Why Biden keeps weakening his climate rules

POLITICS: The Biden administration’s pattern of proposing tougher climate and emissions rules than it ends up implementing are a side effect of President Biden’s re-election bid, observers say. (E&E News)

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OIL & GAS:

• The U.S. Interior Department issues its final rule to limit flaring and tighten methane leak detection to reduce emissions stemming from drilling on federal and tribal lands. (Associated Press)
• The U.S. leads a global surge of oil and gas production that threatens to upend Paris Agreement goals, a report finds. (Guardian)
• Entergy Louisiana proposes a $441 million floating natural gas power plant on land that is disappearing due to sinking and sea-level rise, which is expected to worsen from fossil fuel-driven climate change. (Floodlight)

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SOLAR: Solar generation is expected to briefly plunge in parts of the country during next month’s solar eclipse, but grid operators and electric utilities say they’re prepared with alternate energy sources to keep power flowing. (New York Times)

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COAL: New Hampshire’s Granite Shore Power will shut down its last coal-fired power plants in 2025 and 2028, replacing them with solar, battery storage, and other clean energy and marking the end of coal in New England. (New Hampshire Bulletin)

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OFFSHORE WIND: Four developers bid to build offshore wind projects off the Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island coasts, including two bids from Avangrid and SouthCoast Wind that are essentially rebids of recently retracted projects. (CT Mirror, Rhode Island Current)

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NUCLEAR:

• The Biden administration offers a $1.52 billion loan for the first-ever effort in the U.S. to restart a shuttered nuclear plant in Michigan. (MLive)
• The federal government’s new limit on how much accident damage nuclear power operators are liable for could keep victims from receiving adequate compensation, critics say. (The Hill)

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EMISSIONS: The U.S. EPA begins taking public comments on how it should regulate carbon emissions from existing gas plants and best practices for carbon capture technology. (E&E News, subscription)

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TRANSPORTATION: California environmental justice advocates push back on proposed changes to the state’s low carbon fuel standard, saying it might lead to higher gas prices that disproportionately burden low-income communities. (Inside Climate News)

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PIPELINES:

• The dispute over Line 5 in swing states Michigan and Wisconsin could have major implications for tribal sovereignty, the power of states to regulate fossil fuels, and U.S.-Canada relations. (New York Times)
• Six Southwest Virginia landowners who are challenging federal regulators’ use of eminent domain for the Mountain Valley Pipeline are appealing their case again to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Cardinal News)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Ford plans to cut roughly two-thirds of its hourly workers at a Michigan plant building its electric F-150 as volume expectations drop. (Detroit Free Press)

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