Green hydrogen innovators back a high bar for tax credits

HYDROGEN: While federally funded hydrogen hubs and other companies say limiting tax incentives to green hydrogen will hamstring the industry, others support strong rules ensuring producers use new clean energy to reduce emissions. (Energy News Network)

OFFSHORE WIND: The Biden administration greenlights two New England offshore wind farms — the Park City and Commonwealth wind projects — bringing the country one-third of the way to the president’s offshore wind goal. (E&E News, Bloomberg)

EFFICIENCY:

• Appliance efficiency standards reduced emissions and prevented as many as 4,400 pollution-related deaths in 2017, researchers find, making a case for even stronger efficiency standards. (Utility Dive)
• Startup companies aim to help contractors navigate the often lengthy and unwieldy processes required to access rebates and tax incentives for heat pumps and other efficient appliances. (Canary Media)

GEOTHERMAL: Experts highlight the potential of next-generation technology to make geothermal power easier to access and more widely available. (Guardian)

CARBON CAPTURE: Plans to build enormous carbon capture facilities in Texas and beyond are attracting criticism for their potential to scramble weather patterns and because they’re often used to justify the continued extraction of fossil fuels. (New York Times)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A school district in northern Minnesota is among the first tribal school districts in the country to receive electric school buses under a new $5 billion federal program. (E&E News)

MANUFACTURING: A group of Rust Belt senators were successful in scaling back a Biden administration rule meant to curb air pollution from integrated iron and steel mills, fearing the regulations would cost U.S. jobs. (Grist)

CLEAN ENERGY: After announcing a $1.5 billion loan to restart a Michigan nuclear plant, Department of Energy officials say repurposing former coal and industrial sites is a key federal clean energy strategy. (E&E News, subscription)

OIL & GAS: Advocates say a California city’s primary news source refuses to report on a Chevron petroleum refinery’s pollution and accidents because the oil company owns the outlet. (Floodlight)

OVERSIGHT: Georgia’s five-person regulatory board wields enormous influence over utility plans and power rates, but remains relatively unknown by the public. (WABE/​Grist)

CLIMATE:

• A new searchable database aims to reveal how lobbying is derailing climate policy in 17 state legislatures. (Inside Climate News)
• A researcher argues in a new paper that the labor that goes into climate advocacy and fighting fossil fuel projects should be compensated. (Grist)

COAL: Rocky Mountain Power cancels plans to close two Utah coal plants by 2032 and replace them with nuclear reactors after a court blocks a federal ozone-pollution rule in the state. (Salt Lake Tribune)

SOLAR:

• Walmart partners with a national developer to build more than a dozen community solar projects across five states. (Solar Industry)
• California advocates say the state’s new interconnection rules will allow mid-sized solar-plus-battery systems to modulate power output to benefit the grid. (Canary Media)