Happy Monday!
In the news today and from the weekend…
Minerals:
- The Nevada Current reports on Nevada as the battleground for Mining Law reform.
- E&E reports that Sen. Manchin this weekend outlined his issues with how Treasury is implementing the IRA. His main criticisms include: (1) Treasury’s creation of a “50% of value added” test, in which the department would judge minerals as meeting the standard if more than half of the value added to the minerals from either processing or extraction happens within a compliant country. Manchin said the test is “purely of the treasury’s own making” and not acceptable under the law; (2) Treasury should not have allowed a battery’s “constituent materials” to be counted under the critical minerals portion of the credit. That definition allows companies to count the cost of some battery manufacturing steps — such as making cathode powder — to be considered part of mineral processing, which allows it to happen in free-trade-agreement countries outside of North America, Manchin argued; (3) Treasury is being too liberal with its definition of a free-trade agreement for purposes of the critical minerals credit.
- E&E reports that the Senate will this week hold a markup on S. 1871, the “Intergovernmental Critical Minerals Task Force Act,” which would task the Office of Management and Budget director with setting up a federal task force to determine responses to China’s dominance over key mineral supply chains.
Grid:
- The New York Times carries a piece exploring why the U.S. Grid isn’t ready for the transition.
- The Wall Street Journal repot electricity planning will get a second look in Washington with most unsatisfied with what came out of debt ceiling talks.
- E&E reports that House Energy and Commerce lawmakers will question members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission during a hearing Tuesday to discuss the reliability of the nation’s energy system.
- E&E reports that for the first time, in the first five months of the year, wind and solar generated more electricity than coal.
Coal:
- Bloomberg reports that Glencore has offered to buy Teck’s coal business.