New rule aims to clean up trucking

TRANSPORTATION: The Biden administration announces a new rule that aims to ensure 25% of all new long-haul trucks and 40% of medium-duty trucks are zero-emission by 2032, earning praise from environmental groups but concern from truck and engine manufacturers. (New York Times, NPR)

ALSO:

• Congress allocated $7.5 billion two years ago to build thousands of electric vehicle charging stations across the country, but so far only seven have been built. (Washington Post)
• A federal court strikes down a Biden administration requirement that cities and states set transportation sector emissions reduction goals. (The Hill)
• The U.S. EPA’s new tailpipe emission rules extends two programs that will make it easier for carmakers to meet emissions standards. (E&E News)

POWER PLANTS:

• As economic growth drives new electricity demand, utilities look to natural gas as a quick fix, but customers and clean energy advocates say the strategy lacks ambition and ignores the giant pool of federal money currently available for cleaner alternatives. (Grist/​WABE)
• A new report urges state regulators to be skeptical about ​“a panicked rush” to build new gas plants and says utilities could mitigate near-term load growth with a myriad of tech and policy solutions. (Latitude Media)

CLIMATE:

• Indoor farming offers producers steady growing conditions amid increasingly unpredictable weather, but their energy consumption represents a potential threat that could worsen climate change. (Washington Post)
• Landfills release an average of three times more methane than they report to federal regulators, a study of 1,200 landfills across the country finds. (New York Times)
• California asks a federal judge to dismiss business groups’ lawsuit seeking to overturn a new state law requiring companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related risks. (Reuters)

CLEAN ENERGY: A new report ranks Illinois best in the country for state policy that supports community ownership of clean energy, while most states earn failing grades. (Canary Media)

GRID: Software and smart meters are unlocking new potential for price-based demand response, using variable rates to change customer behavior. (Utility Dive)

OIL & GAS: Hundreds of people attend a public hearing in Colorado to debate proposed legislation to ban oil and gas drilling in the state by 2030. (CBS News)

NUCLEAR: A court vacates a company’s license to develop an interim spent nuclear reactor fuel repository in southeastern New Mexico, saying federal regulators lacked authority to issue the permit. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

OFFSHORE WIND:

• New York’s first offshore wind port will use only union labor, per a new deal signed between the developer and labor groups. (The Verge)
• U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland meets with California tribal leaders to hear their concerns about proposed offshore wind development along the northern and central coast. (North Coast Journal)