Auto worker strike is a test for clean energy jobs push

JOBS: President Biden has said he will ​“stand in solidarity” with striking auto workers, seeking to push back on Republican skepticism that the clean energy transition will create good-paying jobs. (The Hill)

ALSO: Electric vehicle plants in the Midwest and Southeast are at the heart of industry labor disputes, as auto workers worry they will bear the brunt of cost-cutting efforts. (New York Times, The Economist)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Data show that electric trucks are proving capable of meeting much of the country’s shipping needs, particularly short-haul routes that make up roughly half of all daily freight movement. (Canary Media)

• As Michigan automakers and suppliers use public subsidies to build new electric vehicle factories, an investigation finds they are abandoning older, contaminated sites with little environmental accountability. (Bridge)

• Scientists warn that electric vehicles’ increased weight means they’ll shed more particulate pollution from tires, and push for reduced car dependency along with electrification. (Grist)

• The Air Force begins building its first electric aircraft charging station on a military installation in Ohio. (Dayton Daily News)

GRID: Federal regulators say more than 90 GW, or roughly 13% of capacity in the eastern U.S., failed to run as expected during a December winter storm. (Utility Dive)

STORAGE:

• The Department of Energy announces $325 million for long-duration energy storage projects around the country, with more than $800 million in private capital expected to follow. (Canary Media)

• More than half of the planned, under construction, or installed and operational energy storage in the U.S. is located in Texas, which already has 16.4 GW of capacity. (PV Magazine)

CLEAN ENERGY: PJM Interconnection member states form a working group to develop a separate market to push ahead on clean energy goals, planning to have a strategy by the end of the year. (S&P Global)

WIND:

• The Department of Energy last week awarded $27 million in grants to help advance wind energy, including $7.5 million to develop bat deterrent technology. (news release; E&E News, subscription)

• Wyoming researchers find light-colored wind turbines attract insects and their avian predators, and painting them darker colors would reduce bird and bug collisions. (High Plains Journal)

• A recent study of three Iowa counties finds that wind farms are generating significant local tax revenue for all three. (Yale Climate Connections)

CARBON CAPTURE:

• An Iowa county attorney suggests local governments could deny building permits for carbon capture facilities, introducing a new legal strategy to try to block controversial pipeline projects. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

• Environmental justice groups say they were left out of discussions about siting proposed carbon removal sites in Louisiana and Texas. (E&E News)

COMMENTARY: North Carolina should move to attract $4 billion or more in wind industry investment in manufacturing and its East Coast supply chain, regardless of whether wind turbines are ever built off its coast, writes the CEO of a conservative clean energy group. (Energy News Network)