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Florida legislature is about to ban offshore wind turbines in state waters, which wouldn’t be put there to begin with, to protect the beaches.

Excluding hurricanes, of course, Florida doesn’t have sufficient wind power, either onshore or offshore, that, say, states in the US Northeast or Texas have to sustain a wind power industry. That’s why Florida has no wind farms – either onshore or offshore. The Sunshine State is a US solar power leader.

However, the Florida state legislature wants to ensure that its nonexistent offshore wind power industry stays nonexistent. It’s about to pass HB 1645, which will ban wind turbines in state waters.

First, something that made me giggle – the bill defines a wind turbine as a tower, rotor, and blades “capable of producing more than 10 kilowatts of electrical power.” (So, if you were planning on powering up your 10 microwaves with a wind turbine, Floridians, you can forget it.)

The bill then prohibits wind turbines within 1 mile of the Florida coastline or Intracoastal waterways. It will also ban them within all state waters, extending three nautical miles from shore on the Atlantic Ocean and nine nautical miles on the Gulf of Mexico side. This might make a smidge of sense if someone wanted to develop wind farms there. But they don’t. Because there isn’t sufficient wind.

Maine banned wind farms in its state waters in 2021 to “preserve state waters for recreation and fishing.” But unlike Florida, Maine is windy nearshore. It’s also actively working to develop floating wind farms in federal waters in the Gulf of Maine to harness that clean power. But Maine didn’t ban transmission cables through state waters, which is what Florida’s bill also bans.

So what’s the point of this straw man ban, anyway? The Tampa Bay Times reports that House Speaker Paul Renner (R-Palm Coast) said:

I think it’s very similar to offshore drilling. Floridians don’t want to sit on the beach and look at oil derricks, and they don’t want to sit on the beach and look at big windmills.

It doesn’t preclude them from doing it elsewhere in the state where it’s possible, but I think that’s a fair place to land.

Wind turbines pose little to no threat to beach views. And Floridians won’t ever look at oil derricks from the beach because oil drilling in state waters was banned in 2018 after the BP oil spill. Banning oil drilling is great, but doing so in state waters achieves nothing. That was a part of the oil industry’s “promote drilling but protect the beach” sleight of hand. As the BP oil spill proved, it doesn’t matter how far offshore an oil spill is; it’s catastrophic.

And state Senator Jay Collins (R-Tampa) had this to say about the impending wind turbine ban:

I think there are many causes [to climate change] and I think our weather patterns are cyclic. … Do I think there are things we can do better? Absolutely.

Anything that can protect our environment, i.e., let’s stop offshore wind until we can make sure it doesn’t disrupt the sonar of our whales, the ecosystem.

Note to self to send Jay Collins my colleague Jameson Dow’s article that definitively dispels the oil industry-driven “wind turbines kill whales” propaganda. This has been extensively debunked – it’s ships and climate change caused by fossil fuels that kill whales. Collins is playing politics.

And speaking of climate change, HB 1645 will also delete the majority of references to the words “climate change” in current state law. Not that Florida is vulnerable to the deleted words that begin with the letter C or anything.

The Tampa Bay Times also reports that the bill is “rolling back some regulations on natural gas pipelines by making it so any pipeline shorter than 100 miles wouldn’t have to go through a certification process. Currently, anything longer than 15 miles triggers that oversight.”

Roll out those unregulated natural gas pipelines, Tallahassee Republican supermajority, and feel proud that you saved the beach view from those hypothetical wind turbines in state waters that were never gonna happen.

Read more: Oil-funded lobbyists are trying to trick you into killing more whales


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U.S. crude oil falls below $60 a barrel to lowest since 2021 on tariff-fueled recession fears

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U.S. crude oil falls below  a barrel to lowest since 2021 on tariff-fueled recession fears

A view shows disused oil pump jacks at the Airankol oil field operated by Caspiy Neft in the Atyrau Region, Kazakhstan April 2, 2025. 

Pavel Mikheyev | Reuters

U.S. oil prices dropped below $60 a barrel on Sunday on fears President Donald Trump’s global tariffs would push the U.S., and maybe the world, into a recession.

Futures tied to U.S. West Texas intermediate crude fell more than 3% to $59.74 on Sunday night. The move comes after back-to-back 6% declines last week. WTI is now at the lowest since April 2021.

