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FERC passed big transmission reforms; now the hard part begins

News Feed
Monday, May 20, 2024

Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved FERC Order 1920, a 1,300-page regulation that will transform how the U.S. power grid is planned and paid for. Now comes the hard part — turning those reforms into the thousands of miles of power lines the U.S. needs to transition from fossil fuels to clean, cheap, and reliable power. Clean energy investors, environmental groups, and grid reliability experts praised FERC’s two-member Democratic majority for crafting new rules that give the country a chance to build power lines at the rate needed to meet climate goals. Republicans in Congress — and at FERC itself — attacked the order as an attempt to force the cost of meeting clean energy policies onto unwilling states and utility customers. Legal challenges are almost certain to emerge. But supporters of FERC Order 1920 warned that roadblocks beyond lawsuits threaten the long-term benefits of the new transmission reforms. Perhaps the bigger challenge, they said, is making sure that the utilities, grid operators, and state regulators tasked with carrying out the reforms actually follow through over the coming years. “There are certainly opportunities for rehearing, and for this to be appealed in the courts, that could delay things,” Christina Hayes, executive director of pro-transmission trade group Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG), said during a Wednesday press conference. But there’s also ​“a lot to be worked out within states and within regions to implement it.” FERC’s order applies most directly to the country’s regional grid operators, which manage transmission networks that provide electricity for about two-thirds of the U.S. population. With the exception of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the grid operator for most of the state, all these regional grid organizations must craft plans to comply with the order and submit them for FERC review by spring 2025.  NRDC Sustainable FERC project But just how each of these grid operators goes about meeting FERC’s new rules depends greatly on their individual makeup, governance structures, and preexisting regional planning expertise, said Rob Gramlich, president of consultancy Grid Strategies. Some, such as the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and the grid operators for the states of California and New York, have already been active in long-term grid planning and may not face as many novel challenges in complying with FERC’s new order, Gramlich said. But others aren’t as well prepared. In areport last year, ACEG and Grid Strategies gave poor grades to the regional transmission planning and development structures for Independent System Operator (ISO)–New England, which includes six states, and PJM, which serves a 13-state region from the mid-Atlantic to Chicago. That report also gave low marks to the regional transmission planning structures in the parts of the country that aren’t governed by a central grid operator, including the Southeast and the West between California and the Great Plains. The mechanisms for aligning the transmission plans and investment decisions of different state-regulated utilities in those swaths of the country are far less organized than they are for those managed by regional grid operators, further complicating implementation of FERC’s mandates. But several regional grid operators ​“have been bolstering their transmission planning processes” in the two years since FERC began working on its reforms, Hayes said. ISO–New England submitted a proposal to FERC last month. PJM has been working on a regional transmission plan for the past year. SPP, the grid operator serving Oklahoma, Kansas, and parts of 11 other states, is working on a consolidated planning process. And the Western Power Pool, a looser organization of utilities across the U.S. West, has formed the Western Transmission Expansion Coalition to explore joint transmission planning. “There are a lot of exciting things happening in different regions around the country,” Hayes said. FERC’s new order ​“is definitely going to help ensure that they elevate their game.” Just how these different grid regions will gain consensus among the utilities, state regulators, and other decision-makers will depend on a lot of different factors, however — including the clean energy policies of these stakeholders. The big split over who pays — supercharged by clean energy politics Today, solar, wind, and batteries make up the vast majority of power generation projects seeking to be interconnected to transmission grids. At the same time, a growing number of coal-fired power plants are set to close in the coming years, both due to state clean-energy policies and uncompetitive economics. These two variables are vital to consider when planning regional transmission needs — but in many parts of the country, they aren’t part of the equation. In fact, the failure to build new power lines to accommodate these changes over the past decade is a big reason why so many clean-energy projects can’t connect to the grid today, and why the need for grid reliability is preventing some coal plants from being closed down. One reason the transmission buildout has been so slow to date is that it’s hard to accurately assess and apportion the costs and benefits of a given project. The costs of building regional transmission projects are assessed to utilities within these regions and eventually borne by their customers in the form of bill increases. Meanwhile, the benefits of expanding transmission — lower power costs due to less congested grids, reduced threat of grid outages, and increased capacity to bring new generators online — are more diffuse and can be harder to attribute to any one state or utility. These dynamics give utilities and state regulators an incentive to try to avoid paying for projects on the grounds that other states and utility customers might benefit more than their own ratepayers. When taken to its extreme, that causes what energy experts describe as a ​“free rider” problem — individual utilities and states avoiding paying for projects that do, in fact, provide them benefits. In the past decade, these cost-allocation squabbles between states and utilities have been supercharged by the politics of climate goals. States controlled by Republicans are increasingly demanding that they shouldn’t have to pay for regional transmission projects that they say are driven only by other states’ clean energy policies.

Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved FERC Order 1920 , a 1,300-page regulation that will transform how the U.S. power grid is planned and paid for. Now comes the hard part — turning those reforms into the thousands of miles of power lines the U.S. needs to transition from fossil fuels to…

Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved FERC Order 1920, a 1,300-page regulation that will transform how the U.S. power grid is planned and paid for. Now comes the hard part — turning those reforms into the thousands of miles of power lines the U.S. needs to transition from fossil fuels to clean, cheap, and reliable power.

Clean energy investors, environmental groups, and grid reliability experts praised FERC’s two-member Democratic majority for crafting new rules that give the country a chance to build power lines at the rate needed to meet climate goals. Republicans in Congress — and at FERC itself — attacked the order as an attempt to force the cost of meeting clean energy policies onto unwilling states and utility customers. Legal challenges are almost certain to emerge.

But supporters of FERC Order 1920 warned that roadblocks beyond lawsuits threaten the long-term benefits of the new transmission reforms. Perhaps the bigger challenge, they said, is making sure that the utilities, grid operators, and state regulators tasked with carrying out the reforms actually follow through over the coming years.

“There are certainly opportunities for rehearing, and for this to be appealed in the courts, that could delay things,” Christina Hayes, executive director of pro-transmission trade group Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG), said during a Wednesday press conference. But there’s also ​“a lot to be worked out within states and within regions to implement it.”

FERC’s order applies most directly to the country’s regional grid operators, which manage transmission networks that provide electricity for about two-thirds of the U.S. population. With the exception of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the grid operator for most of the state, all these regional grid organizations must craft plans to comply with the order and submit them for FERC review by spring 2025. 

Map of U.S. independent system operators (ISOs) and regional transmission organizations (RTOs)
NRDC Sustainable FERC project

But just how each of these grid operators goes about meeting FERC’s new rules depends greatly on their individual makeup, governance structures, and preexisting regional planning expertise, said Rob Gramlich, president of consultancy Grid Strategies.

Some, such as the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and the grid operators for the states of California and New York, have already been active in long-term grid planning and may not face as many novel challenges in complying with FERC’s new order, Gramlich said. But others aren’t as well prepared.

In areport last year, ACEG and Grid Strategies gave poor grades to the regional transmission planning and development structures for Independent System Operator (ISO)–New England, which includes six states, and PJM, which serves a 13-state region from the mid-Atlantic to Chicago.

That report also gave low marks to the regional transmission planning structures in the parts of the country that aren’t governed by a central grid operator, including the Southeast and the West between California and the Great Plains. The mechanisms for aligning the transmission plans and investment decisions of different state-regulated utilities in those swaths of the country are far less organized than they are for those managed by regional grid operators, further complicating implementation of FERC’s mandates.

But several regional grid operators ​“have been bolstering their transmission planning processes” in the two years since FERC began working on its reforms, Hayes said. ISO–New England submitted a proposal to FERC last month. PJM has been working on a regional transmission plan for the past year. SPP, the grid operator serving Oklahoma, Kansas, and parts of 11 other states, is working on a consolidated planning process. And the Western Power Pool, a looser organization of utilities across the U.S. West, has formed the Western Transmission Expansion Coalition to explore joint transmission planning.

