As gas production surged, methane leaks shrank

EMISSIONS: A study of U.S. EPA data finds reported methane emissions from U.S. gas extraction dropped 37% between 2015 and 2022 even as production surged, suggesting the industry can curb leaks without limiting production. (Canary Media)

COAL:

• Clean energy advocates are finding success arguing that coal is more costly than renewables and that ratepayers shouldn’t have to pay for uneconomical power plants. (New York Times)
• Wyoming files a third lawsuit seeking to block new U.S. EPA rules limiting power plant emissions, saying they threaten the state’s coal industry. (Cowboy State Daily)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• U.S. environmental justice advocates turn their attention to the Congo, where the industry mining cobalt essential to electric vehicle batteries is ripe with worker exploitation. (Capital B)
• Biden administration officials are at odds with some energy policy experts who say new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles will come at the expense of decarbonizing the U.S. economy. (New Yorker)
• The Biden and Trump campaigns square off over electric vehicles, but support for their adoption has proved politically nuanced. (Associated Press)

GRID:

• Weather-related power outages are happening more frequently as storms intensify and an aging electric grid struggles to keep pace with demands. (CNN)
• Connecting Texas’ electric grid to the rest of the nation could slash carbon emissions and prevent power outages like the one during the deadly 2021 winter storm, a new study concludes. (E&E News, subscription)

CLIMATE: An analysis of death certificates finds that 2023 was a record year for heat-related deaths and illnesses, especially in Arizona, Texas and other southern states. (Associated Press)

HYDROPOWER: The U.S. sent more electricity to Canada in February than it received, a reversal of the usual trend, as unusually low precipitation sapped the northern country’s hydropower production. (New York Times)

OIL & GAS: An Ohio nonprofit oil and gas watchdog group says the industry is increasing water withdrawals and waste production during hydraulic fracturing, becoming less efficient as well production declines. (Times Leader)

HYDROGEN: California advocates raise concerns about a utility’s proposal to blend hydrogen into its natural gas lines in a Latino farmworker town, saying it amounts to experimenting on a low-income community and will have minimal climate benefits. (Capital & Main)

SOLAR: Scientists at Iowa State University and elsewhere look for ways to combine solar and agriculture, such as at a Kansas project where developers plan to incorporate sheep grazing. (Harvest Public Media)

WIND: While Maine officials are looking at the Gulf of Maine as the ideal site of future floating offshore wind projects, they still need to secure hundreds of millions of dollars worth of federal grants to get a port off the ground. (Maine Public Radio)