ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Department of Energy announces $15.5 billion in funding to help automakers retool plants for electric vehicle production, winning praise from a union leader who has threatened a strike amid concerns the industry will “replace oil barons with battery barons.” (Canary Media, Associated Press)

ALSO: Hyundai and battery maker LG say they’ll invest an additional $2 billion and hire 400 more workers at a sprawling electric vehicle and battery factory under construction in Georgia. (WABE)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Documents reveal the U.S. EPA and Louisiana regulators negotiated changes to fundamentally shift the state’s air pollution permitting program to crack down on emissions disproportionately affecting Black communities, until the process came to an abrupt halt in June. (WWNO)

OVERSIGHT: An internal survey finds nearly two-thirds of EPA employees would consider quitting if remote work was curtailed. (E&E News)

GRID: An energy storage company receives a $400 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy for a Pennsylvania manufacturing facility that is expected to employ as many as 650 people. (Reuters)

OIL & GAS:
• Environmentalists and the oil industry sue the Biden administration over its plan to protect an endangered whale by scaling back an auction of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico. (Associated Press)
• Federal regulators will delay a Trump-era rule that would allow railroads to haul liquified natural gas to allow more time to study safety issues. (Associated Press)
• California regulators vote to allow SoCalGas to increase the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage field’s capacity, where a 2015 leak emitted more than 100,000 metric tons of methane. (Los Angeles Times)

WIND: After a downturn in 2022, the U.S. onshore wind industry is back to growth mode thanks in part to federal tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. (Inside Climate News)

SOLAR:
• A Korean company begins operating a solar panel factory in Georgia with an annual 2 GW capacity, even as it shutters a South Korean factory because of weaker demand. (Korea Economic Daily)
• Idaho advocates urge regulators to reject a utility’s proposal to slash compensation for rooftop solar, saying it would disincentivize residents from installing it. (Idaho Capital Sun) 

UTILITIES: A Michigan Democratic lawmaker proposes legislation that would prohibit utilities like DTE Energy and Consumers Energy from making contributions to political action committees. (FOX 2)

COMMENTARY: A Wyoming analyst says transmission project permitting must be streamlined to bring more clean energy online and successfully tackle climate change. (WyoFile)  

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Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy and is a founding editor of both Midwest Energy News and Southeast Energy News. Prior to joining Fresh Energy, he was the managing editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio. He started his journalism career in 2002 as a copy editor for the Duluth News Tribune before spending five years at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a copy editor, online producer, features editor and night city editor. A Nebraska native, Ken has a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.