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NJ CHALLENGES NY CONGESTION PRICING PLAN IN COURT: New Jersey filed a court challenge today against New York’s congestion pricing plan, or the high-profile tolling effort that could charge drivers as much as $23 to enter central Manhattan during peak hours.
The lawsuit challenges the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration’s decision to approve the congestion toll under environmental law using an environmental assessment review process rather than the considerably more in-depth environmental impact statement, or EIS.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a staunch critic of the plan, has said his requests for an EIS were ignored by the Biden administration, which approved the congestion pricing plan late last month. He said that under the National Environmental Policy Act, an EIS is called for if it is determined that a project will have “significant” environmental effects.
“We believe the feds short-circuited the normal review process,” Murphy said today in an interview on Good Day New York.
For the New York City congestion pricing plan, a shorter (but still nearly 1,000-page) environmental assessment was performed, and it included a finding of no significant impact. Proponents of the effort, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, have hailed it as a victory, saying it will reduce congestion for drivers downtown and improve the city’s air quality. Read more from Breanne here.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writer Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep). Email [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS DEMAND MORE INFORMATION ON FORD-CATL PARTNERSHIP: Top House Republicans are demanding more information on the partnership between Ford Motors and the Chinese battery maker CATL, citing new information about the licensing agreement that they said raised concerns over the battery maker’s ties to forced labor.
In the letter to Ford, the chairs of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Ways and Means Committee demanded the automaker provide more information about the partnership, which includes a $3.5 billion factory in Michigan that has also come under criticism.
In particular, the lawmakers cited concerns over what it said was new evidence that CATL had not publicly divested its share of the Xinjiang Zhicun Lithium Industry Company, which has been linked to forced labor, before its deal with Ford was announced in March.
The circumstances of the sale raise “serious questions about whether CATL is attempting to obscure links to forced labor,” Reps. Jason Smith and Mike Gallagher said in a statement.
They also warned that, should Ford remain reliant on China for its inputs to produce EV batteries, “the company will be exposing itself and U.S. taxpayers to the whims of the Chinese Communist Party and its politics."
JULY EXPECTED TO BE THE HOTTEST MONTH ON RECORD, NASA SAYS: July will likely be Earth’s hottest month ever recorded, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Gavin Schmidt, said yesterday–an alarming observation that comes as millions of Americans remain under high-heat warnings, including some for weeks on end.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, Schmidt said the temperatures might feel shocking but are “not a surprise” to scientists, and could make 2023 the hottest year on record—something he said they are predicting with 50% certainty.
“We are seeing unprecedented changes all over the world,” Schmidt said, adding that there “has been a decade-on-decade increase in temperatures” for the last 40 years.
NASA announced last week that June 2023 was the hottest June on record according to the agency’s global temperature analysis – a conclusion that was also bolstered separately by the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, and NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
EXTREME HEAT WAVES TO CONTINUE THROUGH AUGUST, WMO SAYS: Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organization said that extreme heat waves are expected to continue through August in many parts of the world, putting the prospect of relief out of sight for millions of people.
The WMO’s extreme heat advisor, John Nairn, told Reuters they expect temperatures in North America, Asia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean to be above 104 degrees Farenheit this week “for a prolonged number of days” as the current heat wave intensifies, and added “We should expect or at least plan for these extreme heatwaves to continue through August.”
He also warned that climate change means heat waves spread beyond summer. "We're on trend in seeing a rise in global temperatures that will contribute to heatwaves increasing in intensity and frequency," Nairn said.
"We've got quite clear indications that they're already growing out into spring," he added. Read more from Reuters here.
‘JUST STOP OIL’ PROTESTERS ARRESTED AFTER TARGETING BRITISH OPEN: Protesters with the climate group Just Stop Oil were arrested today after setting off an orange flare at the British Open.
Event organizers said a total of four people were taken into custody. They were able to clear the debris using leaf blowers. "Play was not disrupted and we would like to thank marshals, players and other spectators for their vigilance and understanding as the protesters were removed,” they added.
The British Open is just one of several sporting events in the U.K. that Just Stop Oil protesters have targeted this summer in an attempt to draw attention to their cause. Others have disrupted the Wimbledon tennis championships and the Ashes cricket test at Lord’s.
WIND AND SOLAR OUTPERFORMING COAL ON THE U.S. POWER GRID THIS YEAR: Wind and solar energy have generated more power than coal on the U.S. power grid in the first half of 2023, according to a new report from the think tank Ember—a promising development as the country looks to add new clean energy projects to the grid and build out more battery storage and permitting alongside it.
According to the report, wind and solar energy produced a combined 343 terawatt-hours between January and June of this year, while coal produced 297 terawatt-hours over the same six-month period.
The report underscores just how much wind and solar have grown on the U.S. grid, especially compared to five years ago, in 2018, when coal’s share of power generation was roughly four times as high as wind and solar combined on U.S. grids. Read more from Canary Media here.
WTI HEADED FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT WEEKLY GAIN: Oil appears headed toward a fourth straightly weekly gain on the back of news that Russia is curtailing production and China is employing new measures to boost its economy.
WTI was above $76 a barrel this morning. One contribution to the bullishness this week is the indications that Russian crude exports are decreasing. Another was a pledge from the Chinese government to boost the private sector. The U.S. economy also received more good news, especially in the form of continued low jobless claims, suggesting the labor market is holding up in the face of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to lower inflation via interest rate hikes.
RUSSIA WILL NOT RULE OUT QUOTAS ON FUEL EXPORTS, SAYS DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said today that Moscow is not ruling out introducing quotas on oil product exports in a bid to stabilize gasoline prices, as wholesale prices in the country soared to an all-time high.
"In principle, it is being considered. But there are other proposals too. We need to weigh the pros and cons," he told reporters, according to state-run media outlet RIA.
Average gasoline prices in St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange rose this week to $694.5 per tonne, a new all-time high.
The Rundown
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