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Kathryn McGrath

@kathrynmcgr.bsky.social
265 followers 511 following 54 posts

Communications for #cleanenergy at Earthjustice. Opinions are all mine.

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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Take closer look: www.nerc.com/our-work/ass...
nerc.com
Summer Reliability Assessments
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
NERC just released its assessment of reliability risks for this summer: virtually the entire country faces “normal risk.” And no, the analysis does not include the coal plants forced to operate under DOE "emergency" orders. The Trump administration energy "emergency" is an excuse to pollute.
nerc.com
Summer Reliability Assessments
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Reposted by Kathryn McGrath
Earthjustice @earthjustice.org · 08/04/2026
Communities across the country are facing new data centers and power plants in their backyards — all to power the AI boom. The unchecked buildout of data centers threatens to raise electricity rates, increases pollution, and undermine clean energy goals.
earthjustice.org
What You Need to Know About AI Data Centers
Earthjustice attorneys are fighting to control their pollution and climate impacts — and your energy bill.
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Reposted by Kathryn McGrath
Earthjustice @earthjustice.org · 16/04/2026
"Folks are calling electricity prices like the new price of eggs," said Christie Hicks, an attorney at Earthjustice. "I don't think that there's anyone who would say, yes, I would like to pay more for my electricity so that I can subsidize some of the wealthiest companies in the world."
aol.com
Data center executives fret over the industry's increasingly toxic public image
Data center development has boomed but communities and politicians are pushing back. Sinking sentiment imperils trillions of dollars of development.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
In West Virginia, electricity bills are becoming (like health insurance) just impossible for normal people to afford. The state is also the most reliant on coal for power, and the Public Service Commission keeps approving rate hikes. www.insurancejournal.com/news/southea...
insurancejournal.com
Electric Bills in Coal Country West Virginia Now Top Mortgage Payments
RAINELLE, W.Va. (AP) — Every month, Rebecca Michalski takes a deep breath before opening her electric bill. She lives on a fixed income, and heating her
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
So @earthjustice.org will sue EPA again to make sure communities are protected from coal ash. Because if the coal industry does not clean up its toxic pollution, Americans will end up paying.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
It's worth remembering the catastrophic disasters of the past that led to people demanding these environmental laws in the first place. Nixon created the EPA in 1970 because it turns out corporations do not curb their deadly pollution without being forced to by law.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
The Trump Administration's EPA is in the midst of gutting every health and environmental safeguard as quickly as possible. But these requirements to force polluting industries to not poison our air and water - and not kill us - have broad support.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
The EPA is not holding an in-person hearing on the proposal, probably bcs the last one they held was a powerful display of hundreds of people testifying about the deadly cost of not regulating coal ash. You can read their stories earthjustice.org/feature/coal...
earthjustice.org
‘Do Your Job, EPA’: Stories From the Frontlines of Coal Ash
By law, before government regulations are adopted or changed, agencies must ask the public — you — to weigh in.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
So Earthjustice sued again, on behalf of orgs like NAACP Indiana, @hoosierenvcouncil.bsky.social @justtransitionnwi.bsky.social and others. And we won. Now, just as the coal power industry was about to reveal the full scale of its contamination of groundwater, the Trump Administration said 'nah.'
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
It took an @earthjustice.org lawsuit and years of dedicated activism from communities across the U.S. to get the EPA to issue the first-ever safeguards to protect people from toxic coal ash in 2015. The power industry fought any kind of regulation for years. And they succeeded in weakening the law.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Americans decided it was probably a good idea to set some guidelines for how power companies handle coal ash after 1 BILLION gallons of coal ash spilled from the TVA's Kingston Plant in 2008, destroying homes, poisoning rivers and contaminating drinking water across 300 acres.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Happy Earth month! Yesterday, the EPA published a draft rule to effectively gut federal coal ash regulations. Coal ash is the toxic sludge that power companies have dumped in unlined pits for decades, it's leaking and contaminating water across the country. earthjustice.org/press/2026/e...
