U.S. leads world on risky carbon capture, hydrogen spending

CARBON CAPTURE: The U.S. has spent more public money on carbon capture and gas-produced hydrogen than any country, a new report finds, even though the technologies remain unproven as cost-effective climate solutions. (The Guardian)

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OIL & GAS:

• An analysis of ExxonMobil documents and congressional probes shows how the company has redirected emissions reduction efforts from renewable energy to unproven solutions like carbon capture. (The Guardian)
• Federal courts prepare to consider several lawsuits seeking to diminish a president’s power to ban future mining and oil and gas drilling on some federal lands via national monument designation. (Bloomberg Law)
• Environmental groups say more than 154,000 comments have been submitted opposing Enbridge’s Line 5 reroute plan in northern Wisconsin as federal regulators review the project. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• California advocates call on lawmakers to pass “polluter pays” bills aimed at holding the oil and gas industry financially accountable for environmental and health impacts. (Inside Climate News)

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BUILDINGS: The U.S. Energy Department announces $240 million to help state and local governments adopt more efficient building codes. (Utility Dive)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Oakland, California’s school district is the first major district in the U.S. to fully adopt electric school buses, which can send power back to the grid during high demand. (Grist)

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SOLAR:

• The Biden administration finalizes its Western solar plan aimed at expediting development on 31 million acres of federal land in 11 states. (Reuters)
• A startup says its technology can help solve a key challenge preventing solar at multi-family projects by sending energy from a single system with one inverter to individual housing units. (Energy News Network)

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CLEAN ENERGY: Along with the addition of 15 GW of solar, battery and wind over the last year, Texas added 6.6% more clean energy jobs to rank second in the U.S. after Idaho. (Houston Chronicle)

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GRID:

• The North American Electric Reliability Corp. drafts an analysis of power transfer capacity between regional transmission areas. (Utility Dive)
• A network of smart energy devices in New England helped shave hundreds of megawatts off peak demand on a single day this summer, highlighting the usefulness of virtual power plants. (WBUR)

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POLITICS: Maryland’s election for a U.S. Senate seat could make or break federal climate action by stripping Democrats of their current majority. (Inside Climate News)

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OVERSIGHT: Texas prepares to launch a new set of business courts overseen by a panel of judges who have previously represented oil and gas companies, raising questions about whether the new courts lean too far toward fossil fuel favoritism. (The Lever)

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COMMENTARY: A columnist details how increasingly cheap and widely available solar power will make once-far-fetched applications possible. (New York Times)

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