U.S. Energy News is one of five regional services published by the Energy News Network. Today’s edition was compiled by Kathryn Krawczyk.
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STORAGE: Researchers explore alternatives to batteries to store clean energy, including new forms of pumped-storage hydropower, compressed air, and other seemingly simple ideas that take advantage of basic physics. (New Yorker)
HEATING:
• Nearly 6 million U.S. homes have moderate to severe health hazards such as mold or asbestos that shut tenants and homeowners out of weatherization subsidies that could help them reduce heating costs. (Vox)
• Clean energy advocates are pushing to replace natural gas heating with electric alternatives, while the industry maintains it can keep emissions low by gradually blending in low-carbon substitutes like hydrogen. (E&E News)
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OIL & GAS:
• The Interior Department will make 144,000 acres available in an upcoming oil and gas lease sale but make drillers pay higher royalty rates to the government. (Washington Post)
• New York’s climate council decides to refer to “natural gas” as “fossil gas” going forward, a semantic move some say will properly define the energy resource. (Times Union)
PIPELINES:
• A new report from a pipeline safety nonprofit warns that state regulators aren’t prepared to oversee the public safety implications of carbon dioxide pipelines. (Grist)
• A White Earth Nation attorney helped draft a tribal law recognizing the rights of wild rice, which is being tested in hopes of stopping the Line 3 pipeline expansion in northern Minnesota. (Grist)
POLITICS:
• Former Trump EPA chief Scott Pruitt, who faced 14 separate federal ethics investigations when he resigned in 2018, files to run for U.S. Senate in Oklahoma. (Salon)
• Three years after Ohio’s House Bill 6 power plant bailout legislation was introduced, the law remains on the books despite triggering the largest corruption case in state history. (Energy News Network)
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: The EPA opens investigations of whether two Louisiana agencies discriminated against Black residents when they granted permits for chemical plants and a grain terminal in the “Cancer Alley” corridor. (NOLA.com, Guardian)
SOLAR:
• A pair of Republican-sponsored bills in New Hampshire would slash the state’s net metering rates for utility customers who generate their own power, ahead of the release of a years-long study designed to determine a fair rate. (Energy News Network)
• Grid congestion prevents thousands of New Mexico residents from connecting new rooftop solar systems to the distribution network. (Albuquerque Journal)
GRID: A recent spike in clearing prices in grid operator MISO’s capacity auction highlights key challenges ahead as demand rebounds and fossil fuel-powered plants retire. (E&E News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• The U.S. EPA’s plan to electrify more school buses could have big health benefits, as a study finds harmful emissions can be 10 times higher inside a bus than outside. (Grist)
• Jeep continues to push its gasoline-powered, low-fuel-efficiency models as its all-electric SUV remains in development. (Bloomberg)
CARBON CAPTURE: Louisiana has seen more than $6 billion in announced carbon capture projects over the past year, due largely to federal funding, a governor focused on reducing emissions and necessary geological formations. (Lafayette Daily Advertiser)
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