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Construction to begin on $70M Louisiana plant that will convert sugar cane into fuel pellets

New construction is set to begin next month on a $70 million renewable fuel plant in southwest Louisiana that will convert sugar cane bagasse into fuel pellets.

The facility was set to begin operations in late 2022 or early 2023, but supply chain issues and pricing volatility disrupted those plans, Delta Biofuel CEO Philip Keating said in an email.

“And then the interest rate spike forced us to make adjustments,” he told The Advocate. “Only in the last several months could we actually lock in pricing for major equipment and construction with confidence.”

The plant in Jeanerette on a 16-acre site off U.S. 90 near the Enterprise Sugar Mill would create 340,000 metric tons of fuel pellets annually.

REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED LOUISIANA VOTES TO KILL BILL THAT BANS GENDER SURGERY FOR MINORS

Construction is set to begin next month on a Louisiana plant that will turn bagasse into fuel pellets. 

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The project, which is expected to create 126 jobs with an average salary of $62,500, should start up about a year after construction begins, Keating said.

Finding a use for bagasse, the waste product left after sugarcane is crushed, is becoming more of an issue in south Louisiana. More sugarcane is being grown, and fewer sugar mills are operating, so piles of bagasse are getting larger.

Delta Biofuel will harvest bagasse from sugar mills in Iberia, St. Mary and St. Martin parishes. The pellets will be used by European power plants that are transitioning away from fossil fuels.

Louisiana lured the project with an incentive package that includes a $1 million performance-based grant for infrastructure improvements. Delta Biofuel has been approved for the state’s Industrial Tax Exemption program and has applied for the Quality Jobs program.

Republican state sues Biden admin over environmental justice actions: ‘Dystopian nightmare’

FIRST ON FOX: Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry sued the Biden administration over so-called environmental justice actions targeting his state’s petrochemical industry in a federal lawsuit late Wednesday.

The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, challenges the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) opposition to state permits granted in 2020 to the Denka Performance Elastomer plant and the FG LA Formosa facility, two petrochemical facilities located in St. John Parish, Louisiana. The EPA has argued the permitting process violated federal anti-racial discrimination statute.

“Activities that would be perfectly lawful under environmental law are thus now threatened because EPA believes those activities occur proximate to the ‘wrong’ racial groups,” the lawsuit states. “EPA does not bother to deny that it would be unconcerned if the exact same emissions occurred in areas with differing racial demographics.” 

“But EPA has nonetheless arrogated to itself the authority to decide whether otherwise-lawful emissions are affecting the ‘right’ racial groups,” it continues. “Put succinctly, EPA frequently does not care about the content of air and water emissions, but only the color of the skin of those proximate to them. That dystopian nightmare violates the Civil Rights Act.”

SUPREME COURT DELIVERS BLOW TO KEY BIDEN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN UNANIMOUS RULING

Republican Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry speaks during an event in Texas last year. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

According to the lawsuit, the EPA has explicitly acknowledged the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) “followed the environmental law” when issuing the permits to the Denka and Formosa facilities. However, the agency has instead argued the permitting process discriminated against the surrounding community which is majority African American in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

In October, amid negotiations with the LDEQ related to private complaints regarding the permitting process for the two petrochemical plants, the EPA without warning sent state officials a letter of concern highlighting an investigation it conducted. The letter stated that Louisiana is failing to protect minorities toxic petrochemical air pollution.

However, the lawsuit Thursday criticized the investigation for not including the state while mainly relying on information from environmental opponents of the petrochemical industry and two articles.

BIDEN’S EPA HAS COORDINATED WITH LEFT-WING ECO GROUPS TIED TO LIBERAL DARK MONEY NETWORK

“EPA’s investigation underlying that letter was a perfunctory pretext that, upon information and belief, consisted of extensive communications with the complainants, review of an “environmental justice” law review article and an article in The Atlantic magazine, but little else beyond a cursory review of LDEQ’s and LDH’s websites,” the lawsuit states.

“Worse, upon information and belief, at least LDEQ sought to participate in the investigation, but was told by EPA to wait for the Letter of Concern to be issued,” it continues. “EPA then, without apparent shame, faulted LDEQ for not participating in its pre-letter investigation — even though LDEQ had done so at EPA’s specific suggestion.”

