In the news today…
Clean Water Act:
- WSKG and Phys.org report the Trump administration is removing a tool from section 401 of the CWA that some Democratic states have used to block construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure, such as oil and gas pipelines.
Coal:
- Fort Myers News Press (FL) carries an op-ed by Matthew Kandrach, president of Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE), in which he advocates for affordable energy made possible by coal-fueled power plants to weather the current crisis.
- E&E Energywire reports coal industry earnings in North America could fall by more than 50% this year as coronavirus lockdowns slash electricity demand.
- Yahoo Finance reports new solar and wind farms will soon cost less than many of the world’s coal-fired power plants.
- Utility Dive reports former FERC Commissioner Suedeen Kelly says the issue of coal self-commitments will have to be resolved at the state level, while former Chair Jon Wellinghoff argues such market distortions should be addressed by FERC.
- Argus reports the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting economic weakness are putting additional weight on US coal consumption and production, ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service said this week.
Energy:
- Argus reports the average price of electricity increased in Texas last year despite a drop in natural gas prices.
- E&E Climatewire reports renewable power projects are increasingly priced competitively compared with fossil-fueled energy projects.
Minerals:
- E&E Greenwire reports environmentalists are turning up the legal heat to protect the relict dace, a minnowlike fish in the middle of a fight over a Nevada gold mine.
- E&E News PM reports a fishery conservation group is challenging a federal court’s dismissal of a lawsuit that argued against EPA’s withdrawal of water pollution restrictions on the planned Pebble mine in Alaska.
- Washington Examiner reports the fate of the clean energy transition depends on dramatically increasing the extraction, refining, and processing of critical energy minerals, the State Department’s top energy official said Tuesday.
- Mining.com reports the U.S. State Department hopes to expand a strategic minerals initiative aimed at ensuring supply chains for metals critical for batteries and wind and solar power as demand for green energy keeps growing despite the coronavirus.
- Mining.com reports the U.S. Commerce Department said on Tuesday it was opening an investigation into whether imports of vanadium, a metal used in aerospace, defense and energy applications, impair U.S. national security.
- E&E Daily reports Republican lawmakers are doubling down on their campaign to expand mining on public lands.
NEPA:
- E&E Greenwire reports the Trump administration’s controversial rewrite of regulations surrounding the National Environmental Policy Act is closer to being complete.
WOTUS:
- E&E Greenwire reports the country’s largest business groups have come to the defense of the Trump administration’s rule defining the scope of the Clean Water Act.