“There are a lot of exciting things happening in different regions around the country,” Hayes said. FERC’s new order ​“is definitely going to help ensure that they elevate their game.”

Just how these different grid regions will gain consensus among the utilities, state regulators, and other decision-makers will depend on a lot of different factors, however — including the clean energy policies of these stakeholders.

The big split over who pays — supercharged by clean energy politics

Today, solar, wind, and batteries make up the vast majority of power generation projects seeking to be interconnected to transmission grids. At the same time, a growing number of coal-fired power plants are set to close in the coming years, both due to state clean-energy policies and uncompetitive economics. These two variables are vital to consider when planning regional transmission needs — but in many parts of the country, they aren’t part of the equation.

In fact, the failure to build new power lines to accommodate these changes over the past decade is a big reason why so many clean-energy projects can’t connect to the grid today, and why the need for grid reliability is preventing some coal plants from being closed down.

One reason the transmission buildout has been so slow to date is that it’s hard to accurately assess and apportion the costs and benefits of a given project.

The costs of building regional transmission projects are assessed to utilities within these regions and eventually borne by their customers in the form of bill increases. Meanwhile, the benefits of expanding transmission — lower power costs due to less congested grids, reduced threat of grid outages, and increased capacity to bring new generators online — are more diffuse and can be harder to attribute to any one state or utility.

These dynamics give utilities and state regulators an incentive to try to avoid paying for projects on the grounds that other states and utility customers might benefit more than their own ratepayers. When taken to its extreme, that causes what energy experts describe as a ​“free rider” problem — individual utilities and states avoiding paying for projects that do, in fact, provide them benefits.

In the past decade, these cost-allocation squabbles between states and utilities have been supercharged by the politics of climate goals. States controlled by Republicans are increasingly demanding that they shouldn’t have to pay for regional transmission projects that they say are driven only by other states’ clean energy policies.

Read the full story here.
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Designing a new way to optimize complex coordinated systems

Using diagrams to represent interactions in multipart systems can provide a faster way to design software improvements.

