July 31 (Reuters) – Floods unleashed by torrential rains in eastern Kentucky have killed at least 28 people, including four children, Governor Andy Beshear said on Sunday as authorities worked to provide food and shelter for thousands of displaced residents.
Some homes in the hardest hit areas were swept away after days of heavy rainfall that Beshear has described as some of the worst in the U.S. state’s history. Rescue teams guided motor boats through residential and commercial areas searching for victims.
“Everything is gone. Like, everything is gone. The whole office is gone,” one of the flood’s victims, Rachel Patton, told WCHS TV. Around her, houses were half-submerged in water.
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“We had to swim out, and it was cold. It was over my head, so yeah. It was scary.”
Officials warn the death toll may continue to rise with more expected rainfall potentially hampering rescue efforts. The National Weather Service forecasts several rounds of showers and storms through Tuesday, with a flood watch in effect through Monday morning in southern and eastern Kentucky.
Kentucky National Guard helicopter crew members carry a victim of flooding, during their deployment in response to a declared state of emergency in eastern Kentucky, U.S. July 27, 2022. U.S. Army National Guard/Handout via REUTERS
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“We are still focused on meeting the immediate needs of providing food, water and shelter for thousands of our fellow Kentuckians who have been displaced by this catastrophic flood,” Beshear said in a statement.
Beshear, who declared a state emergency over the floods, earlier told NBC that authorities will “be finding bodies for weeks” as rescuers fan out to more remote areas.
The floods were the second major national disaster to strike Kentucky in seven months, following a swarm of tornadoes that claimed nearly 80 lives in the western part of the state in December. read more
President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Kentucky on Friday, allowing federal funding to be allocated to the state. Beshear’s office said that affected residents could begin applying for disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Power lines were widely damaged, with over 14,000 reports of outages on Sunday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.US.
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Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Rami Ayyub in Washington; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Lisa Shumaker and Sandra Maler
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Model of natural gas pipeline, EU and Russia flags, July 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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EU ministers agree to emergency gas use cuts
Voluntary cuts would become binding in supply emergency
Final deal exempts numerous countries, industries
EU racing to save gas as Russia slashes supply
BRUSSELS, July 26 (Reuters) – European Union countries approved a weakened emergency plan to curb their gas demand on Tuesday, after striking compromise deals to limit the cuts for some countries, as they brace for further Russian reductions in supply.
Europe faces an increased gas squeeze from Wednesday, when Russian’s Gazprom (GAZP.MM) has said it would cut flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to a fifth of capacity. read more
With a dozen EU countries already facing reduced Russian supplies, Brussels is urging member states to save gas and store it for winter for fear Russia will completely cut off flows in retaliation for Western sanctions over its war with Ukraine.
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Energy ministers approved a proposal for all EU countries to voluntarily cut gas use by 15% from August to March.
The cuts could be made binding in a supply emergency, but countries agreed to exempt numerous countries and industries, after some governments had resisted the EU’s original proposal to impose a binding 15% cut on every country. read more
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said the agreement would show Russian President Vladimir Putin that Europe remained united in the face of Moscow’s latest gas cuts.
“You will not split us,” Habeck said.
Hungary was the only country that opposed the deal, two EU officials said.
Russia’s Gazprom has blamed its latest reduction on needing to halt the operation of a turbine – a reason dismissed by EU energy chief Kadri Simson, who called the move “politically motivated”.
Russia, which supplied 40% of EU gas before it invaded Ukraine, has said it is a reliable energy supplier.
It also says the invasion, begun on Feb. 24, is a “special military operation”.
BINDING VERSUS EXEMPTIONS
The EU deal would exempt from the binding 15% gas cut countries such as Ireland and Malta that are not connected to other EU countries’ gas networks.
News of the latest reduction to Russian supply has driven gas prices higher, adding to the cost of filling storage, while creating incentives to use less.
Early on Tuesday, the benchmark front-month Dutch contract rose almost 10% and is more than 450% higher than a year ago, although down from record highs touched shortly after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
Countries that meet an EU target for filling gas storage by August could face weaker targets – softening the cuts for roughly a dozen states, including Germany and Italy, based on current storage levels.
They can also exempt the gas they use in critical industries, such as energy-intensive steelmaking, from the target.
