OIL & GAS: Thirteen U.S. refineries emitted levels of the cancer-causing chemical benzene well in excess of federal limits in 2020, government data shows, and many of them are in communities of color. (Reuters, Environmental Integrity Project)
ALSO:
• House Democrats from New Jersey reintroduce a bill that would make it harder for pipeline companies to use eminent domain laws in response to the proposed PennEast pipeline that would cross the state. (E&E News, subscription)
• The Dakota Access pipeline operator plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the company’s ongoing legal dispute to keep the line open. (Reuters)
• Michigan lawmakers propose a $250 million “natural gas expansion fund” that utilities could tap into for projects that expand service to underserved areas of the state. (Energy News Network)
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SOLAR:
• The U.S. solar industry’s top trade group introduces guidelines companies can follow to verify the sources of their materials as manufacturers try to avoid using Chinese-made components produced with forced labor. (Reuters)
• North Carolina regulators approve a 5 MW solar facility outside Asheville despite a ratepayer advocate’s concerns about the project’s cost-effectiveness. (Energy News Network)
GRID:
• Cold temperatures from February’s winter storm, widespread power outages and Texas’ lack of laws requiring carbon monoxide alarms contributed to what an expert called the “biggest epidemic of CO poisoning in recent history.” (Texas Tribune/ProPublica/NBC News)
• A top Maine lawmaker wants to bring transmission lines to a “socially vulnerable” county to connect it to the New England grid and support a renewable energy economy in the rural area. (Energy News Network)
• California’s grid operator says the state reached a record 95% renewable energy on April 24, for a brief four seconds. (Los Angeles Times)
EMISSIONS: A group of Republican attorneys general and one governor say a court ruling that struck down a Trump-era rollback of power plant emissions regulations gave the EPA too much power and ask the Supreme Court to review the decision. (The Hill)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• The Democrat in charge of the Senate’s environment committee urges the EPA to institute a ban on new gas-powered car sales by 2035. (Associated Press)
• Tire manufacturers are responsible for massive amounts of carbon emissions and microplastic pollutions, EPA data shows, and electric vehicles could make the problem worse because they’re heavier than internal combustion cars and harder on tires. (E&E News)
• Carbon pricing could lead coal power generation to be used at off-peak hours, a report suggests, cutting into the emissions benefits of electric vehicles because they’re often charged at night. (E&E News, subscription)
PUBLIC LANDS: More than 30 conservation groups oppose the nomination of an Alaskan attorney for deputy Interior secretary, with one saying “he has too many conflicts of interest and is too beholden to the fossil fuel industry.” (news release)
OFFSHORE WIND: A federal review is underway for the 880 MW Revolution Wind project, which would be sited in federal waters off of Rhode Island and help power several New England states if approved. (S&P Global Platts)
COMMENTARY: While the wind and solar industries are still small, the growing cost of fossil fuels means “a carbon-free energy economy is coming whether oil and coal companies like it or not,” a columnist writes. (New York Times)