Joseph Krist
Publisher
TRANSIT FUNDING BATTLES
In Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration approved the use of hundreds of millions of dollars in capital project funding for Philadelphia’s public transit agency to help it restore bus, trolley and rail services that it had eliminated to shore up its deficit-riddled finances. The move comes in the face of stubborn resistance to any new revenues to be generated to fund mass transit. The opposition is largely partisan based. It has held up enactment of a FY 2026 budget for the Commonwealth.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority [SEPTA] serves 800,000 daily riders. SEPTA had made the request to comply with a judge’s order to undo the two-week-old cuts. Those cuts were cited as factors in diminished school attendance in a system which depends on SEPTA for student transit.
The Commonwealth’s next largest city is facing a similar problem. Pittsburgh Regional Transit [PRT] is expected to ask for similar authorization. PRT has been considering service reductions of 35% to help close what it calls a roughly $100 million deficit this year. That could include eliminating 45 bus routes, reducing 54 others and eliminating one of three light rail lines.
In California, Senate Bill 63, a sales tax measure that would fund Bay Area transit was stalled in the Legislature. A state loan is intended as a “bridge” until the tax is enacted, since that funding wouldn’t start flowing until 2027. If SB 63 passes the state Legislature, it would need to go before voters. SB 63 would authorize a half cent regional sales tax in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties and allow Santa Clara and San Mateo and to opt in. Officials said the do-or-die deadline for transit agencies to receive the funding is spring 2026.
In Texas, Dallas Area Rapid Transit approved plans to reduce or eliminate several bus and rail routes. The changes, set to take effect Jan. 19, 2026, are expected to save the agency $18 million in its first year and $24 million annually in future budgets. The plan includes the elimination of seven bus routes, reduced peak-hour frequency on light rail and many bus lines, and modifications to several on-demand service zones.
TRANSIT EMPLOYMENT
The impact of economics, immigration policies and trade policies is showing up in terms of employment in a sector like transportation. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics released August employment numbers. Seasonally adjusted, employment in the transportation and warehousing sector rose to 6,747,700 in August 2025 — up 0.1% from the previous month and up 1.3% from August 2024.
The sectors which reflect commercial trade all show slowing patterns. Air transportation fell to 580,100 in August 2025 — down 0.1% from the previous month but up 2.5% from August 2024. Truck transportation fell to 1,523,000 in August 2025 — down 0.1% from the previous month but up 0.4% from August 2024. Warehousing and storage remained virtually unchanged in August 2025 at 1,829,800 from the previous month but down 1.4% from August 2024.
Transit and ground passenger transportation remained virtually unchanged in August 2025 at 484,900 from the previous month but up 3.2% from August 2024. Rail transportation remained virtually unchanged in August 2025 at 152,800 from the previous month but down 1.6% from August 2024.
You can see the rush to get ships to ports in the summer driving water transportation employment. It rose to 71,900 in August 2025 — up 0.1% from the previous month and up 2.6% from August 2024. Energy exports helped pipeline transportation rise to 61,300 in August 2025 — up 0.8% from the previous month and up 10.1% from August 2024. One source of uncertainty is the coming harvest with several crops facing lower or even no export demand. Without export markets there will likely be less shipping demand.
PUBLIC POWER AND DATA CENTERS
Salt River Project (SRP) and Google announced a first-of-its-kind research collaboration to evaluate the real-world performance of emerging non-lithium ion long duration energy storage (LDES) technologies. Google will fund a portion of the costs for LDES pilot projects developed for SRP’s grid. This is not the first time Google and SRP have worked together.
Sonoran Solar Energy Center, a 260 MW solar facility with a 1 gigawatt-hour battery energy storage system, Storey Energy Center, an 88 MW solar and battery energy storage system,and Babbitt RanchEnergy Center, a 161 MW wind farm, all support the energy needs of Google’s future data center in Mesa. Google’s current projections indicate these projects will help its Arizona operations reach at least 80% Carbon Free Energy (CFE) on an hourly basis by 2026.
SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit public power utility and the largest electricity provider in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, serving about 1.1 million customers. SRP has nearly 1,300 MW of energy storage currently supporting its grid, which includes 1,100 MW of battery storage— spanning eight facilities— and 200 MW of pumped hydro storage.
MUNICIPAL SOLAR
An Italy-based independent power producer has brought its first U.S. project online. ContourGlobal, headquartered in Milan, on September 4 announced the state of commercial operation for Black Hollow Sun I, the 185-MW first phase of a solar power project in Severance, Colorado. The installation is providing electricity for the Platte River Power Authority, the community-owned utility serving Fort Collins, Loveland, Estes Park, and Longmont, north of Denver.
ContourGlobal also is building the second phase of the project—the 139-MW Black Hollow Sun II—which is expected to come online by year-end 2026. the first two phases of the project, with total capacity of 324 MW, will represent the largest solar photovoltaic installation in Northern Colorado.
California’s Turlock Irrigation District announced that construction is complete at the wide-span section of Project Nexus, and the solar array is now generating electricity. California’s first solar over canals pilot project. Project Nexus combines the wide-span section with a narrow-span portion, completed earlier in March, giving the project a total generation capacity of 1.6 megawatts.