In addition, those with a limited abilty to export gas to other EU countries can request a lower target, provided they export what they can. That could include Spain, which does not rely on Russian gas, and has said cutting its own demand would not help other countries since it lacks infrastructure capacity to share spare fuel.
“Everyone understands that when someone asks for help, you have to help. Help can be in different ways, but I believe that the spirit of collaboration will prevail,” Spanish Energy Minister Teresa Ribera said on Tuesday.
The EU plan has tested countries’ solidarity, with Greece and Poland among the countries opposed to mandatory gas cuts. read more
Polish Climate Minister Anna Moskwa said the deal would impose no constraints on Poland’s gas use, and opposed the idea that a country should curb its industrial gas use to help other states facing shortages.
Some EU diplomats raised concerns that the number of opt-outs in the final regulation may mean it fails to ensure countries save enough gas for winter.
Although governments including Germany, Europe’s biggest gas user, have upped their energy saving measures, EU countries have reduced their combined gas use by only 5%, despite months of soaring prices and dwindling Russian supplies.
“Fifteen percent will probably not be enough given what the Russians have just announced,” Irish Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said.
The deal requires backing from a majority of countries to trigger the binding gas cuts, after many opposed the Commission’s original proposal that it have the final say.
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Reporting by Kate Abnett, Philip Blenkinsop, Robin Emmott, Marine Strauss, Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Philip Blenkinsop, Matthew Lewis and Barbara Lewis
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WMO issues warning on air quality in towns and cities
UK declares first red heat warning for Monday, Tuesday
Wildfires ablaze in France, Spain and Portugal
LEIRIA, Portugal/LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) – Hundreds more people were evacuated from their homes as wildfires blistered land in France, Spain and Portugal on Friday, while officials in Europe issued health warnings for the heatwave in the coming days.
More than 1,000 firefighters, supported by water-bomber aircraft, have battled since Tuesday to control two blazes in southwestern France that have been fanned by scorching heat, tinder-box conditions and strong winds.
While temperatures dipped a little in Portugal, they were still expected to top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in some places, with five districts on red alert and more than 1,000 firefighters tackling 17 wildfires, authorities said.
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In Spain, a new wildfire broke out in the south of the country after blazes in the west in the past week.
More than 400 people were evacuated from the hills of Mijas, a town popular with northern European tourists in the province of Malaga. Beachgoers in Torremolinos, some 20 km away, could see plumes of smoke rising above the hotels lining the coast.
Meanwhile, the worst drought in over 70 years reduced Italy’s longest river, the Po, to little more than a trickle in places, with temperatures expected to rise next week.
Officials are worried about the effects on people’s health and on healthcare systems already challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic as the searing heat sweeps the continent, with warnings issued for worse to come in Britain in particular.
The World Meteorological Organization said the heatwave would worsen air quality, especially in towns and cities.
“The stable and stagnant atmosphere acts as a lid to trap atmospheric pollutants, including particulate matter,” Lorenzo Labrador, WMO scientific officer, told a Geneva press briefing.
“These result in a degradation of air quality and adverse health effects, particularly for vulnerable people.”
Portuguese Health Minister Marta Temido said on Thursday the health system faced a “particularly worrying” week due to the heatwave and said some hospitals were overwhelmed.
From July 7 to July 13, Portugal registered 238 excess deaths due to the heatwave, the country’s DGS health authority said. Spain registered 84 excess deaths attributable to extreme temperatures in the first three days of the heatwave, according to the National Epidemiology Centre’s database.
UK WARNING
A church is pictured during sunset as a heat wave hits Europe, in Oisy-le-Verger, France, July 14, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
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Britain’s weather forecaster issued its first red “extreme heat” warning for parts of England on Monday and Tuesday. read more
“Exceptional, perhaps record-breaking temperatures are likely early next week,” Met Office Chief Meteorologist Paul Gundersen said.
“Nights are also likely to be exceptionally warm, especially in urban areas,” he said. “This is likely to lead to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure.”
The highest recorded temperature in Britain was 38.7 C (101.7 F) recorded in Cambridge on July 25, 2019.
Hannah Cloke, climate expert at Britain’s University of Reading, said the heatwave showed climate change was here and there was an urgent need to adapt.
