EQUITY: The EPA has postponed an internal speaker series on environmental justice after a memo from the Trump administration calling such trainings “un-American propaganda.” (Politico)
CLEAN ENERGY:
• Oil giant BP says it plans to start work on more than 20 GW of renewable energy projects by 2025. (Bloomberg)
• Minnesota utility Xcel Energy is updating an online mapping tool that details grid congestion, which would help clean energy developers determine where to site projects. (Energy News Network)
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CLIMATE: Some of President Trump’s stated views on climate change rely on debunked talking points that have been long abandoned by skeptics of climate science. (E&E News, subscription)
WIND: The Ohio Power Siting Board is expected to reject calls to revisit a May ruling that critics say would doom the first offshore wind project in the Great Lakes. (Cleveland.com)
COAL: Murray Energy emerges from bankruptcy as American Consolidated Natural Resources and is the largest privately owned U.S. coal operator with mines in five states. (Associated Press)
OIL & GAS:
• North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper in a letter urges President Trump to include the state in his recent offshore drilling moratorium, which only covered Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. (Coastal Review Online)
• The Bureau of Land Management finds its January 2021 New Mexico lease sale will have “no significant” environmental impact. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• Shell Offshore files documents to return to Alaska’s North Slope and asks the state for its exploration plan to be valid for five years. (Anchorage Daily News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A widespread transition to electric vehicles could help avoid $72 billion in public health costs nationally by 2050, according to the American Lung Association. (Smart Cities Dive)
• Arizona-based electric truck startup Nikola is the subject of two federal inquiries following a report accusing it of fraud, which the company disputes. (Axios)
SOLAR: The new owner of a Maine ski resort proposes a 30-acre solar array as part of an overall revitalization of a facility that has lost money since its inception. (Sun Journal)
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ANALYSIS: Vox writer David Roberts outlines how clean energy innovation can be ramped up to address climate change.
COMMENTARY:
• A columnist expresses hope that climate-fueled disasters “will finally force us to recognize the steep costs of incompetent, neglectful, uncaring government.” (New York Times)
• A California journalist says the Native American cultural land management practice of prescribed burning would help prevent wildfires and create jobs. (Salon)