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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EMISSIONS: Switching to all-electric passenger and heavy-duty vehicles and a clean energy grid by 2040 could save more than 100,000 lives in the U.S. and cut $1.2 trillion in public health costs, the American Lung Association estimates. (Grist)
POLITICS:
• The Biden administration prioritizes speeding up clean energy manufacturing and boosting funding for clean energy loans, methane mitigation, and carbon capture in its proposed 2023 Energy Department budget. (E&E News)
• U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin hires a former natural gas lobbyist to work on the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee as he continues to negotiate a climate package. (Business Insider)
• Congress members from Ohio and Michigan say the U.S. needs to prioritize domestic production of electric and autonomous vehicles in order to compete globally. (The Hill)
BUILDINGS:
• The U.S. Energy Department mandates all new federal buildings and major retrofits adhere to international energy efficiency standards and proposes new efficiency rules for residential pool heaters and air conditioners. (The Hill)
• The federal government’s procurement arm will soon require federal contractors to use climate-friendly concrete and asphalt in all projects that go through the agency. (E&E News)
WIND: U.S. Interior Department officials say they plan to hold the first California offshore wind lease sale later this year, auctioning off a central coast and north coast area together. (Bloomberg)
CLEAN ENERGY:
• A climate think tank concludes that if global solar and wind power can continue to grow by 20% every year through 2030, the trend could limit global warming to 1.5°C. (Reuters)
• Fossil fuel-reliant red states are making it difficult to establish consensus for national action to accelerate the clean energy shift. (The Atlantic)
HYDROGEN: Green hydrogen may be useful for decarbonizing heavy industry and shipping, but it is unlikely to replace natural gas for heating buildings or fueling power plants, a report from a think tank finds. (Canary Media)
OIL & GAS:
• An organization funded by the government in Alberta, Canada, seeks to “influence American public opinion” and promote U.S. imports from the province’s oil industry, documents show. (VICE)
• The head of the House Natural Resources Committee calls out oil executives for refusing to testify at an upcoming hearing on rising gasoline prices. (Axios)
• U.S. House Republicans introduce a flurry of bills aimed at expediting oil and gas development on federal lands. (E&E News, subscription)
NUCLEAR: Several states explore the idea of expanding nuclear power, but previous projects in Georgia and South Carolina have been delayed by cost overruns or canceled altogether. (S&P Global)
STORAGE: Shipping bottlenecks, increasing demand for lithium and permitting and interconnection delays hamper California’s efforts to deploy grid-scale battery storage. (E&E News)
OVERSIGHT: A policy analyst with an Appalachian advocacy group explains why Virginia lawmakers are moving to yank regulatory power from a pair of citizen boards after one blocked a proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline compressor station. (Energy News Network)
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