President Biden, right, speaks with EPA Administrator Michael Regan during a White House event on environmental justice. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

It also noted that the EPA apparently ignored the articles it cited which noted the petrochemical industry’s location could be explained by its close proximity to “some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.”

“Louisiana has complied with federal environmental law, and the EPA has repeatedly acknowledged as much,” Louisiana Deputy Solicitor General Scott St. John told Fox News Digital. “Yet, they continue to threaten the livelihoods of our people and our communities. This is more biased, outcome-driven overreach from an ever-expanding federal government.” 

And the lawsuit further criticized the EPA for losing sight of its “actual environmental mission, and instead decided to moonlight as a social justice warriors fixated on race.” 

“To that end, EPA officials declare compliance with environmental law and actual environmental standards is not enough: to avoid loss of federal funds, States must also satisfy EPA’s increasingly warped vision of ‘environmental justice’ and ‘equity.'”

EPA PROPOSES FIRST-EVER STANDARD FOR CANCER CAUSING CHEMICALS IN DRINKING WATER

Louisiana argued the EPA is ceding its authority to private climate organizations while simultaneously assuming authorities it doesn’t have under the Civil Rights Act. The state also argued the EPA is broadening its actions to impact permitting activities beyond the two facilities in question.

Overall, the multibillion-dollar petrochemical industry in Louisiana is a key driver of jobs and investment in the state. The industry is also a central reason why the state is the third-largest consumer of petroleum and largest consumer of petroleum per capita in the nation, according to the Energy Information Administration.

The Denka facility represents the only U.S. plant to produce neoprene, a synthetic rubber common in military equipment, wetsuits, medical technology and cell phone cases, Real Clear Investigations reported in March. 

Smoke billows from one of many chemical plants in southern Louisiana. (Giles Clarke/Getty Images)

And the Formosa plant is a $9.4 billion complex currently being constructed that its developer projects would create thousands of jobs and pay employees an average of $84,500 per year. The facility would produce polyethylene, polypropylene, polymer and ethylene glycol which are chemicals found in cars, ropes, pipes, artifical turf, playground equipment and antifreeze.

However, the petrochemical industry has long been target of environmentalists who argue it is responsible for harmful emissions and pollution negatively impacting surrounding communities’ health.

“For generations, our most vulnerable communities have unjustly borne the burden of breathing unsafe, polluted air,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said last month in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, upon announcing a slate of new regulations targeting the petrochemical industry. 

“When I visited St. John the Baptist Parish during my first Journey to Justice tour, I pledged to prioritize and protect the health and safety of this community and so many others that live in the shadows of chemical plants.”

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Additionally, on behalf of the EPA, the Department of Justice sued Denka Performance Elastomer in February as part of an effort to compel the company to reduce pollution.

“We allege that Denka’s emissions have led to unsafe concentrations of carcinogenic chloroprene near homes and schools in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said at the time. 

“The Justice Department’s environmental justice efforts require ensuring that every community, no matter its demographics, can breathe clean air and drink clean water. Our suit aims to stop Denka’s dangerous pollution.”

Thomas Catenacci is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court to consider making power plants pay for emissions

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court will take its first crack at whether a governor can force power plant owners to pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, or whether he first needed approval from a Legislature that refused to go along with the plan.

Hanging in the balance is Pennsylvania’s effort to become the first major fossil fuel-producing state to adopt carbon pricing.

On Wednesday, the state’s highest court will hear arguments on whether a lower court was right to halt Pennsylvania’s participation in a multistate consortium that imposes a price and declining cap on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

The way the justices react could give hints as to how they might ultimately rule on whether Pennsylvania’s participation — without legislative approval — is constitutional.

PENNSYLVANIA TEENAGER SURFING IN NEW JERSEY SUFFERS INJURIES FROM POSSIBLE SHARK ATTACK: REPORTS

It is no small amount of money: Pennsylvania would have raised more than $1 billion had it begun participating in 2022 when former Gov. Tom Wolf intended, according to calculations by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group.

It became the central plank in Wolf’s plan to fight global warming.

Republican lawmakers, fossil fuel interests, industrial power users and trade unions oppose it, saying it will hurt the state’s energy industry and drive up electric bills.

