SANDPOINT, Idaho -- Idahoans will get a chance to have their voices heard on their energy future this week. The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is holding a virtual public hearing on Avista's 20-year integrated resource plan on Wednesday.

The city of Sandpoint, Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Forest Group and Avista customers have been calling for a public meeting on the plan since March. Matt Nykiel, conservation associate in Sandpoint with the Idaho Conservation League, said being able to speak about this plan is different than writing a comment.

"Not only is it a more powerful way to connect Avista customers with their public oversight body and their electric company, but it's a way for customers and Idahoans to hear what other people are thinking about in terms of where they're getting electricity from," Nykiel said.

Avista serves about 133,000 customers in northern Idaho.

Nykiel said his organization is generally supportive of the direction Avista is heading. The company has committed to being carbon neutral by 2027 and providing 100% clean energy by 2045.

But, he added, the company is accounting for the social cost of carbon - or the cost of climate change - for its Washington customers, but not its Idaho customers.

Because climate change is becoming a more pressing challenge, Nykiel also believes Avista needs to speed up its timetable for transitioning to clean energy.

"We think Avista needs to be looking a little harder and with more creativity and more urgency to reduce their carbon emissions quicker," he said.

Nykiel said there is evidence Avista is willing to accept clean energy more quickly. He highlighted its integrated resource plan from two years ago, when the company planned to stay invested in Colstrip - the biggest coal plant in the West - through 2045.

Avista has changed its mind on that, and Nykiel said that is in part because operating fossil fuels has become less economically viable.

"We really need to be thinking and looking more closely at not only coal, but gas, and asking ourselves is this a financially sound idea for Idahoans to be investing in fossil fuels at this point?" He said.

Written comments from the public on Avista's integrated resource plan are due by August 19. Wednesday's public hearing is scheduled for 5 p.m. Pacific time.

New York elected officials are calling on the General Assembly to pass legislation to transition new buildings off fossil fuels, saying it would make the state cleaner and healthier.

The All-Electric Building Act would require new buildings to have all-electric appliances for space and water heating and cooking by 2023. It also would mandate state agencies to identify policies to make electricity more affordable and accessible for low-income residents.

Dominic Frongillo, co-Founder of Elected Officials to Protect America, said it is about saving lives and money.

"Right here in New York, air pollution from burning gas and buildings leads to about 1,000 deaths a year and most of those are in communities of color," Frongillo reported. "It's a real, real harm to our public health."

New York burns more fossil fuels in its buildings than any state in the country. Research shows an all-electric home in New York City would save households $6,800 over the course of 15 years.

The bill received a hearing last week and must be passed by the end of the legislative session June 2.

William Reinhardt, an Albany County legislator, and a former professional energy analyst with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, said in the long run, it makes the most sense economically to introduce new technologies through new construction.

"If you compare an all-electric building, new construction now, to a fossil-fuel building with central air conditioning, again new construction, so we are comparing apples to apples, the all-electric building is actually cheaper," Reinhardt pointed out.

Under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019, New York is mandating 70% of all electricity generated in New York be from renewable sources by 2030. Officials say getting all newly-constructed buildings to be fossil fuel-free is key to achieving the goal.

CORRECTION: Enbridge is proposing a rerouting of its existing Line 5. An earlier version incorrectly stated the project involved an expansion. (2:40 p.m. MST, May 17, 2022)

It's been a year since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's order to close the Line 5 pipelines was supposed to take effect - but the pipeline system is still operating, and its company Enbridge Energy is proposing a reroute.

The reroute would take Line 5 through hundreds of waterways in Michigan and Wisconsin, and the company also plans to build a tunnel around the existing pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac.

Jannan Cornstalk is director of the Water is Life festival and a citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. She is among those who signed a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers, asking them to reject permits for expanding Line 5.

"Our community is a tribal fishing community," said Cornstalk. "If and when the pipeline breaks anywhere along the line, it will affect so many tributaries, inland streams, lakes, not just the Straits."

According to the National Wildlife Federation, Line 5 leaked 29 times from 1968 to 2017.

A company spokesperson said an estimated $46 million dollars will be spent with Native-owned businesses and communities for the rerouting, and the project is undergoing reviews by state and federal regulators.

The integrity of those reviews has been questioned by tribal leaders and environmental groups.

Bill Latka is one of the co-founders of the coalition Oil and Water Don't Mix. He pointed to research that shows anchor strikes are the most likely way that the pipelines could rupture.

"It's located in the middle of a business shipping channel," said Latka. "And when you put those two things - pipelines and anchors - next to each other, it's bound to happen. There's bound to be a rupture."

Cornstalk added that it's important for the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies responsible for issuing permits to consult with Tribal Nations that have been stewards of the land for centuries.

"As tribal people, it's like we need to be included in the conversation, immediately have consultation from the beginning," said Cornstalk, "because we are supposed to have a government-to-government relationship, and many times that doesn't happen."

Electric vehicle (EV) industry leaders in Michigan are touting the state's progress toward electrifying the transportation sector and improving infrastructure.

With funding coming in from the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act, they stressed the transition is an opportunity for Michigan, as a major hub of automobile production.

Minoj Karwa, vice president of worldwide sales for Dearborn-based Rhombus Energy Solutions, said technological, supply-chain and manufacturing innovations make it a big moment for creating jobs, and for getting EVs to consumers.

"The vehicles are here. They're available. Not just high-end luxury vehicles. Not just passenger cars," Karwa observed. "We're working on providing infrastructure for transit buses, school buses, garbage trucks, last-mile delivery, off-road. It's tremendous."

Karwa was a panelist in a roundtable discussion hosted by Clean Fuels Michigan and the Environmental Defense Fund. He pointed out his company has pioneered a direct current charger known as "vehicle-to-grid," meaning unused energy when users plug in at night can be restored to the power grid for use elsewhere.

Natalia Swalnick, director of government affairs for ROUSH CleanTech in Livonia, noted as states work to transition to electric vehicles, it is also important to clean up the power grid. She noted across the U.S., some utilities are using more renewable energy, while others still rely mostly on fossil fuels.

"And an electric vehicle, the thing that's great about it is it's the only vehicle that gets cleaner the more you drive it," Swalnick emphasized. "Because more utilities across the United States do have a commitment to moving to cleaner sources of energy as time goes on."

Terry Travis, co-founder and director of EVHybridNoire, a national network of diverse electric-vehicle drivers and enthusiasts, said it is key to reach out to let the public know about EV benefits, from reduced air pollution to a smoother drive.

"There's an opportunity for folks in urban cores, and rural communities and BIPOC communities, to really be at the crosshairs of a transformational way of thinking about mobility and transportation," Travis asserted. "Hopefully, those communities will also be the beneficiaries of some of those jobs."