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COAL: Unprecedented federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping Southwest Virginia diversify its economy through redevelopment of abandoned mine land sites. (Virginia Mercury)
CLIMATE: Austin, Texas’ city council considers asking voters to approve a climate bond to help pay for projects related to the city’s climate goals, but the mayor wants to delay the process until 2026. (KXAN)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Rivian reports that it sold more electric vehicles than it manufactured in the last quarter, during which the company also reiterated its plans to build a factory in Georgia. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
SOLAR:
OIL & GAS: Texas oil and gas regulators ask the state’s attorney general to sue the U.S. EPA over its decision to list the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered. (E&E News, subscription)
UTILITIES: Entergy New Orleans promotes a new vice president of regulatory and public affairs who will lead the company’s engagement with the New Orleans City Council. (news release)
POLITICS: Florida Congressmember Anna Paulina Luna has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into a political donor’s oil and gas company. (Tampa Bay Times)
COMMENTARY:
OIL & GAS: After a judge ends the Biden administration’s pause on new liquefied natural gas projects, observers say the 6-month delay may end up being “little more than a speed bump” for the growing industry, as it didn’t affect terminals under construction and only delayed a few projects. (Grist)
ALSO:
STORAGE: A national clean energy group releases a model ordinance for local governments to use for regulating the permitting, siting, safety and decommissioning of energy storage systems. (Utility Dive)
EMISSIONS: Google says its greenhouse gas emissions have jumped 48% over the past five years, in part because of its implementation of AI. (The Guardian)
WIND: Federal officials give their approval for the 2.8 GW Atlantic Shores project, the first offshore wind facility in New Jersey. (Power Technology, NJ Biz)
SOLAR: The U.S. Supreme Court orders a lower court to reconsider a 2023 ruling affirming federal regulators’ approval of a solar-plus-storage facility in Montana after overturning the Chevron deference doctrine. (E&E News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
CARBON CAPTURE: A Western governors group’s decarbonization report calls for pioneering industrial and natural carbon capture and sequestration efforts, but says little about reducing fossil fuel burning or transitioning to clean energy. (Inside Climate News)
PIPELINES: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum could play a key role in deciding whether a carbon pipeline can move forward, as his political profile rises and he balances donor influence and landowner opposition. (CNN)
COAL: Unprecedented federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping Southwest Virginia diversify its economy through redevelopment of abandoned mine land sites. (Virginia Mercury)
GEOTHERMAL: A Colorado report predicts state investment will spur industry to develop several utility-scale geothermal electricity plants in coming years. (Colorado Sun)
CARBON CAPTURE: An oil and gas company plans to reduce emissions from its Pikka drilling project in Alaska by buying offsets and capturing and sequestering carbon from wells, power plants and directly from the air. (Northern Journal)
ALSO: A Western governors group’s decarbonization report calls for pioneering industrial and natural carbon capture and sequestration efforts, but says little about reducing fossil fuel burning or transitioning to clean energy. (Inside Climate News)
OIL & GAS:
CLIMATE:
TRANSPORTATION: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon joins 26 other Republican-led states in a lawsuit seeking to block the Biden administration’s fuel efficiency standards for gasoline powered vehicles, saying they are “unworkable.” (WyoFile)
UTILITIES: Public Service Company of New Mexico says its proposed rate hike — the largest in the utility’s history — is needed to fund decarbonization and energy transition efforts. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
SOLAR:
STORAGE: The Biden administration awards an Arizona electric cooperative $55.2 million to install three battery energy storage systems. (AZPM)
WIND: A developer proposes a 150 MW wind power facility in eastern Wyoming. (Cowboy State Daily)
GEOTHERMAL:
GRID: Portland General Electric signs on to join the California grid operator’s regional day-ahead power market. (RTO Insider, subscription)
The first blow to the Biden administration’s pollution-cutting rules came Thursday, when the court ruled 6-3 to block the U.S. EPA from enforcing its “good neighbor” emissions regulation. The rule was finalized last year and aimed to restrict power plant and industrial pollution that travels over state lines.