Coordinating complicated interactive systems, whether it’s the different modes of transportation in a city or the various components that must work together to make an effective and efficient robot, is an increasingly important subject for software designers to tackle. Now, researchers at MIT have developed an entirely new way of approaching these complex problems, using simple diagrams as a tool to reveal better approaches to software optimization in deep-learning models.They say the new method makes addressing these complex tasks so simple that it can be reduced to a drawing that would fit on the back of a napkin.The new approach is described in the journal Transactions of Machine Learning Research, in a paper by incoming doctoral student Vincent Abbott and Professor Gioele Zardini of MIT’s Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS).“We designed a new language to talk about these new systems,” Zardini says. This new diagram-based “language” is heavily based on something called category theory, he explains.It all has to do with designing the underlying architecture of computer algorithms — the programs that will actually end up sensing and controlling the various different parts of the system that’s being optimized. “The components are different pieces of an algorithm, and they have to talk to each other, exchange information, but also account for energy usage, memory consumption, and so on.” Such optimizations are notoriously difficult because each change in one part of the system can in turn cause changes in other parts, which can further affect other parts, and so on.The researchers decided to focus on the particular class of deep-learning algorithms, which are currently a hot topic of research. Deep learning is the basis of the large artificial intelligence models, including large language models such as ChatGPT and image-generation models such as Midjourney. These models manipulate data by a “deep” series of matrix multiplications interspersed with other operations. The numbers within matrices are parameters, and are updated during long training runs, allowing for complex patterns to be found. Models consist of billions of parameters, making computation expensive, and hence improved resource usage and optimization invaluable.Diagrams can represent details of the parallelized operations that deep-learning models consist of, revealing the relationships between algorithms and the parallelized graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware they run on, supplied by companies such as NVIDIA. “I’m very excited about this,” says Zardini, because “we seem to have found a language that very nicely describes deep learning algorithms, explicitly representing all the important things, which is the operators you use,” for example the energy consumption, the memory allocation, and any other parameter that you’re trying to optimize for.Much of the progress within deep learning has stemmed from resource efficiency optimizations. The latest DeepSeek model showed that a small team can compete with top models from OpenAI and other major labs by focusing on resource efficiency and the relationship between software and hardware. Typically, in deriving these optimizations, he says, “people need a lot of trial and error to discover new architectures.” For example, a widely used optimization program called FlashAttention took more than four years to develop, he says. But with the new framework they developed, “we can really approach this problem in a more formal way.” And all of this is represented visually in a precisely defined graphical language.But the methods that have been used to find these improvements “are very limited,” he says. “I think this shows that there’s a major gap, in that we don’t have a formal systematic method of relating an algorithm to either its optimal execution, or even really understanding how many resources it will take to run.” But now, with the new diagram-based method they devised, such a system exists.Category theory, which underlies this approach, is a way of mathematically describing the different components of a system and how they interact in a generalized, abstract manner. Different perspectives can be related. For example, mathematical formulas can be related to algorithms that implement them and use resources, or descriptions of systems can be related to robust “monoidal string diagrams.” These visualizations allow you to directly play around and experiment with how the different parts connect and interact. What they developed, he says, amounts to “string diagrams on steroids,” which incorporates many more graphical conventions and many more properties.“Category theory can be thought of as the mathematics of abstraction and composition,” Abbott says. “Any compositional system can be described using category theory, and the relationship between compositional systems can then also be studied.” Algebraic rules that are typically associated with functions can also be represented as diagrams, he says. “Then, a lot of the visual tricks we can do with diagrams, we can relate to algebraic tricks and functions. So, it creates this correspondence between these different systems.”As a result, he says, “this solves a very important problem, which is that we have these deep-learning algorithms, but they’re not clearly understood as mathematical models.” But by representing them as diagrams, it becomes possible to approach them formally and systematically, he says.One thing this enables is a clear visual understanding of the way parallel real-world processes can be represented by parallel processing in multicore computer GPUs. “In this way,” Abbott says, “diagrams can both represent a function, and then reveal how to optimally execute it on a GPU.”The “attention” algorithm is used by deep-learning algorithms that require general, contextual information, and is a key phase of the serialized blocks that constitute large language models such as ChatGPT. FlashAttention is an optimization that took years to develop, but resulted in a sixfold improvement in the speed of attention algorithms.Applying their method to the well-established FlashAttention algorithm, Zardini says that “here we are able to derive it, literally, on a napkin.” He then adds, “OK, maybe it’s a large napkin.” But to drive home the point about how much their new approach can simplify dealing with these complex algorithms, they titled their formal research paper on the work “FlashAttention on a Napkin.”This method, Abbott says, “allows for optimization to be really quickly derived, in contrast to prevailing methods.” While they initially applied this approach to the already existing FlashAttention algorithm, thus verifying its effectiveness, “we hope to now use this language to automate the detection of improvements,” says Zardini, who in addition to being a principal investigator in LIDS, is the Rudge and Nancy Allen Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and an affiliate faculty with the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society.The plan is that ultimately, he says, they will develop the software to the point that “the researcher uploads their code, and with the new algorithm you automatically detect what can be improved, what can be optimized, and you return an optimized version of the algorithm to the user.”In addition to automating algorithm optimization, Zardini notes that a robust analysis of how deep-learning algorithms relate to hardware resource usage allows for systematic co-design of hardware and software. This line of work integrates with Zardini’s focus on categorical co-design, which uses the tools of category theory to simultaneously optimize various components of engineered systems.Abbott says that “this whole field of optimized deep learning models, I believe, is quite critically unaddressed, and that’s why these diagrams are so exciting. They open the doors to a systematic approach to this problem.”“I’m very impressed by the quality of this research. ... The new approach to diagramming deep-learning algorithms used by this paper could be a very significant step,” says Jeremy Howard, founder and CEO of Answers.ai, who was not associated with this work. “This paper is the first time I’ve seen such a notation used to deeply analyze the performance of a deep-learning algorithm on real-world hardware. ... The next step will be to see whether real-world performance gains can be achieved.”“This is a beautifully executed piece of theoretical research, which also aims for high accessibility to uninitiated readers — a trait rarely seen in papers of this kind,” says Petar Velickovic, a senior research scientist at Google DeepMind and a lecturer at Cambridge University, who was not associated with this work. These researchers, he says, “are clearly excellent communicators, and I cannot wait to see what they come up with next!”The new diagram-based language, having been posted online, has already attracted great attention and interest from software developers. A reviewer from Abbott’s prior paper introducing the diagrams noted that “The proposed neural circuit diagrams look great from an artistic standpoint (as far as I am able to judge this).” “It’s technical research, but it’s also flashy!” Zardini says.

