By LISA RATHKE, DAVID SHARP, KATHY McCORMACK and NICK PERRY, AP
LYNDON, Vt. (AP) — Thunderstorms and torrential rain brought another wave of violent floods Tuesday that caved in roads, crushed vehicles, pushed homes off their foundations and led to dramatic boat rescues in northeastern Vermont, nearly three weeks after flooding from Hurricane Beryl.
Flash flood warnings remained in effect through Tuesday afternoon hours after some areas got 6 to more than 8 inches (15 to more than 20 centimeters) starting late the night before.
In Lyndonville, a village about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Montpelier, the state capital, Deryck Colburn said he awoke before daybreak to a neighbor pounding on his door. Colburn said he heard the same surge of rushing water from an overflowing brook that he’d heard earlier in July, along with the unnerving sound of tumbling boulders carried by the water.
“I went down the road to her house, and there was no road. There was just a river,” he said.
If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics.It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Please do not take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.
Penn State Extension is hosting the upcoming Solar Law Symposium from noon to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 20.
This event will gather experts from various sectors to discuss critical legal issues surrounding the solar energy industry and provide CLE credits to those who request them. The event is co-sponsored by Penn State Extension, The Penn State Center for Energy Law and Policy and The Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law.
The symposium will explore key topics such as regulatory frameworks, policy developments, financing mechanisms and environmental considerations related to solar energy projects. Participants will include scholars, practitioners and industry leaders, facilitating interdisciplinary dialogue and knowledge-sharing.
The symposium will occur virtually. Registration details and a full agenda are on the symposium website at www.bit.ly/psusolarlaw. Any questions about the Solar Law Symposium can be directed to Michael Helbing at mdh224@psu.edu.
Have an upcoming event you’d like us to list for free? Send your details to: editor@enviropolitics.com
The damaged Vineyard Wind turbine 15 miles southwest of Nantucket
By Jason Graziadei, Nantucket Current
By When Vineyard Wind completed the installation of the first GE Vernova Haliade-X 13-megawatt wind turbine in the waters southwest of Nantucket in October 2023, the company trumpeted it as “the largest turbine in the western world.” It was supposed to be one of the 62 turbines that would make up the first large-scale, commercial offshore wind farm in the United States.
But just nine months later, the project has been suspended by the federal government after the now infamous turbine blade failure on July 13th that left Nantucket’s beaches and the waters surrounding the island littered with fiberglass and Styrofoam debris that is still being recovered.
While offshore wind energy production has a decades-long track record in Europe and Asia, the Vineyard Wind project was the first of its kind in the United States, and the turbines Vineyard Wind is installing are larger and more powerful than any that have come before it.
The technology may not be new, but the size and scale of the Haliade-X turbine is novel for the offshore wind industry. And these jumbo-sized turbines have only recently been installed in just two locations in the world within the last year – at Vineyard Wind off Nantucket, and the Dogger Bank Wind Farm off the northeast coast of England. The Haliade-X turbine blades – which are supposed to have at least a 25-year lifespan – have suffered failures in both locations.
At Vineyard Wind, the turbine blade failure is being blamed on a “manufacturing deviation” that occurred at the LM Wind Power factory in Gaspé, Canada, one of two locations where the Haliade-X blades are manufactured. LM Wind Power was acquired by GE Vernova for $1.65 billion in 2017.
“Our investigation to date indicates that the affected blade experienced a manufacturing deviation,” GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said during the company’s second-quarter earnings conference call with investors earlier this month, specifically citing “insufficient bonding” applied at the factory. “We have not identified information indicating an engineering design flaw in the blade or information of a connection with the blade event we experienced at an offshore wind project in the UK, which was caused by an installation error out at sea.”
Strazik also disclosed that GE Vernova will reinspect all 150 blades manufactured at the LM Wind plant in Canada by reviewing the radiography testing records, including those that have already been installed on 24 turbines at the Vineyard Wind lease area.
But Strazik’s disclosure on the investor call about the LM Wind Power plant in Canada means that both of the company’s factories capable of manufacturing blades for the Haliade-X wind turbines have run into trouble. At the other factory, located in Cherbourg, France, an “operational incident” in April 2024 reduced production capacity and resulted in damage to one of the molds used to produce components for the Haliade-X.
If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics.It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Please do not take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.
The temperature had just crept past 125 degrees, and Stephen Peterson was staring absently at a family cooling off in the Stovepipe Wells hotel swimming pool.
“It can make you stir-crazy,” he said of enduring the oppressive heat.
Summer in Death Valley — famously (or infamously) the “hottest place on Earth” — can be brutal. Even without this month’s heat wave, the temperatures in July frequently top 120.
Although tourists and thrill seekers seldom spend more than 24 hours here in the summer, park rangers, tourism staff and Native Americans live here full-time, when conditions can easily kill those who are careless. For some of these year-round residents, the heat can feel like a prison because of the restrictions it places on life.
Peterson and his buddy Aniken Yeager work in the kitschy tourist town of Stovepipe Wells within the national park. Peterson works at the general store and Yeager is a line cook at the restaurant and saloon. Both live in the town’s dorm-style housing near the hotel.
To help fight cabin fever, Yeager adopted a stray dog. “It gets lonely, man,” he said. “I don’t want to take antidepressants.”
It’s a tight-knit community with about 50 employees — if you don’t know someone personally, you know of them. “We all take care of each other,” Yeager said.
Everyone has their own metaphor for describing the heat. Yeager said it’s like standing directly behind a running car, while to Peterson it’s a blow dryer to the face.
“It sneaks up on you,” Peterson said. “The science is brutal.” Sweat evaporates so fast that the skin never gets wet — he’s only ever felt sweat two or three times during the summer. On a bad day, heat exhaustion can set in within minutes.
If you like this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics.It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Please do not take our word for it, try it free for a full month.
There is street or meter parking available near the 401 building. Or you are welcome to park at the Perry Street Lot (Area 50), which you can find by using the interactive map on DEP’s website: https://dep.nj.gov/maps-directions/
The agenda will be provided at the event.
If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics.It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Please do not take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.
Catalyze, an independent power producer (IPP) and integrated developer of distributed renewable energy assets, is collaborating with GreenSpark Solar, an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company based in Rochester, NY, to build ten projects totaling 60 MW of community solar. This partnership will expand Catalyze’s portfolio in New York, including sites such as the Amherst solar project and others acquired via a recent transaction with BW Solar.
The community solar projects will be partially funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) via the NY-Sun program. The partnership will contribute to the state’s initiatives to install 10 GW of distributed solar by 2030 and achieve 70% renewable energy in electricity generation by 2030. In addition, $100 million in funding from NY Green Bank will support these community projects.
If you like this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics.It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Please do not take our word for it, try it free for a full month.