The case is a political minefield for Gov. Josh Shapiro, Wolf’s successor and a fellow Democrat who was endorsed by some of the labor unions that fought Wolf’s effort to join the consortium.

The Conemaugh Generation Station emits steam in New Florence, Pennsylvania, on Feb. 6, 2007. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on May 24, 2023, will hear arguments regarding whether a governor can force power plant owners to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions. (Todd Berkey/The Tribune-Democrat via AP)

Shapiro has maintained that he does not support entering the consortium, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, on Wolf’s terms. But he continues to fight for it in court and his top environmental protection appointee told lawmakers in March that joining the consortium is “a vehicle” that could help meet Shapiro’s “strong and very aspirational goals” to help the environment.

Meanwhile, Shapiro has assembled a task force to try to come up with something better — a task force that meets in secret and includes opponents from organized labor and executives from companies invested in fossil fuels, as well as supporters of carbon pricing.

2 GUN CONTROL BILLS PASS IN PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE

State officials, independent researchers and environmental advocates say the money reaped by the state through the auction of emission credits can be spent on encouraging the growth of renewable energy and energy conservation. That, they say, would stabilize electricity bills, or lower them, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions and helping transition workers in fossil fuels into new industries.

Supporters of carbon pricing include the owners of solar, wind and nuclear power, whose installations would become more cost competitive as oil, gas and coal power pay higher prices to operate.

In 2019, Republican lawmakers refused to pass legislation authorizing Pennsylvania to join the consortium, then went to court with fossil fuel interests and labor unions when Wolf used his regulatory authority to join.

The lower court that halted Pennsylvania’s participation is still deciding the merits of the underlying legal challenge: whether the governor unconstitutionally usurped the Legislature’s authority to approve any form of taxation.

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Shapiro has echoed criticism of Wolf’s carbon pricing plan, saying it could hurt the state’s energy industry, drive up electric prices and do little to curtail greenhouse gases.

For his part, Shapiro’s most well-defined clean-energy goal is a pledge to ensure Pennsylvania uses 30% of its electricity from renewable power sources by 2030, up from the current 8% in state law.

Alabama legislators advance anti-ESG investment bill

Alabama legislators on Thursday advanced a bill that would prohibit the state from contracting with companies that refuse to work with fossil fuel businesses and gunmakers.

The measure, which cleared the Alabama Senate on a 27-8 vote, is part of a wave of legislation introduced in other conservative states and the federal government targeting investing based on environmental, social and governance, or ESG, factors. The bill now moves to the state’s House of Representatives.

Republican supporters said ESG investment strategies promote a liberal agenda over returns. The bill would require companies doing business with state entities to provide written verification that the company will not participate in “boycotts” of timber, mining, fossil fuel and firearm industries. It would require that same confirmation when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions and stances on abortion and transgender care access.

HONEY, BIDEN JUST SHRUNK OUR

The Alabama Senate has advanced a bill that would ban the state from working with companies that refuses to work with industries involved in fossil fuel and firearm. 

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“The Alabama Senate has made it clear that we want businesses to focus on growing and expanding and not working to push any political agenda with left-wing ESG policies,” said Republican Sen. Dan Roberts, of Mountain Brook, the bill’s sponsor.

The bill was approved on a party-line vote, with Republicans voting for the bill and Democrats voting against it.

Democrats said the bill sends an anti-business message.

“If we are about free enterprise, let’s open up the doors,” Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, said. “Alabama should have her doors open and say, ’Come, come to me,”

Criminal cases over killing eagles decline as wind energy dangers increase: report

Criminal cases from U.S. wildlife officials over killing or harming protected bald and golden eagles have plummeted in recent years, according to a new report. 

This comes even as The Associated Press said officials had ramped up issuing permits that would allow wind energy companies to kill thousands of the birds without legal consequences. 

The agency said this was revealed in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data it had obtained. 

The article said that dozens of permits that were approved or pending would allow around 6,000 eagles to be killed in coming years, citing government documents. 

Most of those permits were for wind farms and over half of the birds killed would be golden eagles. 

