Tony Dutzik
@frontiertony.bsky.social
Assoc. Director/Sr. Policy Analyst, Frontier Group, part of The Public Interest Network. Transportation, climate and energy policy, mostly.
Century-old restrictions on consumption of shellfish from Boston Harbor are being eased due to improvements in water quality. www.cbsnews.com/amp/boston/n...
For the first time in 100 years, shellfish can be harvested and consumed from parts of Boston Harbor. Here's why.
State officials announced that shellfish caught along certain outer sections of the Boston Harbor can now be eaten.
www.cbsnews.com
January 4, 2026 at 1:09 PM
Century-old restrictions on consumption of shellfish from Boston Harbor are being eased due to improvements in water quality. www.cbsnews.com/amp/boston/n...
Sunny day tidal flooding, Dorchester Bay, Boston.
January 3, 2026 at 3:41 PM
Sunny day tidal flooding, Dorchester Bay, Boston.
2025 was mostly a year to forget, but our team did some incredible work documenting America's growing heap of challenges and sketching the outlines of a more hopeful future.
Wishing all of you in Blueskyland a happy new year and the 2026 of your dreams.
Wishing all of you in Blueskyland a happy new year and the 2026 of your dreams.
The data center boom isn’t just driving up electricity rates – it’s also delaying the retirement of some of our dirtiest power plants. @quentingood.bsky.social brought the receipts in an October article, one of 10 posts you may have missed in 2025. frontiergroup.org/articles/dat...
Data center energy use is giving old, dirty power plants a new lease on life
The closures of 34 fossil fuel generators at 15 power plants have been postponed, in part to fuel the U.S. data center boom.
frontiergroup.org
December 31, 2025 at 8:25 PM
2025 was mostly a year to forget, but our team did some incredible work documenting America's growing heap of challenges and sketching the outlines of a more hopeful future.
Wishing all of you in Blueskyland a happy new year and the 2026 of your dreams.
Wishing all of you in Blueskyland a happy new year and the 2026 of your dreams.
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
The data center boom isn’t just driving up electricity rates – it’s also delaying the retirement of some of our dirtiest power plants. @quentingood.bsky.social brought the receipts in an October article, one of 10 posts you may have missed in 2025. frontiergroup.org/articles/dat...
Data center energy use is giving old, dirty power plants a new lease on life
The closures of 34 fossil fuel generators at 15 power plants have been postponed, in part to fuel the U.S. data center boom.
frontiergroup.org
December 31, 2025 at 8:17 PM
The data center boom isn’t just driving up electricity rates – it’s also delaying the retirement of some of our dirtiest power plants. @quentingood.bsky.social brought the receipts in an October article, one of 10 posts you may have missed in 2025. frontiergroup.org/articles/dat...
A thoughtful piece that raises a question: Does the energy transition need to be visible - for people to be able to "see" and "feel" it - to succeed?
For those parts of it that require mass adoption of new technologies (e.g. EVs), visibility seems essential. For others, I'm less sure.
For those parts of it that require mass adoption of new technologies (e.g. EVs), visibility seems essential. For others, I'm less sure.
My last story of the year for @heatmap.news is… about my rock band @ekkoastral.bsky.social
Our tour this fall profoundly changed my view of the energy transition and climate action
I went long and personal about what I now think needs to change
Our tour this fall profoundly changed my view of the energy transition and climate action
I went long and personal about what I now think needs to change
I Toured America With My Band. It Changed How I Understand the Energy Transition.
Reflections on a rock ’n’ roll road trip.
heatmap.news
December 30, 2025 at 7:26 PM
A thoughtful piece that raises a question: Does the energy transition need to be visible - for people to be able to "see" and "feel" it - to succeed?
For those parts of it that require mass adoption of new technologies (e.g. EVs), visibility seems essential. For others, I'm less sure.
For those parts of it that require mass adoption of new technologies (e.g. EVs), visibility seems essential. For others, I'm less sure.
Hey, look: it’s a NEVI federally funded charging station in MD. You’d have no way of knowing your tax dollars helped pay for it, though, as there is no evident signage to that effect.
Anyway, it’s here now and wasn’t last year so thanks, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Anyway, it’s here now and wasn’t last year so thanks, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
December 29, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Hey, look: it’s a NEVI federally funded charging station in MD. You’d have no way of knowing your tax dollars helped pay for it, though, as there is no evident signage to that effect.
Anyway, it’s here now and wasn’t last year so thanks, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Anyway, it’s here now and wasn’t last year so thanks, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
Something very much worth noting is that there is a lot of 'in between' stuff - degraded industrial land that is expensive to restore, often near good connection points.
Environment groups are already on this case, eg
www.nature.org/en-us/what-w...
