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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 23h

Three big reasons Minnesota utility regulators should not allow monopoly Xcel Energy to charge its customers for building storage at distributed sites across the state unless it opens the program to competition:

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 1d

Thinking about our National Guard service members who are being called away from their full time jobs for such glorious, politically-motivated duty such as trash clean up in DC or watching peaceful protests in Portland.

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 4d

Another misuse of government by Trump for his selfish and partisan purposes

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 6d

Yes, but don't stop at data centers! We should try meet ALL new grid needs with local resources first through this kind of investment in efficient appliances, solar, and energy storage!

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 6d

Today on Volts: the folks at @rewiringamerica.bsky.social have an idea. Hyperscalers desperately need to free up grid capacity for data centers, right? Why not let them buy that capacity by paying for residential heat pumps & solar/storage systems? I discuss it w/ the head of RW & a rep from PG&E.

Could we get hyperscalers to buy heat pumps for households?

Ari Matusiak and Carla Peterman join me to discuss a wild new idea: getting data centers to pay for your next heat pump.

www.volts.wtf

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 6d

This sure beats fighting utility companies to build transmission lines that aren't solely to boost their shareholder returns!

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 6d

Today on Volts: the folks at @rewiringamerica.bsky.social have an idea. Hyperscalers desperately need to free up grid capacity for data centers, right? Why not let them buy that capacity by paying for residential heat pumps & solar/storage systems? I discuss it w/ the head of RW & a rep from PG&E.

Could we get hyperscalers to buy heat pumps for households?

Ari Matusiak and Carla Peterman join me to discuss a wild new idea: getting data centers to pay for your next heat pump.

www.volts.wtf

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 7d

You should be unelectable for misusing government email. I remember when that mattered a lot.

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 7d

SCOOP — The White House instructed all federal agency leadership on Tuesday to send out a mandatory message to workers blaming the impending potential government shutdown on House Democrats, The Handbasket was first to learn. Absolutely no modifications to the email were permitted.

My story:

Trump mandates all federal agencies send email blaming Dems for potential gov’t shutdown

Workers call the partisan email "a vile slap in the face."

www.thehandbasket.co

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 7d

Gross. I haven't served but have known several people who have. I think they would be disgusted by the idea that their job defending the Constitution is being defined by the SecDef as "killing people and breaking things."

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Hegseth: "A few months ago I was at the White House when President Trump announced his liberation day for America's trade policy. It was a landmark day. Well, today is another liberation day. The liberation of America's warriors ... you kill people and break things for a living."

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 8d

Imagine thinking affirmative action is a problem and then cheering for woke coal policies that will make your electricity and hospital bills skyrocket.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9d

Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Fox: "We're announcing today expanded programs to help the American coal industry. We're helping it because for years it has been under assault. It was out of fashion with the chardonnay set in San Francisco, Boulder, and NYC ... coal just makes the world go round."

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 8d

A suspicious-minded person might note that utilities benefit from killing a very successful program that reduces electricity costs because it lowers demand for utility capital investment and profit and proves that utilities suck at using distributed assets well.

Eric Wesoff @ericwesoff.bsky.social · 8d

www.canarymedia.com/articles/vir...

Did California just screw up the largest virtual power plant in the…

Lawmakers axed funding for the state’s most promising effort yet to cut grid costs with solar-charged batteries and smart thermostats. Can the program be…

www.canarymedia.com

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 12d

Can we talk about how embarrassing it is to have our president sit in a room designed like to make him look like fake royalty? He already had a gold throne at Mar a Lago...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 12d

Trump: "We're gonna take some of that tariff money that we've made, we're gonna give it to our farmers who for a little while are going to be hurt until the tariffs kick in to their benefit."

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 12d

A reminder that a normal, functional Justice Department does not go on fishing expeditions against the President's perceived political enemies

Screenshot of NYT article about Justice Department proposal to investigate George Soros and his foundation

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 12d

If Walz wants to protect Minnesota taxpayers and have any hope of winning a third term, he needs to clean house at DHS.

max nesterak @maxnesterak.bsky.social · 12d

They were warned: How state government kept allowing the theft of the people’s money minnesotareformer.com/2025/09/25/t...

