Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

Electric cars are smashing all kinds of records in the US. Their share of new cars exceeded 7% for the first half of the year, speeding past a critical tipping point for mass adoption. In the last few months, all-time sales topped 3 million. But perhaps the most impressive of all is reaching a record-hot pace of almost 1 million new EVs per year. In the 12 months through June, Americans bought 977,445 cars that run solely on electricity, according to a Bloomberg Greenanalysis.

In a long-anticipated move, EPA is poised to target the Trump-era rollback of a venerable industrial air pollution policy. Under a proposed rule that cleared a standard White House review late last week, the agency would revisit the Trump administration’s decision to scrap the “once in, always in” framework that essentially imposed lifetime pollution control requirements on factories, pulp mills and plants initially classified as “major” sources of benzene, arsenic and other air toxics.

Clean power companies are pressing regulators to let them charge more for their electricity than previously agreed — a dynamic that could influence the politics and economics of state-level climate targets. The appeals to state regulators have been loudest from East Coast offshore wind developers, who are building the nation’s first-ever projects. But they also are coming from developers of solar in the Midwest, battery storage on the West Coast, onshore wind in New York, and hydropower and transmission in New England, among other locations.

“Imagine what it would be like if you couldn’t be sure when you pulled into a gas station that you’d actually get gas out of it,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in an interview. “This is about making sure that access to charging is as reliable as access to fuel is today for gas cars, and we know that that’s not just a question of quantity but also one of quality,” he said.

Federal Reserve officials are likely to remain wary about the outlook for inflation following a report released Wednesday: Overall price increases sped up because of a pop in gas prices in August, and a more closely watched index that strips out volatile food and fuel prices climbed at a faster monthly pace than expected

Some 27 power offtake contracts totaling more than 17 GW had been signed by the end of May, according to a U.S. Department of Energy report published on Aug. 24. However, inflation, supply bottlenecks and higher financing costs have eroded profitability of many projects, forcing some to cancel the offtake agreements, while others are still seeking to renegotiate the terms, the report said.
Some developers told Reuters they were also pressing officials to ease requirements for subsidies under the year-old Inflation Reduction Act

The European Union will put forward a package of measures to support its wind power industry as renewable energy companies struggle with challenges including inflation, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday. “We will fast-track permitting even more. We will improve the auction systems across the EU. We will focus on skills, access to finance and stable supply chains,” von der Leyen said in a speech to the European Parliament.

Private investment in clean energy projects like solar panels, hydrogen power and electric vehicles surged after President Biden signed an expansive climate bill into law last year, a development that shows how tax incentives and federal subsidies have helped reshape some consumer and corporate spending in the United States. New data being released on Wednesday suggest the climate law and other parts of Mr. Biden’s economic agenda have helped speed the development of automotive supply chains in the American Southwest, buttressing traditional auto manufacturing centers in the industrial Midwest and the Southeast.

In Ohio, legislators are expected to pass a bill that could require colleges and universities to teach “both sides” of climate change. A member of a local school board in Pennsylvania sought to block the use of a climate-themed novel in middle school because, he said, it was “propaganda.” Meanwhile, classroom content by a far-right group that produces animated videos that denigrate climate action is being approved for use in schools in numerous states. “Climate change education is part and parcel of the ongoing culture wars,” said Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education.

ince oil and gas drilling began nearly 150 years ago, the salty wastewater it produces has been a nuisance for operators. Now, the electric vehicle revolution could turn the industry’s billions of barrels of brine into dollars. Oil and gas companies are eyeing their own byproduct — along with naturally occurring brine found deep underground — as a source of lithium, a highly sought-after metal needed to make EV batteries. Industry executives and experts say companies are close to bringing to market technologies that extract lithium from brine in producing wells, creating a new revenue stream in an energy transition that’s threatening the oil industry’s bottom line.