"The Biden administration on Friday offered its first loan commitment for a lithium processing plant, backing a facility in southwest Nevada that would provide the highly sought mineral needed for EV batteries but that some environmentalists contend will further threaten an endangered flower."
"Climate activists in Africa are expressing anger toward the United Nations climate agency, accusing it of allowing corporations and individuals with dubious climate credentials to greenwash their polluting activities by participating in its annual climate conference."
The complex legal obstacles that face U.S. energy projects prompted political machinations over permitting reform in the last Congress and likely will again in the new one. The latest Backgrounder explores how the energy permitting system works (or doesn’t), why Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin may really be pushing for its reform and the reason some environmentalists concede reform may have green benefits.
"Sweden has discovered what is billed as Europe’s biggest deposit of rare earth minerals — a crucial component of electronics and clean energy technology — giving a significant boost to the continent’s hunt for trade security."
"Children living near a small California airport were more likely to have elevated levels of lead in their blood, a new study found."
"The Biden administration plans to mandate a five-year schedule for offshore wind auctions, mirroring the pace of offshore oil sale planning currently called for in federal law."
"A Korean solar company, Hanwha Qcells, announced on Wednesday that it would spend $2.5 billion to build a large manufacturing complex in Georgia. The plant will produce critical components for solar panels and build complete panels."
"The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill on Thursday to ban releases of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve from being exported to China, though the measure faces an uncertain future in the Senate."
"In the late 1970s, scientists at Exxon fitted one of the company’s supertankers with state-of-the-art equipment to measure carbon dioxide in the ocean and in the air, an early example of substantial research the oil giant conducted into the science of climate change."
"House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) on Wednesday signaled the committee will move on a larger energy legislative package under her leadership."
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