The second came in the 5-4 ruling overturning the Chevron deference, which has its origin in a fossil-fuel-related case 40 years ago. The Natural Resources Defense Council had challenged the Reagan administration’s polluter-friendly interpretation of the Clean Air Act, and the Supreme Court ruled that judges should generally defer to federal agencies when statutes are ambiguous. Now, the case’s reversal opens a new legal playbook for challenging federal regulations if they venture beyond the letter of the law, potentially delaying or derailing efforts by the U.S. EPA to curb power plant emissions or FERC to spur new transmission lines.
Two other rulings could meanwhile invite more lawsuits over longstanding federal rules, and make it harder for agencies to fine rule violators.
In one, the conservative majority found a hedge fund manager facing Securities and Exchange Commission fraud charges was first entitled to a jury trial. Legal observers tell E&E News that the ruling could make it harder for federal energy regulators to levy civil penalties, especially against well-funded energy companies.
And in another 6-3 ruling, the court decided companies affected by federal rules could challenge them in court, even if they’ve been in place for decades. In her dissent, Justice Katanji Brown Jackson warned it could open up regulatory agencies to a “tsunami of lawsuits.”
None of these rulings are a surprise given the conservative supermajority on the court. But they’re likely to be a problem as the Biden administration continues to roll out and preserve its climate agenda — especially if a new administration takes over next year.
🏭 Pausing the LNG pause: A federal judge halts the Biden administration’s pause on new liquified natural gas export approvals, siding with industry and 16 Republican-led states that had challenged the freeze. (E&E News)
🧾 Offputting offsets: A group of climate scientists says the market for carbon credits needs to adopt significant oversight and reforms after finding many offsetting markets didn’t deliver their promised climate benefits. (The Guardian)
☀️ Community solar delivers: A peer-reviewed study finds “community solar is delivering on its promise” of delivering clean energy to multifamily buildings, renters, and lower-income households. (Canary Media)
⚛️ Nuclear optimism: The eventual — but stalled and over-budget — success of Georgia’s Plant Vogtle is sparking optimism in the state and beyond, especially after the passage of $900 million for small nuclear development. (E&E News)
🔌 What’s stopping new chargers: An industry survey finds 75% of charging station developers and operators say grid interconnection issues are stalling deployment, forcing some to install fossil fuel generators. (Utility Dive)
🦕 The debatable war on coal: As the coal industry’s influence fades, former President Trump’s campaign has drifted from his promise to end “the war on coal.” (E&E News)
🕳️ Capturing controversy: Louisiana officials announce two new carbon capture projects, frustrating residents who say the technology will prolong the use of fossil fuels. (Associated Press)
🛢️ Plugging problems: A study finds more than half of the 47,000 oil and gas wells in Colorado don’t generate enough money to pay for their end-of-life plugging and remediation, potentially saddling taxpayers with the tab. (Colorado Sun)
SOLAR: Colorado and California researchers find community solar programs have expanded clean energy access to renters and lower-income communities. (Canary Media)
ALSO:
GRID: A remote Alaska community is left without power for weeks after mechanical failures disable the diesel generators it relies on. (KYUK)
CLIMATE: California officials warn an extended heat wave forecast to grip the state this week and next could raise wildfire risk and ozone pollution, pose health hazards and strain the power grid. (Los Angeles Times)
UTILITIES:
HYDROGEN: A California startup working to develop hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft shuts down after failing to secure adequate financing. (Canary Media)
WIND:
OVERSIGHT: Analysts predict the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Chevron doctrine could have significant ramifications for federal energy and climate regulations in the West, but it may take decades for the consequences to become clear. (High Country News, WyoFile)
OIL & GAS:
GEOTHERMAL: A southwest Colorado craft beer company powers its operations with 100% geothermal energy. (Denver 7)
NUCLEAR:
HYDROPOWER: A California firm looks to design high-performance, fish-friendly hydropower turbines that could extend the life of some facilities slated for decommissioning. (MIT Technology Review)
On June 7, 2023, exactly 2,206 large trucks and buses passed through the intersection of Kedzie Avenue and 31st Street in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.
That’s an average of 1.5 heavy-duty vehicles per minute — much more in the morning and afternoon — rumbling through this crossroads in a dense, residential neighborhood near multiple parks and schools.
