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Pam Radtke

@pradtke.bsky.social
399 followers 1.1K following 39 posts

Climate, energy and Louisiana reporter for @floodlightnews.org. Trying to explain in plain language the firehose of developments on LNG, Carbon Capture and electric utilities.

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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Louisiana energy regulators get $15 million a year — from your power bill — to spend on energy efficiency projects in public facilities of their choosing. Who monitors the program? No one. floodlightnews.org/80-million-f...
floodlightnews.org
$80 million, few rules: Louisiana’s energy efficiency ‘slush fund’
One of the least energy efficient states allows elected commissioners to use ratepayer money for ‘patronage’ projects — with little oversight
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Reposted by Pam Radtke
Canary Media Inc. @canarymedia.com · 18/04/2025
Regulators in Louisiana voted along party lines to cancel an energy-efficiency program 14 years in the making. One official called it ​“a punch to the face to all Louisianians who are struggling to pay their bills.” Reporting by @pradtke.bsky.social via @floodlightnews.org
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Louisiana kills energy-efficiency program in eleventh hour
Energy regulators voted along party lines to cancel the program. One official called it “a punch to the face to all Louisianians who are struggling to pay…
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Reposted by Pam Radtke
Louisiana Illuminator @lailluminator.com · 16/04/2025
The Louisiana Public Service Commission might scrap an energy efficiency program after it spent more than $500K to put it in place – and took 14 years to come up with the program. Our @wesmuller.bsky.social & @pradtke.bsky.social w/ @floodlightnews.org report lailluminator.com/2025/04/15/l...
lailluminator.com
La. Public Service Commission might scrap new energy efficiency program • Louisiana Illuminator
The Louisiana Public Service Commission will consider terminating a statewide energy efficiency program that it spent 14 years creating.
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Floodlight @floodlightnews.org · 12/04/2025
Solar advocates flooded Capitol Hill this week to save the Inflation Reduction Act. They say cutting tax credits now would stall progress, kill jobs, and raise costs. NEW in @floodlightnews.org from @pradtke.bsky.social‬:
floodlightnews.org
As Congress slashes spending, will clean energy tax credits survive?
Solar boosters say repealing Inflation Reduction Act incentives could drive up electricity costs, stall manufacturing and slow climate progress.
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Reposted by Pam Radtke
David Roberts @volts.wtf · 31/03/2025
Louisiana utilities are providing dirty power at higher and higher (and higher and higher) prices, and the state's industrial customers are getting sick of it. They want to opt out and procure their own (renewable) energy.
floodlightnews.org
US electricity prices are surging. These companies want out.
Citing few renewable options and projected price jumps, industries in Louisiana propose their own power generation, free from monopoly utilities
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Reposted by Pam Radtke
Joshua Basseches @joshuabasseches.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Increasing electric rates are out of control. Never has there been a bigger gulf b/t utility shareholder interests & those of ratepayers (including industrial customers, which as this @pradtke.bsky.social story notes, want direct access to cheap renewables!): floodlightnews.org/us-electrici...
floodlightnews.org
US electricity prices are surging. These companies want out.
Citing few renewable options and projected price jumps, industries in Louisiana propose their own power generation, free from monopoly utilities
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Reposted by Pam Radtke
EJ Today News @ejtodaynews.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
#Oil And Gas Money Shapes Research, ‘Echo Chamber’ In Higher #Education #news #environment @pradtke.bsky.social reports for @floodlightnews.org @halleparker.bsky.social reports for @wwno.org & @WRKF @piperhutch.bsky.social reports for @lailluminator.com floodlightnews.org/fueling-know...
floodlightnews.org
Fueling Knowledge: Oil and gas money shapes research, creates ‘echo chamber’ in higher education
Louisiana’s flagship university is looking to partner more closely with petrochemical industries in the state
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Fossil fuel Companies and higher ed seem To go hand in hand at LSU and other universities. Here’s why that might be a problem. Check out the story and podcast here:
floodlightnews.org
Fueling Knowledge: Oil and gas money shapes research, creates ‘echo chamber’ in higher education
Louisiana’s flagship university is looking to partner more closely with petrochemical industries in the state
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Louisiana Illuminator @lailluminator.com · 06/03/2025
Power for massive data centers like the one proposed in NE Louisiana could come at ‘staggering’ cost to consumers, @pradtke.bsky.social reports for @floodlightnews.org lailluminator.com/2025/03/06/d...
lailluminator.com
Power for data centers could come at ‘staggering’ cost to consumers • Louisiana Illuminator
A new report from Harvard’s Electricity Law Initiative says U.S. consumers will pay billions of dollars to build new power plants to serve data centers.
