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CARBON CAPTURE: An oil and gas company plans to reduce emissions from its Pikka drilling project in Alaska by buying offsets and capturing and sequestering carbon from wells, power plants and directly from the air. (Northern Journal)
ALSO: A Western governors group’s decarbonization report calls for pioneering industrial and natural carbon capture and sequestration efforts, but says little about reducing fossil fuel burning or transitioning to clean energy. (Inside Climate News)
OIL & GAS:
CLIMATE:
TRANSPORTATION: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon joins 26 other Republican-led states in a lawsuit seeking to block the Biden administration’s fuel efficiency standards for gasoline powered vehicles, saying they are “unworkable.” (WyoFile)
UTILITIES: Public Service Company of New Mexico says its proposed rate hike — the largest in the utility’s history — is needed to fund decarbonization and energy transition efforts. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
SOLAR:
STORAGE: The Biden administration awards an Arizona electric cooperative $55.2 million to install three battery energy storage systems. (AZPM)
WIND: A developer proposes a 150 MW wind power facility in eastern Wyoming. (Cowboy State Daily)
GEOTHERMAL:
GRID: Portland General Electric signs on to join the California grid operator’s regional day-ahead power market. (RTO Insider, subscription)
The first blow to the Biden administration’s pollution-cutting rules came Thursday, when the court ruled 6-3 to block the U.S. EPA from enforcing its “good neighbor” emissions regulation. The rule was finalized last year and aimed to restrict power plant and industrial pollution that travels over state lines.
The second came in the 5-4 ruling overturning the Chevron deference, which has its origin in a fossil-fuel-related case 40 years ago. The Natural Resources Defense Council had challenged the Reagan administration’s polluter-friendly interpretation of the Clean Air Act, and the Supreme Court ruled that judges should generally defer to federal agencies when statutes are ambiguous. Now, the case’s reversal opens a new legal playbook for challenging federal regulations if they venture beyond the letter of the law, potentially delaying or derailing efforts by the U.S. EPA to curb power plant emissions or FERC to spur new transmission lines.
Two other rulings could meanwhile invite more lawsuits over longstanding federal rules, and make it harder for agencies to fine rule violators.
In one, the conservative majority found a hedge fund manager facing Securities and Exchange Commission fraud charges was first entitled to a jury trial. Legal observers tell E&E News that the ruling could make it harder for federal energy regulators to levy civil penalties, especially against well-funded energy companies.
And in another 6-3 ruling, the court decided companies affected by federal rules could challenge them in court, even if they’ve been in place for decades. In her dissent, Justice Katanji Brown Jackson warned it could open up regulatory agencies to a “tsunami of lawsuits.”
None of these rulings are a surprise given the conservative supermajority on the court. But they’re likely to be a problem as the Biden administration continues to roll out and preserve its climate agenda — especially if a new administration takes over next year.