The numbers are the results of a groundbreaking truck counting program carried out by the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, which is using the information to bolster its demands for electric trucks and an end to development that burdens communities of color with diesel pollution.
The Chicago Truck Data Project, carried out by LVEJO along with the Center for Neighborhood Technology and Fish Transportation Group, used cameras and software to systematically measure the number and types of vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians for 24-hour periods at 35 intersections around the city. The project website launched this spring, and organizers hope to continue compiling, analyzing and modeling truck counts, as well as helping allies carry out similar work in other cities.
“This is the power of community science,” said José Miguel Acosta Córdova, LVEJO transportation justice program manager. “We’ve had to collect this data, when this is data the city should have been doing.”
The highest concentration of truck traffic was just south of Little Village in the Archer Heights neighborhood, where 5,159 trucks and buses passed in a day. A few miles east in the heavily residential McKinley Park neighborhood, in a single day over 4,000 trucks and buses passed, along with more than 800 pedestrians.
“It paints a picture of pedestrian proximity to truck traffic, which is an air pollution concern, and a safety concern,” said Paulina Vaca, urban resilience advocate with the Center for Neighborhood Technology.
In years past, LVEJO members had conducted grassroots manual truck counts — standing on corners to log the frequency of pollution-spewing traffic.
“Unfortunately we weren’t taken seriously by the Department of Planning,” said Vaca. “With [the Chicago Truck Data Project] we wanted to be more systematic with the research. This is hard evidence, hard proof. We wanted community advocates to be able to wield these numbers for organizing efforts, tying them to state-level policies.”
Electrifying trucks is a primary way to reduce truck emissions, protecting public health while reducing carbon emissions, especially as increasing amounts of electricity come from renewables.
LVEJO and other groups have for years been calling on Illinois to adopt California’s standards on clean trucks and zero-emissions vehicles. Only 11 states — none of them in the Midwest — have adopted California’s Advanced Clean Trucks standard, according to analysis by the Alternative Fuels Data Center. The standard requires manufacturers to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emissions trucks through 2035, and includes reporting requirements for large fleets. Seventeen states plus the District of Columbia have adopted California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle standards, which create similar requirements for cars and light trucks. Minnesota is the only Midwestern state to adopt those standards.
A 2022 study by the American Lung Association estimates that if truck fleets electrify by 2050, the cumulative benefits could include $735 billion in public health benefits, 66,800 fewer deaths, 1.75 million fewer asthma attacks and 8.5 million fewer lost workdays. The Chicago area would be among the top 10 metro areas — and the only Midwestern one — that would see the most health benefits from truck electrification, the report found.
The U.S. EPA reports that heavy duty trucks contribute more than 25% of greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector nationwide, though they make up only about 5% of traffic nationally. While greenhouse gases don’t have localized health impacts, such emissions from diesel vehicles come in tandem with particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and other compounds that hurt nearby residents most.
In Illinois, trucks are responsible for 67% of nitrogen oxide pollution, 59% of fine particulate pollution, and 36% of the greenhouse gas emissions from on-road vehicles despite making up only 7% of those vehicles, according to a 2022 study commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Cleaning up truck emissions has long been a focus of advocates and policymakers, but progress has been slow.
An August 2021 executive order from President Joe Biden said that, “America must lead the world on clean and efficient cars and trucks,” and called for a rulemaking process for heavy-duty trucks under the Clean Air Act.
In December 2022 the EPA released a new rule regarding nitrogen oxides and other emissions from heavy-duty trucks starting with model year 2027, but environmental justice advocates blasted the rule as not protective enough.
In April 2023, the EPA launched a rulemaking to strengthen curbs on greenhouse gas emissions for heavy-duty trucks manufactured between 2027 and 2032. That led to a final “phase 3” rule governing truck greenhouse gas emissions, published in April 2024 and taking effect June 21.
The final phase 3 rule is billed by the EPA as more protective than the previous rule, but includes a slower phase-in of standards than an earlier phase 3 proposal backed by environmental justice advocates.
