CLIMATE: Exxon executives were warned about climate change by company scientiests in the 1970s, before spending millions to spread misinformation and delay action. (InsideClimate News)
ALSO:
• New data on Chinese coal use cast doubt on earlier findings that carbon emissions were falling despite economic growth. (Reuters)
• A new web tool makes it easier for investors to divest from fossil fuels. (InsideClimate News)
COAL:
• A new report finds federal subsidies for Powder River Basin coal amount to $8 per ton. (The Guardian)
• A federal judge cancels a Utah mine’s lease and orders it to pay $230,000 for violations. (Deseret News)
GRID: A “peaker” plant in the California desert designed to back up renewable energy is running less frequently than expected. (Palm Springs Desert Sun)
SOLAR:
• The White House pledges $120 million to develop solar power. (The Hill)
• An industry group wants California regulators to study the full value of solar systems backed by storage to the grid. (Utility Dive)
WIND:
• Researchers have developed what they say is the most detailed and accurate resource for determining offshore wind availability in the Great Lakes. (Midwest Energy News)
• Montana regulators consider changing a rule to encourage more small wind projects. (MTN News)
• Texas sets another wind generation record, pushing wholesale prices into the negative during overnight hours. (Platts)
FRACKING:
• A report finds fracking has increased demand for water in the U.S., but still amounts to less than 1 percent of industrial use. (Reuters)
• The new owners of an Ohio company say it is mothballing waterless fracking development. (Columbus Business First)
OIL: Republicans are having difficulty finding a legislative path to repealing the U.S. ban on exporting crude oil. (Reuters)
CLEAN POWER PLAN: A state lawmaker wants Minnesota to join neighboring states in opposing the federal plan, in part because it wouldn’t give enough credit for the state’s emission reductions already made. (Minnesota Public Radio)
TRANSPORTATION: Researchers say suburbs and a lack of green transportation mean dense cities will not necessarily cause a drop in per capita carbon emissions. (Scientific American)
NUCLEAR: Nevadans continue to fight the Yucca Mountain waste site, pushing back against a report that found minimal health risks. (Las Vegas Review Journal)
POLITICS:
• Moderate Republicans in Congress are beginning to push for action on climate change. (The Hill)
• California Gov. Jerry Brown calls GOP inaction on climate change “nothing less than a dereliction of duty.” (Los Angeles Times)
• A company headed by an executive who fought an offshore wind project because it would disrupt the view from his summer home dismisses “NIMBY concerns” of critics of a solar project it’s developing in Vermont. (Watchdog.org)