KUT: Texas power grid, energy sectors facing elevated Russian cyber threats during war in Ukraine

March 31  — Russian hackers have been probing Texas’ energy infrastructure for weak points in digital systems that would allow them to steal sensitive information or disrupt operations, according to interviews with energy companies, state officials and cybersecurity experts.

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Gainesville Daily Register :Texas regulator approves utilities leasing out excess broadband capacity

April 1 — The Public Utility Commission of Texas adopted a new rule that allows electric utilities to lease their excess fiber capacity to internet service providers, it announced Friday.

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Associated Press: ‘Radical action’ needed to hit climate goals, according to Energy Agency

March 29 — The world must take “radical action” by investing $5.7 trillion in private and public money each year through 2030 to shift away from fossil fuels and ensure the planetary warming they cause doesn’t pass dangerous thresholds, the International Renewable Energy Agency says.

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NPR: Misinformation is derailing renewable energy projects across the United States

March 28 — Other misleading ideas about renewable energy come from groups with ties to the fossil fuel industry, like the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The foundation recently released a film trailer for an anti-offshore wind group in Massachusetts that features multiple falsehoods, including the untrue statement that the proposed project didn’t do any environmental impact assessments and the incorrect idea that offshore wind projects “haven’t worked anywhere in the world.”

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Longview News-Journal: Longview council votes to suspend proposed natural gas rate increases

March 25 — Atmos Energy and CenterPoint Energy submitted requested rate increases Feb. 25 and March 3, respectively, to the Texas Railroad Commission.

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Texas Public Radio: Why can’t Texas have a green grid?

March 25 — This switch would create: cheaper power, healthier environments, many more high paying jobs and help protect the planet from the devastation of climate change. But there’s a big problem with making that switch from dirty expensive coal to green clean cheap energy: the grid is a mess.

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Reuters: Brazos Electric seeks more time to control bankruptcy amid mediation

March 25 — The largest power cooperative in Texas is seeking six more months to maintain control over its ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, saying it needs more time to resolve its $2 billion fight with the state’s electric grid operator stemming from last year’s historic winter storm that left millions of Texans without power for days.

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Arizona Mirror:  Repealing 1998 utility deregulation law will protect consumers

March 25 — According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the federal Energy Information Administration, after Texas deregulated nearly 20 years ago, “deregulated Texas residential consumers paid $28 billion more for their power … than they would have paid at the rates charged to the customers of the state’s traditional utilities.”

 

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