Joseph Krist
Publisher
POWER
Hydro – Seattle’s municipal electric utility has announced a landmark agreement with Tribes and federal agencies to guide the future of the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project (Skagit Project). This settlement, after it is reviewed and approved by the City Council and signed by the City, will become part of the City’s formal license application to the FERC for a new 50-year license to operate the Skagit Project, which provides about 20% of Seattle’s electricity.
The Skagit Project includes three power-generating facilities—Ross, Diablo, and Gorge dams—located in the upper Skagit River Watershed in the Cascade Mountains. The current license, issued in 1995 by FERC, expired in 2025. City Light is now operating under annual licenses while seeking a new long-term license.
Solar – The U.S. solar industry installed 43 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity in 2025, remaining the dominant source of new capacity added to the grid for the fifth consecutive year. Solar accounted for 54% of all new electricity-generating capacity added to the US grid in 2025. Combined, solar and storage made up 79% of new capacity in this timeframe. Over two-thirds of all solar capacity installed in 2025 was built in red states.
Wind – Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, a 2.6-gigawatt project near Virginia Beach, Virginia, is expected to begin delivering power to the state’s energy-hungry grid by the end of March, according to its developer, Dominion Energy. It is now more than 70% finished. Near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind is effectively complete. The 704-MW Revolution Wind near Rhode Island, said the project was expected to begin generating electricity “within weeks” .
The 924 MW Sunrise Wind project was nearly halfway complete as of last month’s earnings call. The Empire Wind just saw a federal judge reject the Trump administration’s latest effort to further delay construction on the 810-MW wind farm off the coast of New York. The project is more than 60% complete.
Coal – A measure signed by the Governor of Washington makes it prohibitively expensive to generate electricity from burning coal. TransAlta operates the Centralia generating station in the state. It has been operating the plant under terms of a coal phaseout deal between TransAlta and the state executed some 15 years ago. The new tax scheme does so by removing tax and regulatory exemptions agreed to as part of that deal.
The measure follows in the wake of an US Energy Department order that the plant remain open in spite of TransAlta’s desire to convert the plant to natural gas. It was scheduled to stop generation and begin the conversion in this first quarter. The real irony is that this fight is over a plant that is not operating and which does not have coal on site. It is the second non-operable coal facility to be forced to remain open under the Energy Department’s scheme.
NEW JERSEY BUDGET
New Governor Sherrill issued her first proposed budget. The $60.7 billion budget includes a proposed surplus of $5.4 billion, while redirecting over 74 percent of the total budget back into our communities in the form of grants-in-aid for property tax relief, social services, and higher education, as well as state aid to schools, municipalities, and counties. this budget is 1.6 percent above the FY 2026 adjusted appropriation.
The FY 2027 budget proposal includes $7.3 billion for the State’s pension system, marking the sixth consecutive full payment. Her plan also finds money by dipping into the state’s surplus account, dropping it from $7.2 billion to $5.4 billion. The proposal anticipates $1.57 billion in additional revenue over the next fiscal year, projecting the state will take in 25% more from sales and corporate business taxes. The proposal includes more than $1 billion in state subsidies for NJ Transit, the state’s rail and bus system — up $215.3 million from the current budget.
CARBON CAPTURE
A North Dakota judge has revoked Summit Carbon Solutions’ permits for underground carbon dioxide storage, ruling parts of the state law they were issued under is unconstitutional. The law authorizes regulators to permit the storage of carbon dioxide beneath the property of nonconsenting landowners. The decision is the second this winter in which a North Dakota judge has reached the conclusion that the 2009 state law violates the state’s constitution.
The latest decision found that the law violates two protections afforded to private property owners when the government decides to take their property for public use. The North Dakota Constitution guarantees property owners the right to have compensation determined in a jury trial and also requires the compensation be paid before the property is taken.
NEW YORK STATE BUDGET
The Governor has presented her budget proposal for fiscal 2027. Now, the State Assembly has come up with their proposal. The lower house would increase the personal income tax on New Yorkers earning more than $5 million a year – a hike that would impact 14,000 taxpayers, and raise $2.9 billion in Fiscal Year 2027-2028. There is also a proposal to increase the corporate franchise tax as well as a new tax on crypto mining, which, together, would raise just under $2 billion.