 In December 2008 one billion gallons of toxic coal ash spilled from the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant, covering 300 acres, destroying homes, poisoning rivers and contaminating coves and residential drinking waters. (Photo courtesy of United Mountain Defense)
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
@rtoinsider.bsky.social has the story - www.rtoinsider.com/128949-miso-...
rtoinsider.com
MISO: NERC to Dial Down RTO’s Risk Level; Members Create Large Load Working Group
In a case of déjà vu, MISO announced that NERC is poised to issue a follow-up to its Long-Term Reliability Assessment.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
oh look at that. MISO got #NERC to revise its dire forecast and actually factor in MISO’s interconnection queue fast lane. The result is a significant boost of MISO's reliability rating. Now if only that fast lane included more of the clean energy projects waiting years to connect.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
North American Electric Reliability Corporation #NERC’s latest Long-Term Reliability Assessment grossly overstates resource reliability risks, ignoring a number of key factors. NERC's independence and assessments are critical to grid planning so this is a shock gridstrategiesllc.com/review-of-ne...
gridstrategiesllc.com
Review of NERC’s 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment • Grid Strategies
Grid Strategies' analysis demonstrates that the severity of the risk may be less than assessed by NERC's Long-Term Reliability Assessment.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
It's a good year to be a polluting coal power plant owner, not so good for people who like to breathe. The latest: Trump’s EPA asks the court to strike down the national safeguard for emissions of soot. earthjustice.org/press/2025/t...
earthjustice.org
Trump’s EPA Abandons Defense of National Soot Standard That Saves Lives
Abandoning soot standards would cause more asthma attacks, heart disease, and early death — especially in vulnerable communities
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Is there any health and environmental protection that the Trump Administration won't delay/defer/gut? Last night they proposed to just let companies continue to dump toxic coal ash into unlined coal ponds KNOWN to be leaching into groundwater at 11 power plants. earthjustice.org/press/2025/e...
earthjustice.org
EPA Proposes to Delay Closure of Some of the Largest Toxic Coal Ash Ponds, in Violation of the Law
Trump’s EPA proposal would allow EPA to grant 11 coal power plants extensions to continue dumping toxic coal ash in unlined ponds until October 17, 2031
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Reposted by Kathryn McGrath
Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore @sjblakemore.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
I was explaining to my Ukrainian colleague the phrase ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’. She told me the equivalent in Ukrainian is ‘The only free cheese is in the mousetrap’ - which is so much better
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Should tech companies be burning fossil fuels just to power AI? Should datacenters be allowed to drive up electricity costs for the rest of us? No and no.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
What energy emergency? In 2024 America produced more energy than ever -- solar and wind set domestic production records while coal accounted for about 10% of U.S. total energy production. www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...
eia.gov
In 2024, the United States produced more energy than ever before - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Trump's DOE is forcing coal plants to keep operating, based on flimsy projections that many disagree with -- including the grid operator in the Midwest. Burning coal just for fun is going to be costly and Consumers Energy customers are going to get the bill.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Laughing because they all agree there is not a risk!
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Update from FERC's technical conference on resource adequacy: People were literally laughing at NERC’s claim in the 2025 Summer Assessment that the Midwest is in danger of a shortage of electricity. LOLz at 1:07:40 www.youtube.com/live/OGMmmjh... #energysky
youtube.com
Meeting the Challenge of Resource Adequacy in RTOs/ISOs | Day 1 of 2 Technical Conference
YouTube video by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
From 1999 to 2020, research shows deaths from coal pollution declined by 97% thanks to environmental rules and coal’s shrinking role in U.S. power. The @apnews.com calculated the deadly cost of EPA rule rollbacks: apnews.com/article/epa-...
Chart of range of estimated deaths from coal pollution: From 1999 to 2020, research in the journal Science shows deaths from coal pollution declined by 97% among Medicare recipients (mostly people over 65). The death toll has steadily declined thanks to environmental rules and coal’s shrinking role in U.S. power.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
25% of U.S. electricity was generated by solar, wind and geothermal in March. Wind generated 50 TWh of electricity -- providing 15% of U.S. electricity. That must be a record. And yet this Administration is trying to halt wind projects and declaring an 'energy emergency.' www.eia.gov/electricity/...
eia.gov
Electric Power Monthly - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
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Reposted by Kathryn McGrath
TyesDad @tyesdad.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Ya know what doesn't spill into river, lakes and oceans? Wind and solar energy
stocks.apple.com
About 2,000 gallons of diesel spills in Baltimore waterfront, US officials say — Reuters
A 2,000-gallon diesel spill that originated at a hospital facility in Baltimore, Maryland, on Wednesday tainted a waterfront in a popular tourist spot in the city, but there was no impact on drinking ...