🏭 Pausing the LNG pause: A federal judge halts the Biden administration’s pause on new liquified natural gas export approvals, siding with industry and 16 Republican-led states that had challenged the freeze. (E&E News)
🧾 Offputting offsets: A group of climate scientists says the market for carbon credits needs to adopt significant oversight and reforms after finding many offsetting markets didn’t deliver their promised climate benefits. (The Guardian)
☀️ Community solar delivers: A peer-reviewed study finds “community solar is delivering on its promise” of delivering clean energy to multifamily buildings, renters, and lower-income households. (Canary Media)
⚛️ Nuclear optimism: The eventual — but stalled and over-budget — success of Georgia’s Plant Vogtle is sparking optimism in the state and beyond, especially after the passage of $900 million for small nuclear development. (E&E News)
🔌 What’s stopping new chargers: An industry survey finds 75% of charging station developers and operators say grid interconnection issues are stalling deployment, forcing some to install fossil fuel generators. (Utility Dive)
🦕 The debatable war on coal: As the coal industry’s influence fades, former President Trump’s campaign has drifted from his promise to end “the war on coal.” (E&E News)
🕳️ Capturing controversy: Louisiana officials announce two new carbon capture projects, frustrating residents who say the technology will prolong the use of fossil fuels. (Associated Press)
🛢️ Plugging problems: A study finds more than half of the 47,000 oil and gas wells in Colorado don’t generate enough money to pay for their end-of-life plugging and remediation, potentially saddling taxpayers with the tab. (Colorado Sun)
SOLAR: Colorado and California researchers find community solar programs have expanded clean energy access to renters and lower-income communities. (Canary Media)
ALSO:
GRID: A remote Alaska community is left without power for weeks after mechanical failures disable the diesel generators it relies on. (KYUK)
CLIMATE: California officials warn an extended heat wave forecast to grip the state this week and next could raise wildfire risk and ozone pollution, pose health hazards and strain the power grid. (Los Angeles Times)
UTILITIES:
HYDROGEN: A California startup working to develop hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft shuts down after failing to secure adequate financing. (Canary Media)
WIND:
OVERSIGHT: Analysts predict the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Chevron doctrine could have significant ramifications for federal energy and climate regulations in the West, but it may take decades for the consequences to become clear. (High Country News, WyoFile)
OIL & GAS:
GEOTHERMAL: A southwest Colorado craft beer company powers its operations with 100% geothermal energy. (Denver 7)
NUCLEAR:
HYDROPOWER: A California firm looks to design high-performance, fish-friendly hydropower turbines that could extend the life of some facilities slated for decommissioning. (MIT Technology Review)
On June 7, 2023, exactly 2,206 large trucks and buses passed through the intersection of Kedzie Avenue and 31st Street in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.
That’s an average of 1.5 heavy-duty vehicles per minute — much more in the morning and afternoon — rumbling through this crossroads in a dense, residential neighborhood near multiple parks and schools.
The numbers are the results of a groundbreaking truck counting program carried out by the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, which is using the information to bolster its demands for electric trucks and an end to development that burdens communities of color with diesel pollution.
The Chicago Truck Data Project, carried out by LVEJO along with the Center for Neighborhood Technology and Fish Transportation Group, used cameras and software to systematically measure the number and types of vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians for 24-hour periods at 35 intersections around the city. The project website launched this spring, and organizers hope to continue compiling, analyzing and modeling truck counts, as well as helping allies carry out similar work in other cities.
“This is the power of community science,” said José Miguel Acosta Córdova, LVEJO transportation justice program manager. “We’ve had to collect this data, when this is data the city should have been doing.”
The highest concentration of truck traffic was just south of Little Village in the Archer Heights neighborhood, where 5,159 trucks and buses passed in a day. A few miles east in the heavily residential McKinley Park neighborhood, in a single day over 4,000 trucks and buses passed, along with more than 800 pedestrians.
“It paints a picture of pedestrian proximity to truck traffic, which is an air pollution concern, and a safety concern,” said Paulina Vaca, urban resilience advocate with the Center for Neighborhood Technology.
In years past, LVEJO members had conducted grassroots manual truck counts — standing on corners to log the frequency of pollution-spewing traffic.
“Unfortunately we weren’t taken seriously by the Department of Planning,” said Vaca. “With [the Chicago Truck Data Project] we wanted to be more systematic with the research. This is hard evidence, hard proof. We wanted community advocates to be able to wield these numbers for organizing efforts, tying them to state-level policies.”
Electrifying trucks is a primary way to reduce truck emissions, protecting public health while reducing carbon emissions, especially as increasing amounts of electricity come from renewables.
LVEJO and other groups have for years been calling on Illinois to adopt California’s standards on clean trucks and zero-emissions vehicles. Only 11 states — none of them in the Midwest — have adopted California’s Advanced Clean Trucks standard, according to analysis by the Alternative Fuels Data Center. The standard requires manufacturers to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emissions trucks through 2035, and includes reporting requirements for large fleets. Seventeen states plus the District of Columbia have adopted California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle standards, which create similar requirements for cars and light trucks. Minnesota is the only Midwestern state to adopt those standards.
