• The Environmental Protection Agency this week is reportedly expected to release a proposal to limit emissions from coal and natural gas power plants, and the anticipated plan will likely rely on states and plant owners installing carbon-capture systems at their facilities despite delays for similar projects. Environmentalists say the limited deployment of carbon-capture technology shows a lack of policy support, as critics say the systems are still too expensive and have not yet been “adequately demonstrated,” a legal threshold that the EPA must consider in setting the new standards. (Bloomberg) 
• The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration unveiled a proposal to reduce methane gas leaks from nearly 3 million miles of natural gas pipelines across the nation, which would eliminate up to 1 million metric tons of methane emissions by 2030 if the rule is finalized, the agency said. The rule aims to update federal leak detection and repair standards that are decades old and replace them with requirements that use advanced and commercially available technologies to find and fix leaks. (The Associated Press) 
• In a push to reduce emissions near ports and along truck routes, the EPA is seeking input on two programs aimed at slashing pollutants: the $3 billion Clean Ports Program and the $1 billion Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicle Program. The agency is collecting information about zero-emission trucks, including availability, market price and their performance, as well as zero-emission port equipment, electric charging stations and other necessary infrastructure. (Reuters)

Why the Fight for ‘Critical Minerals’ Is Heating Up

Bloomberg

‘No other way to do it’: Biden about to go big on power plants

Jean Chemnick et al., Politico

Historically strict EPA regulations on coal- and gas-fired power plants are due out next week. They face legal and political peril.

Circuit Panel’s Halt of EPA Ozone Rule Threatens National Limits

Jennifer Hijazi, Bloomberg Law

A divided Fifth Circuit panel ruling to halt an EPA decision to disapprove key ozone plans in Texas and Louisiana foreshadows similar decisions across regional circuit courts that threaten to upend established precedent.

COP28 team marshals oil and gas industry alliance ahead of climate summit

Attracta Mooney and Camilla Hodgson, Financial Times

Goals outlined in initiating letter do not address most damaging emissions.

Fire burns for third day at Shell Texas chemical plant

Erwin Seba, Reuters

A fire burned for a third day on Sunday at Shell Plc’s chemical plant in the Houston suburb of Deer Park, Texas, a company spokesperson said.

Is BlackRock’s Larry Fink blowing it for the climate?

Evan Halper, The Washington Post

As the ‘anti-woke’ movement rattles the billionaire, a Wall Street effort key to avoiding climate chaos falters.

A Disaster the Size of Multiple Katrinas Is Building Off Washington’s Coast

Eric Scigliano, Politico

The Coast Guard is the first line of defense against a massive tsunami. Will it also be an early victim?

Asian Americans left out of climate movement

Ayurella Horn-Muller and Shawna Chen, Axios

Despite elevated degrees of exposure and many decades spent advancing justice, Asian Americans have long been excluded from the national climate movement, activists and scientists tell Axios.

Carbon Markets Get Boost From Wall Street

Amrith Ramkumar, The Wall Street Journal

State Street will offer back-office services needed for carbon-credit exchange-traded funds.

West Oakland faces a test: Undoing decades of environmental injustice

Daryl Fears and John Muyskens, The Washington Post

Highway and city planners saddled a once-proud Black community with freeways and diesel fumes, while more affluent white neighborhoods were spared the traffic and toxics.

‘Over My Dead Body’: Backlash Builds Against $3 Trillion Clean-Energy Push

Jennifer Hiller, The Wall Street Journal

Ballooning size of wind and solar projects draws local ire as they march closer to populated areas.

Why Texas, a clean energy powerhouse, is about to hit the brakes

Anna Phillips, The Washington Post

The state’s clean energy boom could be impeded by Texas leaders’ push for legislation that would boost natural gas and place new restrictions on wind and solar projects.

‘Memorial to all who suffered’: survivors protest wind farm near Japanese American incarceration site

Andrew Buncombe, The Guardian

About 13,000 people were held at the Minidoka camp during the second world war. Now, a green energy project threatens the ‘sacred’ place.

Situation around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is ‘potentially dangerous,’ watchdog warns

Leila Sackur, NBC News

The situation in the area near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is “becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Saturday.

Big Oil Has $150 Billion in Cash and Investors Want a Share

David Uberti, The Wall Street Journal

Companies boost shareholder returns and keep funds for when the boom goes bust.

