In the news today and from the weekend…
EPA:
- The Heartland Institute reports EPA has finalized a rule to alter the way it calculates costs and benefits for MATS.
- Politico Pro and E&E Greenwire report House Democrats have unveiled legislation to overturn the Trump administration’s WOTUS rule to restrict the reach of the Clean Water Act.
Coal:
- Grand Forks Herald reports Great River Energy will shut down Coal Creek Station if a new buyer cannot be found.
- KXNet reports hundreds of North Dakotans will lose their jobs when Coal Creek Station closes.
- E&E Climatewire reports coal plants remained the largest individual sources of CO2 in America.
Minerals:
- Mining.com reports production of battery metals, such as graphite, lithium and cobalt, will have to increase by nearly 500% by 2050 to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies, the World Bank said on Monday.
- Mining.com reports a new extraction and purification method for rare earth metals is being developed that will have little to no environmental impact.
- Casper Star-Tribune carries an op-ed by Dr. J. Winston Porter, a former assistant administrator of the EPA, in which he argues that the U.S. can no longer afford to rely on China for minerals.
Clean Energy:
- Axios reports that clean energy won’t be leading the recovery because polices that would have the biggest impact on climate change are not the biggest job creators in the short term. Innovation into new technology, like long-term energy storage and carbon-capture equipment that are key to big emission reductions, will create jobs over a long period of time, but not immediately.