In the news today…
Clean Water Act:
- Oil and Gas 360 reports the Trump administration is removing a tool some Democratic states have used to block construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure.
- E&E News PM reports a federal district court must now reexamine a Hawaii permitting battle in light of the Supreme Court’s new Clean Water Act test from its Maui decision.
Coal:
- The Detroit News (MI) carries an op-ed by Mark J. Perry, scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, in which he asserts the reliability of coal power compared with renewable energy.
- Washington Examiner reports the North American Electric Reliability Corporation drastically underestimated how much U.S. coal would retire in a 2018 assessment of grid reliability.
- E&E Greenwire reports a mining company tunneled through federal land in central Utah and took coal it had not leased.
- Pensions and Investments reports the Minnesota State Board of Investment, St. Paul, approved a resolution to divest from publicly traded companies that derive 25% or more of their revenues from the extraction and production of thermal coal within the $65.2 billion of defined benefit plan assets managed by the board.
Minerals:
- Roll Call reports Republicans are pushing for domestic mining of critical minerals.
- Washington Examiner reports Congressman released a bicameral letter in support of critical minerals legislation.
- E&E Greenwire reports the Department of Commerce announced it has launched an investigation into vanadium imports after a pair of producers claimed the domestic industry suffers from unfair trade practices.
- The Brunswick News reports the Army Corps of Engineers has been inundated with responses to a proposed heavy minerals mine near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
Carbon Capture:
- Washington Examiner reports there are now 396 carbon capture, utilization, and storage projects around the world, with 207 of those in the U.S., according to an updated map released Tuesday by the clean energy group Third Way.
- E&E Energywire reports a project more than a decade in the making that could become the world’s largest carbon capture project in terms of transport and storage capacity is now operational.