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED CALIFORNIA CONDORS TO RECEIVE VACCINE AFTER A DOZEN DIE FROM BIRD FLU

This trail camera still image provided Mike Lockhart shows a bald eagle is seen landing on a trap set by a researcher, on April 30, 2023, near Medicine Bow, Wyoming. A captive eagle used as a lure is seen to the right. The trap was set by researcher Mike Lockhart. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allows some wind farms to kill eagles under a government permit program. (Mike Lockhart via AP)

“They are rolling over backwards for wind companies,” Mike Lockhart, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, told The Associated Press. “I think they are killing a hell of a lot more eagles than they ever anticipated.”

In pursuit of climate-friendly power development, a pending proposal from the Biden administration would reportedly further streamline such permits. 

Wind companies have often pledged to perform conservation work to offset such deaths, including paying money for the eagles – but multiple permits allegedly allow the killing of bald eagles without required penalties.

The report mentioned prosecutions of wind companies that continued killing eagles despite warnings, including major utilities like Duke Energy Corporation, PacifiCorp and NextEra Energy, Inc. Each company reportedly agreed to move toward limiting eagle deaths. All three companies subsequently received or applied for permits that allow accidental killing of eagles without penalty, on the condition that the companies took steps to minimize the tally of deaths. The Associated Press noted that Duke Energy and other environmental groups lobbied the White House to support streamlined permitting.

Duke Energy told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that it does extension mitigation for each and every take and that the company’s legal outcome in a 2013 deal did not reduce or change its rigorous mitigation requirements that were met as they set up detection systems. 

Sometimes permits were approved despite opposition from Native American tribes, including for Tucson Electric Power Co. in New Mexico. 

DEADLY BIRD FLU THREATENS CALIFORNIA CONDORS ALREADY ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION

Wind turbines are seen at Duke Energy’s Top of the World energy facility, April 23, 2013, in Rollings Hills, Wyoming. The number of eagles killed at the site increased in the immediate years after Duke was prosecuted for killing eagles last decade, but company officials say the death rate has since fallen. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)

Federal officials reportedly told The Associated Press that a permit offered the “only available avenue to require … conservation measures.”

The report said that while the Fish and Wildlife Service had initially blamed falling cases on the Trump administration’s decision to roll back enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the agency later retracted that, saying officials were “unable to identify a specific cause as to why violations and investigations dropped.”

The analysis found that only around one in eight cases brought under the Eagle Protection Act from 2012 to early 2022 resulted in fines, probation or jail time.

“Not every criminal investigation substantiates evidence of a criminal violation of federal law,” agency spokesperson Christina Meister said, noting that whether criminal charges are ultimately brought is up to prosecutors and that fines, jail time and other punishments are up to the courts and are outside the wildlife service’s control.

While bald eagle populations have grown over the past decade, there are only about 40,000 golden eagles. Golden eagles need much larger areas to survive and hunt on the same windy plains where companies have put up thousands of turbines in the West. 

This trail camera still image provided Mike Lockhart shows a golden eagle is seen landing on a trap set by a researcher in this trail camera photograph, on April 30, 2023, near Medicine Bow, Wyoming. A captive eagle that used as a lure is seen to the right. (Mike Lockhart via AP)

Fox News Digital’s requests for comment from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NextEra Energy, PacifiCorp and Tucson Electric Power were not immediately returned.

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Duke Energy said since cameras were installed at its Top of the World wind farm, eagle deaths have declined by 82%, and that the system has been very effective at protecting eagles and other large birds.

“The company has served as a convener across industry, environmental organizations and the Fish & Wildlife Service to help find common ground on the general permit development. This has helped propose a framework that’s less complicated and that we are optimistic will result in more industry participation, better data and improved conservation,” the utility said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Julia Musto is a reporter for Fox News and Fox Business Digital. 

Wisconsin Native American tribe argue that oil pipeline near reservation land should be shut down

Attorneys for a Wisconsin Native American tribe are set to argue Thursday that a federal judge should order an energy company to shut down an oil pipeline that the tribe says is at immediate risk of being exposed by erosion and rupturing on reservation land.

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa asked U.S. District Judge William Conley last week to issue an emergency ruling forcing Enbridge to shut down the Line 5 pipeline after large chunks of riverbank running alongside it were washed away by the river in northern Wisconsin.

