Good Monday morning!
In the news today and from the weekend…
Grid:
- Portland Press Herald reports that in a trial scheduled to begin next month, the developers of the New England Clean Energy Connect power line will argue they have vested rights to continue building it, despite a 2021 voter referendum in Maine to block the project.
- Reuters reports that the Iowa Supreme Court temporarily blocks a state law that had given incumbent utilities first rights to build new transmission projects, a case that could have high stakes amid plans for a major transmission buildout.
Minerals:
- Politico Pro reports Canada has the minerals required for electric vehicles, solar panels and other clean-energy technologies. The United States wants them.
- E&E Greenwire reports President Joe Biden’s long-awaited trip to Canada this week is poised to highlight the administration’s openness to using a Cold War-era law to fund Canadian mining and mineral processing sectors — part of a broader effort to secure electric vehicle battery materials that China currently dominates.
- Politico Pro reports President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged a joint effort Friday to develop critical mineral resources that are needed to reduce reliance on China for a key raw material used in electric vehicles and other clean technology products.
- Bloomberg reports US labor unions are pushing back on White House efforts to allow European Union and Japanese firms mining and processing critical minerals to tap some of the lucrative subsidies available in the Biden administration’s massive climate law, fearing the move will sap American jobs.
- Politico Pro reports a major U.S. battery manufacturer and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are making an eleventh-hour push to persuade the Treasury Department to reverse its interpretation of Inflation Reduction Act domestic content provisions that could boost foreign components used in electric vehicles that qualify for federal incentives.
Coal:
- Argus reports US exports of coking coal rose by 37.5pc on the year in January to nearly 3.7mn t, with the increase driven by sharp increases in shipments to China, the EU and India.