Pam Radtke, Floodlight

Logan Burke of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, left, and Billy Anderson from the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, testify Wednesday against a move to halt an energy efficiency program for Louisiana’s residential customers. In a hastily called meeting, the Louisiana Public Service Commission voted 3-2 to kill the program.

Energy efficiency program killed; advocates say Louisianans will pay the price.

The state Public Service Commission voted along party lines to end a program to save energy and money for residential customers — who already top the US in electricity use.

Crews work to restore power lines in south Louisiana following Hurricane Francine. Entergy Louisiana has proposed charging customers about $1 per month to help pay for repairs from the storm. Customers are already paying about $20 per month to pay for damage from previous hurricanes.

Coastal Desk

US electricity prices are surging. These Louisiana companies want out.

Pam Radtke, Floodlight

Citing few renewable options and projected price jumps, industries in one state propose their own power generation, free from monopoly utilities.

Attendees carry signs and chant on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, as they march down Tower Drive in Baton Rouge, La.

Coastal Desk

Fueling Knowledge, Part Two

Halle Parker

Hundreds of millions of oil and gas dollars are flowing into universities. Today, we look at the possible conflict of interest and how it's shaping LSU.

A carbon capture installation at the Heidelberg cement factory in Brevik, Norway, is seen in 2024. Carbon capture allows carbon-emitting industries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by capturing them and storing them underground. But such carbon can also be used to drill for fossil fuels, which are the main cause of climate change.

Coastal Desk

Capturing CO2, sold as climate solution, rebranded as oil industry boost

Pam Radtke, Floodlight

Oil executives, business interests push economic benefits of carbon capture as President Trump takes aim at climate funding OK’d under Biden.

In April 2024, a Denbury carbon dioxide pipeline in Calcasieu Parish, La., ruptured, causing a plume of CO2 to be released along the ground for two hours. Residents in the area were told to shelter in place.

Coastal Desk

CO2 pipeline company draws $2.4M fine for menacing federal inspectors

Pam Radtke, Floodlight

Workers were manufacturing pipeline to replace a ruptured section of carbon dioxide line that sent 45 people to the hospital in Mississippi.

A direct air capture (DAC) hub being developed by Climeworks in Calcasieu Parish, La., will use the same technology the company is using at its Mammoth DAC facility in Iceland (above). Climeworks is one of two companies that plan to build DAC facilities in Louisiana with funding from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Coastal Desk

Removing carbon from the air — a climate cure or waste of money?

Pam Radtke, Floodlight

The incoming Trump administration will have a say in whether federally backed direct air capture projects in Louisiana move forward.

A Floodlight review of campaign donations in nine of the 10 states that elect their public service commissioners found that fossil fuel interests, power companies and related groups have given about $13.5 million to elect their preferred state energy regulators in the past decade — about 35% of all donations $250 and above.

Coastal Desk

Utility regulators take millions from industries they oversee. What could go wrong?

Mario Alejandro Ariza, Floodlight

The clean energy transition, for one, a Floodlight analysis of campaign finance data reveals.

St. Rose, La., fire inspector Ronnie Francis tells the crowd at a Sept. 26, 2024 hearing on an ammonia plant in St. Charles Parish that the room is over capacity and he will have to close the meeting down if most people don’t leave. (Stephanie Tarrant / Floodlight)

Crowd size forces Louisiana to postpone hearing on proposed ammonia plant

Pam Radtke, Floodlight

The public hearing for the St. Charles Clean Fuels Plant will be rescheduled after more than 200 people show up in space meant for 60.

Venture Global, which owns this methane (liquefied natural gas) export facility in southeast Louisiana, plans to build a second terminal next door. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted 2-1 Thursday to approve the proposal, which critics say would emit a massive amount of greenhouse gases.

Coastal Desk

Flouting Biden pause, agency OK’s largest LNG terminal in US

Pam Radtke, Floodlight

Whether the Louisiana project is built may hinge on federal study of climate and economic impact of the burgeoning liquefied natural gas industry

Jennifer Scalise, wife of U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., christens the ECO EDISON, the first American-built offshore wind service operations vessel on May 11, 2024 in New Orleans. The ECO EDISON will be the floating home base for offshore wind technicians at Ørsted's Northeast offshore wind farms.

Coastal Desk

Is U.S. offshore wind dead in the water — or just poised for the next big gust?

Pam Radtke, Floodlight

The Biden Administration wants to boost offshore wind. But other forces, including cost, political opposition and disinformation, have slowed adoption.