CLIMATE: Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 averaged above 410 parts per million for an entire month, breaking a new record. (Washington Post)
ALSO:
• Six U.S.-based scientists are selected for grants to study in Europe as part of French President Emmanuel Macron’s climate science initiative. (The Hill)
• Investors are increasing pressure on major corporations like Chevron and Kinder Morgan to respond to climate change concerns. (Scientific American)
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EMISSIONS: Former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn is indicted for conspiring to cheat U.S. diesel emissions standards. (The Hill)
EPA:
• An EPA official in charge of communications for Administrator Scott Pruitt is leaving the agency. (The Hill)
• While he was a state senator in Oklahoma, Pruitt bought a home with a registered lobbyist whose policies he championed in the legislature. (New York Times)
OIL & GAS: A West Virginia county tried to ban natural gas waste disposal, but the state sided with the industry in overruling it. (Charleston Gazette-Mail, ProPublica)
OFFSHORE DRILLING: South Carolina political and business leaders worry offshore drilling could disrupt long-buried radioactive and toxic waste. (E&E News)
PIPELINES: TransCanada plans to start clearing vegetation in Montana this fall for the Keystone XL pipeline, according to a letter from the U.S. State Department. (Reuters)
COAL: A Trump administration plan to help struggling coal plants by nationalizing the energy market could make it easy for Democrats to dismantle fossil fuel corporations. (Huffington Post)
COAL ASH: More than a dozen coal ash ponds are located in flood zones and at risk of flooding during storms, according to a new report. (ThinkProgress)
SOLAR:
• The CEO of rooftop installer Sunrun says there is a “war on solar” and the country should invest more in distributed energy versus utility-scale solar projects. (Utility Dive)
• The impact of federal policy changes were an ongoing theme at this week’s Midwest Solar Expo in Minneapolis. (Midwest Energy News)
STORAGE: Hawaiian Electric plans to spend about $150 million on two grid-scale energy storage projects. (Pacific Business News)
EFFICIENCY: How much energy Americans use, what kind, and how much is wasted, in one diagram. (Vox)
RENEWABLES: A new report raises more questions than answers on how distributed energy resources and community-choice aggregators are altering California’s energy landscape. (Greentech Media)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Anheuser-Busch will buy 800 hydrogen-electric semi trucks from Tesla’s competitor, Nikola Motor Company, as it works to phase out its gas-powered fleet. (The Hill)
TRANSPORTATION:
• Freezing fuel economy standards would reward the dirtiest automakers and cost U.S. drivers up to $236 billion more at the pump by 2035, according to a new report. (Vox)
• Cutting emissions from international shipping will be a major challenge, but the technology exists to do so. (Ensia)
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GRID: New York, California and Massachusetts are the most active states for grid modernization, according to a new report. (Solar Industry)
COMMENTARY: Three academics say the EPA’s recent decision to declare biomass carbon neutral is “neither scientifically justified nor economically efficient.” (New York Times)