Opinion:
¶ “Engie’s US LNG Reversal: Emissions Cuts Helped Clinch The Deal, But Are They Legit?” • The Financial Times reported that French energy company Engie signed a 15-year supply deal for liquified natural gas from a proposed NextDecade project in Texas. Engie rejected a similar proposal in 2020, but some things have changed since then. [CleanTechnica]
LNG storage in Massachusetts (Fletcher6, CC-BY-SA 3.0)
¶ “‘It’s Almost A Revolution’: What Labor Means For Renewables Investment” • The 2022 Australian election result will go down in history as a turning point in the country’s renewable energy transition. In his victory speech, Anthony Albanese pledged to end the climate wars and turn the country into a renewable energy superpower. [Sydney Morning Herald]
World:
¶ “Big Oil, Flush With Cash, Is Failing On Climate Pledges” • In 2020, with profits down due to pandemic and lockdowns, fossil fuel companies responded to pressure and announced bold plans to invest in clean energy. Now, with profits high and oil giants back to their pre-pandemic profitability, the push toward green reform appears to have taken a back seat. [CNN]
Oil rig (Arvind Vallabh, Unsplash)
¶ “Shell Escaped Liability For Oil Spills In Nigeria For Years. Then Four Farmers Took Them To Court And Won” • Four farmers from the Goi and Oruma communities in the country’s oil-rich but impoverished Niger Delta region said their farms were left in ruins after major spills from underground pipelines. They sued Shell and won. [CNN]
¶ “Volkswagen To Pay Out £193 Million In Another ‘Dieselgate’ Settlement” • Volkswagen is to pay £193 million to more than 90,000 drivers in England and Wales after it settled a High Court claim over the installation of emissions cheating devices in its vehicles. The group has already paid out more than €30 billion (£26 billion, $32 billion) worldwide. [BBC]
Volkswagen interior (Gabe Pierce, Unsplash)
¶ “Put Values Over Profits, NATO Chief Tells Countries” • The war in Ukraine has highlighted how countries need to put values before profits, NATO’s chief has warned. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Jens Stoltenberg said the war had shown “how economic relations with authoritarian regimes can create vulnerabilities.” [BBC]
¶ “China Electric Car Market – 29% Market Share In April!” • Plugin vehicles continue to be all the rage in the Chinese auto market. Despite the overall market being completely disrupted by Covid lockdowns (-43% year over year), plugins scored over 260,000 registrations in April, up 61% YOY. And 22% of China’s auto sales were full battery EVs! [CleanTechnica]
BYD Song EV (Jengtingchen, CC-BY-SA 4.0)
¶ “Fennovoima Withdraws Building Permit Application For Nuclear Power Plant” • Fennovoima announced it has withdrawn its application for a building permit for a nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki, Ostrobothnia, delivering what many believe was the final blow to the project. It terminated the project because of its Russian funding and dependencies. [Helsinki Times]
¶ “Jacobs Develops Robot For Fukushima Debris Sampling” • The USA engineering group Jacobs has designed and built a remotely-operated robotic tool to investigate debris in damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Eleven years after the meltdown at Fukushima, in March, 2011, it will be possible to get samples. [World Nuclear News]
Robot for debris collection at Fukushima Daiichi (Jacobs image)
¶ “Warming French Rivers Could Take More Nuclear Supply Offline” • An unseasonably warm May has led to high water temperatures in several rivers throughout France, putting some nuclear plants’ output at risk during a period of historically high unavailability, Refinitiv Eikon data showed. River water is often used for cooling reactors. [Reuters]
US:
¶ “Interior Department Announces $33 Million To Clean Up 277 Methane-Spewing Wells On Federal Land” • Officials from the Interior Department and the White House announced they will spend $33 million to clean up 277 orphan oil and gas wells on federal lands in nine states. States have identified over 130,000 orphan wells to work on. [CNN]
Pump jack in Texas (Eric Kounce, public domain)
¶ “Walmart To Begin Drone Deliveries In Six States” • Walmart says it will be delivering packages that weigh 10 pounds or less to customers in parts of Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia by drones that lower the packages to the ground by cable. The service will be provided in cooperation with DroneUp and should begin this year. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “US EV Registrations Surge For Q1 2022, Largely Driven By Tesla” • A recent article at CarScoops gives us some great news about EV sales so far in 2022! According to Experian, 158,689 EVs were registered in the US in January through March of this year. Tesla took most of these sales, with an estimated 113,882 vehicles coming from the company. [CleanTechnica]
Tesla Model 3 (Vlad Tchompalov, Unsplash)
¶ “Lawmakers Call For Better Clean Truck Rule” • A group of 61 federal lawmakers recently wrote a letter to the EPA asking it to finalize the strongest clean truck rules it can. They want the EPA to follow California’s lead and require a growing percentage of trucks to be zero emissions because heavy trucks tend to stay in service for decades. [CleanTechnica]
Tesla semi truck (Tesla image)
¶ “DOE Announces $38 Million To Launch Decarbonization Initiative At National Laboratories” • The US Department of Energy announced $38 million to begin decarbonizing four of its seventeen National Laboratories in support of President Biden’s goal to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050. [Department of Energy]
Have an outrageously relaxing day.
geoharvey 
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