A 2022 study by the American Lung Association estimates that if truck fleets electrify by 2050, the cumulative benefits could include $735 billion in public health benefits, 66,800 fewer deaths, 1.75 million fewer asthma attacks and 8.5 million fewer lost workdays. The Chicago area would be among the top 10 metro areas — and the only Midwestern one — that would see the most health benefits from truck electrification, the report found.
The U.S. EPA reports that heavy duty trucks contribute more than 25% of greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector nationwide, though they make up only about 5% of traffic nationally. While greenhouse gases don’t have localized health impacts, such emissions from diesel vehicles come in tandem with particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and other compounds that hurt nearby residents most.
In Illinois, trucks are responsible for 67% of nitrogen oxide pollution, 59% of fine particulate pollution, and 36% of the greenhouse gas emissions from on-road vehicles despite making up only 7% of those vehicles, according to a 2022 study commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Cleaning up truck emissions has long been a focus of advocates and policymakers, but progress has been slow.
An August 2021 executive order from President Joe Biden said that, “America must lead the world on clean and efficient cars and trucks,” and called for a rulemaking process for heavy-duty trucks under the Clean Air Act.
In December 2022 the EPA released a new rule regarding nitrogen oxides and other emissions from heavy-duty trucks starting with model year 2027, but environmental justice advocates blasted the rule as not protective enough.
In April 2023, the EPA launched a rulemaking to strengthen curbs on greenhouse gas emissions for heavy-duty trucks manufactured between 2027 and 2032. That led to a final “phase 3” rule governing truck greenhouse gas emissions, published in April 2024 and taking effect June 21.
The final phase 3 rule is billed by the EPA as more protective than the previous rule, but includes a slower phase-in of standards than an earlier phase 3 proposal backed by environmental justice advocates.
Union of Concerned Scientists senior vehicles analyst Dave Cooke wrote in a recent blog post that the phase 3 regulations mean up to 623,000 new electric trucks might hit the road between 2027 and 2032, “with zero-emission trucks making up over one third of all new truck sales by 2032.”
“But that number is highly dependent on manufacturer compliance strategy and complementary policies,” Cooke continued, “and the path to a zero-emission freight sector remains uncertain.”
Cooke fears that electric heavy-duty trucks will be sold primarily in states that have adopted California’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule, leaving fewer available for other states.
“The rule risks having communities of haves (in ACT states) and have-nots (in the remainder of the country),” wrote Cooke, “precisely the sort of situation a federal rule is supposed to ward against.”
Reducing heavy-duty truck emissions has long been a focus for Clean Air for the Long Haul, a national coalition of environmental justice groups including the Wisconsin Green Muslims, South Bronx Unite, the Green Door Initiative in Detroit, WE-ACT for Environmental Justice and the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.
Wisconsin Green Muslims has organized several in-person and virtual events for community members to talk with state and local officials about truck emissions.
Huda Alkaff, co-founder of the organization, noted that their office is on Fond du Lac Avenue, a major thoroughfare plied by truck traffic. Alkaff described the fight for clean air in a blog during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, writing that people can fast from food and even water for limited times but cannot abstain from breathing air.
Alkaff said local leaders would like to do mobile air monitoring and truck counting, similar to LVEJO.
“Learning from each other, that’s our power,” she said.
In Milwaukee residential areas bisected by highway-type roads like Fond du Lac and Capitol Drive, meanwhile, air pollution is compounded by the safety risks posed by trucks.
“Let’s look at the routes, let’s look at the timing, the types of things that might be able to happen with minimum disruption,” she said.
She noted that residents don’t want to endanger the livelihood of truckers who can’t afford to invest in new equipment. But she’s hopeful the transition can be facilitated by federal funding, like recently announced EPA grants of $932 million for clean heavy-duty vehicles for government agencies, tribes and school districts.
In Detroit, construction of a new international bridge to Canada is expected to increase the heavy diesel burden on local residents already affected by trucks crossing the international Ambassador Bridge, as well as heavy industry.