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Fantastic reading in report from @aripeskoe.bsky.social on the potential costs of data center power for every day consumers. Read about it here floodlightnews.org/power-for-da...
floodlightnews.org
Power for data centers could come at ‘staggering’ cost to consumers
New report highlights how traditional ways of setting rates don’t fit Big Tech’s massive, immediate demand for more electricity
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Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN) @sehnetwork.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
"Carbon capture incentives are 'another subsidy for oil.'" Our ED @carolynraff.bsky.social quoted in NEW piece by @pradtke.bsky.social in the @lailluminator.com: lailluminator.com/2025/02/28/c... Links to our report (first comment) on the false promises and health harms of #EOR. #CSS #pipelines #45Q
lailluminator.com
Capturing carbon dioxide, sold as climate solution, rebranded as oil industry boost • Louisiana Illuminator
Billions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing capture and storage of carbon dioxide may instead go to fossil fuel companies to help boost production of oil.
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
My latest insideclimatenews.org/news/1702202...
insideclimatenews.org
CO2 Pipeline Company Draws $2.4m Fine for Menacing Federal Inspectors - Inside Climate News
Workers were manufacturing pipeline to replace a ruptured section of carbon dioxide line that sent 45 people to the hospital in Mississippi.
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Kristi E. Swartz @bizwriterkristi.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
insideclimatenews.org/news/1702202... Nice read from @pradtke.bsky.social
insideclimatenews.org
CO2 Pipeline Company Draws $2.4m Fine for Menacing Federal Inspectors - Inside Climate News
Workers were manufacturing pipeline to replace a ruptured section of carbon dioxide line that sent 45 people to the hospital in Mississippi.
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Simon Mahan @simonmahan.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Elon Musk's xAI wants to use gas turbines long-term at Memphis site, documents show
commercialappeal.com
Elon Musk's xAI wants to use gas turbines long-term at Memphis site, documents show
xAI has filed for a permit with the Shelby County Department of Health that would allow for 15 gas turbines to operate 24/7 at its Memphis site.
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Alexander C. Kaufman @alexckaufman.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Remember that Exxon-owned CO2 pipeline that leaked in Mississippi a few years ago and sent 45 people to the hospital? When federal inspectors showed up recently, they were "taunted, pushed and blocked from doing their jobs." floodlightnews.org/email/904c7b...
floodlightnews.org
CO2 pipeline company draws $2.4M fine for menacing federal inspectors
Workers were manufacturing pipeline to replace a ruptured section of carbon dioxide line that sent 45 people to the hospital in Mississippi
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Louisiana Illuminator @lailluminator.com · 12/02/2025
Company that owns ruptured CO2 Mississippi pipeline and another that leaked in Calcasieu Parish has been fined $2.4 million for menacing federal inspectors. @pradtke.bsky.social reports for @floodlightnews.org lailluminator.com/2025/02/12/p...
lailluminator.com
Pipeline company fined $2.4 million for menacing federal inspectors • Louisiana Illuminator
Federal inspectors sent to examine a carbon dioxide pipeline being built to replace one that failed in Mississippi were taunted, pushed and blocked from doing their jobs, according to a federal notice...
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
SCOOP: Denbury/Exxon draws $2.4M fine for menacing inspectors examining work to replace Saratia CO2 pipeline
floodlightnews.org
CO2 pipeline company draws $2.4M fine for menacing federal inspectors
Workers were manufacturing pipeline to replace a ruptured section of carbon dioxide line that sent 45 people to the hospital in Mississippi
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
kentuckylantern.com/2025/01/30/c...
kentuckylantern.com
Congress urged to reform TVA to improve transparency, decision making • Kentucky Lantern
Congress should reform the Tennessee Valley Authority’s governance and planning, a renewable energy group says in a new report.
