Author Archives: Terry M. Jarrett

In the news today…

Mining:

• Daily Caller reports the Biden administration has pushed green energy in the wake of the Ukraine crisis — saying it would ensure U.S. energy independence — but has failed to address foreign mining and refining dominance, the key to renewable energy security, according to industry leaders.
• E&E Greenwire reports the Interior Department gets some marching orders, along with a boost in funding across its various agencies, in the omnibus spending package unveiled by lawmakers early this morning and set for final congressional approval this week.

Coal:

• E&E Climatewire reports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has offered coal a European lifeline.
• Argus reports central Appalachian coal production climbed by 20pc last quarter from a year earlier amid greater demand.
• Washington Examiner reports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has touched off a renewed demand for coal, the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, as estimated fuel shortages have sent energy prices soaring.

EPA:

• E&E Greenwire reports EPA Administrator Michael Regan today laid out his agency’s full power-sector game plan, previewing a slate of upcoming rulemakings that will speed the end of coal as the mainstay of U.S. power generation while refocusing the regulatory spotlight on natural gas.
• Argus reports Republicans in the US House of Representatives have asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers to stop efforts to revise the Waters of the US (WOTUS) rule, at least for the time being.

Minerals:

• E&E Greenwire reports the global conflict over the war in Ukraine is creating a crunch in the supply of metals vital to clean technology, threatening to make U.S. progress on climate action more expensive.
• Mining.com reports Freeport-McMoRan plans to invest “aggressively” in copper mines in the southwest US after prices of the metal rose so high that many old operations are now profitable again, CEO Richard Adkerson said at the CERAWeek gathering in Houston, this week.

In the news today…

Coal:

• Argus reports high natural gas prices may force Europe to switch to coal to meet energy demands in the short term, LNG developer Tellurian chairman Charif Souki said.

White House:

• Mining.com reports U.S. President Joe Biden’s ban on American imports of Russian oil and other energy products, announced on Tuesday, does not include a ban on imports of uranium for nuclear power plants, a source familiar with the matter said.

Minerals:

• E&E Energywire reports ballooning battery demand because of growth in renewables and electric vehicles could strain the technology’s supply chain by 2030, according to new research.

Thanks to the Arizona Capitol Times (Ariz.), Elko Daily Free Press (Nev.), The Roanoke Times (Va.), Reno Gazette Journal (Nev.), Johnstown Tribune Democrat (Pa.), Bakersfield Californian (Calif.) and St. Joseph News Press (Mo.) for carrying my new op-ed on the lessons the U.S. must learn from Europe’s energy crisis.

In the news today…

Minerals:

• S&P Global reports the Biden administration’s efforts to stimulate domestic critical mineral supply chains are scoring early successes as companies accelerate their plans to extract and refine clean energy metals inside the U.S.
• E&E Greenwire reports the Biden administration today finalized a rule potentially paving the way for more government purchases of materials mined in the United States.
• Mining.com reports a recent report by IDTechEx estimates that <8% of the global cobalt demand and <6% of the lithium demand, will be supplied by recycled Li-ion batteries by 2030.

Coal:

• Argus reports coal-fired generation in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) fell in February from a year earlier amid milder weather that supported renewable power.

In the news today and from the weekend…

Mining:

• KPAX reports it could become easier for communities to play a role in cleaning up abandoned mine sites in the coming years, if a bill jointly backed by Montana’s two senators gets traction in Washington, D.C.
• E&E Greenwire reports a West Virginia bill that would have pared back mine safety authority at the state level stalled after mine workers waged an eleventh-hour campaign to block the measure.

Minerals:

• Pahrump Valley Times reports American Battery Technology Co., an American minerals and lithium-ion battery recycling operation, is staking 90 additional surface sedimentary lithium-bearing claims covering approximately 1,800 acres north of Tonopah, company officials said.

Coal:

• Argus reports average coal-fired generation in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) fell in February amid increased competition from natural gas and renewables.
• Argus reports US coal-fired generation will fall over the next 28 years faster than previously expected as generators close aging plants and continue to build out renewable power, according to a US Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysis.
• The Wall Street Journal reports the war in Ukraine scrambled global energy markets, with one especially unloved commodity—coal—enjoying a renaissance as European countries look again at the dirty fuel to establish energy independence from Russia.