“We have a huge issue with maternal health outcomes because Black moms are living near freeways and mobile sources [of pollution],” said Donele Wilkins, CEO of the Green Door Initiative and a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. “Birth outcomes are huge issues, asthma, issues with heart disease are elevated in ways they should not be because of exposure to mobile sources.”
The under-construction Gordie Howe International Bridge is aimed specifically at commercial truck traffic, and unlike the Ambassador, it will allow hazardous materials. The new bridge culminates in the Delray neighborhood, a heavily industrial enclave that has a much higher Latino population — 77% — than the city as a whole.
In Detroit, Chicago and other cities, warehouses are a major and growing source of diesel emissions from trucks. A 2023 investigation involving manual truck counts by Bridge Detroit and Outlier Media found that one truck per minute passes homes near an auto warehouse on Detroit’s East Side.
An Environmental Defense Fund study found that in Illinois, 1.9 million people live within half a mile of a warehouse, and Latino people make up 33% of such warehouse neighbors, while they make up only 17% of the total state population. Black people are also disproportionately represented among warehouse neighbors, while white people are underrepresented.
Little Village gained national attention with the closure of a coal plant in 2012, and city officials worked with community members on a stakeholder process to envision alternate uses for the site. Residents envisioned a community commercial kitchen, indoor sustainable agriculture and renewable energy-related light manufacturing as possible new identities.
Many were furious when the site became a Target warehouse, a magnet for truck traffic. LVEJO is now working with elected officials on drafting city and state legislation that would regulate and limit new warehouse development, even as new warehouses are proposed in the area, including a controversial 15-acre plan on Little Village’s northern border.
LVEJO’s Acosta notes that environmental justice is “not only about electrification but land-use reform.”
“The reason why all these facilities are concentrated where they are is because of zoning, historically racist practices,” said Acosta, who is pursuing a doctorate in geography and GIS mapping at the University of Illinois. “We want to completely reform the way we do land-use planning and industrial planning, not forcing our communities to coexist with trucks every day. It’s also thinking about pedestrian and bicyclist access and safety, mobility justice.”
WIND: Delaware lawmakers advance a bill to the governor’s desk that, if signed, would lead to offshore wind energy procurement. (WBOC)
ALSO:
GRID:
SOLAR:
POLICY: In New York, decades-old state laws are still on the books that encourage ongoing residential fossil fuel use, despite much more recent climate action policies and mandates. (Newsday)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A charging e-bike battery sparks a fire in New York City that sends several people to the hospital and destroys two businesses and two apartments. (NYDN)
TRANSIT: Federal infrastructure funds could help revive passenger rail between Scranton, Pennsylvania, and New York City, if state and local politics don’t get in the way first. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
COMMENTARY:
POLICY: Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has unilaterally disregarded multiple state climate laws passed by the Democratically controlled legislature, creating a legal crisis that could delay implementation for years. (E&E News)
OFFSHORE WIND:
CLIMATE:
UTILITIES: At least 60 neighbors have emailed North Carolina regulators to oppose Duke Energy’s plans to build two natural gas turbines on the site of an existing coal-fired power plant. (News & Observer)
EFFICIENCY:
GRID: An Austin energy consultant discusses the state of Texas’ power grid, including how solar is helping it meet summertime demand. (Texas Observer)
SOLAR:
COAL: Virginia’s efforts to clean up abandoned mine lands have been supercharged by federal funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. (Virginia Mercury)
CO2 STORAGE: As Texas opens more offshore areas for carbon sequestration projects, experts foresee the Gulf Coast becoming a global hub for underground disposal of greenhouse gases. (Inside Climate News)
PIPELINES: Virginia organizers mark the fourth anniversary of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s cancellation with a celebration and book release about the pipeline fight. (Daily Progress)
COURTS: The U.S. Supreme Court overturns the 40-year-old Chevron deference, restoring stronger judicial power over federal agencies and likely curbing their ability to institute sweeping environmental and energy actions. (Grist, E&E News)
ALSO:
CLIMATE:
GRID:
