GRID: The Department of Energy offers up to $8.25 billion in loans for projects that improve grid resilience and upgrade transmission capacity in anticipation of an expansion in clean energy production. (Reuters)
OIL & GAS:
• The EPA will send investigators to a Virgin Islands oil refinery as soon as this week to probe a series of accidents, including a flare last week that released noxious gases into surrounding communities. (Washington Post)
• Analysts suggest BP made at least $1 billion from its energy trading business after February’s deep freeze sent natural gas prices skyrocketing. (Houston Chronicle)
• A bipartisan pair of Florida lawmakers introduce congressional legislation to permanently ban drilling off the state’s coastline. (E&E News, subscription)
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Ford announces plans for a $185 million research and development project focused on battery manufacturing. (Detroit Free Press)
• An auto supplier advocacy group urges Congress to reject electric vehicle mandates, saying a quick transition could jeopardize 30% of the U.S.’s supplier jobs. (Detroit News)
• The need for lithium used in electric vehicle batteries continues to drive a “’White Gold Rush” in California’s Imperial Valley. (NPR)
• An Illinois congressmember reintroduces legislation to invest billions of dollars in electrifying the transportation sector and boost U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing. (E&E News, subscription)
PUBLIC LANDS:
• Newly released emails show how the fossil fuel lobby mobilized to push Democratic governors in Louisiana and New Mexico against President Biden’s executive order pausing new oil and gas leasing on federal lands. (HuffPost, Natural Gas Intelligence)
• President Biden’s pause on new oil and gas leases on federal land is not expected to affect states’ income in the near term, a Bureau of Land Management official says. (Reuters)
SOLAR: Tesla’s Elon Musk admits to “significant mistakes” in the rollout of its solar roof, which has been in development for years, after announcing the roof will now only be sold with the brand’s battery. (Utility Dive)
EMISSIONS:
• Quickly cutting methane emissions could slow the Earth’s warming by as much as 30%, a study finds, suggesting the world has the technology it needs to halve those emissions by 2030. (Washington Post)
• Financial institutions’ investments emit 700 times more greenhouse gases than their offices, flights and other operations, a report finds. (Bloomberg)
CLEAN ENERGY: Clean energy patents are on the rise after a years-long slump, a report finds, though experts say significant evolution across the sector is still needed. (Axios)
TRANSITION: Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania need to protect the 10,000 mechanics who may lose their jobs when public buses and trains are electrified, according to a union president. (Utility Dive)
DIVESTMENT: Fossil fuel divestment plans have emerged at some U.S. universities but they have yet to catch on in oil- and gas-dependent states. (Inside Higher Ed)
NUCLEAR: Three New Jersey nuclear facilities are granted $300 million in annual state subsidies for another three years, to the disappointment of ratepayer advocates and other critics of the facilities’ owners. (WHYY)
BIOFUELS: The Supreme Court hears arguments in a case regarding small oil refineries’ hardship exemptions from biofuel blending standards, with the Biden administration joining the fight against the exemptions. (The Hill)
COMMENTARY: The Senate’s decision over whether to reverse a Trump-era rollback of methane emissions rules might be its “most important climate vote ever,” an editorial board writes, as its revocation would signal the U.S. has “returned to sanity” on climate change. (Washington Post)