EPA tightens soot regulations

EMISSIONS: The U.S. EPA tightens airborne soot regulations to reduce coal plant and diesel truck pollution, a move expected to save as many as 4,500 lives in 2032 and bring $46 billion in health benefits by that year. (E&E News)

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BUILDINGS:

• Environmental agencies in nine Northeast and Western states pledge to have heat pumps make up 90% of residential heating, air conditioning and water heating sales in their states by 2040. (Energy News Network)
• While not as powerful or efficient as whole-home heat pumps, portable “micro” heat pumps could help renters cut down on their fossil fuel-powered heat and air conditioning use. (Canary Media)

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OIL & GAS:

• State trust lands taken 150 years ago from Indigenous territories in Western and Midwest states provide public universities with millions of dollars of annual funding, largely via oil and gas drilling. (Grist)
• Republican-led states prepare legal challenges to the Biden administration’s liquefied natural gas export permitting pause. (E&E News)
• A 5.1 magnitude earthquake that struck last week could cause Oklahoma to take action against oil and gas drillers. (Associated Press)
• A Sierra Club report finds oil and gas companies in California are skirting state regulations by failing to plug tens of thousands of idle oil and gas wells. (DeSmog)

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CLIMATE:

• Trump allies and advisers share plans for increased fossil fuel drilling, a crackdown on government climate scientists, and another Paris Agreement withdrawal if the former president returns to office. (The Guardian)
• Democratic lawmakers warn of devastating consequences for climate action if former President Trump is elected, and continue to push for the Green New Deal they introduced five years ago. (The Hill, E&E News)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Waning interest in Ford’s F-150 electric truck reflects a broader cooling market for electric vehicle sales, though experts still predict long-term demand to grow. (New York Times, NPR)
• The installation of electric vehicle chargers at a Tennessee Waffle House breaks with the national trend of placing chargers at convenience stores or gas stations. (Green Car Reports)

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SOLAR: Duke Energy prepares to offer new rebates in North Carolina for rooftop solar arrays paired with batteries, which along with federal incentives could create a new wave of business for solar installers even after Duke reduced net-metering credits. (Energy News Network)

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GEOTHERMAL: As geothermal pilot projects get underway in Massachusetts, the utilities behind them work to overcome high upfront costs, disruptive development and other challenges. (CommonWealth Beacon)

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POLITICS:

• Virginia lawmakers advance legislation to ban utilities from donating to political campaigns after Dominion Energy donated more than $10 million to candidates during last year’s state legislative elections. (WTKR)
• Pennsylvania environmentalists criticize the state’s governor for veering away from his promises to more heavily regulate the natural gas and fracking industries since elected. (Inside Climate News)

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Correction: An electrification advocate wrote that the International Code Council was violating its own rules to allow appeals that could strip electrification-ready measures from a recommended code update. An item in yesterday’s newsletter mischaracterized the author’s stance.

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