TGIF!
In the news today…
Permitting:
- Politico Pro reports Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee members grilled all four FERC commissioners about the reliability of the power system, the pace of the energy transition and the need for permitting reform during a hearing Thursday.
- E&E Greenwire reports top Senate Republicans introduced legislation Thursday to overhaul the environmental review process for major energy infrastructure projects and spur energy development on federal lands.
- Politico Pro reports Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) introduced a pair of bills Thursday to make it easier to build both fossil fuel and renewable energy projects, as the GOP looks to leverage the impending deadline for increasing the nation’s borrowing limit to reach an elusive deal on permitting reform.
- Washington Examiner reports Senate ENR Ranking Member John Barrasso and EPW Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito are adding their own energy permitting reform legislation to the mix of proposals and already-approved bills aiming to speed project reviews and approvals.
Mining:
- E&E Greenwire reports a federal judge on Wednesday gave 15 environmental organizations and recreation businesses a green light to intervene in a high-profile lawsuit over the Interior Department’s cancellation of leases for a proposed copper and nickel mine in northern Minnesota.
- Mining.com reports Rio Tinto Ltd is under “immense pressure” from the US government to develop its Resolution copper project in the United States, given the copper it holds accounts for a quarter of all US reserves, its chair Dominic Barton said on Thursday.
Energy:
- E&E Energywire reports new EPA rules set to restrict emissions from power plants will test the limits of the sector’s transition, raising questions about whether businesses are ready to meet President Joe Biden’s most ambitious climate goals.
- E&E Energywire reports a Senate hearing on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday featured criticism of the Biden administration’s climate goals amid rapid closures of fossil fuel power plants.
- E&E Climatewire reports the Biden administration is poised to unveil its most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the nation’s thousands of power plants — an effort that’s certain to bring a legal and political attack from conservatives but may disappoint some supporters of the president’s climate agenda.