… Emily Green, a lawyer with the Conservation Law Foundation, says the new policy will make it harder to recoup the big upfront investment the technology requires, and runs afoul of existing law that puts a premium on increasing solar build-out in the state. She also says it will end up costing all energy considers…
Mar 21
2017
2017
Mar 10
2017
2017
A Roadmap for Rooftop Solar in New Hampshire
On Friday, March 10, CLF filed a groundbreaking agreement with 10 other nonprofits and clean technology companies to create a roadmap for rooftop solar and other distributed energy resources in New Hampshire. The agreement, filed at the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC), lays out a two-stage roadmap for the state to follow over the…
Mar 8
2017
2017
Maine Takes a Giant Step Backward on the Road to Solar Power
Maine’s Public Utilities Commission just issued the most regressive rule to govern solar energy in the country, including a provision that punishes solar panel owners for generating their own clean electricity. The Commission’s new rule flies in the face of the more than 4,000 comments Mainers filed opposing the draft rule and Mainers’ overwhelming support…
Mar 3
2017
2017
New Bill In Senate Would Keep Vermont’s Energy Future Clean
A new bill in Vermont’s Senate would put Vermont’s goal of getting 90% of our energy from renewable sources by 2050 into law.
Mar 2
2017
2017
With Rick Perry at the Helm, U.S. Energy Future Under Threat
“With the Senate’s approval, Rick Perry today joins a long list of cabinet members unabashedly hostile to the missions of their agencies, resistant to the laws Congress has charged them with administering, and unwilling to allow science to guide their decisions,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “This is more reckless than extreme partisanship and more dangerous than overblown rhetoric. It puts every American on notice that the rule of law is in peril.”
Mar 1
2017
2017
Maine Takes Giant Leap Backward on Solar Energy
“Imagine you make the decision to save money by using a clothesline rather than a dryer, but at the end of the month you are billed for the energy you saved,” said Sean Mahoney, Director of CLF Maine. “That’s what the PUC has just done to every family and business that uses solar power. Revoking the incentive structure alone would have been outrageous, but to go one step further and actually charge us for electricity we’re not buying is downright criminal. Once again, we see this LePage-appointed commission kowtow to the whims of Big Gas and Big Oil while leaving the people of Maine out to dry.”
Mar 1
2017
2017
Environmental groups to make hard push to reverse Maine’s new solar rules
… The Conservation Law Foundation also expressed its disapproval of the new rules. “Imagine you make the decision to save money by using a clothesline rather than a dryer, but at the end of the month you are billed for the energy you saved,” Sean Mahoney, director of the foundation’s Maine Advocacy Center, said in…
Feb 6
2017
2017
Rooftop Solar under Threat in New Hampshire
Some state legislators are gunning for rooftop solar. Last year, New Hampshire legislators passed a bill that directed the Public Utilities Commission to open a proceeding to collect and analyze data to decide two things: First, whether the state needs a cap on the number of solar and other distributed clean energy installations permitted in…
Dec 13
2016
2016
Federal Appeals Court Gives Go Ahead to Connecticut’s Renewable Energy Programs
In a case challenging Connecticut’s authority to implement two key renewable energy programs, a federal appeals court issued a ruling yesterday, allowing the programs to proceed. The Court’s ruling, coming just a day after it heard oral arguments in the case, reinforces the viability and legitimacy of Connecticut’s renewable energy programs and similar programs being…
Dec 12
2016
2016
A Solid Path Forward – Renewable Energy In Vermont
Setting big goals and standards for cutting greenhouse gases or increasing renewable energy is one thing. Putting in place the nuts and bolts to actually make it happen is another. A recent Vermont Public Service Board order implements the renewable energy standard that was put in place by legislation (Act 56) in 2015. The order…