CLIMATE: This summer was the Earth’s hottest on record, the World Meteorological Organization reports, with July and August also marking the world’s hottest months ever measured. (Associated Press)
ALSO:
• As the Burning Man festival’s environmental impact faces increased scrutiny, critics note that event organizers played a key role in blocking a proposed geothermal project in Nevada earlier this year. (Grist)
• The youth behind a landmark climate lawsuit in Montana say they hope it will encourage people to take the crisis more seriously. (ABC News)
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EQUITY: More than 30 million low-income households eligible for federal funding to help them pay air conditioning power bills haven’t received money, including many in states that have faced extreme heat. (E&E News)
OIL & GAS:
• A federal appeals court weighs whether to require federal energy regulators to more clearly define when proposed natural gas projects require additional climate impact reviews. (E&E News)
• As Ohio prepares to start permitting hydraulic fracturing projects on state land, critics question whether the state can both preserve and profit off public lands. (Columbus Dispatch)
• Pennsylvania lawmakers consider three bills to strengthen existing fracking waste disposal standards, such as labeling trucks hauling “produced water” as hazardous. (Inside Climate News)
UTILITIES:
• Enbridge agrees to buy three Dominion Energy utilities, including one in Ohio, in a $14 billion deal that will create North America’s largest natural gas provider. (Reuters)
• Maine’s consumer advocate says it’s still unclear whether a public takeover of the state’s two investor-owned utilities would actually deliver greater reliability and progress toward climate goals. (Bangor Daily News)
POLITICS: Sustainability initiatives, electric vehicles, and climate efforts remain sticking points as Congress finalizes its annual defense policy bill. (E&E News)
SOLAR:
• New Hampshire power utilities unexpectedly testify in favor of the state’s current system for compensating customers who share surplus solar power on the grid, calling the policy balanced and effective. (Energy News Network)
• North Carolina regulators approve Duke Energy’s plan to reduce what it pays commercial rooftop solar customers in the eastern part of the state while considering the same changes statewide. (WFAE)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• U.S. House Republicans launch another investigation of Ford’s deal with a Chinese company to build an electric vehicle plant in Michigan. (E&E News)
• Texas begins charging electric vehicle drivers an annual $200 registration fee, offering one example of how states are trying to replace declining gas tax revenue in the EV transition. (Governing)
• Labor activists launch an effort to organize workers at electric vehicle factories in Alabama and Georgia. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, subscription)
COMMENTARY: The U.S. Energy Department is severely miscalculating the emission-reduction benefits of a carbon capture and storage project at a North Dakota coal plant, a sustainable energy policy professor writes. (Utility Dive)
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