Union of Concerned Scientists senior vehicles analyst Dave Cooke wrote in a recent blog post that the phase 3 regulations mean up to 623,000 new electric trucks might hit the road between 2027 and 2032, “with zero-emission trucks making up over one third of all new truck sales by 2032.”
“But that number is highly dependent on manufacturer compliance strategy and complementary policies,” Cooke continued, “and the path to a zero-emission freight sector remains uncertain.”
Cooke fears that electric heavy-duty trucks will be sold primarily in states that have adopted California’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule, leaving fewer available for other states.
“The rule risks having communities of haves (in ACT states) and have-nots (in the remainder of the country),” wrote Cooke, “precisely the sort of situation a federal rule is supposed to ward against.”
Reducing heavy-duty truck emissions has long been a focus for Clean Air for the Long Haul, a national coalition of environmental justice groups including the Wisconsin Green Muslims, South Bronx Unite, the Green Door Initiative in Detroit, WE-ACT for Environmental Justice and the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.
Wisconsin Green Muslims has organized several in-person and virtual events for community members to talk with state and local officials about truck emissions.
Huda Alkaff, co-founder of the organization, noted that their office is on Fond du Lac Avenue, a major thoroughfare plied by truck traffic. Alkaff described the fight for clean air in a blog during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, writing that people can fast from food and even water for limited times but cannot abstain from breathing air.
Alkaff said local leaders would like to do mobile air monitoring and truck counting, similar to LVEJO.
“Learning from each other, that’s our power,” she said.
In Milwaukee residential areas bisected by highway-type roads like Fond du Lac and Capitol Drive, meanwhile, air pollution is compounded by the safety risks posed by trucks.
“Let’s look at the routes, let’s look at the timing, the types of things that might be able to happen with minimum disruption,” she said.
She noted that residents don’t want to endanger the livelihood of truckers who can’t afford to invest in new equipment. But she’s hopeful the transition can be facilitated by federal funding, like recently announced EPA grants of $932 million for clean heavy-duty vehicles for government agencies, tribes and school districts.
In Detroit, construction of a new international bridge to Canada is expected to increase the heavy diesel burden on local residents already affected by trucks crossing the international Ambassador Bridge, as well as heavy industry.
“We have a huge issue with maternal health outcomes because Black moms are living near freeways and mobile sources [of pollution],” said Donele Wilkins, CEO of the Green Door Initiative and a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. “Birth outcomes are huge issues, asthma, issues with heart disease are elevated in ways they should not be because of exposure to mobile sources.”
The under-construction Gordie Howe International Bridge is aimed specifically at commercial truck traffic, and unlike the Ambassador, it will allow hazardous materials. The new bridge culminates in the Delray neighborhood, a heavily industrial enclave that has a much higher Latino population — 77% — than the city as a whole.
In Detroit, Chicago and other cities, warehouses are a major and growing source of diesel emissions from trucks. A 2023 investigation involving manual truck counts by Bridge Detroit and Outlier Media found that one truck per minute passes homes near an auto warehouse on Detroit’s East Side.
An Environmental Defense Fund study found that in Illinois, 1.9 million people live within half a mile of a warehouse, and Latino people make up 33% of such warehouse neighbors, while they make up only 17% of the total state population. Black people are also disproportionately represented among warehouse neighbors, while white people are underrepresented.
Little Village gained national attention with the closure of a coal plant in 2012, and city officials worked with community members on a stakeholder process to envision alternate uses for the site. Residents envisioned a community commercial kitchen, indoor sustainable agriculture and renewable energy-related light manufacturing as possible new identities.
Many were furious when the site became a Target warehouse, a magnet for truck traffic. LVEJO is now working with elected officials on drafting city and state legislation that would regulate and limit new warehouse development, even as new warehouses are proposed in the area, including a controversial 15-acre plan on Little Village’s northern border.
LVEJO’s Acosta notes that environmental justice is “not only about electrification but land-use reform.”
“The reason why all these facilities are concentrated where they are is because of zoning, historically racist practices,” said Acosta, who is pursuing a doctorate in geography and GIS mapping at the University of Illinois. “We want to completely reform the way we do land-use planning and industrial planning, not forcing our communities to coexist with trucks every day. It’s also thinking about pedestrian and bicyclist access and safety, mobility justice.”