The tribe says less than 15 feet of land now stands between the Bad River and Line 5 in four locations on the reservation. In some places, more than 20 feet of riverbank has eroded in the past month alone. Experts and environmental advocates have warned in court that an exposed section of pipeline would be weakened and could rupture at any time, causing massive oil spills.

Enbridge’s engineers contend that there is almost no chance the pipeline will be exposed by erosion, let alone rupture, in the next year. The company said in court filings that the tribe hasn’t cooperated with its requests to line the riverbank with sandbags that would protect against erosion.

WISCONSIN GOV. TONY EVERS SAYS COMPROMISE CAN BE REACHED ON BILL TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Enbridge also asked the tribe on Monday for a permit to install stabilizing barricades made of trees along the riverbank.

The Bad River tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove the roughly 12-mile section of Line 5 that crosses tribal lands, saying that the 70-year-old pipeline is dangerous and that land agreements allowing Enbridge to operate on the reservation expired in 2013.

A pipeline used to carry crude oil pis shown at the terminal of Enbridge Energy, on June 29, 2018. Attorneys for a Wisconsin Native American tribe are set to argue on May 18, 2023, that a federal judge should order Enbridge to shut down the oil pipeline that the tribe says is at immediate risk of being exposed by erosion and rupturing. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)

Conley sided with the tribe last September, saying Enbridge was trespassing on the reservation and must compensate the tribe for illegally using its land. But he wouldn’t order Enbridge to remove the pipeline due to concerns about what a shutdown might do to the economy of the Great Lakes region.

WI DEMOCRATIC GOV. TONY EVERS PROMISES TO VETO REPUBLICAN PLAN TO BOLSTER AID TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Instead, Conley ordered Enbridge and tribal leaders to create an emergency shutoff plan for the pipeline last November, saying there was a significant risk it could burst and cause “catastrophic” damage to the reservation and its water supply.

Line 5 transports up to 23 million gallons of oil and liquid natural gas each day and stretches 645 miles from the city of Superior through northern Wisconsin and Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. If the pipeline were shut down, gas prices would likely increase, refineries would shut down, workers would be laid off and the upper Midwest could see years of propane shortages, according to reports Enbridge submitted in court.

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Enbridge has proposed a 41-mile reroute of the pipeline to end its dispute with the tribe and said in court filings that the project would take less than six years to complete. But the Department of Natural Resources has not granted the permits Enbridge needs to begin construction. A draft analysis of the project’s environmental impact submitted in December 2021 received thousands of public comments, with many criticizing the report as insufficient. The company is still responding to the DNR’s requests for more information.

Line 5 has also faced resistance in Michigan, where Enbridge wants to drill a new tunnel under a strait connecting two of the Great Lakes but Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel have sought to shut down the pipeline. Nessel filed a brief on Wednesday in support of the tribe’s request, saying a rupture in Wisconsin would also cause irreparable environmental damage in Michigan.

Top officials warned Biden admin about dangers wind energy projects pose to fishing industry, letter shows

The executive directors of three federally-established fishery councils along the East Coast expressed concern last year about the threats posed by offshore wind energy projects.

In an Aug. 22 letter to former Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Amanda Lefton, the three officials — who respectively lead the New England, Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils — expressed concern about current processes for approving offshore wind development. They also made a series of recommendations to help the federal government mitigate impacts on fisheries.

“As we have stated in several past comment letters to BOEM, we are very concerned about the cumulative impacts of multiple wind energy projects on the fisheries we manage,” they stated in the letter. “The multiple wind energy projects planned along the east coast will have cumulative and compounding effects on our fisheries.” 

“The synergistic effects of multiple projects may be more than additive and this may not be sufficiently identified in project-specific documents; therefore, losses may be undercompensated by taking a project-by-project approach,” they continued.

BIDEN’S GREEN ENERGY PLANS POSE NATIONAL SECURITY RISK, PENTAGON WARNS

A lift boat is pictured off the beach near Wainscott, New York, on Dec. 1. The vessel’s drill will be used in the construction of the South Fork Wind farm that is expected to start generating power in late 2023. (Johnny Milano/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In addition, the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which represents the region encompassing the entire West Coast, penned its own letter to Lefton, similarly warning about the impacts of offshore wind development on fisheries. 