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Kristi E. Swartz @bizwriterkristi.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
floodlightnews.org/chinese-ai-t... Nice story from @pradtke.bsky.social
floodlightnews.org
Chinese AI tech could cut projected spike in US electricity
Are we planning too many new power plants to fuel data centers? Advocates call for more protections for consumers — and the climate
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Important reading... www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The New Evidence Climate Change Will Upend American Homeownership (Gift Article)
A new analysis predicts an extraordinary reversal in housing fortunes for Americans.
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
A tale of two realities. If a company can build a data center on private land, without having to jump through red tape and doesn't have to procure and build renewable energy, capitalism says the later wins, 9 out of 10 times www.ft.com/content/63c3... vs. www.utilitydive.com/news/biden-d...
ft.com
AI set to fuel surge in new US gas power plants
Climate targets in peril as Big Tech turns to fossil fuels to feed energy demand
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Same. Same
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Jared Rennie @jjrennie.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
If you're interested in seeing how the stripes look in your area, I've updated graphics to this interactive tool to see temperature and precipitation stripes for each US county! storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/36fb... #ClimateStripes #ShowYourStripes
storymaps.arcgis.com
Climate Stripes for U.S. States and Counties
U.S. state and county-level "climate stripes" images using NOAA yearly temperature and precipitation data.
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Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Word of the Day is ‘uhtcearu’ [ucht-kay-aru, with the 'ch' as in the Scottish ‘loch']: Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn', when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
It was the best of times, it was the dumbest of times.
wyofile.com
'Make Carbon Dioxide Great Again' law would ban carbon reduction efforts in Wyoming - WyoFile
Sen. Steinmetz wants to repeal Wyoming's carbon capture mandate for coal plants.
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Reposted by Pam Radtke
Kristi E. Swartz @bizwriterkristi.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
Mo money, mo energy: www.ajc.com/news/amazon-...
ajc.com
Amazon plans $11 billion data center expansion in Georgia
Amazon said Tuesday it plans to spend at least $11 billion on new data center capacity in metro Atlanta
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
@bizwriterkristi.bsky.social !!!
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Ari Peskoe @aripeskoe.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
It has come to my attention that a former analyst at the Illinois Commerce Comm'n has written a novel about a "left-wing radical" who "settles down and sells out as a gas utility regulator." Just thought you would want to know:
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Louisiana Illuminator @lailluminator.com · 18/12/2024
A new analysis shows LNG export terminals harm the climate — but stops short of recommending a halt to the booming industry, @pradtke.bsky.social reports for @floodlightnews.org lailluminator.com/2024/12/18/e...
lailluminator.com
Federal gas export study not the final word on LNG projects • Louisiana Illuminator
A green light doesn’t necessarily mean go for 18 projects in limbo pending study on whether LNG exports are in the public interest.
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
DOE's LNG export study isn't the final word on whether 68 bcf/d of new LNG gets built. The market is. My story floodlightnews.org/federal-gas-...
floodlightnews.org
Federal gas export study not the final word on US LNG projects
A new analysis shows super-chilled methane harms the climate — but falls short of recommending a halt to the booming industry
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
All #energysky reporters today awaiting LNG study when a DOE news release pops into their inbox (2 false alarms this morning)
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Floodlight @floodlightnews.org · 11/12/2024
Massages and country clubs: Your electric bill may be funding lavish perks 🗞️
buff.ly
Massages and country clubs: Your electric bill may be funding lavish perks
Utility customers sometimes foot the bill for lobbying, advertising and luxurious living, new report shows
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
With rules for federal offshore carbon capture more than two years behind schedule, developers look to state waters #energysky
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Louisiana Illuminator @lailluminator.com · 16/12/2024
Developers eye Louisiana, Texas coasts for offshore carbon storage, @pradtke.bsky.social reports for @floodlightnews.org lailluminator.com/2024/12/16/o...
lailluminator.com
Developers eye Louisiana, Texas coasts for offshore carbon storage • Louisiana Illuminator
The federal government and geologists who have studied carbon storage say offshore sequestration projects make a lot of sense.
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Great point. Do we want AI thinking for us??