“We are seeing these problems now and they are going to get worse. We need to do something now,” she told Reuters.
“It’s harder to cope with these types of temperatures in the UK because we’re just not used to them.”
In Portugal, the highest temperature on Thursday was recorded in the northern town of Pinhao at 47 C (116.6 F), just below the record.
Raymond Loadwick, 73, a retiree from Britain now living in the Portuguese district of Leiria, had to leave his home with his dog Jackson when flames started to burn down a hill packed with highly flammable eucalyptus and pine trees on Tuesday.
When he returned a day later, his white house stood untouched but the vegetation around it had turned to ashes and his fruit trees were burned down. Loadwick is scared fires will happen more often in the future: “You have to be on your guard,” he told Reuters.
In France’s Gironde region, 11,300 people have been evacuated since the wildfires broke out around Dune du Pilat and Landiras. Some 7,350 hectares (18,000 acres) of land have been burnt. Authorities said the fires had not yet been stabilised.
Elsewhere in Spain, the wildfires that have been burning in parts of Extremadura, which borders Portugal, and the central Castille and Leon region forced the evacuation of four more small villages late on Thursday and on Friday.
The flames are now threatening a 16th century monastery and a national park. Several hundred people have been evacuated since the fires started and 7,500 hectares of forest have been destroyed in the two regions.
In Catalonia in the northeast, authorities suspended camping and sporting activities around 275 towns and villages to prevent fire risks and restricted farm work involving machinery.
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Additional reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten in Paris, Emma Pinedo, Elena Rodriguez and Christina Thykjaer in Madrid, Hannah McKay in Torremolinos, William James in London and Emma Farge in Geneva; Writing by Alison Williams; Editing by Frances Kerry and Hugh Lawson
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Average age of vessels up more than two years since 2017
New emissions rules may force older ships to go slower
One-fifth of ships fitted with energy saving devices
New vessels and alternative fuels the long-term solution
LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) – If shipping is the beating heart of global trade, its pulse is about to get slower.
Faced with uncertainty about which fuels to use in the long term to cut greenhouse gas emissions, many shipping firms are sticking with ageing fleets, but older vessels may soon have to start sailing slower to comply with new environmental rules.
From next year, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires all ships to calculate their annual carbon intensity based on a vessel’s emissions for the cargo it carries – and show that it is progressively coming down.
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While older ships can be retrofitted with devices to lower emissions, analysts say the quickest fix is just to go slower, with a 10% drop in cruising speeds slashing fuel usage by almost 30%, according to marine sector lender Danish Ship Finance.
“They’re basically being told to either improve the ship or slow down,” said Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill Ocean Transportation, the freight division of commodities trading house Cargill, which leases more than 600 vessels to ferry mainly food and energy products around the world.
Supply chains are already strained due to a surge in demand as economies rebound from lockdowns, pandemic disruptions at ports and a lack of new ships. If older vessels move into the slow lane as well, shipping capacity could take another hit at a time when record freight rates are driving up inflation. read more
At the moment, only about 5% of the world’s fleet can run on less-polluting alternatives to fuel oil, even though more than 40% of new ship orders will have that option, according to data from shipping analytics firm Clarksons Research.
But the new orders are not coming in fast enough to halt the trend of an ageing fleet across all three main types of cargo vessels: tankers, container ships and bulk carriers, the data provided to Reuters by Clarksons Research shows.
The average age of bulk carriers, which carry loose cargo such as grain and coal, had jumped to 11.4 years by June 2022 from 8.7 five years ago. Container ships now average 14.1 years, up from 11.6, while for tankers the average age was 12 years, up from 10.3 in 2017, according to the data.
“Some ship owners have preferred to buy second-hand vessels because of the uncertainties around future fuels,” said Stephen Gordon, managing director at Clarksons Research.
TALL ORDER
Orders for new container ships surged to a record high in 2021 and are still coming in at healthy clip this year, but as the appetite for new tankers and bulk carriers is much lower, the current order book across all three types of vessel only stands at about 10% of the fleet, down from over 50% in 2008.
Shipping companies are responsible for about 2.5% of the world’s carbon emissions and they are coming under increasing pressure to reduce both air and marine pollution.
