Top DOE loan official slams ​‘unacceptable’ clean energy deployment rates

FINANCE: Top Energy Department loan official Jigar Shah says the U.S. is deploying climate solutions at a ​“wholly unacceptable” rate, saying the current investments of $200 billion each year should be at $1 trillion. (Houston Chronicle)

UTILITIES: Ohio’s FirstEnergy agrees to pay a $230 million fine to defer prosecution of federal criminal charges over its role in using dark money nonprofits to advance a favorable power plant bailout law. (Columbus Dispatch)

INFRASTRUCTURE:
• A report identifies more than 300 sustainable infrastructure proposals, including clean transportation and efficiency projects, needed across 97 U.S. cities that face a total funding gap of at least $10.6 billion. (Utility Dive)
• Disagreements over how much to spend on public transit versus highway improvements becomes a final sticking point in Senate infrastructure negotiations, with Democrats emphasizing spending on the former and Republicans on the latter. (NBC News)

EFFICIENCY: Appalachian communities can improve quality of life and keep more money local by investing in energy efficiency instead of natural gas operations, according to a report. (Energy News Network)

CLIMATE:
• A climate scientist disputes suggestions that recent wildfires, extreme heat, and intense flooding are surpassing researchers’ expectations, though acknowledges the global warming we’ve already seen could be ​“a lot more problematic than we thought it was.” (Grist)
• The massive Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon burns through 90,000 acres of forest set aside to offset carbon emissions. (CNN)

GRID:
• A Texas company installing a 20 MW battery system next to a soon-to-be-retired Maryland coal plant shows how existing power facilities can offer renewable energy producers pathways onto the grid without building new transmission lines. (Bloomberg)
• Tesla launches a test of a virtual power plant by allowing California customers to feed their Powerwall batteries’ excess electricity back to the grid. (Markets Insider)

NUCLEAR: Opposition to interim nuclear waste storage sites in Texas and New Mexico grows, potentially scuttling the federal government’s plans to dispose of more than 80,000 metric tons of waste. (E&E News, subscription)

PUBLIC LANDS: Tracy Stone-Manning, President Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management, advances to a full Senate vote after Republican protests over her past involvement in environmental protests threatened her confirmation. (Washington Post)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Electric vehicle startup Rivian plans to build a second U.S. assembly plant that will also focus on battery production. (Reuters)
• A Tennessee county seeks a $3 million grant from the state to help a maker of electric vehicle battery materials build a $160 million facility. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

TRANSPORTATION: Massachusetts can only act on its Transportation & Climate Initiative if at least three states clear legal hurdles to join the pact, leaving the state in limbo. (Boston.com)

COMMENTARY: The head of an energy efficiency trade group urges Congress to create a nationwide energy jobs program that prioritizes employment of communities underrepresented in the industry. (Canary Media)