Can Biden’s clean energy successes win swing states?

CLEAN ENERGY: The Inflation Reduction Act has brought billions of dollars of clean energy investment and tens of thousands of jobs to swing states, but polling suggests voters remain largely unaware of the law’s successes. (E&E News)

ALSO: A new federal tax credit program could help nonprofits and local governments build small renewable energy projects in Appalachia. (Kentucky Lantern)

EMISSIONS: Coal and oil power plants top a list of the U.S.’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters last year. (Inside Climate News)

WIND:

• The Biden administration designates four tracts of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas and Louisiana coasts for wind energy development. (Associated Press)
• A new report commissioned by New Hampshire energy officials finds that offshore wind in one Gulf of Maine parcel could supply up to 70% of New England’s power demand if coupled with energy storage. (NHPR)

CLIMATE:

• Climate scientists who once stayed out of the public eye are increasingly raising their voices to warn the world of a worsening climate emergency. (Washington Post)
• A global fund to support climate-vulnerable countries remains unestablished a year after top polluting nations agreed to fund it, threatening a ​“breaking point” at the upcoming COP climate summit. (Politico)
• A new solar-powered community center in Detroit also serves as a climate resiliency hub where residents can go for resources and basic needs during weather emergencies. (Energy News Network/​Planet Detroit)

SOLAR: Solar advocates in southwestern Virginia and other coal-rich, politically conservative areas are successfully growing local support for solar. (Grist)

UTILITIES: With Maine’s public utility takeover ballot initiative around the corner, the owners of the state’s two investor-owned utilities have significantly overspent supporters on a campaign to defeat the measure. (Canary Media, Morning Sentinel)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• A poll shows nearly three quarters of Americans know little or nothing about federal subsidies for electric vehicle purchases. (Axios)
• A group of Democratic U.S. senators calls on the Biden administration to do more to drive heavy-duty vehicle electrification, citing their outsized emissions impact. (The Hill)
• United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain celebrates tentative deals with Ford and Stellantis as a call for workers everywhere to rise up against ​“the billionaire class.” (Axios)

GRID: The Biden administration directs federal agencies to address AI threats to the power grid and other critical infrastructure. (E&E News)

HYDROGEN: A shareholder advisory group warns that ​“blue” hydrogen projects fueled by methane pose a ​“significant risk” for becoming stranded assets. (Gazette-Mail)

OIL & GAS:

• Chevron’s deal to buy Hess, one of the largest operators in the Bakken shale play in North Dakota, may marginally increase oil output there though experts don’t expect a return to the pre-pandemic boom. (Reuters)
• A petroleum executive proposes using small modular nuclear reactors to power the Permian Basin oil and gas fields as the industry electrifies. (Midland Reporter-Telegram)