OFFSHORE WIND: The federal government announces an offshore wind energy lease sale that will include areas off the coast of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. (WRDE)
POLICY: Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has unilaterally disregarded multiple state climate laws passed by the Democratically controlled legislature, creating a legal crisis that could delay implementation for years. (E&E News)
OIL & GAS:
CO2 STORAGE: As Texas opens more offshore areas for carbon sequestration projects, experts foresee the Gulf Coast becoming a global hub for underground disposal of greenhouse gases. (Inside Climate News)
ELECTRIFICATION: A fossil fuel trade group plans to file a lawsuit seeking to block Denver, Colorado’s building codes restricting natural gas appliances in commercial and multifamily buildings. (CPR)
OVERSIGHT: Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted continues to deny knowledge of FirstEnergy’s scheme to secure a $1 billion bailout for its unprofitable power plants as text messages show he led the push to pass the 2019 law. (Ohio Capital Journal)
OIL & GAS: Native Alaska communities sue the Biden administration over its oil and gas drilling ban on 10.6 million acres in a national petroleum reserve, saying it violates federal laws. (Bloomberg Law)
CLIMATE:
ELECTRIFICATION: A fossil fuel trade group plans to file a lawsuit seeking to block Denver, Colorado’s building codes restricting natural gas appliances in commercial and multifamily buildings. (CPR)
BATTERIES:
SOLAR:
EFFICIENCY: The U.S. Energy Department awards California and Utah a total of $7.3 million to advance building decarbonization and other efficiency-oriented programs. (news release)
GRID: Federal regulators approve incentives for Southern California Edison’s proposed transmission projects aimed at reducing congestion and increasing access to utility-scale solar. (RTO Insider, subscription)
UTILITIES:
URANIUM:
CLEAN ENERGY: Observers expect an upcoming Hawaii energy strategy to suggest using liquefied natural gas generation as a bridge to help the state reach its 100% renewable energy goal. (Honolulu Civil Beat)
COMMENTARY: After visiting a New Mexico oil and gas drilling site, an author and advocate concludes the “fossil fuel industry chases short-term profit and leaves long-term wreckage in its wake.”(Guardian)
The following commentary was written by Sagar Sane, an advisory board member with the Environmental Defense Fund in North Carolina. See our commentary guidelines for more information.
Western North Carolina is no stranger to the increasingly-felt effects of climate change. From devastating and historic flooding in Canton last August, to wildfires that ravaged more than 5,500 acres in Cherokee County in 2023, it all hits uncomfortably close to home. The good news? There are steps we can take to address how much worse climate change gets. The bad news? Not everyone is committed to taking those steps. Case in point: Duke Energy.
Proceedings are underway now for Duke Energy to present its Carbon Plan to the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Many groups across the state have already reviewed Duke’s plan and are pushing back against it. Hundreds of members of the public showed up at public meetings in the spring. Energy experts, including those representing Environmental Defense Fund, submitted testimony detailing the faults in Duke’s plans and offered data to support an alternative path. Those experts will get their “day in court” to share their perspectives with the commission in July.
So what’s the big problem with Duke’s proposed Carbon plan?
First, the company is relying heavily — much too heavily — on risky and expensive natural gas, with plans for one of the largest gas plant buildouts in the country. Even though Duke knows there are cleaner, more affordable, more sustainable options that won’t be as burdensome for customers, the company is stubbornly standing by natural gas.
Second, the Duke plan comes with a hefty dose of sticker shock for ratepayers, and no financial obligation on Duke’s end. It not only gets to recoup every dollar of the power plant construction costs from ratepayers, it also gets to pocket a return of about 10% on top. While current state law entitles Duke to this perk, it means the company will likely prioritize more spending and building, in an effort to generate greater returns for their shareholders.
Third, under the proposed plan, we as the power bill payers would also be forced to cover every single dollar of the costs associated with fueling the plants themselves.
Fourth, Duke’s Carbon plan fails to fully leverage the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Program, an existing source of federal funding allowing utilities to refinance loans for their retiring coal plants, which in turn could help significantly lower ratepayer costs.
Simply put: under Duke’s plan, our state’s clean energy transition is slowed, our power bills go up — and the company makes even more profit.
