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.