UTILITIES: Electric utilities knew as early as 1968 that burning fossil fuels was warming the planet but still worked with oil and gas companies to sow climate skepticism through ads and articles more than two decades later, researchers find. (Grist, Atlantic)
ALSO:
• Public power advocacy is gaining momentum across the country, with cost cutting and accountability at the top of activists’ minds. (USA Today)
• Memphis, Tennessee, residents express anger and frustration over the Tennessee Valley Authority’s role in generating and moving toxic coal ash through majority Black neighborhoods as the city council considers whether to continue sourcing power from the federal utility. (Commercial Appeal)
POLICY:
• State lawmakers have enacted close to 150 energy-related measures this year, with electric vehicles, solar, and hydrogen the most common topics. (S&P Global)
• The Inflation Reduction Act will aid tribal nations on the frontlines of climate change, but its incentives for mining and other extractive industries could also expose others to increased pollution. (High Country News)
• Senate Democrats plan to attach permitting reform measures to critical funding legislation, but they face opposition from dozens of House Democrats. (E&E News)
SOLAR:
• Market researchers predict U.S. solar developers will struggle for at least the next year to access supplies thanks to federal provisions barring Chinese imports. (Reuters)
• A team led by University of Illinois researchers is developing an educational game to teach kids how farmers can blend solar panels and crop production. (Energy News Network)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Few states are adequately planning to ensure electric vehicle charging infrastructure, subsidies and other incentives are deployed equitably, an electrification advocacy group says. (Utility Dive)
• More electric vehicles plugging in may aid the grid more than strain it as bidirectional chargers let EV batteries channel electricity back to the network during times of high demand. (Axios)
OIL & GAS: Natural gas companies are increasingly investing in carbon capture and storage even as courts weaken their emissions reduction mandates and the technology remains expensive. (E&E News)
BIOFUELS: An analysis of federal data shows that ethanol plants produce twice as many carbon emissions per gallon of fuel capacity than oil refineries, in part the result of a history of industry-friendly federal regulation. (Reuters)
TRANSPORTATION: The U.S. Public Interest Research Group says federal infrastructure funds may end up going to highway expansion projects despite federal encouragement to use the funds for public transit. (Grist)
GRID:
• California grid officials say residents’ response to a text message asking them to conserve power averted rolling blackouts during the heat wave’s Tuesday peak. (Los Angeles Times)
• Grid operator MISO for the first time will allow energy storage resources to participate in its energy and operating reserve markets. (Utility Dive)
PIPELINES: As anti-Mountain Valley Pipeline protestors demonstrate today in Washington, D.C., West Virginians are still divided on the project that U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin is pushing to complete. (Politico, NPR)
COMMENTARY: A civil engineering professor highlights how climate change is stressing America’s infrastructure and disproportionately harming low-income communities and communities of color, pointing out Jackson, Mississippi’s water system failure and California’s grid issues. (The Conversation)
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