The industry’s emissions rose last year, underlining the scale of the challenge in meeting the IMO’s target of halving emissions by 2050 from 2008 levels. The organization is now facing calls to go further and commit to net zero by 2050.
Some companies are testing and ordering vessels using alternative fuels such as methanol. Others are developing ships that can be retrofitted for fuels beyond oil, such as hydrogen or ammonia. There’s even a return to wind with vast, high-tech sails being tested by companies such as Cargill and Berge Bulk. read more
But many of the potential low-carbon technologies are in the early stages of development with limited commercial application, meaning the majority of new orders are still for vessels powered by fuel oil and other fossil fuels.
Of the vessels on order, more than a third, or 741, are set to use liquefied natural gas (LNG), 24 can be driven by methanol and six by hydrogen. Another 180 have some form of hybrid propulsion using batteries, Clarksons data shows.
Many shipping firms are hedging their bets mainly because prolonging the life span of vessels is cheaper and lower risk than new builds. They also gain breathing space while waiting for the winning new technologies to become mainstream.
“We have a clash between an industry that is very long-term investment oriented and a very fast pace of change,” said John Hatley, general manager of market innovation in North America at Finnish marine technology company Wartsila (WRT1V.HE).
Cargill says that as of now it doesn’t expect to have many new-build ships in its fleet, instead fitting energy saving devices to older vessels and prolonging their use, while there’s still uncertainty about future technology.
They’re not alone, with more than a fifth of global shipping capacity fitted with such devices, according to Clarksons.
Devices include Flettner rotors, tail spinning cylinders that act like a sail and let ships throttle back when it’s windy, or air lubrication systems that save fuel by covering the hull with small bubbles to reduce friction with seawater.
While energy saving devices go a long way to tackling emissions, ultimately, newer vessels are a better bet, said Peter Sand, analyst at shipping and air cargo data firm Xeneta.
“The next generation of fuel oil ships will be much more carbon efficient, they will be able to transport the same amount of cargo emitting only half of the emissions that they did over a decade ago,” he said.
THE POSEIDON PRINCIPLES
Shipping firms are set to come under growing pressure to comply with targets set by the IMO, which will rate the energy efficiency of ships on a scale of A to E, as the ratings will have a knock-on effect when it comes to finance and insurance.
In 2019, a group of banks agreed to consider efforts to cut carbon emissions when lending to shipping companies and established a global framework known as the Poseidon Principles.
The Poseidon Principles website shows that 28 banks, which include BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Citi , Danske Bank (DANSKE.CO), Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L), have committed to being consistent with IMO policies when assessing shipping portfolios on environmental grounds.
“Lending decisions on second-hand ships are going to become an issue on older tonnage,” said Michael Parker, chairman of Citigroup’s global shipping, logistics and offshore business, adding that environmental factors would be taken into account when lenders decided whether to refinance vessels.
“Second-hand ships will continue to get financing, provided that the owner is doing the right things about keeping that vessel as environmentally efficient as possible,” he said.
One early adopter of new technology is shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk . It has ordered 12 vessels which can run on green methanol produced from sources such as biomass, as well as fuel oil as there is not yet enough low carbon fuel available.
The Danish company doesn’t intend to use LNG because it is still a fossil fuel and it would prefer to shift directly to a lower carbon alternative.
Wartsila, meanwhile, is launching an ammonia-fueled engine next year, which it says is generating a lot of interest from customers, as well as a hydrogen engine in 2025.
Ship owners are facing a lot of uncertainty over how to “future proof” their fleets and avoid regretting investment decisions now within a couple of years, said Wartsila’s Hatley.
“They would rather wait for maybe the whole life of the ship of 20 years, but that’s even more uncertain now because of the pace of change.”
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Reporting by Sarah McFarlane; Editing by Veronica Brown and David Clarke
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ROME, July 4 (Reuters) – Italy on Monday declared a state of emergency for areas surrounding the river Po, which accounts for roughly a third of the country’s agricultural production and is suffering its worst drought for 70 years.
The government decree will allow authorities to cut through red tape and take action immediately if they think it necessary, such as to impose water rationing for homes and businesses.
