• Ahead of a virtual ministerial meeting today, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies announced additional crude output cuts of about 1.16 million barrels per day starting in May, an unexpected move that adds to cuts of 2 million barrels per day announced last October and in place through the end of 2023. (Reuters) Oil prices posted the largest daily increase in nearly a year following the announcement, with Brent crude up $4.64, or 5.8%, to $84.53 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was also up by around 6%, or $4.56, to $80.32 a barrel. (Reuters) 
• Tesla Inc. delivered a record 422,875 vehicles in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 36% from a year ago but short of analyst expectations of 430,008 vehicles. Despite recent price cuts of up to 20% on some models, quarter-on-quarter sales growth was only 4%. (Reuters)
• Denver-based shale producer Ovintiv Inc. will acquire Permian Basin acreage controlled by EnCap Investments in a $4.3 billion cash and stock deal. (Reuters) The deal is the first major acquisition for Ovintiv since purchasing Newfield Exploration in a $5.5 billion stock deal in February 2019. (Reuters)

Happening today

• The Brookings Institution will host a panel to discuss the social cost of carbon, whose participants include Coral Davenport of The New York Times. 

Biden’s Landmark Climate Bill Lures China’s Clean Energy Giants

Bloomberg

How the climate movement learned to win in Washington

Eli Stokols, Politico

After a staggering defeat, environmentalists needed a plan they could sell. Thus began a decade-long climb propelled by mass protests, heavy campaign spending and intense lobbying. Then came a final assist from Mother Nature herself.

DOJ sues Norfolk Southern over toxic train derailment in Ohio

Steven Mufson, The Washington Post

The lawsuit could be costly to the railroad, seeking damages for a fiery disaster that prompted evacuations in East Palestine, killed fish and prompted a huge cleanup.

Manchin Steps Up Clash With Biden Over Electric-Car Tax Credits

Christopher Condon and Ian Fisher, Bloomberg

Senator Joe Manchin stepped up his fight with the Biden administration over its implementation of the president’s signature climate bill in a way Manchin says over-emphasizes clean energy technology, turns away from fossil-fuel production and spends too much.

Fight Over Corruption and Congo’s Mining Riches Takes a Turn in Washington

Eric Lipton and Dionne Searcey, The New York Times

Dan Gertler, an Israeli billionaire, is pressing President Biden to remove sanctions that were imposed on him for bribe-fueled transactions in the impoverished African country.

US and Europe Wrangle Over Green Subsidies to Avoid a Trade War

Bryce Baschuk et al., Bloomberg

As European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sat in the Oval Office last month she gushed before the cameras about the US Inflation Reduction Act. “It’s great that there’s such a massive investment in wind and clean technologies now,” she said of America’s green awakening.

‘War of the states’: EV, chip makers lavished with subsidies

Marc Levy, The Associated Press

States are doling out more cash than ever to lure multibillion-dollar microchip, electric vehicle and battery factories, inspiring ever-more competition as they dig deeper into their pockets to attract big employers and capitalize on a wave of huge new projects.

US Republicans challenge more fund managers on ESG

Ross Kerber, Reuters

Republican attorneys general from 21 U.S. states raised fresh concerns with asset managers over their consideration for environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in the votes cast at U.S. corporate annual meetings getting under way this spring.

32 dead as tornadoes torment from Arkansas to Delaware

Adrian Sainz et al., The Associated Press

Residents across a wide swath of the U.S. raced Sunday to assess the destruction from fierce storms that spawned possibly dozens of tornadoes from the South and the Midwest into the Northeast, killing at least 32 people.

‘Doomerism’: Why scientists disagree with Biden on 1.5 C

Scott Waldman, E&E News

Biden’s rhetoric is “misleading and unhelpful,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. The best way to view what lies beyond 1.5 C is as a continuum of worsening climate impacts, he said, rather than as a climate cliff.

UAE climate event organisers warn speakers not to ‘criticise corporations’

Aime Williams and Attracta Mooney, Financial Times

Climate campaigners alarmed by ‘do not protest’ warning as Gulf petrostate prepares to host COP28.

Why deforestation means less rain in tropical forests

Lauren Sommer and Seyma Bayram, NPR News

A new study has uncovered that forest loss is changing weather patterns in the world’s three largest remaining tropical rainforests.

