PIPELINES: Sen. Bernie Sanders says he will oppose a government spending bill that includes permitting reform for fossil fuel projects, a concession made to Sen. Joe Manchin in exchange for his vote on the recently signed Inflation Reduction Act. (E&E News)
ALSO:
• Appalachian, Indigenous and southeastern activists protest legislation to accelerate permitting for pipelines and other projects, saying their communities were sacrificed as a bargaining chip to pass the climate bill. (Washington Post)
• A U.S. District Court judge in Wisconsin rules that Enbridge is trespassing on an Ojibwe tribe’s land and should pay damages for continuing to operate its Line 5 pipeline despite a major easement expiring in 2013. (Michigan Advance)
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GRID:
• During the peak of the California heat wave, battery systems discharged more than 3,000 MW into the grid, eclipsing the output of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant for a short period. (Energy Storage News)
• Congressional Republicans attempt to use California’s heat wave-induced grid troubles to attack clean energy policies, but Democrats point out that rolling outages were averted. (E&E News)
• Renewable energy made up nearly 25% of U.S. electricity output in the second quarter of this year, while coal declined. (Inside Climate News)
• FERC chair Richard Glick says New England’s natural gas imports are “not a sustainable solution,” instead encouraging new transmission lines and energy storage solutions. (E&E News)
CARBON CAPTURE: A California company plans to construct the nation’s first large-scale direct air carbon capture project in Wyoming, saying it will be operational next year. (Reuters)
CLIMATE:
• As oil companies try to distance themselves from climate impacts in marketing campaigns, only a small part of their investments are actually going to low-carbon technologies. (Grist)
• A White House office urges federal agencies to develop climate standards for energy-intensive cryptocurrency operations. (E&E News)
EQUITY: As the Inflation Reduction Act is expected to create more than a half-million jobs in the clean energy sector, federal data shows the wind and solar workforces have an even greater gender imbalance than the gas, nuclear and coal industries. (CNBC, Canary Media)
BUILDINGS: “It’s like pulling teeth:” Ann Arbor, Michigan, planning commissioners express frustration as they try to persuade housing developers to voluntarily incorporate features like solar power and electric appliances into new apartment buildings. (MLive)
WIND: A federal judge decides that General Electric infringed on Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy’s patent to develop its Haliade-X wind turbines; GE can no longer sell those turbines in the U.S. but can still use them for its current Massachusetts and New Jersey projects. (Reuters)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: General Motors and Jeep unveil new all-electric SUV models, with GM’s Equinox model starting at $30,000. (CNBC)
COMMENTARY: Federal lawmakers shouldn’t consider legislation to reduce public input on environmental permitting for energy projects at a time when communities are suffering the effects of climate change and past energy development, writes a staffer for an Appalachian advocacy group. (Virginia Mercury)
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