In the news today…
Coal:
- Utility Dive and E&E Energywire report Plant Scherer in Georgia — for years, the highest capacity coal-fired plant in the U.S. — will lose one of its four units to retirement.
- Uinta County Herald reports Wyoming coal is declining due to cost competitiveness and consumer preferences.
- The Roanoke Times reports as the coronavirus swept across the globe this spring, Southwest Virginia’s coal industry felt the pandemic’s impacts as companies furloughed employees and idled production at several sites amid safety concerns and reduced demand for electricity and steel.
- Argus reports the US Supreme Court will not take up a case against the Four Corners power plant in Arizona and nearby Navajo coal mine.
Energy:
- PV Tech and Argus report Arizona utility Tucson Electric Power (TEP) has set out plans to provide 70% of its power from solar and wind by 2035, backed up with investment in new energy storage capacity while it continues to shutter its coal plants.
- RTO Insider reports the nuclear industry is positioning itself not as a competitor, but as a partner with renewable energy sources.
- E&E Energywire reports Vistra Energy Corporation will be changing its name to Vistra Corporation.
- E&E Daily reports Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is questioning major oil companies on their use of what critics call a loophole in the CARES Act.
- E&E Daily reports lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are expressing concerns about a provision in the Senate’s fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act related to the Department of Energy.
Climate:
- E&E Daily reports the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will call on Congress today to get the United States to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and slash pollution in communities afflicted by environmental injustice.
Minerals:
- Mining.com reports copper is poised for its best quarter since 2010.
- Mining.com reports gold prices held steady on Monday, close to its multiyear peak scaled last week, as investors weigh the surge in coronavirus cases in the US against tentative signs of economic improvement in some regions.
- Mining.com reports the latest tally of Covid-19 cases among Codelco workers shows why the world’s biggest copper producer is stepping up measures to contain the spread.
Mining:
- Inside EPA reports conservation group Trout Unlimited is urging a federal appeals court to reverse a lower court’s dismissal of its suit over EPA’s decision to withdraw a planned “veto” of the planned Pebble Mine in Alaska, arguing the lower court erred when it ruled the agency’s decision is not subject to judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
- Arizona Daily Star reports a federal judge misread federal laws and regulations last year by overturning approval of the Rosemont Mine, the U.S. government and the mining company proposing the project have told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
- E&E Daily reports the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s top Democrat implored the Army Corps of Engineers yesterday to indefinitely extend the permitting timeline for the proposed Pebble copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska.
World News:
- Politico Pro reports the EU will have to rethink its mining strategy if it wants to secure the minerals necessary for a green revolution.
- Mining.com reports the EU must transition its coal miners into minerals miners to source minerals for clean energy technologies.