Solar savings help pay for teacher raises, building upgrades

SOLAR: Nearly 1 in 10 U.S. schools are using solar power, with the cost savings helping to pay for teacher raises and energy efficiency improvements. (New York Times)

OVERSIGHT:
• Documents obtained by a congressional committee reveal oil and gas companies weakened industry-wide climate commitments while publicly claiming they were on a path to net zero. (New York Times)
• A law firm hired to help Ohio regulators respond to federal subpoenas and public records requests related to the House Bill 6 corruption scandal has multiple ties to state and utility officials who were involved in passing the law. (Energy News Network/​Eye on Ohio)

POLITICS:
• Republican-led legislatures in a third of all states have passed anti-protest bills drafted by a right-wing lobbying group that target Indigenous communities and environmentalists who oppose fossil fuel projects. (Guardian)
• Republican officials and corporate lobbyists prepare legal challenges to the Biden administration’s efforts to require public corporations to disclose emissions and climate risks. (Guardian)
• While Senate Republicans have long wanted to speed up energy project permitting, they say they won’t join Sen. Joe Manchin’s reform effort. (The Hill)

WIND: The federal government partners with East Coast states on a regional initiative to build out an offshore wind supply chain. (Reuters)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: President Biden announces a $900 million investment to begin building 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the federal highway system. (New York Times)

FOSSIL FUELS:
• Federal officials say they’ve reached a tentative deal to prevent a national rail strike, potentially resolving concerns that a labor stoppage would cause fossil fuel shortages. (CBS News, Grist)
• The Biden administration accepts bids for offshore oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico that were rejected by a judge but reinstated in the climate spending bill. (Associated Press)
• Activists along the Gulf Coast say the region was sacrificed to more offshore leasing and drilling in exchange for support of the recent climate spending package. (New York Times)
• Boston’s city council votes to enroll in a statewide pilot project to test banning fossil fuel hookups in most new construction. (GBH)

COAL ASH: The U.S. EPA’s crackdown on coal ash disposal rules could adversely affect Black communities, as landfills that accept coal ash from across state lines are disproportionately located in low-income, minority neighborhoods. (Energy News Network/​Chicago Investigative Project)

NUCLEAR: Roughly 80% of operating and recently retired U.S. coal plants could host an advanced nuclear power reactor, reducing capital costs by up to 35% compared to a greenfield project, according to the Department of Energy. (Utility Dive)

GRID: Coastal areas could sharply reduce their risk of storm-induced power outages if they strategically bury a small amount of their electric distribution systems, a study finds. (Utility Dive)

CLIMATE: The founder of clothing brand Patagonia donates the $3 billion company and future profits to organizations fighting climate change. (CNBC)