Republicans organize to punish companies for acting on climate

CLIMATE: Conservative officials across the country are pushing back on corporate efforts to address climate change, elevating the issue into a culture war alongside voting rights, abortion and other issues. (New York Times)

ALSO:
• The U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs an effort by Republican-led states to block the Biden administration from using a higher social cost of carbon figure in drafting regulations. (Reuters)
• The Group of Seven nations, including the U.S., reach an agreement to slash emissions from their power sectors by 2035, and have a ​“highly decarbonized road sector by 2030.” (Associated Press)

GRID:
• The Bureau of Land Management approves a 416-mile transmission line that would carry Wyoming wind power to Utah. (Associated Press)
• Grid operator MISO files a proposal with federal regulators that would allow incumbent utilities to build certain transmission projects without competition and facilitate a $10.4 billion long-term transmission plan. (Utility Dive)

PIPELINES: Federal regulators announce new safety measures in response to a 2020 leak from a carbon dioxide pipeline that prompted dozens of people to seek medical attention. (Reuters)

OIL & GAS:
• The Biden administration is reaching out to oil companies to discuss reviving shuttered refineries to help moderate gasoline prices. (Bloomberg)
• Years after detecting methane and other emissions from more than 200 oil and gas facilities in the Permian Basin, the U.S. EPA still has not fined most of the violators. (Capital & Main)

WIND:
• The U.S. Interior Department advances a proposed offshore wind lease sale for two areas totaling 373,268 acres along the central and northern California coast. (E&E News)
• A small Missouri town has become a hub for recycling wind turbine blades from around the country. (St. Louis Public Radio)

SOLAR:
• Philadelphia officials sign a power purchase agreement to procure roughly a fifth of the electricity needed to power city-owned buildings from a solar farm, a deal years in the making. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Georgia regulators say they’re getting ​“lit up” by complaints from angry customers who purchased rooftop solar arrays only to find they don’t qualify for net-metering payments. (WAGA)

STORAGE: Tesla looks to recruit owners of its Powerwall batteries to help convince Texas’ grid manager to reverse a policy that doesn’t currently allow batteries to send power to the grid. (CNET)

HYDROPOWER: Federal analysts predict ongoing drought will cut California’s hydropower generation to half of normal levels this summer, spurring an increase in natural gas generation. (S&P Global)

HYDROGEN: A Virginia advocate says hydrogen has a role to play in the clean energy transition, particularly in trucking and other heavy transportation sectors. (Energy News Network)