David Givens

A controversial proposal for a high-voltage power line to carry renewable energy in the Midwest has notched regulatory wins but faces challenges as it woos landowners in prime farm country.

A $42 billion federal program to provide “internet for all” hit a milestone recently. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration said Nov. 19 it had approved plans from all 56 states and territories outlining how they will use their grant money to ensure no resident is without high-speed internet. The program, however, continues a target of criticism.

Generation and transmission cooperatives that supply the nation's rural electric cooperatives are moving forward with carbon capture projects, but officials question whether meeting EPA's new standards is achievable. There are wildly varying estimates in the power industry about the cost of using the technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Rural power utilities apprehensively await litigation in a federal appeals court over a new EPA rule that requires the use of expensive carbon capture technology for existing coal-fired generation. CCS is considered the best available technology, and EPA expects that it can capture 90% of plant emissions.

The second of a two-part series on the impact of renewable natural gas on the agricultural sector.

Renewable natural gas, or methane from non-fossil sources, continues to penetrate the nation’s energy system, led by a replacement for diesel fuel in California. 

U.S. ethanol exports increased by 38% through July to a cumulative 1 billion gallons, government data show, on the demand in many countries for lower-carbon fuel blendstocks to meet environmental goals.