POLITICS: Sen. Joe Manchin’s attempts to negotiate a bipartisan climate and energy bill are reportedly close to dead, with some lawmakers convinced that the West Virginia senator is nearing an agreement with Democratic leaders on a reconciliation bill. (Axios)
ALSO:
• Democratic Congress members criticize Republicans’ so-called climate plan that pushes for ramping up energy production of all types, with Rep. Ro Khanna calling it a “Big Oil wish list.” (Washington Post)
• Clean energy developers and oil and gas lobbyists increasingly find themselves on the same side of congressional debates as they both push for hydrogen development, speeding up permit processing, and other policies. (Houston Chronicle)
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CLEAN ENERGY:
• More than 80 new wind and solar projects came online in the first quarter of 2022 across the U.S., helping to boost renewables’ output to 23.5% of U.S. electricity generation. (Inside Climate News)
• New York announces 2 GW of new renewable energy projects that will bring the state closer to its goal of 70% renewable electricity by 2030. (PV Magazine)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Sales of non-plug-in combustion vehicles peaked in 2017 and have been in “permanent decline” since then, analysts find. (CNN)
• Ford plans to invest $3.7 billion and add 6,200 factor jobs in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri as it prepares to build more electric vehicles. (Associated Press)
SOLAR:
• Last year brought a spike in interest to develop solar projects on capped landfills across the U.S. (TIME)
• With more solar arrays coming to states in the Chesapeake Bay area, dual-use agrivoltaic projects are becoming increasingly attractive. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
OIL & GAS: The Biden administration agrees to reanalyze the climate impacts of nearly 4 million acres of oil and gas leases sold between 2016 and 2020 in five states to settle lawsuits brought by environmental groups. (Casper Star-Tribune)
OVERSIGHT:
• The U.S. EPA looks to restore states’ and tribes’ authority to oppose fossil fuel projects that threaten waterways, after the Trump administration reined in that aspect of the Clean Water Act. (Washington Post)
• Opponents of lawsuits that seek to hold polluters accountable for climate impacts oppose a Bloomberg Philanthropies-sponsored fellowship program that provides attorneys with clean energy and climate experience to state attorneys general. (E&E News)
GRID:
• The U.S. Department of Energy partners with utilities, grid operators, clean energy developers and state and tribal governments on a new initiative to speed up the grid interconnection process and facilitate clean energy developments. (Utility Dive)
• Western grid operators warn that high demand combined with diminishing hydropower and storage installation delays could lead to outages and high power prices this summer. (S&P Global)
CRYPTOCURRENCY: New York lawmakers pass a moratorium on new permits for fossil fuel-fired facilities powering Bitcoin mining operations, despite earlier sentiment suggesting it wouldn’t happen. (The Verge)
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NUCLEAR: Three former nuclear oversight managers sue the Tennessee Valley Authority, saying they were ousted from their jobs in 2019 after alerting federal regulators to repeated safety concerns and violations. (Tennessee Lookout)
CLIMATE: A climate scientist at Texas Tech University warns that counting on adaptation to limit damage from climate change is no substitute for urgently cutting greenhouse gases. (Guardian)
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