The council said every proposed offshore wind lease area with multiple projects could negatively impact the ecology of the marine ecosystem, the fisheries the council manages and local fishing-dependent communities.

The letters from the regional councils — which Congress established in 1976 to manage the nation’s marine fishery resources — came after BOEM proposed guidance in June to ensure offshore renewable energy development “occurs in a thoughtful manner” and that its conflicts with fisheries are minimized. Lefton said at the time the agency was seeking “open and honest conversations focused on finding solutions.”

BIDEN ADMIN SCIENTIST RAISED ALARM ON OFFSHORE WIND HARMING WHALES MONTHS AGO

BOEM is expected to finalize the guidance in the coming weeks.

The draft guidance, though, was criticized by the regional fishery management councils and a series of fishing industry groups that said it fell short.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland participates in a groundbreaking ceremony for an offshore wind project in 2022. The Department of Interior has expanded plans for offshore lease sales for wind development along the nation’s eastern and western coastlines and in the Gulf of Mexico. (Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

“We recognize the need for renewable energy and the role these energy sources will play as we work to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. However, addressing climate change should not require significant negative impacts to food producers or to our ocean environment,” Seafood Harvesters of America, a national organization representing thousands of fishermen nationwide, wrote in a letter to Lefton.

“We remain deeply concerned that these guidelines are simply recommendations and hold no promise of any actual mitigation or compensation for the fishing industry,” they continued. “Any potential effectiveness of these guidelines is negated by the fact that they are only suggestions for offshore wind energy developers, rather than binding requirements.”

BLUE-COLLAR LOBSTERMEN SUE ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP FOR DEFAMATION: ‘THE HARM IS INTENTIONAL’

In a separate letter, U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy Chief Counsel Major Clark said his department had heard concerns from heard from “small commercial fishermen, port operators, marine equipment retailers, onshore processors, fish markets, and other fishing industry representatives.”

“Small businesses renewed their concerns regarding their inability to adequately comment on mitigation measures without knowing the impacts that offshore wind development activities will have,” Clark wrote. “There are simply too many unknowns for the current guidance to be effective.”

Hundreds rallied earlier this year in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, against offshore wind projects over concerns they are harming whales. (Ali Reid/Twitter/Video Screenshot)

Meanwhile, offshore wind projects have also faced increasing scrutiny in light of a recent spate of whales beaching along the East Coast.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 20 humpback whales and endangered North Atlantic right whales have been discovered dead along the East Coast with most beaching in New Jersey, New York and Virginia, according to federal data. The uptick in deaths has led to calls from lawmakers, local officials and conservation organizations for a federal moratorium on wind development in the Atlantic Ocean.

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While administration officials and some environmental groups have said there is no evidence suggesting wind turbine construction is killing whales and that the deaths are part of an “unusual mortality event” for both whale species dating back years, the region is on pace to far surpass death figures set since the mortality events were declared.

BOEM didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Thomas Catenacci is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

US Department of Energy to use $15M to build ‘living labs’ for tribal colleges

  • The U.S. Department of Energy hopes to use nearly $15 million in federal grants to boost clean energy development at tribal colleges and universities around the country.
  • The funding creates a more sustainable and reliable electricity generation for Native American communities.
  • The Blackfeet Community College in Montana has found success with construction of a smart building and the installation of solar panels on campus buildings.

Tribal colleges and universities around the U.S. will be able to tap nearly $15 million in grant funding to boost clean energy development as part of the federal government’s latest investment in creating more reliable and sustainable electricity generation for Native American communities.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced the new funding opportunity last week. It comes on the heels of another $50 million round of grants for deploying clean energy technology across Indian Country, where many communities have long been without basic services such as running water, electricity and broadband.

“We know that there is a huge need for energy reliability but also for energy access in Indian Country,” said Wahleah Johns, director of the agency’s Office of Indian Energy.

Johns, who is from the Navajo Nation, described it as an energy crisis in which families — and tribal governments — often have to be creative when finding ways to operate on the fringes of major grids that supply Phoenix, Las Vegas and other cities with power.

