skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

'Woefully insufficient': Federal judge accuses Justice Department of evading 'obligations' to comply with deportation flights request; WA caregivers rally against Medicaid cuts; NM's state methane regulations expected to thwart federal rollbacks; Governor, critics call out 'boilerplate' bills from WY 2025 session.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump faces legal battles over education cuts, immigration actions, and moves by DOGE. Farmers struggle with USDA freezing funds. A Georgetown scholar fights deportation, and Virginia debates voter roll purges ahead of elections.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Cuts to Medicaid and frozen funding for broadband are both likely to have a negative impact on rural healthcare, which is already struggling. Plus, lawsuits over the mass firing of federal workers have huge implications for public lands.

Report: ID utilities struggling to transition to clean energy

play audio
Play

Monday, October 28, 2024   

A new report grades utilities based on their commitment to transitioning away from fossil fuels.

The Sierra Club has graded utilities on their climate pledges since 2021 in its Dirty Truth report.

It finds marginal improvements nationwide, with utilities only committed to retiring 30% of their coal generation by 2030.

Director of the Sierra Club Idaho chapter Lisa Young said one troubling trend is that some utilities claiming to clean up their power generation are simply switching from coal to natural gas.

"Knowing that our ultimate goal and what we need to be doing to address the climate crisis is not replacing one fossil fuel with another," said Young, "but replacing fossil fuels with 100% clean, renewable energy."

The report graded two utilities in Idaho, giving Idaho Power a 'C' grade and PacifiCorp a 'B' grade.

While it operates in fewer parts of Idaho, PacifiCorp serves a large swath of the West - including parts of California, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Idaho Power and PacifiCorp own a coal-fired power plant in Wyoming, with PacifiCorp in control of two-thirds of the plant.

Young said the utilities planned to convert the plant to gas power, which would have had some slight benefits in the long run.

But PacifiCorp changed its mind this year and said it would continue using coal, deciding to install carbon capture technology instead.

"That's why Idaho Power gets a bad score in this report, because PacifiCorp - the co-owner - is making these poor decisions about continuing to burn coal past 2030," said Young, "and it's impacting Idaho Power and all of us as the customers and everyone in the region."

Young said Idaho Power should push PacifiCorp away from coal.

"Even though it's not the majority owner and this other utility, PacifiCorp, has most of the final say in what's going to happen with that coal plant," said Young, "Idaho Power does have an opportunity here and a point of leverage to really try to shut that coal plant down, and to stop burning coal at that plant."

She also noted that Idaho Power should not put any barriers in the way of rooftop solar so that households can also be part of the renewable energy change.



Disclosure: Sierra Club contributes to our fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, Energy Policy, Environment, Environmental Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
PoliChic Engagement Fund says it's critical Texans make sure lawmakers are voting in their public interest. (JHVEPhoto/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Many Texans feel strongly, one way or another, about the proposed school voucher bill before state lawmakers. Gov. Greg Abbott has proposed a plan to …


Social Issues

play sound

As the Trump administration makes good on promises to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, educators and parents are raising concerns about the …

Environment

play sound

Greenpeace has been ordered to pay several hundred million dollars stemming from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and some are saying the verdict l…


Experts advised neighbors to work together to reduce the risk of fire racing across the block or through the neighborhood. (Brian/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

As Los Angeles starts to recover from the firestorm, people are looking for ways to harden their homes against future mega-blazes. Experts said the …

Environment

play sound

A local event that brings students face-to-face with outdoor habitats is serving to ignite a lifelong passion in some that go on to pursue "green jobs…

Research shows there is a direct correlation between unstable housing and food insecurity. (FamilyWorks Food Bank)

Social Issues

play sound

While affordable housing advocates across the state have been cheering on Washington's rent stabilization bill in Olympia, so have organizations …

Social Issues

play sound

Industry groups say Minnesota is short more than 100,000 affordable-housing units to meet demand, and project leaders have said the Trump …

Social Issues

play sound

The number of working-age Wyoming adults with college degrees or valuable credentials increased by over 18% between 2009 and 2023, according to …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021