The Po is Italy’s longest river which runs for more than 650 km (400 miles) through the wealthy north of Italy. However, many stretches of the waterway have run dry and farmers say the flow is so weak that sea water is seeping inland, destroying crops. read more
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The government said in a statement that the emergency measures would cover lands that bordered the Po and the water basins of the eastern Alps.
More broadly, it also introduced a state of emergency in five northern regions – Emilia-Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto – earmarking an initial 36.5 million euros ($38 million) of funds to help them tackle the water shortage.
“The state of emergency is aimed at managing the current situation with extraordinary means and powers, with relief and assistance to the affected population,” the government said.
It added that further measures could be taken in future to deal with the drought which water authorities say is increasingly impacting central Italy after an extremely dry winter and spring followed by an exceptionally hot early summer.
Italian media have reported that Prime Minister Mario Draghi was also considering appointing a commissioner to coordinate the drought response, in a similar way to which the government created a commissioner to oversee the coronavirus crisis.
($1 = 0.9596 euros)
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Reporting by Angelo Amante, editing by Giulia Segreti and Alex Richardson
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CANAZEI, Italy, July 4 (Reuters) – Helicopter crews and drones flew over the Italian Alps on Monday searching for 13 people missing after part of a mountain glacier collapsed, killing at least seven people in a disaster experts linked to rising temperatures.
Much of Italy has been baking in an early-summer heatwave and scientists said climate change was making previously stable glaciers more difficult to predict. read more
Sunday’s avalanche took place on the Marmolada, which at more than 3,300 metres is the highest peak in the Dolomites, a range in the eastern Italian Alps straddling the regions of Trento and Veneto.
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Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said the disaster was linked to environmental factors.
“Today Italy weeps for these victims,” Draghi said during a visit to meet rescue teams.
“But the government must think about what has happened and take steps to ensure that what happened is unlikely to do so again or can even be avoided,” he added.
Seven people were killed and two of the eight people injured were in a serious condition, said Maurizio Fugatti, president of the Trento region.
Punta Rocca summit is seen after parts of the Marmolada glacier collapsed in the Italian Alps amid record temperatures, killing at least six people and injuring several, at Marmolada ridge, Italy, July 4, 2022. REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic
Three people from the Czech Republic were among those unaccounted for. An Austrian tourist who was earlier reported missing has now been traced, the local authorities said.
“This is the first such accident in the history of the mountain,” said Gino Comelli, who was helping to coordinate rescue efforts.
The peak was too unstable for rescuers to try to approach on foot, Comelli said, adding that recent hot weather had been a factor in the collapse.
Pope Francis said he was praying for the victims and their families.
“The tragedies that we are experiencing with climate change should force us urgently to pursue new ways that respect people and nature,” he said on Twitter.
Rising average temperatures have caused the Marmolada glacier, like many others around the world, to shrink steadily over recent decades.
“The Marmolada glacier collapse is a natural disaster linked directly to climate change,” said Poul Christoffersen, a professor in Glaciology at the University of Cambridge.
“High elevation glaciers such as the Marmolada are often steep and relying on cold temperatures below zero degrees Celsius to keep them stable,” he added.
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Additional reporting by Emilio Parodi and Angelo Amante; Writing by Giulia Segreti and Keith Weir; Editing by Janet Lawrence
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An emergency crew rescues two ponies from a flooded area in Milperra, Sydney metropolitan area, Australia July 3, 2022 in this screen grab obtained from a handout video. NSW State Emergency Service/Handout via REUTERS
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Third major flood this year for some Sydney suburbs
30,000 New South Wales residents face evacuations
Rescue of ship crew underway, military helping stranded families
SYDNEY, July 4 (Reuters) – Fresh evacuation orders were issued for tens of thousands of Sydney residents on Monday after relentless rains triggered floods for the third time this year in some low-lying suburbs.
An intense low-pressure system off Australia’s east coast is forecast to bring heavy rain through Monday across New South Wales after several places in the state were hit with about a month’s worth over the weekend.
Since Sunday, about 30,000 residents in New South Wales state have been told to either evacuate or warned they might receive evacuation orders.
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Frustration swelled in several suburbs in the west of Australia’s largest city after floods submerged homes, farms and bridges.
“It’s just devastating. We are in disbelief,” Camden Mayor Theresa Fedeli said.
