Thread by @KA_Nicholas

Seminar by Prof Alexandra Klass (of @UMNews @UMNIonE )
on #energy transitions (not just policy) under Trump
on now, I'll be live tweeting.
Thread follows...

https://twitter.com/IIIEElund/status/1138739539323817984

Trump #energy priorities were a major shift: energy "dominance", revive coal industry, reduce env't regs on extractive #FossilFuels industry. "Underlying all this requires quite a bit of skpeticism on #climatechange" in DOT, EPA etc to implement. Prof. Alexandra Klass @IIIEElund

Trump's "Affordable Clean Energy Rule" = business as usual, states can do what they want. (replacement for Obama's clean power plan). No evidence that coal supports national security, DOE subsidies to coal don't make sense and may end soon. Prof. Alexandra Klass

Trump admin rollback Aug 2018 of GHG limits & fuel economy for cars (over auto industry protests over uncertainty). Trump has used authority thru Dept of Interior to increased #fossilfuel extraction on federal lands & waters. Prof. Alexandra Klass

Questions Prof. Alexandra Klass tackles in her talk on energy under Trump:
1. Can rollback of fed env't trends overcome energy economic trends?
2. How much can states, local gov't, tribes resist new policies and/or economic trends?
3. What's role of the courts?
#energytwitter

US energy sources (via @Livermore_Lab):
Transport runs almost all on petroleum.
Lots of natural gas for electricity + industry.
All coal goes to electricity generation.
Prof. Alexandra Klass
#energytwitter

Energy consumption in US (@EIAgov)
10% of fuel in US is corn-based ethanol (Renewable Fuel Standard, popular in corn states, not in oil & gas states- Iowa being the 1st Presidential caucus influences federal ethanol policy).
Electricity now from gas > coal
Prof. Alexandra Klass

Great #dataviz by @washingtonpost showing electricity production by state. "You do not want to drive an electric car in West Virginia," says Prof Alexandra Klass. nearly 100% electricity comes from dirty coal.
washingtonpost.com/graphics/natio…

Here's what #fracking looks like: drill deep well, then drill horizontally and pump in material to extract oil/gas. Has greatly increased US gas production (reversed declining trend), changed state producers, changed conversation on domestic energy security. Prof Alexandra Klass

Now infrastructure mis-matched w production (#fracking moves gas production to locations that historically didn't produce it). This leads to huge flaring of gas (bad for climate)- can even be seen from space as in this @NASA photo. Prof Alexandra Klass

Wind is in the center of the US. Electricity demand is on the coasts. Three energy grids in the US (Texas has its own). Current efforts to build transmission lines from middle out. -Prof Alexandra Klass

Main tool for clean energy in US is renewable portfolio standards, require electric utilities to buy/generate/credit x % renewable electricity. CA 60% by 2030. Trend moving towards clean energy/zero emissions, beyond renewable (can count nuclear). -Prof Alexandra Klass

Renewable energy costs falling so quickly is really driving change (not fed policy). States promote/want to sell resources they have: coal=WVa, wind=Iowa, corn ethanol= Midwest. States w/o energy resources focus on $/envt protection (eg., NY, CT, MA driving offshore wind) A Klass

A lot of Trump policies aren't holding up in court. Courts find Trump rules and policies violate Administrative Procedure Act- sloppy, passed in a rush, skip required env’t reviews, decisions are "arbitrary and capricious." Prof Alexandra Klass

Demand from businesses (many big tech customers) for 100% clean energy is pushing electricity generators to offer 100% clean energy. Prof Alexandra Klass

Federal gov’t owns huge amount of surface land in West (as well as sub-surface resources like oil and gas). Fed land was given away a long time ago on the East Coast! Gov’t has much more control over what it owns, not private land it regulates. Prof Alexandra Klass

Papers on US energy & infrastructure law & policy by Prof. Alexandra Klass:
ilr.law.uiowa.edu/print/volume-1…
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

Another #dataviz for source of electricity generation (#fossilfuels, renewables etc) cited by Prof. Alexandra Klass today (by @PopovichN @nytclimate)

nytimes.com/interactive/20…