Top Stories

  • General Motors Co. Chief Executive Mary Barra rolled out details of the auto giant’s expanded and accelerated electric vehicle strategy during a conference yesterday, with the company upping its investment to spend $27 billion on electric and autonomous models through 2025, from the $20 billion previously announced. GM also plans to release 30 new electric vehicle models across its brand portfolio by 2025, more than two-thirds of which will be available in North America. (The Verge)
  • In his last two months in office, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler plans to carry out taxpayer-funded trips to Taiwan in December and to four Latin American countries in January. The high cost of travel and precautions during the coronavirus pandemic has raised concerns about the expense to taxpayers of these final-hour trips, especially given that Wheeler’s policies no longer represent the agency’s future direction, but an EPA spokesman said Wheeler “will continue to advance environmental progress both here and abroad” during his time as head of the agency. (The New York Times)
  • The Department of the Interior issued a proposal to loosen Obama-era safety regulations for the oil industry’s operation in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska, a region that at present has no active drilling operations. The proposed revisions to the regulations would facilitate petroleum extraction by eliminating a requirement that oil operators provide a detailed operations plan before submitting an exploration request, a move that would likely be reversed by President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. (Reuters)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

11/20/2020
Federal Reserve Banks of Dallas and Kansas City virtual conference: Navigating the Changing Energy Landscape
Atlantic Council webinar: Can we avoid a carbon trade war? 8:00 am
Atlantic Council webinar: Salute to service: Veteran perspectives on clean energy and national security 10:00 am
The Washington Post Live event: The Future Reset: Ending Energy Poverty 11:00 am
NASEM virtual workshop: Integrating Earth Systems Science and Engineering 11:00 am
RFF webinar: Policy Leadership Series with The Honorable Mary Landrieu 1:00 pm
11/23/2020
Columbia SIPA event: Demystifying Green Hydrogen 2:00 pm
11/24/2020
2nd AUC-IEA Ministerial Forum
UT Austin Energy Institute event: U.S. Climate Policy in the Biden Administration 5:15 pm
View full calendar

Special Report: The Role of the CEO in the Shifting Political Landscape

Now more than ever, consumers, voters, policy influencers and retail investors are joining institutional investors in paying close attention to how corporate leaders are navigating today’s issues.

A new report from Morning Consult looks at global audiences’ expectations of today’s CEOs to help leaders better understand the role they should play on both domestic and international stages amid this shifting political environment. Download the report.

General

Elections in the West highlight divisions and diversity
High Country News

Justice, power and environment: The 2020 elections were defined by grassroots organizing and deep partisanship.

Environmentalists aim to use EPA guidance removal rule as tool despite opposition
Rachel Frazin, The Hill

Despite environmental groups’ opposition to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that allows the public to ask the agency to eliminate policy guidances, at least one organization has already started to use the rule to its advantage. 

Arizona’s Net-Zero Plan Unites Democrats and Republicans
Dan Gearino, InsideClimate News

Arizona is showing the rest of the country how to set the terms for a transition to clean energy that is substantial and nonpartisan. Considering that the state is controlled by Republicans and was known until recently for the way its largest utility, Arizona Public Service, was willing to go to great lengths to oppose progress, that fact in itself is incredible.

Oil Set for Weekly Gain as Vaccine Optimism Outweighs Lockdowns
Elizabeth Low and James Thornhill, Bloomberg

Oil is poised for a third weekly gain in New York as positive Covid-19 vaccine developments outweighed concerns about stricter restrictions due to a surge in global infections that will dampen fuel demand.

Oil and Natural Gas

Biden vowed to ban new drilling on public lands. It won’t be easy.
Juliet Eilperin and Dino Grandoni, The Washington Post

One of Joe Biden’s boldest campaign pledges was to ban “new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters,” part of a sweeping agenda aimed at curbing greenhouse gases that are warming the planet and threatening life on Earth. Transforming that promise into reality, however, will be tough.

New Mexico increases enforcement of clean-up at oil sites
The Associated Press

The New Mexico State Land Office that oversees thousands of oil and natural gas development leases in a major U.S. petroleum-production basin is expanding environmental enforcement efforts to ensure that oilfield sites get cleaned up and restored as leases expire.

U.S. court allows Equitrans to keep building Mountain Valley natgas pipe
Scott DiSavino, Reuters

The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a motion to stay a permit for the $5.8-$6.0 billion Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia.

Oil’s stable state of chaos
Ben Geman, Axios

These are wild times for the oil industry. COVID-19 is still hurting demand but there’s optimism around vaccines; the incoming Biden administration is vowing new U.S. drilling restrictions, and there are big question marks about the future of global consumption.

Utilities and Infrastructure

In filing, FirstEnergy says former executives’ firings tied to questionable $4 million payment to entity tied to unnamed state official
Andrew J. Tobias, Cleveland.com

A new federal filing from FirstEnergy offers additional details on why the Akron-based utility company abruptly fired three senior executives last month, including former CEO Chuck Jones.