In the news today…

Minerals:

• Washington Examiner reports President Joe Biden faces a dilemma in that he wants to encourage domestic mineral production to boost renewable energy but faces environmentalist pressure to tighten regulations on the mining industry.
• Washington Examiner reports amid the slew of mineral news yesterday, the U.S. Geological Survey released its 2022 list of critical minerals detailing which mineral commodities are deemed essential to U.S.’s economy and national security and determined to have supply chains vulnerable to disruption.

Mining:

• E&E Greenwire reports a proposed 211-mile road that would pierce Alaska Native homelands to reach the Ambler Mining District in the state’s northwest region will be suspended while it gets a closer look, the Biden administration now says.
• The Hill reports the Biden administration announced late Tuesday that it hopes to take a second look at a road that would provide access for a mining area in Alaska.
• Washington Post reports the Biden administration on Tuesday said it found “significant deficiencies” in a Trump-era environmental analysis of a mining road that would cut through wilderness and Indigenous territory in northwest Alaska.

In the news today and from the weekend…

Mining:

• Mother Jones republished from High Country News, reporting that amid the recent skirmishes over revising the reconciliation bill, known as the Build Back Better Plan, lawmakers once again skipped a chance to reform the General Mining Law of 1872.

Coal:

• S&P Global reports hydrogen-based steelmaking is unlikely to displace blast furnace-based steelmaking for two to three decades, which will support demand for metallurgical coal during that period, miners and analysts said at the Financial Times Commodities Asia Summit this week.
• Argus reports coal production from western bituminous mines in Colorado and Utah increased by 6.6pc last quarter when compared with a year earlier, supported by export markets.

World News:

• The New York Times reports the clean energy revolution is replacing oil and gas with a new global force: the minerals and metals needed in electric car batteries, solar panels and other forms of renewable energy, specifically cobalt.
• The New York Times reports Americans failed to safeguard decades of diplomatic and financial investments in Congo, where the world’s largest supply of cobalt is controlled by Chinese companies backed by Beijing.

In the news today…

EPA:

• Politico Pro reports the Biden administration moved Thursday to formally repeal the Trump administration’s controversial rule that vastly restricted the scope of Clean Water Act protections.
• Politico Pro reports EPA announced yesterday it is extending through May a timeline to decide how or whether to proceed with proposed restrictions on mining in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, which is known for its salmon runs.
• Inside EPA reports EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are proposing an interim definition of waters of the United States (WOTUS) that aims to provide “stable implementation” of the Clean Water Act (CWA) while the Biden administration seeks to develop a durable definition that will avoid policy pendulum swings with changes in administrations.

Minerals:

• Politico Pro reports imports of vanadium, a key ingredient in military-grade steel, do not harm U.S. national security, the Commerce Department concluded in a report begun under the Trump administration.

Coal:

• Lexington Herald-Leader reports coal production and jobs were up in recent months in Eastern Kentucky over the same time a year ago, providing a boost in a region hit hard by a decline in the industry.
• WV Public Broadcasting reports coal production is up nearly 20% in West Virginia over last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and nearly 16% in Appalachia.

In the news today…

Coal:

• Politico Pro reports the EU and the U.S. want to gang up against China’s coal-fired blast furnaces in a green steel alliance — but no one is sure how that will happen.
• The State Journal reports the president of West Virginia’s coal association brags the newly passed federal infrastructure bill is good for both power-generating and steel- and cement-making coal.
• Jackson Hole News and Guide reports the question of what the future of coal in Campbell County will entail long term, remains unanswered. But in the near future, Powder River Basin coal is projected to do well.
• Bloomberg Green reports coal mining chief executives said the fuel they produce is far from being consigned to history, regardless of stricter global climate action agreed at the COP26 summit last week.

Clean Energy:

• Utility Dive reports the U.S. is on track to install 27 GW of new wind generation and 44 GW of solar next year, representing a plateau for wind but a doubling of solar from 2021, according to a new market research report.

In the news today and from the weekend…

Mining:

• S&P Global reports House Democrats latest version of a sweeping social spending bill dropped a provision to impose royalties on hard-rock mining on federal lands.
• Politico Pro reports just four years ago, Maine lawmakers passed one of the most restrictive mining laws in the country, making it very difficult — and in some cases impossible — to open new mines. But the energy transition could test that resolve, with a Canadian company vying to explore for minerals vital for clean technology.
• Politico Pro reports there’s enough lithium in rural North Carolina to supply 3 million EVs a year. Its fate is in the hands of seven county commissioners.
• Politico Pro reports supporters of blocking a controversial mining project on holy Apache land in Arizona are disappointed House Democrats stripped language from their sweeping climate and social programs bill and suspect it was to help vulnerable members win reelection in 2022.

