POLITICS: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately warns Democrats that the House and Senate may not agree on a reconciliation bill in time to pass it, as centrists try to cut its $3.5 trillion price tag and progressives insist it maintain large climate and clean energy investments. (E&E News)
ALSO:
• Some Senate Democrats raise issue with a revitalized plan to include a carbon tax in their reconciliation bill, saying it would increase gasoline and electricity prices and violate President Biden’s promise to avoid new taxes on the middle class. (Washington Post)
• U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia continues to hedge on Democrats’ reconciliation plans by casting doubt on a plan to tax carbon. (The Hill)
SOLAR:
• Solar panel buyers and developers say some Chinese panel manufacturers have stopped shipping to the U.S. or are threatening to do so over talks of increased tariffs. (Washington Post)
• A looming decision on whether to add new tariffs on Chinese solar product imports pits President Biden’s goals of boosting domestic manufacturing and speeding the transition from fossil fuels. (Politico)
• Illinois’ new clean energy law includes incentives to build solar and storage projects at the sites of former coal facilities, though some local officials remain skeptical about making up for lost revenue. (Energy News Network)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Ford Motor Co. and Korean battery maker SK Innovation announce plans to build a $5.6 billion electric vehicle and battery plant in Tennessee and $5.8 billion twin battery plants in Kentucky, creating more than 10,000 jobs in one fell swoop. (Reuters, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tennessean, WLKY, WAVE)
CLIMATE: Care workers and first responders working on the front lines after hurricanes and other climate-driven crises call for big federal investments in climate, care and green jobs. (GreenBiz)
OIL & GAS:
• PennEast officially cancels a controversial pipeline that would have shipped natural gas from northeastern Pennsylvania to central New Jersey, days after announcing it dropped a plan to seize land from unsupportive property owners. (WHYY)
• Two Democratic Pennsylvania candidates seeking to flip an outgoing Republican U.S. senator’s seat won’t back a total ban on fracking. (E&E News)
• Natural gas certification, or measuring greenhouse gas emissions from gas pipelines, has been picking up steam among producers and utilities in recent years. (Reuters)
STORAGE: The U.S. Energy Department prepares to launch a national lab research program that would use machine learning and artificial intelligence to model the future of long-duration energy storage technologies and determine which deserve investment and improvements. (Utility Dive)
DEVELOPMENT: Some Detroit officials seek to expand the city’s community benefits ordinance that would allow more communities facing high-impact developments to negotiate with project developers. (Energy News Network)
UTILITIES: SoCalGas agrees to pay $1.8 billion to settle litigation stemming from the 2016 Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility blowout, the largest methane leak in U.S. history. (Los Angeles Times)
COMMENTARY: U.S. House members from California and Oregon call for an end to $20.5 billion in subsidies and tax credits state and federal governments give to the fossil fuel industry each year. (San Francisco Chronicle)