Energy
Transportation

The UK Says at an Energy Summit That Green Power Will Boost Security, as the US Differs

Britain has announced a major investment in wind power as it hosts an international summit on energy security

LONDON (AP) — Britain announced a major investment in wind power Thursday as it hosted an international summit on energy security — with Europe and the United States at odds over whether to cut their reliance on fossil fuels.U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government will invest 300 million pounds ($400 million) in boosting Britain’s capacity to manufacture components for the offshore wind industry, a move it hopes will encourage private investment in the U.K.’s renewable energy sector.“As long as energy can be weaponized against us, our countries and our citizens are vulnerable and exposed,” U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told delegates.He said “low-carbon power” was a route to energy security as well as a way to slow climate change.Britain now gets more than half its electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar power, and the rest from natural gas and nuclear energy. It aims to generate all the U.K.’s energy from renewable sources by 2030.Tommy Joyce, U.S. acting assistant secretary of energy for international affairs, told participants they should be “honest about the world’s growing energy needs, not focused on net-zero politics.”He called policies that push for clean power over fossil fuels "harmful and dangerous," and claimed building wind turbines requires "concessions to or coercion from China" because it supplies necessary rare minerals.Hosted by the British government and the International Energy Agency, the two-day summit brings together government ministers from 60 countries, senior European Union officials, energy sector CEOs, heads of international organizations and nonprofits to assess risks to the global energy system and figure out solutions. Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott contributed to this story. ___The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Feb. 2025

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Government

Steelhead trout rescued from Palisades fire spawn in their new Santa Barbara County home

After a stressful journey out of the burn zone in Malibu, the endangered trout have spawned in their adopted stream in Santa Barbara County.

