Climate Point: What winter? And hello to a warm spring.

Shorter winters and earlier springs have been making headlines across the country in March. But while farmers and wildlife struggle with the changing climate, communities across the country debate energy production. 

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to news about climate, energy and the environment. I’m Dinah Voyles Pulver on Paste BN’s national climate and environment team. 

Winter? What winter? And hello to a warm spring.

In Detroit, it was very nearly the winter that wasn’t, under the influence of a strong El Niño and ocean conditions in both the Pacific and the Atlantic. It was “a winter as mild as a Lawrence Welk rerun,” writes Keith Matheny at the Detroit Free Press. With only a week or two of frigid temperatures in early January, the city hit record high temperatures once in December and three times in February. That included a high of 73 on the 27th that was the warmest temperature ever recorded in the state in February.

Indianapolis, Indiana reported record-breaking temperatures in February and has seen multiple days with above average temperatures in March. Changing temperature trends could threaten production of some of the state’s main exports, such as fruit trees and corn, wrote Karl Schneider with the Indy Star. 

Rising temperatures and the shifting of an earlier spring season are the fingerprints of climate change, and Sarah Kapnick, chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said records will continue to be broken and extreme weather events will grow until emissions are reduced and climate resilience is built.

Meanwhile, unpredictable winters in Wisconsin are threatening a beloved fish in the Great Lakes. 

The walleye is increasingly under stress from climate change and its decline could get worse, writes Caitlin Looby at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Populations of the fish, a part of the cultural identity of Ojibwe tribes, have been declining for years. 

A research team looked at population data from 194 lakes across Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, and found that the freshwater fish is becoming out of sync with lake ice-off, the usual cue that it's time to spawn. 

Warmer temperatures and sea level rise are blamed for contributing to an increase in flooding along the nation's coasts this winter. “The start of this year has been absolutely incredible," said John Dickson, president and CEO of Aon Edge, a private flood insurance provider. “The weather is changing rapidly and the consequences are dramatic.”

Kentucky considers defying EPA regulations, while Maryland moves forward on offshore wind

A variety of energy facilities and measures were being debated across the country this week. Here's a quick rundown:

Iowa: Environmental groups have sued to stop a controversial high-voltage power line from crossing the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, reports Madeline Heim at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The eastern half of the 102-mile, 345-kilovolt Cardinal-Hickory Creek power line was energized in Wisconsin last year. The western half would cross the Mississippi River to Dubuque County in Iowa. 

Kentucky: A resolution proposed by Republican-led legislators would declare Kentucky “a sanctuary state” from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations on fossil fuel-fired power plants, and direct the state’s Energy and Environment Cabinet to defy air pollution rules, writes Connor Giffin at the Louisville Courier Journal.

Maryland:  Governor Wes Moore has set a goal for 100% clean energy in the state by 2035 and has announced the Maryland Energy Administration will offer more than $6 million in funding to help the state’s emerging businesses and workforce get involved in the growing industry. 

But the development of offshore wind infrastructure to pursue cleaner energy continues to face opposition in the mid-Atlantic, reported Kristian Jaime at the Salisbury Daily Times. U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican, spoke out against the development again last week, saying utility customers “can’t afford one of the most expensive ways to generate electricity, which is offshore wind.” 

New Mexico: Oil and gas leases in certain tracts in the Permian Basin were suspended by the New Mexico State Land Office. The state’s Land Commissioner said the “pause” would remain in effect until a cap on royalty rates for oil and gas extractions was increased from 20% to 25%, reported Adrian Hedden at the Carlsbad Current-Argus. Oil companies in the region continued to report financial growth in 2023.

Rhode Island: Residents are speaking out against a plan to make a temporary proposed natural gas facility permanent in Portsmouth, writes Alex Kuffner at the Providence Journal. "If you allow them to continue what they’re doing, it’s not for the betterment of the community," Lawrence Silvia, who’s lived in the neighborhood for 82 years, told state regulators. "The facility doesn’t belong where it is."

South Dakota: Members of the state’s House of Representatives and Senate passed three bills that pave a way forward for a proposed carbon sequestration pipeline in South Dakota, writes Dominik Dausch with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

The bills are intended to strengthen landowner protections while maintaining a regulatory path forward for the carbon dioxide pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions, an Iowa-based company, writes Joshua Haiar with South Dakota Searchlight. The project proposes to collect carbon dioxide from 57 ethanol plants in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska and pipe it to a site in North Dakota for underground storage.

An uncertain future for shellfish

The hard clams known as quahogs in Rhode Island may be vanishing. Alex Kuffner with the Providence Journal examines what's happening and why in a three-part series. The quahog fishery industry is in decline, with fewer than 200 commercial license-holders who go out on the water with regularity.

Quahogging is Rhode Island's fifth-largest fishery with landings of $4.7 million in 2022. Long-term troubles with getting the water quality right have plagued the quahog harvest in Narragansett Bay. The reopening of the lower Providence River to harvesting has propped up the shellfishing industry, but quahogging continues to face an uncertain future.

Meanwhile the orchestration of an "oyster renaissance" is surging forward in Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Oyster Alliance announced it has tallied the addition of 6 billion oysters to the Bay since 2017.

Read on for more, including the latest on the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales and update on the western water crisis.

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