Our Billings CCL volunteer meeting is the 2nd Thursday of each month. The next one will be on Thursday, June 14, 2018. We meet at the UUFellowship, 2032 Central Ave. 6:00-7:30pm. All are welcome!
For more information about the Citizens’ Climate Lobby check out this short video or go to the national Citizens’ Climate Lobby main website at https://citizensclimatelobby.org/.
To join the movement go to https://citizensclimatelobby.org/join-citizens-climate-lobby/.
Dr. Cathy Whitlock, the Lead Author of the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment, will present the findings on May 24 at the Billings Public Library at 7pm.
The report is a product of the Montana University System’s Montana Institute on Ecosystems. The assessment describes past and future climate trends that affect three sectors of Montana’s economy: agriculture, water, and forestry.
The program will start at 6:30 with refreshments, and introductions by the three local community action groups who are co-sponsors: the League of Women Voters of Billings, Billings Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, and the Better Billings Sustainability Committee of Yellowstone Valley Citizens Council.
This event is free and open to the public.
Hal Benton reported in The Seattle Times on May 9, 2018, that state regulators had “stepped up their climate activism” by asking power utilities in the Washington to assign or increase a carbon price “for planning purposes” on their fossil fuel sources of electricity.
This will apply to the electricity produced with coal from Montana and Wyoming. Benton says it specifically threatens the economic viability of the Colstrip Generating Plant.
Interesting, that Puget Sound Energy already assigns a carbon price in their accounting records, but Pacific Corp, the parent company of Pacific Power, did not intend to until 2026. These two utilities, and Avista Corp, supply electricity to 1.47 million customers in Washington.
This article was summarized in IEEFA.
Join hundreds of Billings kids and their adults at ZooMT on April 21, from 10-4pm for a celebration of science.
Citizens Climate Education of Billings will be promoting Healthy Oceans. Hear from scuba divers from Billings who have visited the coral reefs and are passionate about protecting their beauty and the lives of all the organisms who live in and with them.
Learn about the inhabitants of coral reefs; assemble your own sea butterfly; see a demonstration of ocean acidity; and more.
Photo from the Rally for Science, ZooMT, April 2017. “The Universe Story”
“Saving Snow” documentary on the economic effects of our warming winters, shows March 5, 2018, 7pm, free, at the ArtHouse Cinema & Pub, Billings. Panel following.
Sponsored by the Sierra Club and Citizens’ Climate Lobby of Billings.
We’ll be there with snacks to share. We want to hear from you!
Wow! The U.S. Energy Administration publishes State Profiles and Energy Estimates at U.S. Energy Information Administration.
These profiles include energy indicators, prices, reserves, supply and distribution, consumption and expenditures, and “environment” data.
What’s in the environment data? Renewable energy capacity, utility -scale hydroelectric net electricity generation, and utility-scale solar, wind, geothermal, biomass net electricity generation, and distributed solar photovoltaic generation.
Want to know about renewable energy consumption, total carbon dioxide emissions, and electric power industry emissions, including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.
All this and maps too! Thanks to a CCL Coal Country Group for posting this on CCL Community.
“As feds focus on baseload, grid modernization is sweeping the country” according to Herman Trabish’s feature story in today’s Utility Dive.
“Fifty States of Grid Modernization,” a 2017 policy update from the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center reports on a trend of actions that are state-initiated. Autumn Proudlove is lead author of the report. The most common grid modernization action is advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). Others include legislation or regulation that addresses smart grid, utility business model or rate reforms, or expand access to distributed energy resources.
So, never mind that FERC is proposing to provide “cost recovery to merchant coal and nuclear plants that keep 90 days of fuel supply onsite.” There is demonstrated movement towards grid modernization with energy storage nationwide.