Frustratingly, Duke Energy is still backing its proposal despite the factits own data shows that gas costs have been the primary driver of residential bill increases in recent years. But instead of supporting predictably-priced clean energy options that save us real money on our bills, they want to pursue a course that would maximize their short-term profits.
Thankfully, there is a better path forward.
For customers, it would be a huge relief if we had low-cost or no-cost fuel sources. If Duke instead moved forward with more offshore wind on a faster timeline, we could be saving meaningfully on our monthly power bills. Just last year in Virginia, Dominion Energy began implementing an offshore wind program anticipated to generate over $3 billion in savings for customers over the next decade. Here in North Carolina, sources like this exist in abundance — but Duke’s current proposal doesn’t take advantage of those options, at least not to the extent they could.
Protecting North Carolinians from suboptimal investments is part of the Utility Commission’s remit, and ratepayers should demand our Commissioners hold Duke accountable. By forcing Duke to rethink and modify its proposed Carbon plan to include a cleaner, more predictable and more affordable mix of power sources, the Utilities Commission can help accelerate our state’s clean energy transition, while also protecting ratepayers’ wallets.
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with High Country News.
When Yakama Nation leaders learned in 2017 of a plan to tunnel through some of their ancestral land for a green energy development, they were caught off guard.
While the tribal nation had come out in favor of climate-friendly projects, this one appeared poised to damage Pushpum, a privately owned ridgeline overlooking the Columbia River in Washington. The nation holds treaty rights to gather traditional foods there, and tribal officials knew they had to stop the project.
Problems arose when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency in charge of permitting hydro energy projects, offered the Yakama Nation what tribal leaders considered an impossible choice: disclose confidential ceremonial, archaeological and cultural knowledge, or waive the right to consult on whether and how the site is developed.
This put the Yakama Nation in a bind. Disclosing exactly what made the land sacred risked revealing to outsiders what they treasured most about it. In the past, disclosure of information about everything from food to archaeological sites enabled non-Natives to loot or otherwise desecrate the land.
Even now, tribal leaders struggle to safely express what the Pushpum project threatens. “I don’t know how in-depth I can go,” said Elaine Harvey, a tribal member and former environmental coordinator for the tribal fisheries department, when asked about the foods and medicines that grow on the land.
“It provides for us,” echoed Yakama Nation Councilmember Jeremy Takala. “Sometimes we do get really protective.”
Although government agencies have sometimes taken significant steps to protect tribal confidentiality, that didn’t happen with the Pushpum proposal, known as the Goldendale Energy Storage Project. Tribal leaders repeatedly objected, telling the agency that if a tribal nation deems a place sacred, they shouldn’t have to break confidentiality to prove it — a position supported by state agency leaders and, new reporting shows, at least one other federal agency.
Nonetheless, after seven years, in February FERC moved the project forward without consulting with the Yakama Nation.
The process known as consultation is often fraught. Federal laws and agency rules require that tribes be able to weigh in on decisions that affect their treaty lands. But in practice, consultation procedures sometimes force tribes to reveal information that makes them more vulnerable, without offering any guaranteed benefit.
The risks of disclosure are not hypothetical: Looting and vandalism are common when information about Indigenous resources becomes public. One important mid-Columbia petroglyph, called Tsagaglalal, or She Who Watches, had to be removed from its original site because of vandalism. And recreational and commercial pickers have flooded one of Washington’s best huckleberry picking areas, called Indian Heaven Wilderness, pushing out Native families trying to stock up for the winter.
The Yakama Nation feared similar outcomes if it fully participated in FERC’s consultation process over the Goldendale development. But there are alternatives. The United Nations recognizes Indigenous peoples’ right to affirmatively consent to development on their sacred lands. A similar model was included in state legislation in Washington three years ago, but Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed it.
The requirements of the consultation process are poorly defined, and state and federal agencies interpret them in a broad range of ways. In the case of Pushpum, critics say that has allowed FERC to overlook tribal concerns.