WIND: Delaware lawmakers advance a bill to the governor’s desk that, if signed, would lead to offshore wind energy procurement. (WBOC)
ALSO:
GRID:
SOLAR:
POLICY: In New York, decades-old state laws are still on the books that encourage ongoing residential fossil fuel use, despite much more recent climate action policies and mandates. (Newsday)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A charging e-bike battery sparks a fire in New York City that sends several people to the hospital and destroys two businesses and two apartments. (NYDN)
TRANSIT: Federal infrastructure funds could help revive passenger rail between Scranton, Pennsylvania, and New York City, if state and local politics don’t get in the way first. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
COMMENTARY:
POLICY: Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has unilaterally disregarded multiple state climate laws passed by the Democratically controlled legislature, creating a legal crisis that could delay implementation for years. (E&E News)
OFFSHORE WIND:
CLIMATE:
UTILITIES: At least 60 neighbors have emailed North Carolina regulators to oppose Duke Energy’s plans to build two natural gas turbines on the site of an existing coal-fired power plant. (News & Observer)
EFFICIENCY:
GRID: An Austin energy consultant discusses the state of Texas’ power grid, including how solar is helping it meet summertime demand. (Texas Observer)
SOLAR:
COAL: Virginia’s efforts to clean up abandoned mine lands have been supercharged by federal funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. (Virginia Mercury)
CO2 STORAGE: As Texas opens more offshore areas for carbon sequestration projects, experts foresee the Gulf Coast becoming a global hub for underground disposal of greenhouse gases. (Inside Climate News)
PIPELINES: Virginia organizers mark the fourth anniversary of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s cancellation with a celebration and book release about the pipeline fight. (Daily Progress)
COURTS: The U.S. Supreme Court overturns the 40-year-old Chevron deference, restoring stronger judicial power over federal agencies and likely curbing their ability to institute sweeping environmental and energy actions. (Grist, E&E News)
ALSO:
CLIMATE:
GRID:
OFFSHORE WIND: The federal government announces an offshore wind energy lease sale that will include areas off the coast of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. (WRDE)
POLICY: Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has unilaterally disregarded multiple state climate laws passed by the Democratically controlled legislature, creating a legal crisis that could delay implementation for years. (E&E News)
OIL & GAS:
CO2 STORAGE: As Texas opens more offshore areas for carbon sequestration projects, experts foresee the Gulf Coast becoming a global hub for underground disposal of greenhouse gases. (Inside Climate News)
ELECTRIFICATION: A fossil fuel trade group plans to file a lawsuit seeking to block Denver, Colorado’s building codes restricting natural gas appliances in commercial and multifamily buildings. (CPR)
OVERSIGHT: Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted continues to deny knowledge of FirstEnergy’s scheme to secure a $1 billion bailout for its unprofitable power plants as text messages show he led the push to pass the 2019 law. (Ohio Capital Journal)
OIL & GAS: Native Alaska communities sue the Biden administration over its oil and gas drilling ban on 10.6 million acres in a national petroleum reserve, saying it violates federal laws. (Bloomberg Law)
CLIMATE:
ELECTRIFICATION: A fossil fuel trade group plans to file a lawsuit seeking to block Denver, Colorado’s building codes restricting natural gas appliances in commercial and multifamily buildings. (CPR)
BATTERIES:
SOLAR:
EFFICIENCY: The U.S. Energy Department awards California and Utah a total of $7.3 million to advance building decarbonization and other efficiency-oriented programs. (news release)
GRID: Federal regulators approve incentives for Southern California Edison’s proposed transmission projects aimed at reducing congestion and increasing access to utility-scale solar. (RTO Insider, subscription)
UTILITIES:
URANIUM:
CLEAN ENERGY: Observers expect an upcoming Hawaii energy strategy to suggest using liquefied natural gas generation as a bridge to help the state reach its 100% renewable energy goal. (Honolulu Civil Beat)
COMMENTARY: After visiting a New Mexico oil and gas drilling site, an author and advocate concludes the “fossil fuel industry chases short-term profit and leaves long-term wreckage in its wake.”(Guardian)
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