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THE INDUSTRY CASE AGAINST TAILPIPE EMISSIONS RULE: Major trade associations representing oil and gas companies, corn growers, and U.S. businesses laid out the case against the Biden administration’s proposed tailpipe emissions rule, saying they would distort the market and restrict consumer choice, amounting to a de facto ban on ICE vehicles.
“The agency’s near-singular focus on EVs ignores other fuel and vehicle-based options that could better achieve the administration’s goal of reducing emissions in the transportation sector,” Will Hupman, the vice president of API’s downstream policy initiative, told reporters on a call earlier today.
Instead, the coalition of more than 100 trade groups called on the administration in a letter to evaluate a broader range of greenhouse gas reduction options to help slash transportation emissions—such as embracing renewable liquid fuels, and modifying ICE vehicles already on the market.
The EPA’s proposed 2027-2032 vehicle emissions targets call for a further 56% reduction of tailpipe emissions compared to existing 2026 requirements.
Brooke Appleton of the National Corn Growers Association said the proposed rule has raised serious concerns among growers, who fear they are being cut out of the transition process.
“Higher octane fuel is an essential tool for automakers to meet revised standards,” she said. ”But higher octane must also be clean octane to meet emission reduction goals. Corn-based ethanol delivers both.”
The letter comes just days after 25 attorneys general signed a joint letter of opposition criticizing the EPA’s proposed tailpipe emissions rule as “unlawful” and “unsustainable,” and an effort that would effectively force gas-powered vehicles off the market.
They argued that the proposed regulation also threatens to undermine grid reliability and pose new national security threats by forcing an outsized reliance on China for minerals processing.
This echoed much of what officials said on Tuesday’s call, in what is all but certain to be a preview of further coordinated industry efforts to come.
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TREASURY OFFICIAL: U.S. POSITIONED FOR E.U. MINERALS DEAL BY END OF YEAR : A senior Treasury official said the U.S. is “well positioned” to reach a critical minerals deal with the EU before the end of 2023, which would allow minerals mined or processed in the bloc to qualify for EV tax subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act.
The U.S. hopes to make progress “within the coming weeks,” and conclude some type of minerals agreement with European partners and allies before the end of the year, the Treasury official said, according to Euractiv.
The U.S. official also said that any agreement would need to include enforceable labor and environmental standards before it is approved.
The IRA’s “Made in America” requirement had sparked intense opposition from the EU, who argued that the provision is discriminatory, and threatened to retaliate if the U.S. did not reconsider.
Though the U.S. and EU do not have a free trade agreement, the Biden administration has sought to create wiggle room for itself in recent months with allied countries, including Japan. It claimed that since the IRA did not formally define what constitutes a “free trade agreement,” the EV tax credits could theoretically still be extended to U.S. allies. Treasury did not immediately return the Examiner’s request for comment on the minerals deal or an expected timeline by which it might take place.
EPA FINALIZES HFC RULE: The EPA said today that it has issued a final rule phasing out the use of hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs, known as super pollutants because of their high global warming potential.
The rule, implementing the bipartisan 2020 American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, will implement a 40% reduction below historic levels from 2024 through 2028, according to the EPA. The U.S. has agreed to phase down HFS through the Kigali Amendment, ratified last year by the Senate.
“President Biden has brought together a broad coalition of American manufacturers to work on next-generation technologies across refrigeration, HVAC systems, and more – helping us cool without contributing more to global warming,” said White House national climate advisor Ali Zaidi.
DOMINION SELLS 50% STAKE IN MARYLAND LNG PLANT TO BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: Dominion Energy has agreed to sell its 50% stake in Maryland’s Cove Point LNG facility to Berkshire Hathaway for $3.3 billion, giving the company owned by billionaire investor Warren Buffett a 75% operating stake in the export plant.
The remaining 25% share of the plant will still be retained by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, Berkshire said in a statement.
The deal will give Berkshire control over one of just seven LNG facilities currently operating in the U.S., and comes at a time when demand for the chilled natural gas has soared, especially in Europe, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February.
There are currently eight new export projects underway in the U.S., which when complete are slated to bring an additional 86 million tonnes per annum LNG capacity online.
Dominion said it will use proceeds from the sale to pay down its debt.
EU UNVEILS ITS ‘GREENING TRANSPORT PACKAGE’: The European Union’s executive body unveiled its so-called “Greening Transport Package” today, or a set of measures designed to slash emissions from the transportation sector and reach a 90% reduction in transport emissions by 2050.
The package follows on key components from the EU’s “Fit for 55” package, and includes a range of near-term benchmarks to help ensure it delivers on those targets.
It calls for moving more cargo via rail and waterways, for coordinating weight and dimension thresholds for large trucks—which often pass through multiple countries with different size regulations— and for adopting a single regulation for the use of railway infrastructure throughout the bloc.
By 2030, the plan targets adding at least 30 million zero-emissions vehicles to its roads and doubling its high speed rail traffic. It also calls for all rail and waterborne transport to be able to compete with road-only transport as a means of diversifying transport and adding more sustainable options.
“Every day, billions of goods are traveling on European roads and railway tracks, from harbours and customs points to shops and to our homes,” European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said in a statement. “Our proposals will help to get more zero-emission trucks on the road and make sure that this freight is handled in the most sustainable way possible, whether it travels by truck, train or barge.”
The proposal will now head to the European Parliament and EU Council for consideration.
UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG BRIEFS PACIFIC ISLANDS ON FUKUSHIMA WATER: United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi traveled to the Cook Islands today to brief leaders from the Pacific Island Forum on Japan’s proposed Fukushima water release plan, which is to release roughly 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of treated water from the nuclear disaster site into the Pacific.
After two years reviewing Japan’s proposal, the IAEA concluded it is consistent with global safety standards and would have a “negligible radiological impact to people and the environment.”
But leaders from the 18-island group have raised the fear that any tainted water could harm their water supply or fisheries. Cook Islands Prime Minister and Pacific Islands Forum Chairman Mark Brown said today that the island leaders will review the U.N. report before deciding their position.
“If it’s safe then it should be allowed to discharge,” Brown said.
Their concerns are not unwarranted: The U.S. conducted nuclear testing in the Pacific Islands in the 1940s and 1950s, and France used the French Polynesia’s Mururoa Atoll to conduct more than 190 atomic tests during the 30-year period between 1966-1996.
Leaders said residents continue to suffer lasting effects from the U.S. and French nuclear testing, and as Brown told reporters today, an agreement by which IAEA agrees to regularly report back to the Pacific Islands Forum on their continued monitoring of the treated water would “go a long way to providing an assurance” and assuage public safety concerns.
FLORIDA TO BE HIT WITH AFRICAN SAND ON TOP OF RECORD OCEAN HEAT: Florida is seeing record ocean temperatures – the water of Johnson Key came close to 97 degrees Monday evening, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoy. The water is heating enough to threaten coral reefs and prevent people from finding relief from the heat by swimming.
The bad news for Florida is that dust from the Sahara is also headed its way.
The Rundown
E&E News EPA says carbon capture is within reach. Utilities aren’t biting.
Wall Street Journal America is wrapped in miles of toxic lead cables
Washington Post Electric vehicle skepticism from auto workers puts Biden in a tough spot
