NATIONAL STANDARD: Senate Democrats introduced a bill Tuesday that would create a national renewables standard requiring all U.S. utilities to generate 30 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. (The Hill)
COAL:
• The Obama administration is offering $35.5 million in grants to help create new job opportunities for workers and communities hit by the decline of the coal industry. (The Hill)
• Coal mining company Patriot Coal Corp. said Tuesday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of “active negotiations” to sell its assets. (The Hill)
OIL TRAINS: The oil industry is suing to stop a number of provisions in a suite of oil-train transportation rules issued by the Obama administration. (The Hill)
OFFSHORE DRILLING:
• The Port of Seattle’s board voted Tuesday to delay arrival of Shell’s Arctic drilling rigs, bowing to a wave of public pressure by protesters and city officials. (The New York Times)
• A group of senators introduced a trio of bills Tuesday to open up more areas of the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic to offshore oil drilling and to provide more oil revenue for states. (The Hill)
• Deep-water drilling is set to resume near the site of the BP well blowout that killed 11 workers and caused the nation’s largest offshore oil spill five years ago off the coast of Louisiana. (Associated Press)
CLEAN POWER PLAN: Representatives of 13 Western states and utilities will gather this week in Denver to grapple with the EPA’s proposal to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. (High Country News)
BIOFUELS: As the Obama administration weighs where to set renewable fuel quotas, biofuel advocates are casting the decision as a stark choice between American innovation and oil industry profits. (Fuel Fix)
PIPELINES: Pipeline giant Enbridge is in a standoff with a Wisconsin zoning committee over the company’s plans to vastly increase the amount of tar sands oil pumped through one of its lines. (InsideClimate News)
BATTERIES: The new Tesla Motors factory being built outside Sparks, Nevada, could have a $100 billion impact on the state’s economy over the next 20 years. (InsideClimate News)
DATA CENTERS: Big tech companies like Google and Facebook are on the way to powering their data centers with renewable energy, but big utilities in Virginia and North Carolina stand in their way, according to Greenpeace. (EnergyWire)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is trying to convince more businesses to offer charging locations for electric vehicles. (Midwest Energy News)
SOLAR: An American exchange student’s interest in origami has inspired a lightweight, foldable solar panel design modeled after the Japanese paper art. (DesignNews)
LAWSUIT: A circuit court judge in Oregon on Monday rejected arguments by two Eugene teenagers who had sought a court order to force state lawmakers to make steeper cuts in carbon emissions. (The Register-Guard)
VATICAN: Pope Francis’ closest cardinal advisor on Tuesday blasted “movements in the United States” hostile to the pontiff’s call to mitigate climate change, claiming the criticism is fueled by capitalists protecting its own interests. (Crux)