That means developing micro-grids or installing solar panels so residents can power refrigerators or charge up cellphones and laptops, she said.

BODYCAM FOOTAGE SHOWS POLICE FATALLY SHOOT ARMED HOMEOWNER AFTER RESPONDING TO WRONG HOUSE

With the latest grants, officials at the Office of Indian Energy said the idea is to use tribal colleges and universities as a conduit to build systems that can cut down on campus electricity costs while training Native American students who can support a renewable energy economy in tribal communities.

The Blackfeet Community College in Montana already has found success with construction of a smart building that houses math and science classes and the installation of solar panels on campus buildings.

“The way I tend to see it is that we have a living lab here,” said Melissa Little Plume Weatherwax, director of institutional development at the college. “Tribes are looking to deploy commercially, and that workforce is going to grow. So we need to be ready as the ones who need to train them. I think we’re on the right track.”

Thelma Wall was a student when she helped to install solar panels on campus. Now she works as a tribal design associate with a large nonprofit, having worked on projects in New Mexico, Colorado and South Dakota.

Weatherwax said the training program also is translating to other parts of Montana’s rural economy as more farmers use solar to operate systems that provide water for livestock.

The U.S. Department of Energy hopes to use nearly $15 million in federal grants to boost clean energy development at tribal colleges and universities around the country.

Johns said tribes have been leading the way when it comes to renewable energy development, and it’s been out of necessity given the lack of infrastructure in rural areas. Many small projects have led to commercial-scale projects, with the next step being tribal ownership of the power that is produced, she said.

Between 2010 and 2022, the Office of Indian Energy has invested more $120 million in over 210 tribal energy projects across the U.S.

This year’s funding marks a significant boost, Johns said, adding that her office serves as a hub for tribes to access new money or connect with other agencies as they navigate the challenges of development and deployment.

Tommy Jones, a deployment specialist with the office, pointed to the Moapa Band of Paiutes in Nevada, who have already developed several hundred megawatts of solar power and are looking to develop more.

The glimmer of the panels in the desert outside of Las Vegas looked like a mirage to officials with the Office of Indian Energy during a recent visit. Along the dirt roads crossing the facility were speed limit signs warning about the possible presence of desert tortoises.

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“There’s a lot of important factors related to sacred sites and cultural resources that folks, rightly so, are concerned about protecting, particularly when you’re talking about a really large-scale solar project,” Jones said. “And so having the community buy-in is critical to land use planning, making sure that what’s important, the vision of energy fits with the community.”

Johns said that has been a consideration for the Moapa Band of Paiutes as well as for the Navajo Nation, which signed an agreement with the federal government in December that calls for charting out that tribe’s transition to renewable energy as more coal-fired power plants and coal mines in the Southwest are shuttered.

The infrastructure needed to address the energy crisis for Native American communities stretches into the billions of dollars, with access being just one part of the equation, Johns said. She also pointed to mounting pressures from climate change and the need to be culturally sensitive to developing projects in Indian Country.

“On our end. we are all about trying to come up with a long-term strategy that will support the energy resilience of tribes and their planning process, and that’s going to take a huge investment,” she said.

German climate activists shut off oil pipelines to protest North Sea drilling

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Environmental activists shut down crude oil pipelines throughout Germany on Wednesday to protest the country’s renewed interest in oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. 

The group, which bills itself as the “Last Generation,” activated shut-off valves at emergency stations for pipelines in Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Greifswald and Koblenz. 

“We are in a climate emergency! The federal government is not only ignoring this, it plans to fuel it further. Wanting to drill for oil in our North Sea now – that’s madness that you have to stop, Mr. Habeck,” activist Edmund Schulz said in a statement Wednesday, referring to Robert Habeck, the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. 

A member of the “Last Generation” activates the emergency shut-off at pipeline in Germany.  (Last Generation)

Germany is not granting any new permits for oil and gas drilling the North Sea under a coalition agreement between the country’s top parties, but some officials have suggested they may need to rethink that amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has driven up energy prices around the world. 

GERMANY TO AUTHORIZE TANK SHIPMENT TO UKRAINE, BENDING TO INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE

“We have to question the decision in the coalition agreement,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told the Tagesspiegel newspaper last month. “Due to global market prices developments, this looks more economical.”

