ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Experts and electric vehicle advocates say President Biden’s plan to extend tax breaks only to union-made EVs could detract from America’s electrification goals and prolong gas-powered car usage. (E&E News)
ALSO:
• Research conducted by a nonprofit highlights how getting more Vermont drivers into electric vehicles will help the state reach its legally mandated climate goals. (Energy News Network)
• An Iowa electrical engineering researcher says the U.S. is in an “interim” period for electric vehicles and predicts the benefits of electrified transportation won’t be evident for 20 years. (Radio Iowa)
UTILITIES:
• Some major utilities are trying to water down congressional Democrats’ Clean Electricity Performance Program, though experts say their skepticism contradicts with their public climate commitments. (E&E News)
• Utilities would either receive massive grants or major penalties if they meet or fail to meet decarbonization goals under the proposed Clean Electricity Performance Program. (E&E News)
POLITICS:
• Progressive Democrats begin saying they’ll vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill if moderate Democrats and the White House don’t ensure the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill passes as well. (Politico, E&E News)
• Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm says the U.S. can still make “tremendous progress” on fighting climate change via regulations even without the Clean Electricity Performance Program, though she vows the administration won’t “give it up without lots of kicking and screaming.” (Politico)
OIL & GAS:
• Twenty states have passed laws over the past year blocking local bans on new natural gas installations, and three other states are considering similar measures. (Vox)
• The American Petroleum Institute and the American Gas Association have spent $423,000 and $18,000, respectively, on Facebook ads opposing Democrats’ reconciliation bill. (E&E News)
• Enbridge says Line 3 construction is “substantially complete” and oil will begin flowing through the expanded pipeline tomorrow. (Star Tribune)
• A New Mexico agency says the state has seen a dramatic increase in earthquake activity since 2018, with Permian Basin injection wells likely to blame. (Capital and Main)
WIND: Offshore wind faces big challenges in North Carolina, including local opposition and a looming, Trump-era ban on coastal energy development, but a new coalition says the barriers are surmountable, and that the opportunities are even larger. (Energy News Network)
SOLAR:
• The U.S. Commerce Department delays a decision on whether to impose tariffs on solar panel imports from three Asian countries. (Reuters)
• Largely rural Virginia counties that have long been defined by farming try to find a balance between utility-scale solar power, agriculture and open space. (Danville Register & Bee, Rappahannock News)
AGRICULTURE: USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announces billions of dollars of federal funding will go toward a pilot program testing carbon sequestration on farms and climate resilience measures for farmers. (E&E News)
COAL:
• Kentucky officials take legal action to enforce a $3 million fine on coal companies owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice for reclamation violations at mines in eastern Kentucky, as well as to revoke five mining permits. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• Documents show Colorado’s coal mine operators received millions of dollars in breaks on royalties owed to the state and federal government last year, with no objection from Gov. Jared Polis’s office. (Colorado Sun)
COMMENTARY: The Clean Electricity Performance Program rightfully earmarks funding for low-income customers to pay higher bills resulting from grid upgrades, but fails to reward non-utility power generators as they adopt solar power, a law professor argues. (The Conversation)