OIL & GAS:
• The U.S. Interior Department outlines its plans to increase royalty rates for drilling on public lands and waters, and proposes raising the price of bonds companies have to set aside for cleanup when they start new development. (Washington Post)
• Climate activists criticize the long-awaited report, saying it falls short on addressing fossil fuels’ contributions to climate change and doesn’t meet President Biden’s pledge to end new leasing. (E&E News)
WIND: The Biden administration approves the country’s second utility-scale offshore wind project: the 130 MW South Fork project, to be built off the Rhode Island coast to help power New York. (NBC News, E&E News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• The U.S. needs to quickly increase domestic semiconductor manufacturing or it will fall short of its electric vehicle adoption goals, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says. (Washington Post)
• Tennessee prepares for the shift to electric vehicles with Ford and Volkswagen factories on either side of the state and a $2.4 billion transportation budget for fiscal year 2021-2022. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
CLIMATE:
• Rain storms made more severe by the climate crisis threaten the Smithsonian Institution’s collection of priceless American artifacts in Washington, D.C. (New York Times)
• Using more urgent language such as “crisis” and “emergency” to refer to climate change fails to mobilize public engagement or change people’s opinions on climate policy, a study finds. (Grist)
• The White House will create a new division of its Office of Science and Technology Policy that will focus on climate change. (The Hill)
GRID: Maine environmental officials suspend a permit for Central Maine Power’s controversial transmission line expansion project following a public hearing; utility executives say they’ll challenge the decision in court. (News Center Maine)
COAL:
• Analysts say federal infrastructure bill provisions meant to boost clean energy development in coal communities won’t replace all the jobs lost as mines and power plants close. (E&E News)
• West Virginia environmental groups worry that language in federal legislation will restrict states’ ability to restore streams damaged by acid mine drainage even as the U.S. allocates $11.3 billion for abandoned mine cleanup. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
EFFICIENCY:
• Massachusetts’ latest three-year energy efficiency plan prioritizes lower-income households and residents of color through outreach provisions and program eligibility expansion. (Energy News Network)
• Commercial property-assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing had its best two years in Michigan in 2020 and 2021, during which 28 finished projects received retroactive financing that helped property owners save cash as they waited out the pandemic. (Energy News Network)
CLEAN ENERGY: A northwestern Minnesota tribal citizen’s companies leverage federal funding to build an electric vehicle charging network, solar installations and create clean energy job training opportunities. (Canary Media)
COMMENTARY:
• A clean energy policy expert breaks down the most common clean energy legislation states enacted in 2021, including setting power decarbonization targets and expanding community solar programs. (Utility Dive)
• The U.S. Energy Department’s ambitious community solar goals will fall flat without state support, the founder of a clean energy finance company writes. (Utility Dive)