Biden tariffs: Good for jobs, but what about climate?

CLIMATE: Critics – including a prominent Democratic governor – say the Biden administration’s tariffs on Chinese imports, intended to protect U.S. jobs, could also undermine efforts to reduce emissions. (E&E News)

GRID:

• Recently announced FERC and Department of Energy policy initiatives could double U.S. grid capacity and alleviate transmission bottlenecks, but still face political headwinds without congressional support. (E&E News)
• Sen. Joe Manchin says energy permitting reform is alive and well in Congress, contradicting recent comments made by Majority Leader Chuck Shumer. (E&E News, subscription)

TRANSPORTATION: In a new report, a nonprofit group says efforts to decarbonize air travel are a ​“huge greenwashing exercise” and that there is ​“no realistic or scalable alternative” to petroleum-based aviation fuels for the foreseeable future. (The Guardian)

HYDROGEN:

• Plug Power, a company that has pushed for weaker clean energy requirements for tax credits, has won a $1.66 billion loan guarantee from the Department of Energy to scale up production. (Canary Media)
• The energy firms looking to build a $1.5 billion hydrogen fuel facility at Pittsburgh’s airport say they can’t do so unless federal clean energy tax credits include coal mine methane projects. (Associated Press)

OIL & GAS: 

• Ohio has issued an unprecedented number of orders in recent years forcing property owners to enter agreements with oil and gas companies if most of their neighbors want drilling to occur, even as the state restricts clean energy development in the name of property rights. (Energy News Network)
• Advocates say a loophole in New Mexico’s methane emission rules allows oil and gas companies to vent record-high volumes of the potent greenhouse gas, endangering the state’s climate goals. (Capital & Main)
• Drought-fueled wildfires are again forcing evacuations in Alberta’s oil sands region, but it is not yet clear whether oil operations will be disrupted as they were in 2016. (Reuters)

POLITICS:

• Coal magnate and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice wins the Republican nomination to fill the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Joe Manchin, even as Justice’s long history of unpaid debts and related lawsuits chips away at his fortune. (Mountain State Spotlight, New York Times)
• A government ethics watchdog group says it is ​“taking a very serious look” at Donald Trump’s recent campaign solicitation of $1 billion from oil executives. (The Guardian)

NUCLEAR: The CEO of a nuclear industry group says she expects at least two advanced reactor projects to begin construction in the U.S. in the next year. (E&E News, subscription)

MINING: An Indigenous advocacy group petitions the U.S. Supreme Court to block a proposed copper mine in Arizona that would destroy a site considered sacred by tribal nations. (Arizona Republic)