States urge FERC to avoid further intrusions on authority in any future carbon pricing policy
Catherine Morehouse, Utility Dive

Stakeholders commenting on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s proposed carbon pricing policy statement were divided on what role such a policy should play in the clean energy transition.

Renewables

California Wants Its Imperial Valley to Be ‘Lithium Valley’
David R. Baker, Bloomberg

The region’s Salton Sea contains a massive trove of the metal needed for electric-car batteries.

Clean energy startup Ecolution kWh raises $3 million in VC seed money
Ben Geman, Axios

Ecolution kWh — a startup looking to commercialize tech that stores and dispatches kinetic energy from vehicle motion — raised $3 million in seed money from the VC firm Brown Venture Group.

US EV market sales to rise to 6.9 million units by 2025: Frost & Sullivan
Jacqueline Holman, S&P Global Platts

The US electric vehicles market is expected to reach 6.9 million unit sales by 2025, up from 1.4 million unit sales forecast for 2020, due to government incentives driving EV ownership, Frost & Sullivan said Nov. 19.

Big electric trucks and buses are coming. Here’s how to speed up the transition.
David Roberts, Vox

Financing, policy, and private sector tools can fund vehicle costs and new charging infrastructure.

California Mulls 90% Electric Vehicle Goal for Uber, Lyft
Emily C. Dooley, Bloomberg Law

Ninety percent of the cars used in ride-hailing fleets for companies like Uber and Lyft would have to be electric vehicles by 2030, under a rule set to go before California air regulators next year.

Coal/Nuclear

‘No new coal,’ UN chief tells EU
Kalina Oroschakoff and Karl Mathiesen, Politico EU

The EU, the world’s self-proclaimed climate leader, got an earful Thursday from U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. He called on the EU to drop coal for good and urgently raise its 2030 emissions reduction goal. 

Trump boost to nuclear power to live on in Biden administration
Josh Siegel, Washington Examiner

President-elect Joe Biden is poised to embrace nuclear power in pursuit of aggressive reductions to carbon emissions and will look to build upon the Trump administration’s support for new smaller forms of the technology.

Climate

Lawmakers condemn Trump’s ‘destabilizing’ and ‘politicizing’ moves on climate assessment
Rebecca Beitch, The Hill

Nearly 90 Democratic lawmakers wrote to the White House to protest a recent shakeup at the agency charged with organizing a key assessment that helps the government consider how to respond to climate change.

UN climate chief: Pledges by big polluters boost Paris hopes
Frank Jordans, The Associated Press

The U.N.’s climate chief says deadlines set by some of the world’s top polluters to end greenhouse gas emissions, along with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to take Washington back into the Paris accord, have boosted hopes of meeting the pact’s ambitious goals.

Wildlife diseases poised to spread northwards as climate changes: study
Yereth Rosen, Reuters

As the world’s climate warms, parasite-carried wildlife diseases will move north, with animals in cold far-north and high-altitude regions expected to suffer the most dramatic increases, warns a study to be published on Friday in the journal Science.

Historic wildfire season dents decline in US emissions during coronavirus pandemic
Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill

Extreme wildfires in the West have hindered the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions the U.S. expected to see this year as the coronavirus has stalled much of human activity.

Equitable Retreat: The Need for Fairness in Relocating Coastal Communities
Katherine Bagley, Yale Environment 360

Rising seas and stronger storms are increasing the risks of living along the world’s coasts. As governments look to move millions of people out of harm’s way, geographer Jola Ajibade says they must ensure that managed retreat is done in a just and equitable way.

Coronavirus relief funds could pay to stop the worst of climate change while rebooting economies
David L. McCollum, Quartz

As of late summer, governments around the world had pledged $12.2 trillion of relief in response to the coronavirus pandemic. That’s around 15% of global GDP, three times larger than government spending put forward during and after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and enough for every adult in the world to receive a $2,000 check.

Trudeau unveils new net-zero emissions plan to meet climate change targets
John Paul Tasker, CBC

Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson tabled new legislation today that would force current and future federal governments to set binding climate targets to get Canada to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives

Dear Joe Biden: are you kidding me?
Erin Brockovich, The Guardian

The president-elect has tapped a former DuPont consultant to join his Environmental Protection Agency transition board.

Research Reports

Nuclear Waste Disposal: Better Planning Needed to Avoid Potential Disruptions at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
U.S. Government Accountability Office

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is the nation’s only repository for certain waste from nuclear weapons research and production. The facility is expected to run out of disposal space by 2025. The Department of Energy plans to expand it, but work may not be completed before existing space is full.

EPA Grants to Tribes: Additional Actions Needed to Effectively Address Tribal Environmental Concerns
U.S. Government Accountability Office

The Environmental Protection Agency provides grants to Indian tribes to help protect health and the environment. EPA awarded over $985 million directly to tribes for FY 2014-2019 through 43 grant programs. Tribes use the grants to help prevent air and water pollution, to educate the community about the dangers of radon, and more. More tribes are applying for a stagnant or declining pool of funds—leaving each tribe with less.

Morning Consult