CLIMATE: A wave of lawsuits against oil and gas companies over climate impacts has airlines, financial institutions and other corporations worried they’ll be targeted next. (E&E News)
OIL & GAS:
• Natural gas leaders use conferences, sponsorships and other strategies to cozy up to utility regulators as the industry fights to justify a role for itself in the clean energy transition. (Grist)
• Dozens of U.S. universities keep close ties with the fossil fuel industry, including Princeton, where an ExxonMobil employee was given an office and allowed to lead lectures and research groups debating climate action. (Guardian)
• President Biden says he had a “strong inclination” to not approve the Willow oil drilling company but allowed it out of fear that the federal government might lose a legal challenge over a denial. (The Hill)
• Environmental groups ask a court to cancel federal oil and gas leases sold in Wyoming in 2022, saying the Biden administration’s minimal review violated environmental laws. (Bloomberg Law)
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Federal tax incentives for electric vehicles won’t extend to European-made cars, according to guidance expected to be released this week, an official says, but ongoing talks may lead to a later agreement. (Politico)
• Electrification advocates worry Georgia’s bid to become an electric vehicle manufacturing leader may be undercut as state lawmakers consider adding electric vehicle charging taxes to what are already the nation’s highest EV registration rates. (Georgia Recorder)
POLITICS:
• House Republicans this week will consider more than 150 amendments to their sweeping energy package, which is unlikely to become law. (E&E News)
• Democrats fight bipartisan legislation that looks to overturn President Biden’s two-year moratorium on tariffs on solar panel imports from southeast Asia. (Utility Dive)
CLEAN ENERGY: After five years of bureaucratic limbo, a first-of-its-kind Massachusetts pilot gains state approval to provide solar panels, heat pumps, and battery storage to low-income households in the Cape Cod area. (Energy News Network)
GRID:
• In a trial scheduled to begin next month, the developers of the New England Clean Energy Connect power line will argue they have vested rights to continue building it, despite a 2021 voter referendum in Maine to block the project. (Portland Press Herald)
• The Iowa Supreme Court temporarily blocks a state law that had given incumbent utilities first rights to build new transmission projects, a case that could have high stakes amid plans for a major transmission buildout. (Reuters)
SOLAR: A plan to build utility-scale solar installations on fallow farmland in California’s San Joaquin Valley runs up against a lack of adequate transmission capacity. (Inside Climate News)
ELECTRIFICATION: Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams joins electrification nonprofit Rewiring America. (Guardian)
HYDROGEN: House lawmakers consider directing the U.S. Energy Department to research and develop clean hydrogen infrastructure. (Utility Dive)
HYDROPOWER: A series of wet winter storms increase hydropower generation capacity in California and the Southwest, but drier conditions are expected to diminish output in the Northwest. (S&P Global)
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