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Unplanned outages strike coal and gas power plants in Texas, but don't worry, solar and wind provided more than 50% of electricity in Texas yesterday. And the sun and wind are free.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Who can be opposed to generating cheaper and cleaner electricity? Texas generates more electricity from wind than any other state -- more than a 1/4 of America's wind energy is from Texas.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
While crop prices and yields are volatile and at the whims of natural disasters, wind turbines offer a relatively stable source of revenue in Iowa. And now data centers are testing the winds in Iowa. www.vox.com/climate/4079...
vox.com
Meet the Trump supporters who love wind energy
In this conservative state, the wind is too strong for politics to slow it down.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Jesus Christ, loving everyone with a universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Let us ask Our Lady of Guadalupe to protect individuals and families who live in fear or pain due to migration and/or deportation.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings!
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality...
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Thus, all the Christian faithful and people of good will are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights, not vice versa...
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
who is always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person...
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
The journey from slavery to freedom that the People of Israel traveled, as narrated in the Book of Exodus, invites us to look at the reality of our time, so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration, as a decisive moment in history to reaffirm not only our faith in a God
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Pope Francis issued this letter to U.S. bishops in February to refute this Administration and stand, as he always did, for human rights and the dignity of the poor. One of the last people to see Pope Francis before his death was VP Vance. press.vatican.va/content/sala...
press.vatican.va
Lettera del Santo Padre ai Vescovi degli Stati Uniti d’America
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Reposted by Kathryn McGrath
Ohio Citizen Action @ohiocitizen.org · 15/04/2025
☀️ A look on the bright side: ☀️ US solar capacity is set to double from 91 GW to 182 GW between 2023-2026, while battery storage capacity will grow 70% in 2025 alone, according to the Energy Information Administration. pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/04/11/u...
pv-magazine-usa.com
U.S. total solar capacity to double over three-year span
The Energy Information Administration said cumulative solar installations are expected to double from 91 GW to 182 GW from the end of 2023 to the end of 2026. Meanwhile, battery energy storage capacit...
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
I hope for the sake of customers in KY paying a monthly electricity bill that the Western Kentucky wind turbine pilot is doing well!
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Interesting chart from @liamniemeyer.bsky.social comparing Kentucky's (coal-burning) energy mix to states with the cheapest energy. Look at all that wind! kentuckylantern.com/2025/04/10/h...
Chart comparing Kentucky's energy mix to the 10 states with the most inexpensive electricity
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
The threat from the Trump Administration against state climate laws would infringe on the Constitution. What will they try to do? planetdetroit.org/2025/04/trum...
planetdetroit.org
Could Trump's executive orders endanger Michigan's climate laws?
The Trump administration targets state climate laws and aims to reinvigorate the U.S. coal industry, potentially jeopardizing Michigan's transition away from fossil fuels.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
A little perspective.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Trump's promise to target state climate laws is illegal, obv. “This executive order doesn’t do anything,” Vermont’s AG, Charity Clark, told @vtdigger.bsky.social. “I think Donald Trump wants to have more power than he really has. And so he’s styling these memos and emails as executive orders.”
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Reposted by Kathryn McGrath
Doug Lewin @douglewin.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
There's a new solar record in ERCOT today! First time above 26,500 megawatts, good enough for 55.5% of afternoon demand. Going to need a lot more solar as demand is rising fast in Texas and gas turbines aren't available until 2030 or beyond.
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Reposted by Kathryn McGrath
Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
This is part of what’s so insane. As they talk about re-shoring and manufacturing they are actively trying to destroy an entire us manufacturing industry that already exists.
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
These billboards are all over DC. Remember the days when a message of character and kindness wouldn’t be political? I’m surprised Trump hasn’t denounced Dolly.
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Reposted by Kathryn McGrath
Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Measles and tariffs, what century is this?
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Kathryn McGrath @kathrynmcgr.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Post-woke is afternoon nap time. Put it to bed!
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Reposted by Kathryn McGrath
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
This is not a surprise. We know what causes CO₂ to increase in the atmosphere and we know how to stop climate change. We just don’t want to.
theguardian.com
Half of world’s CO2 emissions come from 36 fossil fuel firms, study shows
Researchers say data strengthens case for holding firms to account for their contribution to climate crisis
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