The Assembly also proposes to provide a tax cut to low and middle-income New Yorkers earning below $323,200. The average tax cut is estimated to be $446. The cost to the state is estimated to be $2.1 billion in FY 26-27. Under the Assembly proposal, the personal income tax would be eliminated entirely for certain low and moderate-income New Yorkers with dependents.
ELECTRIC ECONOMY
The consequences of the Trump administration’s policies towards electric vehicles are beginning to impact local economies. Battery company SK Battery America Inc. laid off nearly 1,000 workers at a manufacturing plant northeast of Atlanta on Friday amid automakers’ changing electrification plans and uncertain consumer demand for EVs. The company said Friday marked the last working day for 958 plant employees, about 37% of its workforce, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, notice filed by.
Impacted workers will be paid through May 6. The plant will continue to employ about 1,600 workers. SK opened the $2.6 billion battery plant in Commerce, Georgia, in January 2022. The Korean company notably supplied the Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. Ford announced plans to cancel the fully electric version of the truck in December. The City of Commerce and the Jackson County SK and Hyundai are still jointly building a $5 billion battery factory near Cartersville, northwest of Atlanta.
SHRINKING SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Declines in public school attendance due to the pandemic were not unexpected. The more permanent nature of those attendance declines was not anticipated by school district managers. Now, in addition to declines in per capita aid many districts are now left with a surplus of capital assets – school buildings and land – that become an albatross to carry in a time of tight operating finances. The result is a growing number of school facilities which are cash drains with no offsetting revenue capability.
It’s not just poorer districts. The Orange County, FL school board voted to close seven public schools. The San Jose Unified School District in CA is taking a bit more time to consider the potential closure of up to nine elementary schools. The Wichita, KS school board is moving forward with the closure of four elementary schools, with student enrollment cited as a primary factor in the decision.
Houston Independent School District’s Board of Managers unanimously approved a plan to close 12 schools. Even in the wealthy Houston, TX suburbs, Fort Bend ISD will close two schools. The nation’s sixth largest district, Florida’s Broward County Public Schools approved the consolidation of six schools after enrollment dropped 5% — or by 9,987 students — between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years.
Buffalo Public Schools in NY confirmed the district intends to close two schools in the 2027-2028 school year. BPS has been running at a $60 million annual deficit for the last two years, and the district projects the same deficit for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. the school closures will come with significant teacher layoffs, expected to save around $7 million to $8 million per school.
The trend highlights the value of the programs in many states which provide for the timely payment of debt service by local school districts. Those programs provide for segregation and control of state funds if local funds are insufficient to meet debt service requirements. They serve as a source of slid support for local school debt service.
PORT OF L.A.
The Port of Los Angeles processed 824,323 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in February, marking the second-busiest February in the Port’s history and an increase of 3% compared to last year. February 2026 loaded imports totaled 433,812 TEUs, 5% higher than last year. Loaded exports reached 116,633, an increase of 7%. The Port processed 273,878 empty container units, 2% less than last year. Two months into the year, the Port of Los Angeles has handled 1,636,324 TEUs, 5% less than last year.
MILLIONAIRE TAXES
It’s a favorite idea of the Sanders/Warren wing of the political spectrum for some but now millionaire taxes are getting serious consideration in the current political environment. Lawmakers in Washington state this week approved a new income tax on residents making more than $1 million. The tax will be set at a 9.9 percent tax on those earners. It would be the first income tax in Washington, affecting an estimated 20,000 households. The action comes as state lawmakers are currently trying to close a budget gap estimated at $10 billion to 12 billion over the next four years.
A 1933 decision rendered by the Washington Supreme Court ruled that income counts as property. That decision has effectively blocked a graduated income tax in the state, whose Constitution requires property taxes to be “uniform.” It is expected that this will serve as the basis for litigation and/or a ballot initiative against the tax. The positive view is that this creates an opportunity for the Court and/or the voters to revisit the issue and settle it.
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