Environment groups are already on this case, eg
www.nature.org/en-us/what-w...
December 27, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Something very much worth noting is that there is a lot of 'in between' stuff - degraded industrial land that is expensive to restore, often near good connection points.
Environment groups are already on this case, eg
www.nature.org/en-us/what-w...
Environment groups are already on this case, eg
www.nature.org/en-us/what-w...
Wrapping up a week visiting family in coastal Carolina and the enviro issue that triggers white-hot rage is wholesale clearcutting for residential development. Several tracts have remained vacant moonscapes for years as developers have run out of cash. The photo does not give a sense of the scale.
December 27, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Wrapping up a week visiting family in coastal Carolina and the enviro issue that triggers white-hot rage is wholesale clearcutting for residential development. Several tracts have remained vacant moonscapes for years as developers have run out of cash. The photo does not give a sense of the scale.
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
"Swaths of the Permian Basin appear to be on the verge of geological malfunction."
An unfolding disaster, shielded by centrist pundits who tell us to "support America's oil & gas industry."
Here's an idea: The oil & gas industry should support America, not wreck our land, air, & water.
An unfolding disaster, shielded by centrist pundits who tell us to "support America's oil & gas industry."
Here's an idea: The oil & gas industry should support America, not wreck our land, air, & water.
America’s Biggest Oil Field Is Turning Into a Pressure Cooker
Drillers’ injection of wastewater is creating mayhem across the Permian Basin, raising concern about the future of fossil-fuel production there.
www.wsj.com
December 26, 2025 at 4:03 PM
"Swaths of the Permian Basin appear to be on the verge of geological malfunction."
An unfolding disaster, shielded by centrist pundits who tell us to "support America's oil & gas industry."
Here's an idea: The oil & gas industry should support America, not wreck our land, air, & water.
An unfolding disaster, shielded by centrist pundits who tell us to "support America's oil & gas industry."
Here's an idea: The oil & gas industry should support America, not wreck our land, air, & water.
Ho ho ho! Bill to streamline residential solar permitting signed into law in NJ. environmentamerica.org/newjersey/me...
Gov. Murphy Signs Smart Solar Permitting Bill To Cut Red Tape, Accelerate Installations, & Deliver Affordable Electricity
Gov. Murphy signed into law the smart solar permitting bill, which will speed up the project approvals for residential solar projects.
environmentamerica.org
December 24, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Ho ho ho! Bill to streamline residential solar permitting signed into law in NJ. environmentamerica.org/newjersey/me...
East Coast EV road trip report - Boston to coastal NC. Stopped at several charging stations that didn’t exist last year (including this friendly-looking thing in VA). No lines anywhere, no waits and only one slower-than-expected charge. Getting there!
December 23, 2025 at 4:58 PM
East Coast EV road trip report - Boston to coastal NC. Stopped at several charging stations that didn’t exist last year (including this friendly-looking thing in VA). No lines anywhere, no waits and only one slower-than-expected charge. Getting there!
Question re fossil fuels isn’t whether they’re useful - of course they are, we built modernity on them! - but whether they’re necessary and fit to purpose at a time when continued use at the current scale threatens permanent damage to the climate (never mind human and ecological health).
December 21, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Question re fossil fuels isn’t whether they’re useful - of course they are, we built modernity on them! - but whether they’re necessary and fit to purpose at a time when continued use at the current scale threatens permanent damage to the climate (never mind human and ecological health).
Tempted to repost every individual post in this thread. Thank you, Rep. Casten!
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Tempted to repost every individual post in this thread. Thank you, Rep. Casten!
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
21. And before team Yglesias responds by saying "yeah, but it's bad politics to run on climate and energy"... I'd point out that I've won 4 elections in a very purple district running on climate and energy. Pro-tip: leadership is possible! You don't have to be stupid to win!
December 20, 2025 at 4:12 PM
21. And before team Yglesias responds by saying "yeah, but it's bad politics to run on climate and energy"... I'd point out that I've won 4 elections in a very purple district running on climate and energy. Pro-tip: leadership is possible! You don't have to be stupid to win!
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
The automotive economy is a tremendous machine for the extraction and destruction of wealth.
December 20, 2025 at 11:33 AM
The automotive economy is a tremendous machine for the extraction and destruction of wealth.
December 20, 2025 at 11:31 AM
100% this. The market for ever-more-expensive cars and trucks is showing signs of being tapped out, leaving a lane wide enough for affordable, reasonably-sized EVs to drive through - if manufacturers can deliver.
heatmap.news/electric-veh...
heatmap.news/electric-veh...
