Central Community College of Nebraska is putting students of all ages on a path to good-paying jobs in the state's growing clean-energy sector.

Taylor Schneider is the energy technology instructor at the school's Hastings campus. He said students receive valuable hands on experience in the latest solar, wind and battery-storage technologies.

They also get to climb a wind turbine tower that generates the school's electricity.

"Instead of instructor, you know, just 'death by PowerPoint,' so to speak, my students are getting that full experience." said Schneider. "Everybody that's graduated so far has all been placed in jobs, whether it be in the wind field or in the solar-energy field."

Schneider said wind sits at number two, with solar coming in at number five, on a list of the nation's fastest growing occupations projected for this decade.

In 2021, wind technicians brought home a median annual income of just over $52,000 per year. CCC offers one-year certificate programs, and a two-year associate's degree in energy technology.

Schneider said people with certificates or degrees have a big hand up compared with other applicants for jobs ranging from public policy to field technicians and engineers. Schneider explained that engineers get to be a part of the design process from the ground up.

"They can sit right next to that project manager and be like, 'Hey, this is how we're going to lay down our entire project,'" said Schneider. "'If we have 80 towers, this is where all these towers are going to be placed, and how components are going to be laid down, so we can get these erected in a timely fashion.'"

Six in ten Nebraskans are worried about climate change, according to a Yale University analysis, and 50% say they want their governor, local officials and Congress to do more to mitigate the impacts of a warming planet.

Kevin Taylor - the leader of the U.S. Climate Action program at the World Wildlife Fund - said the work being done at CCC reminds him of the old adage, "Out of crisis comes opportunity."

"In the transition we make away from fossil fuel to renewable energy," said Taylor, "away from internal-combustion engines to electric vehicles, and the electrification of everything, it's just an amazing time for young people to get involved in this space."

More than 40 environmental groups are urging federal regulators and Colorado's Congressional delegation to put a pause on a pipeline project under way in Weld County, called Line 1, which would nearly triple the current capacity to deliver crude oil to the Suncor refinery in Commerce City.

Patricia Garcia-Nelson, Colorado fossil fuel just transition advocate for the group Green Latinos, said if officials allow the extension of Line 1 to continue, they essentially will be rewarding bad behavior.

"Suncor has a history of being a problematic operator," Garcia-Nelson asserted. "They have violated pollution limits. They had been operating under an expired permit since 2011."

Last week, the groups sent formal petitions to federal regulators warning the project will increase greenhouse-gas emissions and the toxic burden on an already heavily polluted community living near the refinery. The pipeline will cross the South Platte River, which supplies water for Eastern Colorado and downstream states, and a 100-year floodplain.

Suncor said it has no plans to increase capacity with the new pipeline, and argues it will reduce emissions from trucks carrying crude.

Garcia-Nelson argued the project will undermine Colorado's efforts to meet climate targets and realize goals in the Colorado Environmental Justice Act passed by lawmakers last year. She noted in the United States, more than 17 million people currently live near oil and gas facilities.

"And 1.6 million of those people are Latinos," Garcia-Nelson pointed out. "When we take even a closer look at Suncor, when we look at the communities around there, there's mostly Black, brown, Indigenous, people of color."

Because Line 1 replaces an existing pipeline, the project is going forward without public input on its potential impacts on communities, air and water quality, and climate change. But Garcia-Nelson stressed it will not prevent her group and others from trying to stop it.

"Without the normal public comment pieces, the decision is taken out of the residents' hands that are going to be directly impacted by this expansion," Garcia-Nelson contended.

A relatively small number of so-called "super emitters" are responsible for 40% of the methane emissions in oil and gas hotspots such as California's Central Valley, according to a new report.

Experts from Carbon Mappers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and two universities in Arizona flew over the basin and measured the invisible gas with spectrometers.

Jon Goldstein, senior director of regulatory and legislative affairs for the Environmental Defense Fund, which co-authored the report, said the health of the planet depends on reducing methane emissions.

"Methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas, more than 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it's emitted," he said. "So, getting these problems fixed, keeping this methane in the pipes and out of our air, is a really important way to bend the curve on climate change."

The Environmental Protection Agency is working on national regulations to require methane capture. Emissions from animal feedlots also play a role. The report found California has fewer super-emitters compared with other states that have weaker methane-capture rules.

Goldstein noted that technology exists to find and fix pipeline leaks or to capture excess gas instead of burning it off.

"It's a waste of resources. It's a big source of pollution that's leading to unhealthy air quality," he said. "It definitely is something that the oil and gas industry ought to be addressing."

Oil and gas companies have long complained that methane capture is time-consuming and expensive. However, a report from the International Energy Agency found that the industry could cut 45% of its methane emissions at no net cost to them.

Nevada needs to move away from natural gas and toward clean energy - that's the view of climate action groups that spoke up on Tuesday at an open forum of the Nevada Public Utilities Commission.

The Pollution Free Nevada coalition wants the PUC to scrutinize Southwest Gas proposals to expand natural gas infrastructure.

Elspeth DiMarzio, senior campaign representative with the Sierra Club, said the state needs to rely on solar and wind to generate power - and promote electric appliances instead of gas.

"To meet Nevada's climate goals of 100% clean energy and zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050," said DiMarzio, "we need to really, rapidly, transition away from the use of methane gas in the electric sector and in buildings."

She noted that Southwest Gas has raised rates three times within four years.

A study from the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project estimates that replacing a gas-powered heat pump with an electric model can save a household about $100 a year on its energy bills.

Angel Lazcano, an environmental justice organizer with the Latino advocacy group "Somos Votantes," also testified at the annual Clark County PUC consumer session.

He said many Latinos live closer to highways and industry - where air quality is poor, and the pollution from natural gas appliances makes it worse.

"Eight and a half percent of Latino children suffer from asthma as a result of indoor and outdoor pollution," said Lazcano. "The so-called 'natural gases' in our homes release other harmful pollutants, such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. It accounts for 14% of our state's total climate pollution."

Lazcano said he'd like to see more investment in programs that help people replace older, gas-powered stoves, dryers and water heaters with new electric models.