Wildlife officials feared critically endangered steelhead trout rescued from the Palisades fire burn scar might not be up for spawning after all they’d been through over the last few months.After their watershed in the Santa Monica Mountains was scorched in January, the fish were stunned with electricity, scooped up in buckets, trucked to a hatchery, fed unfamiliar food and then moved to a different creek. It was all part of a liberation effort pulled off in the nick of time. “This whole thing is just a very stressful and traumatic event, and I’m happy that we didn’t really kill many fish,” said Kyle Evans, an environmental program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which led the rescue. “But I was concerned that I might have just disrupted this whole months-long process of getting ready to spawn.” Steelhead were once abundant in Southern California, but their numbers plummeted amid coastal development and overfishing. A distinct Southern California population is listed as endangered at the state and federal level. (Alex Vejar / California Department of Fish and Wildlife) But this month spawn they did.It’s believed that there are now more than 100 baby trout swishing around their new digs in Arroyo Hondo Creek in Santa Barbara County.Their presence is a triumph — for the species and for their adopted home.However, more fish require more suitable habitat, which is lacking in Southern California — in part due to drought and the increased frequency of devastating wildfires. Steelhead trout are the same species as rainbow trout, but they have different lifestyles. Steelheads migrate to the ocean and return to their natal streams to spawn, while rainbows spend their lives in freshwater.Steelhead were once abundant in Southern California, but their numbers plummeted amid coastal development and overfishing. A distinct Southern California population is listed as endangered at the state and federal level.The young fish sighted this month mark the next generation of what was the last population of steelhead in the Santa Monica Mountains, a range that stretches from the Hollywood Hills to Point Mugu in Ventura County. They also represent the return of a species to a watershed that itself was devastated by a fire four years ago, but has since recovered. It’s believed that there are now more than 100 baby trout swishing around their new digs in Arroyo Hondo Creek in Santa Barbara County. (Kyle Kusa / Land Trust for Santa Barbara County) The Alisal blaze torched roughly 95% of the Arroyo Hondo Preserve located west of Santa Barbara, and subsequent debris flows choked the creek of the same name that housed steelhead. All the fish perished, according to Meredith Hendricks, executive director of the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, a nonprofit organization that owns and manages the preserve.“To be able to … offer space for these fish to be transplanted to — when we ourselves had experienced a similar situation but lost our fish — it was just a really big deal,” Hendricks said. Arroyo Hondo Creek bears similarities to the trout’s native Topanga Creek; they are both coastal streams of roughly the same size. And it has a bonus feature: a state-funded fish passage constructed under Highway 101 in 2008, which improved fish movement between the stream and the ocean.Spawning is a biologically and energetically demanding endeavor for steelhead, and the process likely began in December or earlier, according to Evans.That means it was already underway when 271 steelhead were evacuated in January from Topanga Creek, a biodiversity hot spot located in Malibu that was badly damaged by the Palisades fire.It continued when they were hauled about 50 miles north to a hatchery in Fillmore, where they hung out until 266 of them made it to Arroyo Hondo the following month.State wildlife personnel regularly surveyed the fish in their new digs but didn’t see the spawning nests, which can be missed. VIDEO | 00:16 Steelhead trout in Arroyo Hondo Creek in Santa Barbara County Steelhead trout in Arroyo Hondo Creek in Santa Barbara County. (Calif. Dept. of Fish & Game) Then, on April 7, Evans got a text message from the Land Trust’s land programs director, Leslie Chan, with a video that appeared to show a freshly hatched young-of-the-year — the wonky name for fish born during the steelheads’ sole annual spawn.The following day, Evans’ team was dispatched to the creek and confirmed the discovery. They tallied about 100 of the newly hatched fish. The young trout span roughly one inch and, as Evans put it, aren’t too bright. They hang out in the shallows and don’t bolt from predators.“They’re kind of just happy to be alive, and they’re not really trying to hide,” he said.By the end of summer, Evans estimates two-thirds will die off. But the survivors are enough to keep the population charging onward. Evans hopes that in a few years, there will be three to four times the number of fish that initially moved in.The plan is to eventually relocate at least some back to their native home of Topanga Creek.Right now, Topanga “looks pretty bad,” Evans said. The Palisades fire stripped the surrounding hillsides of vegetation, paving the way for dirt, ash and other material to pour into the waterway. Another endangered fish, northern tidewater gobies, were rescued from the same watershed shortly before the steelhead were liberated. Within two days of the trouts’ removal, the first storm of the season arrived, likely burying the remaining fish in a muddy slurry. Citizen scientists Bernard Yin, center, and Rebecca Ramirez, right, join government agency staffers in rescuing federally endangered fish in the Topanga Lagoon in Malibu on Jan. 17. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) Evans expects it will be about four years before Topanga Creek is ready to support steelhead again, based on his experience observing streams recover after the Thomas, Woolsey, Alisal and other fires. There’s also discussion about moving around steelhead to create backup populations should calamity befall one, as well as boost genetic diversity of the rare fish.For example, some of the steelhead saved from Topanga could be moved to Malibu Creek, another stream in the Santa Monica Mountains that empties into Santa Monica Bay. There are efforts underway to remove the 100-foot Rindge Dam in Malibu Creek to open up more habitat for the fish.“As we saw, if you have one population in the Santa Monica Mountains and a fire happens, you could just lose it forever,” Evans said. “So having fish in multiple areas is the kind of way to defend against that.”With the Topanga Creek steelhead biding their time up north, it’s believed there are none currently inhabiting the Santa Monicas. Habitat restoration is key for the species’ survival, according to Evans, who advocates for directing funding to such efforts, including soon-to-come-online money from Proposition 4, a $10-billion bond measure to finance water, clean energy and other environmental projects.“It doesn’t matter how many fish you have, or if you’re growing them in a hatchery, or what you’re doing,” he said. “If they can’t be supported on the landscape, then there’s no point.”Some trout will end up making their temporary lodging permanent, according to Hendricks, of the Land Trust. Arroyo Hondo is a long creek with plenty of nooks and crannies for trout to hide in. So when it comes time to bring the steelhead home, she said, “I’m sure some will get left behind.”

