SOLAR: The U.S. solar industry is “essentially frozen” as it delays projects and lays off workers in the face of the Commerce Department’s panel imports probe, the threat of new tariffs, and interconnection delays. (New York Times, Reuters, Utility Dive)
ALSO:
• The CEO of a small U.S. panel maker that requested the federal imports investigation says the industry is “fearmongering” and that a “renaissance in domestic manufacturing” could combat delays and shortages. (E&E News)
• Three Midwest utility executives say they’re not worried about long-term fallout from the federal probe or supply chain disruptions. (E&E News)
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GRID:
• Grid operator PJM approves a new interconnection process and will table about half of its existing backlog — around 1,200, mostly solar projects — for two years while it focuses on those most ready for construction. (Inside Climate News)
• A NextEra subsidiary wins a bid to build a nearly 50-mile Oklahoma transmission project, which analysts say might be one of the final competitive processes for such projects given a recent proposal to give utilities the right of first refusal. (Utility Dive)
• The U.S. Interior Department completes an environmental review for the SunZia transmission line that would ferry wind-power across New Mexico and advances permitting for two other lines in Utah and Nevada. (Associated Press)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Sixteen states and environmental groups sue the U.S. Postal Service to block its plans to buy 148,000 gasoline-powered delivery trucks over the next decade. (Washington Post)
• U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin calls a proposal to expand electric vehicle tax credits “ludicrous,” creating a new obstacle in the Biden administration’s climate plans. (Bloomberg)
• U.S. electric vehicle sales spiked by 76% in the first quarter while overall sales of new cars and trucks were down nearly 16%. (Inside Climate News)
OIL & GAS: West Texas saw 59 earthquakes in the first three months of 2022, fueling worries that hydraulic fracking has stressed fault lines and is turning America’s oil-drilling capital into its earthquake capital. (Bloomberg)
CLEAN ENERGY: Connecticut utility regulators end a program that provided incentives to homeowners who switched to natural gas, saying it no longer fits the state’s clean energy goals or is in ratepayers’ best interest. (New Haven Register)
FINANCE: Texas struggles to implement a law to divest from financial firms that shy away from fossil fuels because of loopholes, exceptions and executives who say they plan to ignore “politically motivated” letters from the state. (NPR/Floodlight)
CARBON CAPTURE: Experts tell Congress that federal regulators must develop liability rules if the carbon capture industry is going to use offshore carbon injection wells. (S&P Global)
MINING: The Biden administration tucks $500 million for domestic mining into its proposed aid package for Ukraine. (E&E News)
CLIMATE: Environmentalists say the Land Back movement, which advocates returning land to tribal nations, can facilitate Indigenous efforts to fight climate change and injustice. (ABC News)
COMMENTARY: National progress on climate change shows a clean energy economy is within reach, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy write.
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