• A federal appeals court overturned a first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas in new construction in Berkeley, Calif., ruling in favor of the California Restaurant Association after the group claimed the city violated a law that gives the federal government the power to set energy-efficiency standards for appliances. A group of environmental advocates said in a statement that it expects the ruling to be appealed. (The Associated Press) 
• Only 10 vehicles qualify for the full $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids beginning today, as new regulations from the Treasury Department take effect. General Motors Co., Tesla Inc. and Ford Motor Co. have at least one EV model qualifying for the credit, while Volkswagen AG, Hyundai Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co., BMW AG, Volvo Car AB and Rivian Automotive Inc. no longer qualify despite having models that were eligible for at least partial credits earlier this year. (Bloomberg)
• The Biden administration’s advancement of offshore wind projects along the Atlantic Coast is facing some pushback from the Defense Department, which has marked nearly all development areas from Delaware to North Carolina as conflicting with military operations, according to maps shared with industry stakeholders and seen by Bloomberg. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, responsible for offshore wind development, said it is “well positioned” to meet the administration’s and states’ offshore wind goals, while a senior Defense Department official said the Pentagon will work to find ways to accommodate the offshore wind leasing. (Bloomberg) 

Happening today

• The Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate and Nuclear Safety will hold a hearing to examine cleaner vehicles with a focus on consumers and public health. 
• The House Financial Services Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent rulemakings, including its climate disclosure rule, with testimony from SEC Chair Gary Gensler. 

US clean energy backlog balloons to unprecedented 2 terawatts

Canary Media

Republicans eye Democrats’ votes on energy package ahead of 2024 election: memo

Rachel Frazin, The Hill

Republicans are looking to use vulnerable Democrats’ votes on a GOP energy bill against them in the next election cycle. 

McCarthy ties energy, regulatory demands to debt talks

Jeremy Dillon, E&E News

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy directly linked Republican demands on energy, permitting and regulatory oversight to the broader debt ceiling negotiations during a speech Monday morning at the New York Stock Exchange.

Westerman emerges as pivotal player in permitting talks

Kelsey Brugger, E&E News

It’s only been a few months, but Rep. Bruce Westerman has made his mark on energy policy in the House. And he’s got his sights set on a lot more.

US ready to lend Poland $4 billion for nuclear energy plan

Monica Scislowska, The Associated Press

A project to develop small nuclear power reactors in Poland is moving forward, with Polish energy company Orlen and two U.S. government financial institutions signing an agreement Monday.

Facing brutal climate math, US bets billions on direct air capture

Susanna Twidale et al., Reuters

The world is failing to cut carbon emissions fast enough to avoid disastrous climate change, a dawning truth that is giving life to a technology that for years has been marginal – pulling carbon dioxide from the air.

Think Manchin has coal connections? Meet his potential rival.

Scott Waldman, E&E News

West Virginia voters may swap one coal boss for an even bigger one.

Slow start on World Bank reform angers climate-hit countries

Ellen Knickmeyer, The Associated Press

The World Bank meetings were supposed to be a first step in a new era of affordable loans for developing nations hard hit by climate change like Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s Barbados, one of many Caribbean islands battered by worsening hurricanes.

Lobbying ‘frenzy’ follows Biden’s electric car push

Timothy Cama and Hannah Northey, Politico

Companies are racing to benefit from billions of dollars in federal spending and incentives.

Wisconsin lawmakers hope to outlaw local bans on gas engines

The Associated Press

State and local governments in Wisconsin would not be allowed to ban gas-powered vehicles, snow blowers, lawnmowers and other machines under a pair of bills up for a vote Tuesday in the state Assembly.

Rail CEO to testify in Ohio Senate about fiery derailment

Samantha Hendrickson, The Associated Press

Norfolk Southern’s CEO is set to testify before an Ohio Senate rail safety panel Tuesday, more than two months after a fiery train derailment including hazardous materials rocked the village of East Palestine.

The oil and gas industry is emitting way more of this potent, planet-warming gas than the EPA has estimated, study shows

Ella Nilsen, CNN

Planet-warming methane pollution from the US oil and gas industry was 70% higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s own estimates between 2010 and 2019, scientists reported Monday.

America’s Most Prolific Logger Recasts Itself as Environmental Do-Gooder

Ryan Dezember, The Wall Street Journal

Weyerhaeuser uses new climate math to court green investors, while cutting down as many trees as ever.

Colorado River snaking through Grand Canyon most endangered US waterway – report

Nina Lakhani, The Guardian

Unique ecosystem on the brink of collapse due to climate crisis and mismanagement, says conservation group American Rivers.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is now so huge and permanent that a coastal ecosystem is thriving on it, scientists say

Ivana Kottasova, CNN

Scientists have found thriving communities of coastal creatures, including tiny crabs and anemones, living thousands of miles from their original home on plastic debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – a 620,000 square mile swirl of trash in the ocean between California and Hawaii.