More Affordable EVs Are Coming in the Nick of Time
Just as Americans have started to revolt against expensive cars.
heatmap.news
December 19, 2025 at 7:59 PM
100% this. The market for ever-more-expensive cars and trucks is showing signs of being tapped out, leaving a lane wide enough for affordable, reasonably-sized EVs to drive through - if manufacturers can deliver.
heatmap.news/electric-veh...
heatmap.news/electric-veh...
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
Familiar story: Cost estimate for the first 6 new nuclear reactors in France up by 40% in three years. And that's 13 years before the first one would be completed (not accounting for delays).
Btw, that €73 billion is in Euros of 2020; better known as €85 billion now.
www.reuters.com/business/ene...
Btw, that €73 billion is in Euros of 2020; better known as €85 billion now.
www.reuters.com/business/ene...
France's EDF raises cost estimate for six reactors to 72.8 billion euros
France's state-owned utility EDF will cap the cost of building six new nuclear reactors at 72.8 billion euros ($85.29 billion), it said on Thursday, as it pledged to significantly improve both the cos...
www.reuters.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Familiar story: Cost estimate for the first 6 new nuclear reactors in France up by 40% in three years. And that's 13 years before the first one would be completed (not accounting for delays).
Btw, that €73 billion is in Euros of 2020; better known as €85 billion now.
www.reuters.com/business/ene...
Btw, that €73 billion is in Euros of 2020; better known as €85 billion now.
www.reuters.com/business/ene...
Fitting that NYT runs this op-ed on the 10th anniversary of a Democratic president giving the fossil fuel industry w/ its biggest gift ever - the lifting of the crude oil export ban - which turned the Permian into a global-scale carbon bomb and ecological basket case. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?
www.nytimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Fitting that NYT runs this op-ed on the 10th anniversary of a Democratic president giving the fossil fuel industry w/ its biggest gift ever - the lifting of the crude oil export ban - which turned the Permian into a global-scale carbon bomb and ecological basket case. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
A new report commissioned by the Southern Environmental Law Center finds utilities in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina are planning for data-center-driven electricity demand growth that has a roughly 0.2% chance of actually occurring.
New report exposes inflated load growth projections from data centers in the Southeast - Southern Environmental Law Center
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report released today by Greenlink Analytics and Science for Georgia, commissioned by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), finds that energy load growth attributed to...
www.selc.org
December 17, 2025 at 5:30 PM
A new report commissioned by the Southern Environmental Law Center finds utilities in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina are planning for data-center-driven electricity demand growth that has a roughly 0.2% chance of actually occurring.
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
This feels like an underappreciated problem:
"Of more than 700 locations sampled, 61% exceeded aquatic life thresholds set by the EPA...60% of samples blew past the accepted healthy drinking water standard."
"Of more than 700 locations sampled, 61% exceeded aquatic life thresholds set by the EPA...60% of samples blew past the accepted healthy drinking water standard."
High levels of road salt in Pa., N.J., Del. pollute streams months past winter
Road salt applied during winter storms runs off into the groundwater and emerges in surface water streams months later. Advocates say roads can be made safe with less salt.
whyy.org
December 17, 2025 at 4:21 PM
This feels like an underappreciated problem:
"Of more than 700 locations sampled, 61% exceeded aquatic life thresholds set by the EPA...60% of samples blew past the accepted healthy drinking water standard."
"Of more than 700 locations sampled, 61% exceeded aquatic life thresholds set by the EPA...60% of samples blew past the accepted healthy drinking water standard."
"Across the entire Permian region observed by MethaneSAT, oil and gas operations are emitting approximately 440 tonnes of methane per hour."
www.methanesat.org/project-upda...
www.methanesat.org/project-upda...
MethaneSAT data enables novel comparison of methane mitigation efforts in Permian Basin
www.methanesat.org
December 17, 2025 at 2:26 PM
"Across the entire Permian region observed by MethaneSAT, oil and gas operations are emitting approximately 440 tonnes of methane per hour."
www.methanesat.org/project-upda...
www.methanesat.org/project-upda...
Utilities and auto dealers are important points of contact for many consumers undertaking electrification, so it’s awesome that both types of companies share a well-earned reputation for terrible customer service.
December 17, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Utilities and auto dealers are important points of contact for many consumers undertaking electrification, so it’s awesome that both types of companies share a well-earned reputation for terrible customer service.
Something common in U.S. transportation policy that somehow eluded me about energy policy until just recently: Many supporters of "good stuff" are ambivalent about or willing to accept an increasing amount of "bad stuff" if it's the price of achieving their policy priority.
December 16, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Something common in U.S. transportation policy that somehow eluded me about energy policy until just recently: Many supporters of "good stuff" are ambivalent about or willing to accept an increasing amount of "bad stuff" if it's the price of achieving their policy priority.