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Food
Government

Chicago Teachers Union secures clean energy wins in new contract

The Chicago Teachers Union expects its new, hard-fought contract to help drive clean energy investments and train the next generation of clean energy workers, even as the Trump administration attacks such priorities. The contract approved by 97% of union members this month represents the first time the union has…

The Chicago Teachers Union expects its new, hard-fought contract to help drive clean energy investments and train the next generation of clean energy workers, even as the Trump administration attacks such priorities. The contract approved by 97% of union members this month represents the first time the union has bargained with school officials specifically around climate change and energy, said union Vice President Jackson Potter. The deal still needs to be approved by the Chicago Board of Education. If approved, the contract will result in new programs that prepare students for clean energy jobs, developed in collaboration with local labor unions. It mandates that district officials work with the teachers union to seek funding for clean energy investments and update a climate action plan by 2026. And it calls for installing heat pumps and outfitting 30 schools with solar panels — if funding can be secured. During almost a year of contentious negotiations, the more than 25,000-member union had also demanded paid climate-educator positions, an all-electric school bus fleet, and that all newly constructed schools be carbon-free. While those provisions did not end up in the final agreement, leaders say the four-year contract is a ​“transformative” victory that sets the stage for more ambitious demands next time. “This contract is setting the floor of what we hope we can accomplish,” said Lauren Bianchi, who taught social studies at George Washington High School on the city’s South Side for six years before becoming green schools organizer for the union. ​“It shows we can win on climate, even despite Trump.” The climate-related provisions are part of what the Chicago Teachers Union and an increasing number of unions nationwide refer to as ​“common good” demands, meant to benefit not only their members in the workplace but the entire community. In this and its 2019 contract, the Chicago union also won ​“common good” items such as protections for immigrant students and teachers, and affordable housing–related measures. The new contract also guarantees teachers academic freedom at a time when the federal government is trying to limit schools from teaching materials related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Black history, Indigenous history, climate science — that’s protected instruction now,” said Potter. Chicago Public Schools did not respond to emailed questions for this story, except to forward a press release that did not mention clean energy provisions. Training Chicago’s students for clean energy jobs The union crafted its proposals based on discussions with three environmental and community organizations, Bianchi said — the Southeast Environmental Task Force, People for Community Recovery, and ONE Northside. The Southeast Environmental Task Force led the successful fight to ban new petcoke storage in Chicago, and the group’s co-executive director Olga Bautista is also vice president of the 21-member school board. People for Community Recovery was founded by Hazel Johnson, who is often known as ​“the mother of the environmental justice movement.” And ONE Northside emphasizes the link between clean energy and affordable housing. Clean energy job training was a priority for all three of the organizations, Potter said. Under the contract, the union and district officials will work with other labor unions to create pre-apprenticeship programs for students, which are crucial to entering the union-dominated building trades to install solar, do energy-efficiency overhauls, and electrify homes with heat pumps and other technology. The contract demands the district create one specific new clean energy jobs pathway program during each year of the four-year contract. It also mandates renovating schools for energy efficiency and installing modern HVAC systems, and orders the school district to work with trade unions to create opportunities for Chicago Public Schools students and graduates to be hired for such work. “The people in the community have identified jobs and economic justice as being essential for environmental justice,” said Bianchi. ​“I’ve mostly taught juniors and seniors; a lot expressed frustration that college is not their plan. They wish they could learn job skills to enter a trade.” Chicago schools progress on solar, energy efficiency, and electrification Installing solar could help the district meet its clean energy goals, which include sourcing 100% of its electricity from renewables by this year. The district has invested more than $6 million in energy efficiency and efficient lighting since 2018, and cut its carbon dioxide emissions by more than 27,000 metric tons, school district spokesperson Evan Moore told Canary Media last fall as contract negotiations were proceeding. The schools are eligible for subsidized solar panels under the state Illinois Shines program, and they can tap the federal 30% investment tax credit for solar arrays, with a new direct-pay option tailored to tax-exempt organizations like schools.