Worries are mounting that tariffs could lead to higher prices for businesses, which could lead to a slowdown in economic activity that would ultimately hurt demand for oil.

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Oil futures, 5 years

The tariffs, which are set to take effect this week, “would likely push the U.S. and possibly global economy into recession this year,” according to JPMorgan. The firm on Thursday raised its odds of a recession this year to 60% following the tariff rollout, up from 40%.

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What EV sales slump? Illinois’ EV sales outpace the nation by 4:1

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What EV sales slump? Illinois' EV sales outpace the nation by 4:1

Fueled by incentives from the Illinois EPA and the state’s largest utility company, new EV registrations nearly quadrupled the 12% first-quarter increase in EV registrations nationally – and there are no signs the state is slowing down.

Despite the dramatic slowdown of Tesla’s US deliveries, sales of electric vehicles overall have perked up in recent months, with Illinois’ EV adoption rate well above the Q1 uptick nationally. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that the number of new EVs registered across the state totaled 9,821 January through March, compared with “just” 6,535 EVs registered in the state during the same period in 2024.

Those numbers represent more than 50% growth in EV registrations – far beyond the expected 12% first-quarter increase nationally being projected by Cox Automotive. (!)

What’s going on in Illinois?

File:Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker (33167937268).jpg
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker at the Chicago Auto Show; by Ray Cunningham.

While President Trump and Elmo were running for re-election, they campaigned on the threat promise of canceling the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs. Along with California Governor Gavin Newsom, Illinois’ Governor JB Pritzker made countermoves – launching a $4,000 rebate for new electric cars and up to $1,500 for the purchase of a new electric motorcycle.

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At the same time, the state’s largest utility, ComEd, launched a $90 million EV incentive program featuring a new Point of Purchase initiative to deliver instant discounts to qualifying business and public sector customers who make the switch to electric vehicles. That program has driven a surge in Class 3-6 medium duty commercial EVs, which are eligible fro $20-30,000 in utility rebates on top of federal tax credits and other incentives (Class 1-2 EVs are eligible for up to $7,500).

We covered the launch of those incentives when the program was announced at Chicago Drives Electric last year, but the message here is simple: incentives work.

SOURCES: Chicago Business, Ray Cunningham; featured image by the author.

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XCMG launches XE215EV battery swap electric excavator ahead of bauma

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XCMG launches XE215EV battery swap electric excavator ahead of bauma

The electric construction equipment experts at XCMG just released a new, 25 ton electric crawler excavator ahead of bauma 2025 – and they have their eye on the global urban construction, mine operations, and logistical material handling markets.

Powered by a high-capacity 400 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery capable of delivering up to 8 hours of continuous operation, the XE215EV electric excavator promises uninterrupted operation at a lower cost of ownership and with even less downtime than its diesel counterparts.

XCMG is delivering on part of that reduced downtime promise with the lower maintenance and easier repair needs of electric equipment, and delivering on the rest of it with lickety-quick DC fast charging that can recharge the machine’s massive battery in 1.5-2 hours … but that’s not the slick bit. The XCMG XE125EV can be powered up without leaving the job site thanks to its BYD battery swap technology.

We first covered XCMG and its battery swap technology back in January, and covered similar battery-swap tech being developed by MOOG Construction offshoot ZQUIP, as well – but while XCMG’s battery tech has been in production for several years, it’s still not widely known about in the West (even within the industry).

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XCMG showed off its latest electric equipment at the December 2024 bauma China, including an updated version of its of its 85-ton autonomous electric mining truck that features a fully cab-less design – meaning there isn’t even a place for an operator to sit, let alone operate. And that’s too bad, because what operator wouldn’t want to experience an electric truck putting down 1070 hp more than 16,000 lb-ft of torque!?

Easy in, easy out

XCMG battery swap crane; via Etrucks New Zealand.

The best part? All of the company’s heavy equipment assets – from excavators to terminal tractors to dump trucks and wheel loaders – all use the same 400 kWh BYD battery packs, Milwaukee tool style. That means an equipment fleet can utilize x number of vehicles with a fraction of the total battery capacity and material needs of other asset brands. That’s not just a smart use of limited materials, it’s a smarter use of energy.

You can check out all the XE215EV’s specs at this tear sheet, and get an in-person look at the Chinese company’s latest electric excavator this week in Munich, Germany.

SOURCE | IMAGES: XCMG.

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