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EPA OUTLINES $2 BILLION IN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE SPENDING: The Biden administration announced the terms of its new $2 billion environmental and climate justice grant program this morning— part of the Inflation Reduction Act’s massive green spending allocation aimed at helping poorer towns and people harmed by pollution.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters the grants “will support local projects that deploy clean energy, strengthen climate resilience, and build capacity to help underserved communities tackle their unique and persistent environmental justice challenges.”
The details: The grants will fund activities that fall under multiple categories, including climate resiliency and adaptation projects; efforts to mitigate climate and health risks—including from extreme heat, wildfires, and wood heating emissions; and facilitating the engagement of disadvantaged communities through state and federal advisory groups, workshops, and rulemakings.
The funding: EPA officials said applications will be considered under two separate tracks. The first track, for community-driven investment projects, will award a total of $1.96 billion to up to 150 projects. The second track, “meaningful engagement for equitable governance,” is expected to award approximately $40 million for 20 projects, Regan said. An additional $200 million is set aside “specifically for technical assistance,” he added.
Eligibility: EPA is focusing on five so-called “target investment areas” aimed at helping ensure communities with unique circumstances, geography, and needs can more equally compete for the funds. These include tribes, tribes in Alaska, U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands), disadvantaged unincorporated communities, and U.S. Southern border communities. Read more from Breanne here.
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CHILE SEEKS INFLATION REDUCTION ACT BENEFITS FOR LITHIUM INVESTMENTS: Chilean government officials have been in talks with the Biden administration in recent weeks over securing Inflation Reduction Act benefits for companies that invest in its expansive lithium reserves, as part of its push to attract more foreign capital.
Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Alberto van Klaveren told Bloomberg in an interview that the government has held talks with the senior Treasury officials and trade officials in recent weeks, following Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s White House visit earlier this month.
According to van Klaveren, Chile’s free-trade agreement with the U.S. could allow companies that invest in its lithium reserves to qualify for IRA incentives on EV and battery production. Working with Chile—home to the world’s biggest lithium reserves— could also be beneficial for the Biden administration as it looks to diversify its supply chains and counter China’s clean energy manufacturing dominance.
“At first, it seems to us that the existing free trade agreement with the United States gives us a very good base to be able to participate in the benefits of the IRA,” van Klaveren told Bloomberg.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has also aided in the push for more trade with Latin America, saying this month that businesses there “will increasingly have the chance to lead in new areas of clean energy, for example, helping create vertical supply chains by using locally extracted lithium in local battery production.”
Chile’s economic minister also met with a representative from Tesla, which is gearing up to begin operations in the country. Read more from Bloomberg here.
OPEC+ TO CONSIDER EXTENDING OR DEEPENING SUPPLY CUTS: OPEC+ nations are weighing whether to deepen oil supply cuts at their upcoming meeting in Vienna, three sources from the group told Reuters—news that comes amid sustained low prices and fears of a supply surplus in 2024.
Oil prices have fallen by roughly 20% since late September, when prices stood around $98 per barrel—contradicting OPEC’s hopes that prices would rebound in the last few months of the year amid higher demand and an increase in refining activity from China.
What’s on the table: The Financial Times reported Friday that OPEC+ is considering deepening its oil production cuts by an additional 1 million barrels per day (bpd), news that caused both the international oil benchmark, Brent crude, and U.S.-based West Texas Intermediate to settle 4% higher by the time markets closed.
The three OPEC+ sources who spoke to Reuters declined to specify how large an oil production cut they are considering. But others expressed skepticism that OPEC+ can cut much more without hurting their bottom lines.
“I would expect any cut would be modest,” longtime commodities analyst John Kilduff told the outlet. “The Saudis have cut so much production, I don’t know how much more they can do,” he added.
Meanwhile, the head of IEA’s oil markets and industry division told Reuters that the global oil market will see a slight supply surplus in 2024 even if OPEC+ nations extend their current cuts through 2024.
While markets are currently in a deficit, and stocks are declining “at a fast rate,” IEA’s head of oil markets and industry Toril Bosoni told the outlet, the delicate balance risks swinging oil markets towards a surplus in the event of near-term uncertainty.
“Global oil stocks are at low levels, which means that you risk increased volatility if there are surprises on either the demand side or the supply side,” Bosoni said.
Where things stand: Combined, OPEC+ members have cut their production by roughly 5.16 million bpd, or 5% of daily global demand. This number includes voluntary reductions from Saudi Arabia and Russia, which took a combined 3.66 million bpd off the table earlier this year.
STELLANTIS AND CATL IN TALKS OVER BATTERY PLANT: Automaker Stellantis is considering partnering up with China’s battery manufacturer CATL to build low-cost electric car batteries in Europe – a move that would make its EVs more affordable but would deepen the company’s reliance on Chinese battery technology.
