Clean Energy Ballot Tests Put Permitting and Gas in Play

By Grace Kim

At least $215,000 in utility spending against Michigan Proposition 2, according to the Energy and Policy Institute, opens a five-measure ballot test of permitting, utility money and gas policy. California, Eugene, Colorado, Ann Arbor and voters elsewhere in Michigan will decide the measures in the midterm elections.

What does this ballot slate change for energy development?

California’s Proposition 45 would revise the California Environmental Quality Act after more than 50 years of governing reviews for housing, energy and other development. It would set a 365-business-day limit on most state environmental reviews while excluding fossil-fuel construction.

Supporters say the deadline could accelerate clean-energy and infrastructure projects. Opposing groups say the change would reduce tribal input and put California’s lands, waters and air at risk.

In Eugene, Oregon, voters would approve a fee on Amazon, Walmart and other companies with at least $1 billion in national gross profits and $500,000 in gross profits inside the city. Revenue could finance restaurant electrification, clean-energy job training and other climate programs designed to prioritize low-income and historically marginalized residents. The approach resembles Portland’s existing corporate clean-energy fee.

Colorado’s Amendment 82, proposed by Advance Colorado, would establish a constitutional right for households to use natural gas for cooking and heating. Advance Colorado argues that natural gas in Colorado is under attack as the state pursues a zero-emissions target and cities consider limits in new construction.

Environmental and public-health groups oppose the amendment. They say continued fossil-gas reliance would expose residents to safety risks and higher utility bills.

Michigan’s Proposition 2 would extend the state’s political-spending restrictions farther than any other state has. Michigan already bars corporations, including investor-owned utilities, from direct campaign donations.

The proposal would also prohibit utility-funded political action committees from giving to campaigns and bar donations from utility executives and their relatives. Utilities have spent at least $215,000 opposing the measure, according to the Energy and Policy Institute.

Ann Arbor’s Proposition E would establish a municipal utility board that could discuss acquiring DTE Energy’s grid resources in the city. Opponents put the cost of such a takeover at as much as $1 billion.

Supporters say the price tag would be far smaller and that a municipal utility could deliver cleaner, more reliable and more affordable power. Environmental groups and city leaders warn the measure could derail the city’s Sustainable Energy Utility work, and Ann Arbor has sued this week to keep Proposition E off the ballot.

For energy developers, the practical effect depends on each jurisdiction’s result: California could set a review clock, Eugene could create corporate clean-energy funding, and Colorado could protect gas service. Michigan’s votes could restrict utility political spending and open a municipal review of grid ownership, leaving residents and businesses with different rules for building, powering and governing infrastructure.

Data-center gas threatens the power sector’s emissions arithmetic

An internal Sierra Club analysis, covered by Bloomberg, estimates that gas plants built for data centers could erase 15 years of emissions reductions in U.S. power generation. The group projects 618 million metric tons more carbon dioxide in 2030 than in 2025, largely from off-grid fossil-fuel power.

That outcome depends on many more data centers reaching construction. Anthropic’s initial IPO filing, submitted this week, also warns that gas generation could become harder and more expensive to build and operate amid supply-chain shortages and rising fuel prices, while public opposition to data centers adds another constraint.

Federal permitting remains unsettled

The U.S. Senate is moving toward a vote on a bipartisan permitting bill that clean-energy developers say could accelerate transmission and other energy projects. A coalition of geothermal, nuclear and other developers and funders backed the legislation in a letter arguing that passage is essential for U.S. competitiveness.

John Podesta, a former senior climate adviser to the Biden administration, warned that the bill would give President Donald Trump a “loaded Howitzer” for irreversible decisions on public lands. The NAACP cited environmental-justice concerns, while Rep. Sean Casten said developers are “overwhelmingly” telling him they would build gas if the legislation advances.

Meanwhile, the administration started allowing some long-delayed onshore wind projects to move after Democrats objected to renewed attacks on offshore wind. Four Democratic senators also asked the Energy Department to restore blue-state climate funding withdrawn the previous year, saying that action would build trust that the White House would enforce the permitting law as written.

Loans, storage and other policy shifts

• The Energy Department announced a conditional loan of up to $5 billion for Constellation Energy to upgrade its nuclear fleet in Illinois, Maryland and Pennsylvania, bringing power online sooner than new plants.
• The department closed a $5.1 billion loan for Alliant Energy to expand gas generation and battery storage, improve existing facilities and strengthen grid reliability across Iowa and Wisconsin.
• The Environmental Defense Fund says the Trump administration has supported nearly half of the 184 U.S. coal plants with taxpayer-funded handouts, air-pollution exemptions and emergency stay-open orders.
• BloombergNEF revised its U.S. storage forecast, expecting the country to install 30% more battery storage over the next decade than the firm predicted six months earlier.
• The EPA formally proposed rescinding Biden-era regulations intended to curb methane leaks and emissions from the oil and gas industry.
• The Detroit Zoo is exploring less energy-intensive, cleaner heating and cooling for its animal habitats under a state grant program helping five organizations decarbonize their operations.
• An RMI analysis found that states with spare winter grid capacity could potentially lower residential power rates by bringing more heat pumps online.

The next decision points

Election Day results will determine whether California’s 365-day review clock, Eugene’s corporate fee and Colorado’s gas amendment pass. Michigan voters will separately decide whether to restrict utility spending or establish a board for a potential DTE grid takeover.

The Senate permitting vote is the next federal regulatory test. For data centers, actual construction and access to gas will decide whether the Sierra Club’s 618-million-ton scenario becomes a market reality.