Coal:

• Politico Pro reports the Biden administration arrived this month at international climate talks in Scotland with the intent to prove the United States was again ready to lead the fight against global warming. But when more than 40 countries signed a pledge to phase out coal in the coming decades, the United States was conspicuously absent.

Energy:

• The Daily Wire reports Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told CNN on Sunday that Americans will pay more to heat their homes this winter as energy prices continue to skyrocket and that the administration hopes that gas prices do not hit $4 per gallon.

Carbon Capture:

• The New York Times reports the U.S. Department of Energy on Friday unveiled its biggest effort yet to drastically reduce the cost of technologies that suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, in a recognition that current strategies to lower greenhouse gases may not be enough to avert the worst effects of climate change.
• Washington Examiner reports House Democrats’ $1.85 trillion climate and social spending bill could make it economical for natural gas plants to trap carbon dioxide coming out of the smokestack before it can enter the atmosphere and warm the planet.

Congress:

• Politico Pro reports Congressional Democrats painted a rosy view this past weekend of the prospects for swift legislative action on their massive, $1.7 trillion climate and social spending package.
• Politico Pro reports the House approved bipartisan infrastructure legislation Friday following months of negotiations and Democratic infighting over how to handle the president’s agenda.

World News:

• Mining.com reports from Bloomberg an energy crisis in two of Asia’s key economies that caused power shortages, sent fuel prices surging and risked slowing growth is beginning to ease, though bitter winter weather will pose further challenges.
• Politico Pro reports China’s overseas purchases of coal nearly doubled in October from a year ago as the government leaned on importers to help ease a nationwide power shortage caused in large part by a shortage of the fuel.

In the news today…

Climate:

• The Washington Post and 4StateNews report the international climate conference’s “energy day” dawned with fresh efforts to block the flow of money to fossil fuel companies, as activists brushed aside arguments from corporate leaders of coal, oil and gas firms that they need to help meet the energy needs of consumers over the next three decades.
• Newsweek and The Washington Newsday report ExxonMobil is the world’s most obstructive company when it comes to climate policy, according to a new report.
• The New York Times reports more than 40 countries pledged to phase out coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, in a deal announced Thursday at the United Nations climate summit that prompted Alok Sharma, the head of the conference, to proclaim “the end of coal is in sight.”

Minerals/Metals:

• Reuters reports the ambitions of COP26 would be impossible without mined materials like copper, aluminum, cobalt, lithium and nickel.

Coal:

• Argus reports US coal exports continued to rise from year-earlier levels in September even as one of the main exit points for thermal coal experienced extensive disruptions.
• Politico Pro reports Southern Co. announced yesterday that it will shutter roughly 55 percent of its coal fleet by the end of the decade as the company shifts to a net-zero electricity mix.

In the news today…

Reconciliation Bill:

• Politico Pro reports House Democrats offered an updated version of their massive social spending bill yesterday — one that stripped out new royalties for hardrock mining but dared moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin to oppose fees on methane and more than $500 billion in other climate policies.

Energy:

• Reuters reports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will continue to draft rules targeting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants despite a surprise Supreme Court decision last week to review its authority to do so, its administrator told Reuters on Monday.
• Utility Dive reports the Supreme Court’s decision to consider four consolidated appeals could hamper the Biden administration’s goal of cutting U.S. GHG emissions by up to 52% below 2005 levels by the end of this decade.
• Washington Examiner reports a group of Republican senators is introducing a clean energy and climate strategy today that challenges the Biden administration and Democrats’ agenda of massively expanding clean energy while reducing fossil fuel production and use.
• Politico Pro reports the United States committed today with other countries to stop financing fossil fuel projects abroad by the end of next year, in a seismic shift that could stem the construction of natural gas and oil facilities in lower-income nations.

Climate:

• Washington Examiner reports Biden announced that the Energy Department’s next “Earthshot” is focused on accelerating and reducing the cost of technologies that remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.
• Reuters reports Indonesia, Poland, Vietnam and other nations on Thursday pledged to phase out their use of coal-fired power and stop building plants, a deal the COP26 climate summit host Britain described as putting the end of the fuel “in sight”.