Energy
Climate
Education

Costa Rica Proposes Strict Penalties for Illegal National Park Entries

Costa Rica is cracking down on illegal entries into its national parks and protected areas, citing dangers to visitors and environmental harm. Franz Tattenbach, Minister of Environment and Energy (MINAE), has called on lawmakers to approve a bill imposing fines of up to ¢2.3 million (approximately $4,400) on individuals and tour operators who access these […] The post Costa Rica Proposes Strict Penalties for Illegal National Park Entries appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Costa Rica is cracking down on illegal entries into its national parks and protected areas, citing dangers to visitors and environmental harm. Franz Tattenbach, Minister of Environment and Energy (MINAE), has called on lawmakers to approve a bill imposing fines of up to ¢2.3 million (approximately $4,400) on individuals and tour operators who access these areas without authorization. Over 500 unauthorized entries into Costa Rica’s 30 national parks and reserves, have been reported so far this year. High-risk areas like Poás, Turrialba, Rincón de la Vieja, and Arenal volcanoes are frequent targets, where illegal tours bypass safety protocols. Unscrupulous operators promote these “exclusive” experiences on social media, often lacking insurance, safety equipment, or trained guides. “These operators abandon clients if intercepted by authorities, leaving them vulnerable in hazardous areas,” Tattenbach said. Poás Volcano National Park, closed since March 26 due to seismic activity and ash emissions, remains a hotspot for illegal tours. The proposed bill, under discussion by MINAE and the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), would introduce fines ranging from ¢1.3 million to ¢2.3 million ($2,500 to $4,400) for unauthorized entry, targeting both operators and participants. If a rescue operation is required, involving the Costa Rican Red Cross or MINAE personnel, an additional fine of ¢2.3 million ($4,400) could be imposed. Current laws penalize illegal entry under Article 58 of Forestry Law 7575, with three months to three years in prison, but enforcement is inconsistent. The new bill aims to strengthen deterrence. “These hikes involve steep slopes, toxic gases, and the risk of volcanic eruptions, which can be fatal,” Tattenbach warned, citing the 2017 Poás eruption that closed the park for over a year. Illegal entries also threaten Costa Rica’s biodiversity, which includes 5% of the world’s species. Unauthorized trails disrupt ecosystems and increase risks of poaching, according to Jorge Mario Rodríguez, Vice Minister of Environment. The Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) monitors volcanic activity to inform park closures, but illegal tours undermine these safety measures. Increased Surveillance SINAC, the Costa Rican Fire Department, Red Cross, and Police Force will intensify surveillance going forward, targeting high-risk national parks and roadways to prevent unauthorized access, wildlife extraction, hunting, and trade in protected flora and fauna. “These operations safeguard our natural heritage and ensure visitor safety,” Tattenbach said. SINAC’s year-round efforts have intercepted numerous illegal tours in 2025. Visiting Parks Safely: MINAE and SINAC urge visitors to use authorized operators and purchase tickets via the SINAC website or park entrances. Guided tours, available through platforms like Viator or Get Your Guide, offer safe experiences in parks like Manuel Antonio or Corcovado. Tourists should check park statuses before planning visits, as closures due to volcanic activity or weather are common. “Respecting regulations protects both you and Costa Rica’s natural treasures,” Rodríguez said. Preserving Ecotourism: As the proposed bill awaits Legislative Assembly review, MINAE urges compliance to maintain Costa Rica’s status as a global conservation leader. For updates on the bill or park regulations, visit MINAE’s Website The post Costa Rica Proposes Strict Penalties for Illegal National Park Entries appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Energy
Conservation
Forests

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