio Power Siting Board, and the meetings of […]

Mountains in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

Fossil fuel drilling threatens air and wildlife in national parks, advocacy group finds

BY: - February 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — A “massive” methane cloud forming over Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico.   Noxious air pollution fouling Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.  Herds of mule deer and pronghorn at risk of decimation at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Environmental problems like these are already resulting from fossil fuel extraction near four […]

Jennifer Poindexter, left, speaks with Rep. Rocky Blare, center, as Bruce Burkhart looks on during a gathering Jan. 18, 2023, at the Capitol where landowners and others advocated for tighter restrictions on eminent domain. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

Lawmakers advance bill to block carbon pipelines as regulators continue permitting process

BY: - February 10, 2023

The end of the week brought a flurry of activity related to proposed carbon pipelines as lawmakers advanced a bill to block the projects, and regulators waded through requests affecting the speed of the permitting process. State utility regulators voted 2-1 on Thursday to deny an effort by some landowners to send a proposed carbon […]