EnviroPolitics Blog

Hold the obituary for renewables

By Shelby Webb, Politico Power Switch

The artificial intelligence boom may be insulating renewables from the Trump administration’s attacks.

Wind and solar generation churned out more power than nuclear and coal in the first half of 2026 — in spite of the administration issuing emergency orders to keep retiring coal plants open and axing clean energy tax credits, my colleague Ben Storrow writes.

That’s largely because power demand is up and solar is cheap.

“If you’re a utility, and you need to build generation and you want to build generation, you’re going to build what’s fast and cheap. Solar is fast and cheap,” said Nora Brownell, a former Pennsylvania utility regulator who also served on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Utilities are scrambling to bring more power online as data centers spread across the country. The power-hungry facilities could consume as much as 17 percent of U.S. power generation by 2030, according to the Electric Power Research Institute, up from about 5 percent in early 2026.

“Rising demand from data centers and AI has become an independent driver of renewable and storage investment,” said Helen Kou, a U.S. power market analyst at Bloomberg.

Read full story here

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Recycling company in Camden begins phased reopening

By Emily Rose Grassi, NBC Philadelphia

The recycling company at the center of controversy following a series of fires has begun reopening, according to a spokesperson for EMR.

Starting on Monday, July 13, EMR’s Waterfront South facility will be reopening in a phased approach with the location being fulling operational by Friday, July 17.

EMR announced that they have created a new “operating framework” called FireSMART to help manage the property.

This phased plan comes less than a week after a judge allowed EMR to reopen the facility by overturning the Camden City Council’s decision to shut it down.

At least 13 fires have been reported at the facility since 2020, raising concerns among neighbors, community leaders, and state officials.

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NJ Gov. Sherrill launches new nuclear energy process

From the Office of the Governor
TRENTON – Governor Sherrill today signed the Power NJ Act launching the state’s procurement process for new nuclear energy that will help New Jersey meet its growing energy needs. The bill will establish a transparent, competitive process by the NJBPU and NJEDA to evaluate proposals and ensure any project is the best investment for New Jersey ratepayers. The bill passed both houses of the Legislature unanimously with strong bipartisan support. A summary of the bill is below.

“The decisions we make today will determine the future we leave our kids, so we are putting New Jersey on a path to an affordable and secure energy future,” said Governor Mikie Sherrill. “I am excited to launch our state’s process to procure new, advanced nuclear power that will provide clean, reliable energy at scale for generations to come and meet our growing energy demands – from powering our small businesses, schools, and hospitals, to strengthening grid capacity and reliability for extreme weather that is becoming unfortunately all too frequent.”

Additionally, the bill sets strong safeguards for ratepayers – including assuring that they won’t bear any costs until a project is built and supplying energy, nor be responsible for cost overruns.

Other safeguards include:

Requiring projects to secure federal financing, shifting the risk away from New Jersey ratepayers;
Requiring any project provide a net benefit to ratepayers;
Requiring at least two separate public comment periods and a public hearing in any proposed municipality;
Requiring NJBPU and NJEDA to take into account independent assessments by the Division of Rate Counsel to ensure ratepayers’ interests remain central at every step.

Nuclear energy currently provides over 40 percent of the state’s total energy and represents over 80 percent of the state’s clean energy supply. Nuclear energy plants also provide unparalleled efficiency, with sites operating consistently at 90-95 percent capacity.

Read the full text here

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N.J. American Water expands as $63 billion merger looms

New Jersey American Water expands with 2 acquisitions

The proposed deal would create one of the largest public utilities in the country.Canva image

By Lia Opperman | NJ.com

New Jersey American Water is expanding its footprint in the Garden State after completing acquisitions of two local utility systems in Sussex and Mercer counties.

The company finalized its purchase of Montague Sewer & Water Co. on June 1, adding about 810 water and 270 wastewater customer connections as part of a $315 million multi-state deal by its parent company, officials said.

On June 30, the utility closed a $6.4 million acquisition of the Hopewell Borough water system, adding about 930 new water customers. The deal followed a 2025 voter referendum and a subsequent approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

As part of the Hopewell agreement, the water company has committed to investing $7 million in infrastructure upgrades over the next five years and retiring a local well affected by elevated levels of PFAS, a group of so-called “forever chemicals.”

Full article here.

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Poland’s first offshore wind farm begins generating power

From Notes from Poland

Poland’s first offshore wind farm has begun to deliver electricity. Once complete, the facility, known as Baltic Power, will generate 4 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually, enough to meet around 3% of Poland’s demand, powering the equivalent of 1.5 million homes.

The project is part of ambitious plans by Poland to develop wind farms along its Baltic Sea coastline. The government aims for around a fifth of the country’s electricity to come from offshore wind by 2040, as Poland moves away from reliance on coal and towards renewables and nuclear.

“This is a technological victory for all those who believed that Poland could be among the leading countries in modern energy,” declared Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a ceremony announcing the first electricity from the Baltic Power facility.

He said that offshore wind is a “key element of our energy security and sovereignty” because it provides power that is “independent of geopolitical turbulence in these highly uncertain times.”

Tusk noted that the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when Poland and other EU countries stopped importing Russian gas and oil, and the current crisis in the Middle East, which has prevented oil and gas exports from the region, highlight how important it is to have a diverse energy mix.

Full article here

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Meet the NY team tracking abandoned oil and gas wells

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DEC’s Division of Mineral Resources is Plugging Hundreds of Abandoned Wells Across New York State

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today released the latest episode of “DEC Does What?!”, a podcast that features conversations with DEC experts about the agency’s wide-ranging efforts to protect New Yorkers and the environment. Episode 36 spotlights the work of DEC’s Division of Mineral Resources to address the threats that unplugged oil and gas wells have on the environment and public safety across New York State.

Approximately 35,000 orphaned wells are estimated to exist in New York State, many drilled and abandoned before the existence of DEC or modern environmental regulations. In this episode, hosts DEC Chief of Staff and Deputy Commissioner for Equity and Justice Adriana Espinoza and Region 4 Director Sean Mahar talk with Grace Gallagher and Nathan Graber from DEC’s Oil and Gas Compliance Enforcement Section about New York State’s progress to identify, prioritize, and plug abandoned wells. They’ll cover how drone technology helps locate high priority orphaned gas wells leaking methane into the environment and ways DEC engages with New Yorkers to search for abandoned wells on their property.

Grace and Nathan also share memorable well-plugging projects they were involved with, including an orphaned well leaking gas and vegetation-killing brine in Rome, Oneida County, and two abandoned wells drilled in the 1870s for a now-demolished hotel located on an island on the Susquehanna River in Tioga County.

Experts from DEC’s Division of Mineral Resources were previously featured in episode 25 (“From Pit to Park: Reclaiming New York’s Mined Lands”), which discussed the essential role of minerals in New York State’s economy and how the agency oversees the mining industry to ensure the protection of natural resources.

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