“They’re just being totally disregarded,” said Simone Anter, an attorney at the environmental nonprofit Columbia Riverkeeper and a descendant of the Pascua Yaqui and Jicarilla Apache nations. “What FERC is doing is so blatantly, blatantly wrong.”
The Yakama Nation has been outspoken in its support for renewable energy development, including solar and small-scale hydro projects. But not at Pushpum; it’s sacred to the Kah-milt-pah people, one of the bands within the Yakama Nation, who still regularly use the site.
The proposal would transform this area into a facility intended to store renewable energy in a low-carbon way. Rye Development, a Florida-based company, submitted an application for permits for a “pumped hydro” system, where a pair of reservoirs connected by a tunnel store energy for future use.
FERC has offered few accommodations for the Yakama Nation on the Goldendale project.
FERC spokesperson Celeste Miller told High Country News and ProPublica in an email that “we will work to address the effects of proposed projects on Tribal rights and resources to the greatest extent we can, consistent with federal law and regulations. This is a pending matter before the Commission, so we cannot discuss the merits of this proceeding.”
“FERC legally doesn’t have to do very much here,” said Kevin Washburn, a dean of the University of Iowa College of Law, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and a former assistant secretary of Indian affairs at the Department of the Interior. “Consultation is designed to open the door so tribes can get in the door to talk to decision-makers.” According to experts, the process can range from collaborative planning that addresses tribal concerns to a perfunctory discussion with minimal impacts, depending on the agency.
“This is the problem with consultation and its lack of teeth,” said Anter. “If the federal government is saying, ‘Hey, we consulted, check that box,’ who’s to say they didn’t?”
There’s another problem with consultation, too: Any discussions with a federal entity are subject to public disclosure. That’s good for government transparency, Washburn said, but it can make tribal nations even more vulnerable. “And it’s why tribes are right to be cautious in what they share with feds,” he said.
That’s an obstacle at Pushpum. Things became even harder there in August 2021, when FERC notified the Yakama Nation that federal consultation would be carried out not by the agency itself, but by the developer. The Yakama Nation pushed back, asserting its treaty rights to negotiate as a sovereign nation only with another nation, not with a private entity. FERC, however, insisted that designating a third party was “standard practice.” The National Historic Preservation Act, signed into law in 1966, says an agency “may authorize an applicant or group of applicants to initiate consultation,” but maintains that the federal agency is still “responsible for their government to government relationships with Indian tribes.”
The Yakama Nation also worried about commission rules that require anything the tribal nation says to FERC be shared with the developer. “It gets very sensitive when we share those kinds of stories,” said Takala, the tribal councilmember. “We just don’t share to anyone, especially a developer.”
Some say FERC could change that internal rule, since it isn’t required by law. “For them to cite their own regulations and be like, ‘Our hands are tied,’ is ridiculous,” Anter said. For months, FERC and the Yakama Nation went back and forth over the conditions under which the tribal government would share sensitive information, with the Yakama Nation repeatedly asking to share information only with FERC.
Ultimately, FERC proposed four ways the Yakama Nation could participate in consultation. In the eyes of tribal leaders, all these options either posed significant risks to the privacy of their information or rendered consultation meaningless.
The first three were laid out in a letter from Vince Yearick, director of FERC’s division of hydropower licensing, sent on Dec. 9, 2021. For option one, it suggested the tribal nation request nondisclosure agreements from anyone accessing sensitive information. Yearick did not specify whether FERC would be responsible for issuing or enforcing these NDAs.
Delano Saluskin, then-chair of the Yakama Nation, called this option “far from the requirements of NHPA or in line with the trust responsibility that the Federal Agency has to Yakama Nation,” citing FERC policies and National Historic Preservation Act law in a February 2022 letter to state and federal government officials requesting support. He added that it “describes a process that does not protect information that is sacred and sensitive from disclosure.”
Alternatively, FERC said, the Yakama Nation could simply redact any sensitive information from documents it filed. This option, however, would leave FERC in the dark about the details of what cultural resources the project would imperil. That would make it harder for FERC to require project adjustments or weigh the specific impacts in its decision about whether to permit construction.
