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Amory Lovins: Nukes Not the Answer

New analysis from Amory B. Lovins debunks the notion that highly unprofitable, economically distressed nuclear plants should be further subsi­dized to meet financial, security, reliability and climate goals. The analysis, which will appear shortly in The Electricity Journal, shows that closing costly-to-run nuclear plants and reinvesting their saved operating costs in energy efficiency provides cheaper elec­tricity, increases grid reliability and security, reduces more carbon, and preserves (not distorts) market integrity—all without subsidies.

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Sarah Wasko / Media Matters for America

The Many Reasons to Be Skeptical Over Rick Perry's Grid Study

By Lisa Hymas

Energy Sec. Rick Perry has ordered his department to produce a study on whether the ongoing shift toward renewable energy is affecting the reliability of the electrical grid. A number of experts, clean-energy advocates and politicians on both sides of the aisle believe the study is intended to be biased in favor of the coal and nuclear industries, which have been struggling in recent years.

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How Utilities Are Trying to Slow Down Rooftop Solar

By David Pomerantz

The New York Times reported earlier this month about how utilities around the country, and their trade group the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), have worked to weaken rooftop solar policies in an attempt to stave off the threat to their business model.

The article featured some of Energy and Policy Institute's reporting, including our expose of Brian McCormack, former EEI executive and current Chief of Staff to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, for his role in attacking rooftop solar while at EEI, as well as our uncovering of Florida utilities' deceptive anti-solar ballot initiative in that state last year.

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Government Accountability Office

Another Koch Cadet Hired​ at Trump's Department of Energy

By Ben Jervey

The Koch brothers have landed yet another of their trusted fossil fuel think tank veterans in the Trump administration's Department of Energy (DOE). Alex Fitzsimmons was manager of policy and public affairs at the Institute for Energy Research (IER) and its advocacy arm, the American Energy Alliance (AEA), while also working as a "spokesman" and communications director for Fueling U.S. Forward (FUSF), the Koch-funded campaign to bolster public opinion of fossil fuels.

Fitzsimmons will be joining former IER colleagues Daniel Simmons and Travis Fisher at the DOE.

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Is Energy 'Dominance' the Right Goal for U.S. Policy?

By Daniel Raimi

In recent weeks, a new energy buzzword has taken flight from Washington, DC, making stops in Alaska, North Dakota, Texas, Utah and more: "American energy dominance." Taking a cue from a 2016 speech by then-candidate Donald Trump, top federal officials including Energy Sec. Rick Perry and Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke have begun to trumpet the notion of energy "dominance."

Although no cabinet official has offered a precise definition, it's a recurring theme in a set of administration events organized around energy policy, including a planned speech by Trump emphasizing exports of coal, natural gas and oil.

So what does this new energy catchphrase mean, and how should we think about it?

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Donald Trump / Twitter

Trump Approves US-Mexico Pipeline 'That'll Go Right Under the Wall'

President Donald Trump has approved the construction of a new U.S.-Mexico pipeline that will go "right under" the controversial border wall.

According to The Hill, the New Burgos Pipeline will carry up to 108,000 barrels per day of refined petroleum products per day and cross the border between McAllen, Texas and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The project is a joint venture between NuStar Energy LP and PMI, an affiliate of Mexico's state-owned oil and gas company Petroléos Mexicanos.

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Head of Energy Dept. Denies CO2 Is Main Cause of Climate Change

Energy Sec. Rick Perry said in an interview with CNBC Monday that he doesn't believe carbon dioxide is the "primary control knob" driving climate change.

"Most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in," Perry explained to host Joe Kernen, elaborating that the "debate" over man-made climate change should be about "just how much" humans are influencing the climate "and what are the policy changes that we need to make to effect that."

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Meet the Man Who Said: Clean Energy Policies Are a Greater Threat Than Terrorism

By Dave Anderson

Travis Fisher, a Trump political appointee in the Department of Energy, wrote a 2015 report for the Institute for Energy Research that called clean energy policies "the single greatest emerging threat" to the nation's electric power grid, and a greater threat to electric reliability than cyber attacks, terrorism or extreme weather.

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Trump's Koch-Funded Appointees Continue Ruthless Attack on Clean Energy Growth

By Elliott Negin

When The Washington Post reported earlier this month that President Trump appointed Daniel Simmons to run the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the paper called him a "conservative scholar."

Conservative scholar? "Fossil fuel industry propagandist" would have been more accurate.

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