What is really driving ExxonMobil’s clean energy commitments?

Justin Jacobs, Financial Times

The oil major says it is investing in low-carbon technologies. Pressure from shareholders has played a part — but so have tax incentives.

Good News for Your Utility Bills: Gas Producers Keep Drilling

Benoit Morenne, The Wall Street Journal

Continued flow of natural gas should ease electricity costs but is risky for companies.

Berkshire shareholders reject climate, diversity proposals

Jonathan Stempel, Reuters

By margins of at least 3-to-1, shareholders voted against three proposals that Berkshire disclose more about its climate-related risks or greenhouse gas emissions and efforts to address them, and its efforts to promote diversity.

Falling crude prices and recession fears bring US oil and gas rally to a halt

Derek Brower, Financial Times

Equities sell-off comes despite companies reporting another strong quarter of cash flows.

Is battery swapping the solution to EV charging woes?

David Ferris, E&E News

As anxiety mounts over the capability of America’s electric vehicle chargers, an alternative is emerging: batteries that pop in and out like the ones in a flashlight.

U.S. electric-vehicle startups set for another quarter of steep cash burn

Akash Sriram, Reuters

U.S. electric-vehicle startups are expected to report another quarter of dwindling cash reserves next week, piling pressure on a group of companies that are struggling to ramp up production and have few options for funding in a turbulent economy.

Ford, Tesla CEOs Exchange Jabs and Praise Amid Heated EV Rivalry

Nora Eckert and Rebecca Elliott, The Wall Street Journal

Ford’s Jim Farley opines on Tesla in latest volley between car executives.

What Chile’s state-led lithium policy means for the future of the electric vehicle industry

Katie Brigham, CNBC

The global boom in electric vehicle production has sent demand for lithium-ion batteries soaring. That’s turned Chile’s vast, lithium-containing salt flats into a vital national resource.

Despite what you may think, ethanol isn’t dead yet

Max Graham, Grist

The biofuel’s bipartisan support isn’t about science, but politics.

Backup Power: A Growing Need, if You Can Afford It

Ivan Penn and Peter Eavis, The New York Times

Extreme weather linked to climate change is causing more blackouts. But generators and batteries are still out of reach for many.

Your Dishwasher May Waste Too Much Water Under New Biden Efficiency Plans

Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg

The Biden administration is advancing stricter efficiency requirements for household dishwashers that promise to pare water and greenhouse gas emissions as well as utility bills, years after former President Donald Trump exempted speed-cleaning models. 

FERC commissioners tell senators of major grid reliability challenges, with some blaming markets

Ethan Howland, Utility Dive

Power plants are retiring faster than they’re being replaced, according to FERC Commissioner Mark Christie. “The arithmetic doesn’t work,” he said.

New York heats up nation-wide debate on gas stove bans 

Rachel Frazin, The Hill

The New York assembly’s approval of a ban on natural gas and other fossil fuels in new buildings is a major victory for climate activists that will heat up the nationwide debate over gas stoves and furnaces.  

Maine Legislature lets voters have say on utility referendum

The Associated Press

The Maine Legislature is sending a referendum question on whether to dismantle the state’s two largest electric utilities to voters.

VPPs provide same resource adequacy as gas peakers, large batteries at up to 60% less cost: study

Patrick Cooley, Utility Dive

Adding that much VPP capacity would also result in $20 billion in societal benefits in the form of resilience and lower carbon emissions over 10 years, the study found.

Amazon is the 500-pound gorilla in a room full of puppies when it comes to corporate buying of wind and solar power

Catherine Clifford, CNBC

Big Tech companies are dominating the purchase of clean power. Among the group of frontrunners, Amazon is lapping all of the Big Tech companies many times over.

Over 100 wildfires in western Canada displace 29,000 people

Rebecca Falconer and Andrew Freedman, Axios

Wildfires in western Canada have forced some 29,000 people to evacuate their homes as officials warned Sunday that conditions remained volatile.

Florida tosses climate lifeline to swamped ‘Keybillies’

Daniel Cusick, E&E News

Extreme heat, tidal flooding and a rekindled respect for hurricanes are driving out longtime residents and driving up the cost of basic needs: rent, food, water, power and gas.