  • Industrial facilities of PCK Raffinerie oil refinery are pictured in Schwedt/Oder, Germany, March 7, 2022. The company receives crude oil from Russia via the ‘Friendship’ pipeline. Picture taken March 7, 2022.  (REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke)

  • (REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke)

Germany buys more than half of its gas from Russia and about a third of its oil imports. 

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Habeck cut Germany’s growth forecast for this year to 2.2% from 3.6% projected in January, and raised its inflation forecast to 6.1%. 

Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom cut off gas to Poland and Bulgaria this week over their refusal to pay in rubles, and threatened to do the same to other countries. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

Farms face long-term challenges as production costs continue to skyrocket, fifth-generation farmer says

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RIPON, Wis. – Rising costs of fertilizer, fuel and equipment could cause long-lasting problems for the agricultural industry, a fifth-generation farming facing the skyrocketing prices told Fox News.

“It’s going to be a very expensive year for farmers,” Chris Pollack, co-owner of Pollack Vu-Dairy, said “We are going to the field with very expensive tools in our toolbox.”

“Fertilizer right now is double what it was a year ago. Fuel is over double what it was,” Pollack continued. “Some chemicals are dramatically increased as much as three to four times.”

Chris Pollack, fifth generation dairy farmer, speaks to Fox News about the struggles farmers are facing with high input costs (Matt Leach/Fox Digital)

IS A NATURAL GAS CRISIS COMING?

The cost of fertilizer alone has risen more than 300% in some areas, according to the American Farm Bureau.

Pollack’s dairy farm typically spends around $70,000 on fertilizer per year, the farmer told Fox News. But he said that will likely more than double to around $145,000 this year.

“If we do not have an adequate supply distribution network and affordable fertilizer, it really does create some concern around long term yields,” said Corey Rosenbusch, who heads the advocacy group The Fertilizer Institute.

The rise in price is due to a number of factors, including increased demand, supply chain disruptions, increase in energy costs, according to the American Farm Bureau. Even the war in Ukraine plays a role.

“Natural gas makes up anywhere from 70 to 90% of the production cost of nitrogen,” a necessary component for most fertilizers that farmers use, Rosenbusch said.

Russia, which faces strict sanctions for its invasion in Ukraine, was the largest natural gas exporter in 2021, according to the Energy Information Administration. It and Belarus together export about 20% of the world’s fertilizer.

Pollack pointed to one tractor and said it would “go through 800 to a thousand gallons of diesel in this year alone.”

“We’re going to use it either way, but it just makes it that much more expensive to operate,” the farmer, whose family has managed Pollack Vu-Dairy since 1901, added.

Diesel costs have risen to an average of $5.065 a gallon as of Thursday night, up nearly $2 from a year ago, according to AAA.

Chris Pollack, co-owner of Pollack-Vu dairy farm tells Fox News fuel costs have more that doubled (Megan Myers/Fox Digital)

HIGHER FERTILIZER PRICES COULD MEAN SMALLER CROPS

Farmers “would like to see a little bit more support,” from the federal government on energy policy, Pollack told Fox News. “We’re all trying to be more green and be more progressive in that sense” but “we still have to make sure the economy is rolling.”

Price increases across the farm add up to “really big numbers,” spelling “really hard times going forward,” Pollack said.

While Pollack’s farm primarily focuses on dairy, it also yields a variety of crops to help business through lows and highs in the market. Pollack hopes they will continue the family business for years to come, but he knows rising costs and supply shortages create a difficult path ahead for farmers. 

Fox News tours Pollack-Vu dairy farm in Ripon, WI. (Matt Leach/Fox Digital)

Farmers worry that high demand and supply shortages on equipment and materials will prevent them from being able to get necessary equipment when they need it, Pollack said. If they can’t, or if the costs are too high, crop yields could be limited.

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“There is nothing worse than having a crop in the field and not being able to harvest it when it needs to be,” Pollack said. 

Rising costs are “going to be a long-term problem” for farmers, he told Fox News. “While some farms might do well, farms that struggle are going to struggle even more.” 

Pollack said that if costs keep rising and necessary materials don’t become more attainable, it’s going to change “how farming is run.”