They were warned: How state government kept allowing the theft of the people's money • Minnesota Reformer

It’s like we were putting our cherished Christmas gifts right into the Grinch’s bag of stolen goods.

minnesotareformer.com

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 13d

It's criminal that we have the technology at our fingertips to cost-effectively manage grid growth and that utility companies (for lack of a profit motive) are allowed by state regulators to just ignore it.

Eric Walters @ericwalters.bsky.social · 13d

And utilities LOVE spending gobs of money on outrageously expensive transmission and distribution boondoggles, even when it would be far cheaper to tap into their own customers’ solar panels and batteries

www.canarymedia.com/articles/vir...

California could save big if virtual power plants target ‘sweet spots’

The state’s utilities could use rooftop solar, batteries, and EVs to cut $13.7B in costs — by applying those to the right parts of stressed-out local…

www.canarymedia.com

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 13d

This is the devil in the details of our electric utility system. Those profit payments to utility companies go on for decades and inflate the cost of everything.

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 13d

Why are electric bills so high? If your monopoly utility spends $10 million on wires and transformers, your state will let them increase prices to recover the $10M plus ~$1M per year, every year for the foreseeable future. You and your neighbors will pay ~$35M for ~$10M of infrastructure.

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 14d

Yesterday's Tylenol and today's UN speech are just one more "anything but the Epstein files" effort from the dear leader.

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Reposted by John Farrell

Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 14d

If you told me I could have a great review of my new book from the NYT or from Cory Doctorow, I'd take the latter in a heartbeat
pluralistic.net/2025/09/23/o...

Pluralistic: The enshittification of solar (and how to stop it) (23 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 14d

At least we have one prominent Democrat saying it out loud. Where are the others?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 14d

Pritzker: "One of the reasons Trump wants to send troops into cities is bc he wants to be able to take control of the 2026 elections...if they've got troops in cities, & it becomes a kind of norm for people, then it won't be abnormal for them when they're going to vote having troops at ballot boxes"

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 14d

For those who missed Trump's speech to the UN, here's the "biggest con ever perpetrated on the world" he was referring to. Lies about who was responsible for global warming, paid for utility companies, with your money.

Screenshot of New York Times ad paid for by the Edison Electric Institute to cast doubt on the science of climate change

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 14d

Here's the sound of a hundred bridges burning.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 14d

Trump to the UN: "I'm really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell."

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 18d

Says the man with how many felonies?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18d

Trump: "When 97% of the stories are bad about a person, that's no longer free speech."

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 18d

ILSR's work on energy and climate is inextricably link to our opposition to monopoly corporate power. You can't get clean, affordable power when the provider compels you to pay more and more.

Emily Atkin @emorwee.bsky.social · 19d

Climate activists often debate whether they should get involved in larger movements for justice, or whether it’s better to just “stay in their lane” of climate.

The opposition to climate action is not having that debate.

Charlie Kirk's extremism was fossil fueled

Big Oil's money gave Kirk a larger platform to spread baseless climate conspiracy theories—as well as other extremist views.

heated.world

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 18d

I stand corrected! I guess I was conflating that with my general frustration with the preservation of the filibuster.

John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 19d

Imagine where we'd be now if Democrats hadn't pussy-footed about changing rules when Merrick Garland was up for the Court, out of some mislaid sense of avoided escalation.

Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 19d

Senate went nuclear and it barely made the news: apnews.com/article/sena...

Senate confirms 48 of Trump's nominees at once after changing the chamber's rules

The Senate has confirmed 48 of President Donald Trump’s nominees. Republicans acted for the first time under new rules to clear a backlog of executive branch positions that had been delayed by Democra...

apnews.com

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 19d

4 Democratic senators are retiring next year and still too cowardly to oppose a motion to honor Charlie Kirk, who boasted two days before the Jan 6 insurrection his org was “Sending 80+ buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president.” @smith.senate.gov @shaheen.senate.gov Peters & Durbin

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John Farrell @johnffarrell.bsky.social · 19d

Hit "post" too fast. This happens IF Gov. Newsom signs the bill.

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