As reported by the Financial Times, the two companies have struck a supply agreement for batteries, and are in negotiations that may lead to a split manufacturing joint venture in the region, they said on Tuesday.
The deal, however, comes despite repeated rhetoric from Stellantis Chief Executive Carlos Tavares about the risk to Western carmakers from Chinese brands and technology, and reflects the pressure the carmaker faces to lower the cost of its EVs.
Tavares has previously led calls for tariffs on imported Chinese EVs in Europe to protect local carmakers. But the most recent move by the automaker showed that even Stellantis – which buys batteries from China’s BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer – had chosen to deepen its reliance on Beijing. Read more here.
FOSSIL FUEL PRESENCE AT ANNUAL COP SUMMIT: Fossil fuel lobbyists have attended U.N. climate talks at least 7,200 times over the last 20 years, according to an analysis released by Kick Big Polluters Out – a multinational partnership of activists calling for the end of fossil fuel influence over climate change policy.
Why it’s important: Many oil and gas companies contend that it’s necessary for them to participate in talks if they are to develop solutions to climate change. But many climate activists argue that fossil fuel firms have had too much influence at these annual conferences, and have been a barrier to solutions.
“The research makes clear that the body in charge of implementing global policies to reduce GHG emissions is totally captured by the transnational companies that destroy the planet the most,” said Pablo Fajardo, an Ecuadorian lawyer and activist who has led litigation against Chevron over pollution of the Amazon’s waterways.
The methodology: Figures were based on an analysis of delegates attending COPS 9 to 27, according to the conferences’ participants lists. Delegates were classified as fossil fuel lobbyists if they declared themselves as affiliated with a fossil fuel company or trade organization.
By the numbers: The report found that employees of fossil fuel firms have attended negotiations a minimum of 945 times, with staff from the “Big 5” oil giants – ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and Total Energies – being granted a minimum of 267 passes.
Among the oil and gas employees the analysis was able to identify, Shell has sent the most disclosed staff to talks, with at least 115 passes granted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Representatives for Italian oil major Eni have attended COPs at least 104 times, Brazil’s Petrobras at least 68, BP at least 56, and Chevron at least 45 times.
Representatives for fossil fuel trade associations have attended COPs at least 6,581 times. The International Emissions Trading Association – whose members include BP, Chevron, and ExxonMobil – has received at least 2,769 passes.
Disclosures had previously been voluntary but U.N. officials changed the policy in June, to require that representatives from polluting industries identify themselves. Read the report here.
OIL LEAK OFF OF LOUISIANA COAST: The U.S. Coast Guard is still searching for the source of a leak from an underwater pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico, which was estimated to have released more than a million gallons of crude oil, Reuters reports.
The 67-mile long pipeline – located off the Louisiana coast – was closed by Main Pass Oil Gathering Co. on Thursday, after crude oil was found around 19 miles offshore of the Mississippi River Delta.
“Overflight teams observed visible oil Friday moving southwest away from the Louisiana shore,” the Coast Guard said.
While the exact volume of discharged oil was not known, the Coast Guard said initial engineering calculations would place the volume of the leak at 1.1 million gallons, or 26,190 barrels. Read more on that here.
GAS PRICES LOWEST SINCE 2020 FOR THANKSGIVING: Here’s an early holiday gift – drivers can expect the cheapest gas prices on Thanksgiving Day since 2020, CNBC reports.
The national average price for a gallon of regular gas was approximately $3.31 on Monday – 25 cents cheaper than a month ago and 36 cents lower than the same period in 2022, according to the AAA.
The average national price for a gallon of gas could reach $3.25 by Thursday, which would be the cheapest price on Thanksgiving day since 2020, when demand collapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic and gas fell to $2.11 a gallon.
Gas has dropped below $3 in 11 Southern and Midwestern states as of Monday: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
Prices have fallen for a consecutive nine weeks now and are on the longest downward streak since the summer of 2022, according to Patrick de Haan of GasBuddy. Furthermore, gas prices could continue to fall for another few weeks and fall below last winter’s bottom of $3.05 a gallon, according to de Haan. But much depends on whether OPEC+ implements another oil production cut at their Nov. 26 meeting.
“If OPEC makes a sizable production cut, I think that pretty much ends the potential of us falling below what we saw last year,” de Haan told CNBC. More on that here.
The Rundown
Bloomberg How to boost EV sales? Pay drivers to turn in old polluting cars
Grist The liquefied natural gas boom hits a snag in Port Arthur, Texas
Washington Post How the World Bank’s new boss is navigating a clash over climate change
