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Record gasoline prices drive energy, climate agenda
Democrats in Congress are still searching for answers on record-high gas prices but say they are increasingly optimistic on separate talks on energy and climate. “We’re hearing positive vibes,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said last week on continued negotiations between Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). “Positive vibes are a long way from a safe landing. But better to have than not.” [ read more … ]
States
Texas Power Use Tops All-Time Record as Heat Bakes State
Electricity use soared to an all-time high in Texas amid a searing heat wave, topping levels last seen before the coronavirus pandemic. With air conditioners humming across the nation’s second most-populous state, demand on the power grid topped 74.9 gigawatts at 4:50 p.m. local time, surpassing a record set in August 2019, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which runs the system. The grid is operating normally, and officials say there are ample supplies to meet demand. One gigawatt is enough to power about 200,000 Texas homes. [ read more … ]
SCOTUS
Supreme Court climate case might end regulation
Legal experts are waiting to see if the ruling in West Virginia v. EPA begins to chip away at the ability of federal agencies — all of them, not just EPA — to write and enforce regulations. It would foreshadow a power shift with profound consequences, not just for climate policy but virtually everything the executive branch does, from directing air traffic to protecting investors. The scope of the decision might not be immediately obvious, said Sambhav Sankar, Earthjustice’s senior vice president for programs. [ read more … ]
Carbon Capture
Can Carbon Capture Be Part of the Climate Solution?
Nearly two decades ago, Jennifer Wilcox realized that removal would be key to getting to net-zero emissions. As a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford University, Dr. Wilcox recognized that nature-based solutions — planting trees and rehabilitating wetlands, both of which are really good atabsorbing carbon dioxide — could only do so much: Carbon would also need to be captured from the air. So, in 2012, she wrote the textbook on how it’s done. The National Academies of Science came around to Dr. Wilcox’s point of view in 2018, reporting that technologies would need to be developed and advanced to remove the amount needed. Ms. Wilcox now has a leading role in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. [ read more … ]
Markets
‘Exxon Made More Money Than God’: Biden Rips High Gas Prices
President Joe Biden accused Exxon Mobil Corp. and other oil companies of exploiting high gasoline prices after a report showed inflation soaring to a new 40-year record. “We’re going to make sure everyone knows Exxon’s profits. Exxon made more money than God last year,” Biden said during an event at the port of Los Angeles. [ read more … ]
$5 at the pump: U.S. gasoline crosses historic mark
U.S. gasoline broke above $5 a gallon over the weekend, a record average driven in part by the Russia-Ukraine war and Americans’ pent-up desire to travel. Five dollars is a psychological barrier for many drivers, and it came after a series of all-time highs fell over the past few months. In a sign of the mounting frustration, President Joe Biden criticized Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday for not producing more oil.
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EVs
Biden Plan for EV Chargers on Highways Meets Skepticism in Rural West
States including Utah, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico and Colorado are raising concerns about rules the Biden administration has proposed for receiving a share of the coming $5 billion in federal funding to help jump-start a national EV-charging network. The states say it will be difficult, if not impossible, to run EV chargers along desolate stretches of highway. [ read more … ]
A solid floor’: How new rules could remake EV charging
The nation’s electric vehicle charging stations — an improvisational curio shop of machines that often don’t work — might become more reliable and easier to use thanks to new government rules.
That is the conclusion of longtime electric vehicle watchers, who cheered the federal guidelines. The new guidelines, proposed late last week, start to dictate how states can spend the $7.5 billion of federal money approved in last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law for electric vehicle charging.
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Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.