Third, the Yakama Nation could withhold sensitive information altogether, which would present similar problems.
Lastly, in a June 2022 follow-up letter, the commission suggested that the Yakama Nation submit a document “with more details regarding the resources of concern” and a request that some of the information be treated as privileged or withheld from public disclosure.
Overall, Saluskin described FERC’s options as a “failure” to conduct legal consultation in good faith.
A federal agency similarly raised concerns: In May 2023, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which advises the president and the Congress on protecting historic properties across the country, wrote to FERC suggesting that it “provide the Tribes with opportunities to share information that will be kept confidential.” FERC’s rule regarding disclosure, the council said, could insulate the agency from meaningful consultation, “and as a result from any real understanding of the nature and significance of properties of religious and cultural significance for Tribes.”
The concerns over FERC’s engagement with the Yakama Nation are part of a wider discussion of whether and how the U.S. government should protect tribal privacy and cultural resources. Speaking at a tribal energy summit in Tacoma in June 2023, Allyson Brooks, Washington’s state historic preservation officer, said that even though the consent language was vetoed by the governor, state law for protecting confidentiality around tribal cultural properties is still stronger than federal law, which only protects confidentiality if a site is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
In Washington, if a tribal historic preservation officer says, “‘X marks the spot; this is sacred,’ we say, ‘OK,’” Brooks declared. She said asking tribal nations to prove a site’s sacredness is like asking to see a photo of baby Jesus before accepting the sanctity of Christmas. “You don’t. You say ‘nice tree’ and take it at face value. When tribes say ‘X is sacred,’ you should take that at face value too.”
That approach is vital to the Yakama Nation, which recently saw a developer involved with a project proposed in nearby Benton County leak information that the nation believed was private.
The Horse Heaven Hills wind farm would be the biggest energy development of any kind in Washington state history. But the sprawling 72,000-acre project overlaps with nesting habitat for migratory ferruginous hawks, a raptor state-listed as endangered.
Court documents related to the permitting proceedings show that the Yakama Nation believed it had identified the locations of the ferruginous hawks’ nests as confidential, in part because the hawks are ceremonially important. In May 2023, the Yakama Nation requested a protective order from the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, a state-level analog of FERC. The order, which the council issued, instructed all parties to sign a confidentiality agreement before accessing confidential information, similar to the nondisclosure agreements FERC proposed. If any party disclosed that information, they could be liable for damages.
But the order didn’t stop that information from getting out. In February 2024, the Seattle Times published a story on the Horse Heaven Hills wind farm, which included a map of ferruginous hawk nests — a map that was credited to Scout Clean Energy, the developer.
The Yakama Nation quickly filed a motion to enforce the protective order, alleging that Scout Clean Energy had transgressed by passing protected cultural information to the press.
The developer counter-filed, claiming that even if nest locations were a part of confidentiality discussion, the map itself was not, and that it was so imprecise that the critical details remained confidential. The council ultimately agreed.
Despite the risks, Washburn said that tribes should take any opportunity to share their stories with federal officials, even if the conditions aren’t perfect. “I wouldn’t necessarily encourage tribes to give their deepest, darkest secrets to a federal agency,” he said. “But I would encourage them to meet with FERC and try to give FERC a first-person account of why they think this is important.”
Not all experts agree. Brett Lee Shelton, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and an attorney at the Native American Rights Fund, said FERC is out of step with other federal and state agencies. “It’s hard to believe that it’s anything but disingenuous, using that tactic,” he said. “It’s pretty well known by any agency officials who deal with Indian tribes that sometimes certain specifics about sacred places need to remain confidential.”
And for Bronsco Jim, a spiritual leader of the Kah-milt-pah people, sharing too many details is out of the question. Cultural specifics stay within the oral teachings of the longhouse, the site of the Kah-milt-pah spiritual community. Jim said he doesn’t even know how to translate all of the information into English. “We don’t write it, you won’t see it posted. You won’t see it in books. It’s our oral history. It’s sacred.”
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