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Floodlight @floodlightnews.org · 12/12/2024
9/ Read the article by @marioarizabaez.bsky.social: floodlightnews.org/massages-and...
floodlightnews.org
Massages and country clubs: Your electric bill may be funding lavish perks
Utility customers sometimes foot the bill for lobbying, advertising and luxurious living, new report shows
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Floodlight @floodlightnews.org · 12/12/2024
1/ Your electric bill isn't just covering energy costs — it might be funding massages, private jets, & country club perks for utility executives. A new Energy Institute report reveals how utilities can quietly pass these luxury expenses onto customers. 🧵
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 05/12/2024
It's going to be truly wild if we start transporting electricity around the country on *trains* because we can't build any f'ing transmission lines. coloradosun.com/2024/12/05/c...
coloradosun.com
Charge train-size batteries with clean energy, roll them to power Denver: SunTrain says it’s the “crazy" future
SunTrain wants to use Colorado to demonstrate its batteries-on-train-cars system for transmitting renewable energy.
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Mark Z. Jacobson @mzjacobson.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
“Direct Air Capture is an opportunity cost that increases CO2, air pollution, fossil mining, fossil infrastructure and social cost (energy+health+climate costs) by a factor of 10 vs using the same money to replace fossil sources with clean, renewable energy.” lailluminator.com/2024/12/02/c...
lailluminator.com
Removing carbon from the air: A climate cure or waste of money? • Louisiana Illuminator
President-elect Trump has vowed to slash climate spending under the Inflation Reduction Act, but direct air capture hubs are part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
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Mary Annaïse Heglar @maryannaise.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
If it's one thing I wish more people understood about Cancer Alley—that stretch of road full of fossil fuel facilities between New Orleans and Baton Rouge—it would be this: it is not the only Cancer Alley in the country, or even in the state of Louisiana.
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Environmental advocates win a temporary hold on massive LNG plant in southwest Louisiana
floodlightnews.org
Venture Global’s ‘carbon bomb’ LNG plant on hold — for now
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission set aside its approval of the massive CP2 facility until further studies are done on air pollution
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Science Friday @scifri.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Along Louisiana’s coast, tribes are witnessing their lands disappear underwater. Environment reporter Eva Tesfaye joins us to discuss how the Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha tribe is creating protective reefs using recycled oyster shells.
sciencefriday.com
Using Oyster Shell Reefs To Counter Sea Level Rise In Louisiana
Tribes’ historic lands on the Gulf Coast are being lost to the sea. To slow it down, one tribe has turned to oyster shells.
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
If you don't to read about it, listen to the segment on direct air capture that I did with the masterful @evartesfaye.bsky.social www.wwno.org/coastal-desk...
wwno.org
Removing carbon from the air — a climate cure or waste of money?
The incoming Trump administration will have a say in whether federally backed direct air capture projects in Louisiana move forward.
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Ezra David Romero @climatedaddykqed.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
We keep hearing scary predictions about sea level rise, but it’s hard to imagine what it will mean for🌊to rise 2+ ft. In this WWNO Sea Change episode, we go to Virginia, San Francisco & Louisiana, where communities are coming up with w/solutions to the rising water. www.wwno.org/podcast/sea-...
wwno.org
From Sea to Rising Sea
We keep hearing scary predictions about sea level rise, but it’s hard to imagine what it will mean for seas to rise two feet…4 feet…even 7 feet by the end of the century. This episode takes you to eac...
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Direct air capture sounds like a great idea, until you realize it would take a quarter of the world’s electricity to remove just 1/10 of the carbon produced each year floodlightnews.org/removing-car...
floodlightnews.org
Removing carbon from the air — a climate cure or waste of money?
The incoming Trump administration will have a say in whether federally backed direct air capture projects in Louisiana move forward
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
Wrote a lil something for GenX women
open.substack.com
I don't have hot flashes. I still went on hormone therapy
A brief return to substack to share my experience
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Rocky Kistner @therockyfiles.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
IEA: rising clean energy supply cuts global #oil demand. "Rapid deployment of clean energy technologies is also increasingly displacing oil in transport and power generation, adding downward pressure to otherwise weak demand drivers.” @Reuters www.reuters.com/business/ene... #energy
reuters.com
World faces oil surplus in 2025 on weak demand, IEA says
Global oil supply will exceed demand in 2025 even if OPEC+ cuts remain in place, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday, as rising production from the United States and other outside producers outpaces sluggish demand.
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Baby, it’s cold outside
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Pam Radtke @pradtke.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Three of the five pies my daughters baked. And….there were only the three of us for Thanksgiving dinner.
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