EPA may strengthen power plant emissions rules

OIL & GAS: The U.S. EPA is reportedly considering tougher emissions rules for new gas power plants ahead of their expected final release this month — a contrast with other Biden administration environmental rules that have generally been weakened after their initial proposal. (Washington Post)

ALSO:

• Environmental advocates push the U.S. Energy Department to prioritize climate change and energy prices as it considers new liquefied natural gas exports. (E&E News)
• G20 countries, including the U.S., invested $142 billion into fossil fuel development in poor countries from 2020 to 2022, with spending on gas projects leading the way. (Guardian)

CLEAN ENERGY: Renewable energy generation breaks records across the U.S., including in Texas, where wind energy and solar are toppling coal generation, and New England, which set an emissions-free power generation record in March. (E&E News, subscription; Houston Chronicle, Concord Monitor)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The nation’s first fully battery-powered tugboat is set to begin operating from California’s Port of San Diego later this spring. (Canary Media)

PIPELINES:

• The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe prepares a legal argument to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline that claims the operator’s environmental record should prevent it from obtaining a crucial easement. (E&E News)
• A Louisiana State University professor develops a method of fiber-optic leak detection that could supplement or replace pressure gauges as a way of rapidly detecting leaks in oil and gas pipelines. (Reveille)

OFFSHORE WIND: The demise of several Northeast offshore wind projects last year sent Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer into a lobbying frenzy that resulted in a modified tax credit to benefit developers and the approval of new projects. (E&E News)

GRID:

• Two new studies recommend advanced reconductoring as a faster, cheaper way to add more capacity to existing power lines. (New York Times)
• Utilities, regulators, lawmakers and grid operators increasingly explore the potential of virtual power plants that could harness power from distributed batteries to reduce grid demand. (States Newsroom)
• Xcel Energy says its first ever planned outage to reduce wildfire risk likely prevented its lines in Colorado from sparking a blaze during last weekend’s unusually severe winds, but some customers say they weren’t adequately warned. (CPR)

COAL: The Army Corps of Engineers says it should be able to open a limited-access channel by the end of the month to access Baltimore’s port, through which a notable chunk of the country’s coal exports pass. (Daily Record)

SOLAR: Indigenous advocates protest a proposed solar development in central Washington state, saying it threatens cultural resources. (High Country News)

COMMENTARY:

• A young Maryland member of a conservative environmentalists’ group encourages his peers to ​“bridge the partisan divide on climate issues.” (Maryland Matters)
• The Sierra Club’s executive director writes that ​“tireless activism” and ​“incremental wins” are behind the planned closures of New England’s last coal-fired generation units. (Sierra Magazine)