In the news today…
Media Alert:
- Thanks to Logan Daily (Ohio) and Waco Tribune (Texas) for carrying my new op-ed on the need to stop EPA’s push to prematurely close coal power plants that are needed for grid reliability.
Grid:
- CBS News reports that more than 585,000 people in Michigan and 118,000 in Illinois were without power late Wednesday as snow and ice storms socked the region.
- CNBC reports on why a U.S. national electric grid would be great for the climate — and is nearly impossible. Building large-scale transmission lines that carry electricity across the United States could be extremely cost effective way to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions while also improving reliability.
- Utility Dive reports that an investor-owned utility trade group is working with Congress and federal regulators to pass reforms that would make it easier to build transmission projects.
Permitting:
- Politico reports as the fight over infrastructure permitting resurfaces on Capitol Hill, one California Democrat is sticking his neck out in the name of climate change.
Minerals:
- Bloomberg reports America’s only rare-earths producer has agreed a deal to ship output from its new processing plant to Japan, part of a broader move by the US and allies to reduce China’s role in their critical supply chains.