Why injecting CO2 underground is a legal morass

Shelby Webb, E&E News

Texas is the Wild West when it comes to injecting carbon dioxide emissions into the earth.

Blown Away: Fishermen Endangered by Offshore Wind’s Political Power

Will Sennott and Anastasia Lennon, The New Bedford Light

Turbines the height of 70-story skyscrapers will soon tower over East Coast fishing grounds. But government regulators with ties to offshore wind developers are downplaying the danger to the marine ecosystem and fishermen’s livelihoods.

Nuclear Powers Pledge to Push Putin Out of Uranium Markets

Jonathan Tirone, Bloomberg

Nuclear powers within the Group of Seven nations pledged to end Russia’s dominance over global atomic-fuel markets, potentially cutting off a critical source of geopolitical currency for Russian President Vladimir Putin more than a year after his invasion of Ukraine. 

From GE to Siemens, the wind energy industry hopes billions in losses are about to end

Bob Woods, CNBC

The wind energy sector has been in crisis mode as reduced tax incentives, rising interest rates and inflation plagued turbine manufacturers and land-based and offshore wind projects.

A firsthand look at a California solar farm with ​‘earth-mounted’ panels

Eric Wesoff, Canary Media

Erthos wants to reinvent solar farms with ground-mounted panels that it says can reduce utility solar costs by 20 percent. We went to see how it all works.

NRC to regulate fusion energy systems as commercial interest grows despite ‘uncertain’ future

Stephen Singer, Utility Dive

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will establish a framework to oversee fusion energy systems, beginning with a limited revision to materials licensing regulations, and will consider whether to establish a rule category for fusion energy systems.

Midwestern leaders want to sell ethanol in summer despite smog risks

John McCracken, Grist

Ethanol was sold for years as a “climate-friendly” fuel, but research says it could harm the planet and your health.

G7 coalition to keep Russian oil price cap at $60 per barrel

Andrea Shalal, Reuters

The Group of Seven (G7) coalition will keep a $60 per barrel price cap on seaborne Russian oil, a coalition official said, despite rising global crude prices and calls by some countries for a lower price cap to restrict Moscow’s revenues.

The G7’s uneasy support for gas

Ben Geman, Axios

One awkward, endless sentence in a new joint statement from Group of Seven energy ministers shows how natural gas sits uneasily at the intersection of resource security and climate policies.

Biden adds more EV charging across U.S., with pledges from Uber, Walmart, PG&E and others

Rachel Koning Beals, MarketWatch

The latest rollout would add more than 100,000 public EV chargers to the more than 135,000 now available. Biden wants 500,000 chargers across all states by 2030.

Chevron Touts Renewable Gasoline as Alternative to Electric Cars

Kevin Crowley, Bloomberg

Chevron Corp. plans to showcase “renewable gasoline” it claims will eventually offer similar emissions savings to electric cars, just days after the US proposed the toughest-ever tailpipe pollution limits. 

Volkswagen plans 10 more EV models by 2026

Reuters

Germany’s Volkswagen AG said on Tuesday it plans to introduce 10 more electric vehicle models by 2026 and it remained committed to China, where established foreign brands are losing ground to nimble local rivals.

AEP, Liberty Utilities terminate $2.65B Kentucky Power deal, partly over ‘evolving macro environment’

Ethan Howland, Utility Dive

AEP is developing a “refreshed” long-term strategy for its Kentucky operations and plans to file a rate case in June, the company said Monday.

Massive transmission line will send wind power from Wyoming to California

Gabriela Aoun Angueira, Grist

After 18 years, the TransWest Express line receives final approval.

NERC opposes expanding physical security rules for critical substations following Duke, PSE, other attacks

Robert Walton, Utility Dive

The physical security rule in place now for critical substations “appropriately focuses limited industry resources” and should not be expanded to a broader set of assets on the bulk power system, or BPS, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. concluded in a report.

PJM asks FERC to help resolve LS Power, 7 other complaints about $1.8B in Winter Storm Elliott penalties

Ethan Howland, Utility Dive

Resolving the disputes that could last years may help avoid “market disruption, defaults, bankruptcies, and the physical loss of assets,” the PJM Interconnection said.

Copper Shortage Threatens Green Transition

Yusuf Khan, The Wall Street Journal

Challenges in opening new mines expected to leave production lagging behind rising demand.

Report: Climate change, disease imperil North American bats

John Flesher, The Associated Press

More than half of North America’s bat species are likely to diminish significantly as climate change, disease and habitat loss take their toll, scientists warned Monday.