EVs send auto industry lobbying soaring

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Auto industry lobbying has reached record highs in recent years and continues to grow as federal lawmakers debate how to incentivize domestic electric vehicle manufacturing and adoption. (Open Secrets)

ALSO:

• Producers of lithium for electric vehicle batteries saddle up for months of turbulence as prices sink and political uncertainty puts a hold on some battery manufacturing facilities. (E&E News)
• Unionized workers at an Ohio electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant lament the partisan divide over EVs, noting that the industry has helped preserve good-paying jobs. (Inside Climate News)

POLITICS: Tonight’s presidential debate offers Vice President Kamala Harris a chance to get specific on energy and climate policy, as she’s so far hasn’t clarified where she’ll aim on clean electricity, transitioning off fossil fuels, and other priorities. (E&E News)

OIL & GAS:

• Reports that Shell will cut its oil and gas exploration and development workforce by 20% exacerbate worries about a Gulf Coast workforce that’s shrunk as companies have consolidated and become more efficient. (Reuters, Houston Chronicle)
• A government watchdog agency calls on the U.S. Interior Department to tighten oversight of federal land oil and gas royalty payments. (Oil & Gas Journal)

GRID:

• The federal Bureau of Land Management greenlights the controversial 350-mile Greenlink West transmission project and advances another proposed line; both are expected to expedite solar development in Nevada. (Nevada Independent)
• A pair of former Virginia bureaucrats turned private-sector consultants push a plan endorsed by state Gov. Glenn Youngkin to transform 65,000 acres of minelands into an energy complex to include solar-powered data centers cooled by mine water, as well as test sites for other energy sources. (Energy News Network)
• Experts urge California regulators and lawmakers to reduce power costs by crafting policies aimed at better leveraging distributed energy resources, from electric vehicles and heat pumps to rooftop solar and residential battery systems. (Canary Media)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• A planned green aluminum smelter in Kentucky could require a gigawatt’s worth of clean power each year to operate, and the state has very little carbon-free capacity available right now. (Canary Media)
• The federal Bureau of Land Management approves the 700 MW Libra solar-plus-battery storage project in Nevada and seeks public input on a proposed solar array in the state. (news release)

WIND: Vineyard Wind’s chief executive officer implies their 1.2 GW proposed offshore wind project won’t move forward unless Connecticut buys 400 MW of power Massachusetts didn’t purchase. (CommonWealth Beacon)

COMMENTARY: An engineering professor examines how both the Biden and Trump administrations advanced oil and gas production despite vastly different energy goals. (The Conversation)