Red states threaten cross-country EV charger network

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Republican-led states threaten the Biden administration’s plans for a national electric vehicle charging network, with Wyoming saying it won’t spend federal dollars to ​“establish infrastructure that will likely fail.” (E&E News)

ALSO:
• Ford says it’s cutting prices for its electric cars by as much as $5,900, weeks after Tesla slashed vehicle prices amid softening demand. (Axios)
• The Minnesota Court of Appeals upholds the state’s ​“clean car” rulemaking that aims to get more zero-emissions vehicles on the road, dismissing a challenge from auto dealers. (Star Tribune)
• New York City Mayor Eric Adams says drivers won’t pay for ride-hailing companies to electrify their fleets but his administration hasn’t explained who will. (Gothamist)

CLIMATE:
• The world will likely cross the 1.5° C warming threshold within the next decade, a peer-reviewed study predicts using artificial intelligence. (Guardian)
• California lawmakers introduce bills that would require companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions, ban public pension funds from investing in fossil fuels and create a group to analyze corporations’ climate risks. (Associated Press)

OIL & GAS:
• The biggest U.S. oil companies made record profits last year as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine tightened the global fossil fuel market. (Washington Post)
• New Mexico regulators investigate a methane cloud that appears to be spewing from a Permian Basin oil and gas facility after it was detected by a satellite. (Bloomberg)
• Environmental groups call the Biden administration’s imminent decision on ConocoPhillips’ proposed Willow oil and gas drilling project in Alaska a climate -action ​“bellwether.” (Bloomberg)

POLICY:
• The U.S. Senate passes a measure to limit where some taxpayer-funded inventions can be manufactured after an investigation showed how battery technology developed with federal dollars was exported to in China. (NPR)
• The EU plans to expand green industry subsidies in response to the U.S.’s emphasis on domestic production of clean energy components. (Guardian)

CLEAN ENERGY: New Jersey environmentalists oppose state legislation to establish some of the country’s most ambitious clean energy targets because its definition of clean energy would include trash incineration. (Politico)

UTILITIES:
• NextEra Energy wants to aggressively expand its renewables and storage portfolio, but its plans are overshadowed by allegations that a Florida utility subsidiary violated state and federal campaign finance laws. (Utility Dive)
• Virginia lawmakers advance competing proposals to change how electricity rates are set, with a coalition of big companies and clean energy advocates opposing Dominion Energy’s proposed reforms. (Energy News Network)

COMMENTARY: Clean energy analysts say Detroit-based DTE Energy’s long-term energy plan is the first in the country to incorporate expected customer savings from clean energy deployment under the Inflation Reduction Act. (RMI)