American cities want to recycle their plastic trash in Mexico. Critics call it ‘waste colonialism.’

Joseph Winters, Grist

A new recycling plant in Mexicali raises legal and ethical concerns.

The thread that ties the recent chemical spills together

Rebecca Leber, Vox

The growing oil and gas industry means more incidents like East Palestine.

California Salmon Stocks Are Crashing. A Fishing Ban Looks Certain.

Catrin Einhorn, The New York Times

Scientists say alarming declines at the southern end of the fishes’ range may be a sign of what’s to come as waters warm farther north.

The threat of new US solar tariffs is back

Eric Wesoff, Canary Media

A bipartisan group in the U.S. Congress is trying to undo President Biden’s two-year pause on new tariffs on some solar panels imported from Southeast Asia.

Giant Roofs on Big-Box Stores, Warehouses Still Have Unmet Solar Potential

Patrick Sisson, Bloomberg

Large US companies such as Prologis and Home Depot are putting more solar systems on top of their buildings, but off-site investment still dominates. 

OPEC+ cuts put $100/barrel oil in sight, analysts say

Muyu Xu and Joyce Lee, Reuters

The OPEC+ group’s surprise additional production cuts could push oil prices back towards $100 a barrel, tighten the market and encourage refiners to diversify supplies, analysts and traders said.

Japan Breaks With U.S. Allies, Buys Russian Oil at Prices Above Cap

Peter Landers, The Wall Street Journal

Citing energy needs, Tokyo won exception to rules binding G-7 nations.

Green transition won’t be perfect and we’ll need natural gas, World Energy Council CEO says

Anmar Frangoul, CNBC

“We started up in an era of energy for peace, we’ve worked through an era of energy for prosperity, and now we’re in this era of energy for people and planet,” the World Energy Council’s Angela Wilkinson says.

3 issues to watch on EVs and tax breaks

David Ferris and David Iaconangelo, E&E News

The Biden administration sought to provide firmer ground for electric vehicle buyers and manufacturers last week when it issued new tax rules, but unresolved questions could still scramble which cars qualify for breaks in the years ahead.

Toyota’s Shift to Electric Future Rests on Koji Sato’s Shoulders

Nicholas Takahashi and Tsuyoshi Inajima, Bloomberg

When a vintage car shop in Nagano Prefecture found a buyer for a restored AE86 Corolla from a bygone era, nobody expected Koji Sato, then head of Toyota Motor Corp.’s luxury brand Lexus, to walk in and banter with the shop owner before picking up the iconic sports hatchback.

The True Dangers of Long Trains

Dan Schwartz and Topher Sanders, ProPublica

Trains are getting longer. Railroads are getting richer. But these “monster trains” are jumping off of tracks across America and regulators are doing little to curb the risk.

GM says it expects some EVs to receive $7,500 US tax credits

David Shepardson, Reuters

General Motors Co. expects some electric vehicles will qualify for $7,500 U.S. tax credits after stricter Treasury Department guidance takes effect April 18, the U.S. automaker said on Friday.

North Carolina forges new path on net metering as other states cut rooftop solar incentives

Patrick Cooley, Utility Dive

A pair of laws passed by the North Carolina legislature in 2017 and 2021 set an end date for net metering, which pays rooftop solar users for electricity they don’t need and send back to the grid. 

Puerto Rico solar switch a life and death matter -US energy chief

Timothy Gardner, Reuters

For U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Graholm, the transformation of Puerto Rico’s power grid to solar and other renewable power, after hurricanes wiped it out in 2017 and 2022, is an imperative that goes beyond addressing climate change.

UN body mulls deep sea mining amid demand for minerals

Danica Coto, The Associated Press

Pressure is mounting on an obscure U.N. body based in Jamaica to hit pause on plans to potentially open the world’s deep seas to mining as companies push for permission to extract metals from seabeds in international waters.

‘Why mine so close?’: the fight to protect the pristine Okefenokee swamp

Oliver Milman, The Guardian

An Alabama company wants to mine near the 440,000-acre Georgia swamp, but locals and scientists fear it could be irreparably harmed.

Harvard professor’s fossil fuel links under scrutiny over climate grant

Nina Lakhani, The Guardian

Colleagues and students query role of Jody Freeman, who won prestigious research grant despite sitting on ConocoPhillips board.