Solar over canals has long been promoted as a mitigant to two of the state’s great shortages – water and renewable energy. Evaporation from aqueduct systems is reduced thereby helping more water to flow towards end users. The idea of covers for the canals as a water conservation technique is long standing. It’s the idea of pairing it with solar that is new. It offers both environmental benefits and eliminates issues like right of way acquisition.
ENERGY SUBSIDIES
We saw them first used to support nuclear power. Energy subsidies have been provided in states like New York, Illinois and Ohio. The carbon-free nature of the generation being preserved allowed many to overcome philosophical objections to them. One had to wonder if other energy providers facing issues with economically inefficient projects might seek similar help.
In Ohio, legislators are looking for ways to subsidize the operation of coal generating facilities in the Buckeye State. There isn’t the climate angle on this issue just a desire on the part of the Ohio Legislature to help generators. The effort to support nuclear plants went so well that the Ohio House Speaker is now doing 20 years in prison.
In California, the State has offered Valero financial help to keep its refining plant in Benicia open. Benicia is home to 26,000 people and its biggest employer is Valero Energy Corporation with about 400 workers. Valero has cited costs of compliance with regulatory issues to decide that the plant is not profitable. Now, the Legislature is considering a package of financial assistance to cover between $80 million and $200 million.
The state would pay Valero to continue operating its Benicia refinery. The state funds would likely be earmarked for routine maintenance work. The City estimates that the plant closure would have a negative $10 million impact on the City of Benecia’s budget in addition to the hit to local employment and economic activity. The refinery produces 9% of the state’s gas supply. It has been estimated that $8 a gallon gas would soon follow any closure.
GAS BANS IN COURT
Washington’s high court will directly review a lower court ruling invalidating Initiative 2066 that was approved by a narrow majority in 2024. The initiative is intended to slow Washington’s shift from natural gas toward technology like electric heat pumps. It targets changes made to the state’s energy code that offer builders incentives in the permitting process for choosing electric heat pumps – which provide both heating and cooling in the same unit – instead of natural gas furnaces. It seeks to repeal provisions in a year-old state law intended to accelerate Puget Sound Energy’s transition away from natural gas. It prevents approval of utility rate plans that end or restrict access to natural gas, or make it too costly.
Upon voter approval, the state’s building associations went to court to challenge the initiative. Initially, King County Superior Court Judge ruled that the initiative is because it runs afoul of a provision limiting citizen initiatives to no more than one subject and requiring them to contain the full text of the portion of state laws they would alter. Supporters of the initiative are the parties which drove the request for direct Supreme Court review.
KEY BRIDGE REPLACEMENT
Rebuilding Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge could cost more than $5 billion — more than double the $1.9 billion estimate Maryland officials outlined in the immediate aftermath of the collapse. In the final days of former President Joe Biden’s administration, Congress enacted a bill requiring the federal government to fully fund the bridge’s rebuild. Now, the President is threatening to defund the project by withholding federal dollars.
Two representatives have introduced amendments to reduce the federal cost of replacing the bridge. One would provide $1 billion now but with the prospect that that could be the end of funding. Other representatives have suggested that no federal dollars be committed until insurance payments and yet to be litigated payments are tallied. That doesn’t get the bridge rebuilt. It does lengthen the time of the project, raise its costs, likely result in a larger net federal spend than would have been the case.
COLORADO RIVER
Negotiations drag on over disagreements between the seven Colorado River states on how to reallocate ever declining water flows. Current regulations are in effect through the end of 2026. While efforts to reach an agreement continue, the Bureau of Reclamation announced cuts on the river would continue into next year. In 2026, the river will again be in what are known as Tier 1 shortages, with Arizona and Nevada facing cuts. Arizona’s will amount to roughly 18 percent, or 512,000 acre-feet. The Bureau of Reclamation expects water levels at Lake Powell to only be 27 percent full next year.
GEORGIA BATTERY DILEMMA
“When you build a factory or install equipment at a factory, you need technicians. But the United States doesn’t have that workforce, and yet they won’t issue visas to let our people stay and do the work,” he said. “If that’s not possible, then establishing a local factory in the United States will either come with severe disadvantages or become very difficult for our companies. They will wonder whether they should even do it.” – South Korean President Lee Jae Myung
There are real concerns about the implications of the raid on a Hyundai battery factory. The factory uses non-American parts and systems and given the difficulties manufacturers face generally in finding employees, the move is problematic. The State of Georgia and the county where the plant is located have pledged some $2-3 billion in tax incentives. Georgia is home to about 100 Korean-owned facilities employing 17,000 people. That includes an SK Battery America EV battery factory, Hanwha Qcells’ solar panel plant, and a Kia EV manufacturing facility. Now, operations will be delayed by three months.
This situation parallels many other factory startups. Modern manufacturing relies on a wide variety of proprietary systems and parts. Often, a company will employ contract workers with particular skills to get plants up and running. As is the case in Georgia, those workers train the ultimate local holders of those jobs. It is a dynamic repeated across the country, the difference is that the needed skills and technology are not available here but from a foreign source.
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