“Most of them have just come out of the last flood, getting their homes back in place, their businesses back in place and unfortunately we are saying it is happening again.”
More than 200mm of rain have fallen over many areas, with some hit by as much as 350mm since Saturday. read more
Some areas could approach or exceed the flood levels seen in March 2021, and in March and April this year, the weather bureau warned. The risk of major flooding remained though the intense weather system may weaken later on Monday, it said.
An operation was underway to rescue 21 crew members from a cargo ship, which lost power south of Sydney and risked being swept ashore, local media reported.
“It has been a very difficult time for many months to have this flood event off the back of others. It makes it more challenging,” New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said during a televised media briefing.
Paul O’Neill, a resident from flood-hit Wisemans Ferry, said he was taking food supplies by boat to his stranded family after rising waters cut off access.
“The road collapsed and hasn’t been fixed since the last floods, hasn’t been touched. So now they close our road access and then the ferry, the only way to get home now is by boat,” O’Neill told Reuters.
AUSTRALIA ‘UNDER-PREPARED’
Footage on social media showed petrol stations, homes, cars and street signs partially under water while garbage bins floated down flooded roads. Military vehicles were seen going into flooded streets to evacuate stranded families.
About 100 millimetres (4 inches) of rain could fall in the next 24 hours over a swath of more than 300km (186 miles) along the New South Wales coast from Newcastle to the south of Sydney, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
The weather could trigger flash floods and landslides, with river catchments already near full capacity after the La Nina phenomenon, typically associated with increased rainfall, lashed Australia’s east coast over the last two years.
Climate change is widely believed to be a contributing factor to the frequent severe weather events, the Climate Council said, adding Australia is “under-prepared”.
Federal emergency management minister Murray Watt said climate change must be taken “seriously” due to the frequent occurrence of floods.
“The reality is we are living in a changing climate,” Watt told ABC television.
Bad weather has delayed by 24 hours Monday’s scheduled launch of a NASA rocket from the Arnhem Space Centre in north Australia, operator Equatorial Launch Australia said.
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Reporting by Renju Jose and Jill Gralow; Editing by Sam Holmes, Lincoln Feast and Edwina Gibbs
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June 23 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden rarely mentions electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) in public. But privately his administration has leaned on the company to help craft a new policy to allow electric vehicles (EVs) to benefit from the nation’s lucrative renewable fuel subsidies, according to emails reviewed by Reuters.
The Biden administration contacted Tesla on its first day in office, marking the start of a series of meetings on the topic between federal officials and companies linked to the EV industry over the months that followed, according to the emails.
The administration’s early and extensive outreach reflects that expanding the scope of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to make it a tool for electrifying the nation’s automobile fleet is one of Biden’s priorities in the fight against climate change.
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The RFS, which dates back to 2005, is a federal program that requires transportation fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels. Until now, it has been primarily a subsidy for corn-based ethanol.
The White House’s outreach to Tesla also shows that, despite a public grudge match between Biden and Tesla founder Elon Musk, the Biden team tried early on to involve the carmaker in one of its key policy pushes. Biden has set a target to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which administers the RFS, is expected to unveil proposed changes to the policy sometime this year, defining new winners and losers in a multibillion-dollar market for credits, known as RINs, that has supported corn growers and biofuels producers for more than a decade.
Early signs are that the administration is leaning toward a rule that benefits carmakers like Tesla, giving them the greatest access to so-called e-RINS, or electric RINs. But the reform could also spread the subsidy to related industries too, like car charging companies and landfills that supply renewable biogas to power plants, according to industry players.
“We have heard through the grapevine that car companies are really, really going to like this rule,” said Maureen Walsh, director of federal policy with the American Biogas Council, speaking at a conference in May. But she added: “We have all been scrapping at that pile.”
The idea of including electric vehicles in the RFS has been under consideration for years, but gained steam as Biden’s transition team zeroed in on EVs as a job-friendly solution to the climate crisis. Transport accounts for more than a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
The EPA said it was consulting “all interested stakeholders” in its RFS policy review.
The current RFS requires oil refiners to blend ethanol and other biofuels into the fuel pool or buy RINs from those who do. That policy has spurred an economic boom in Farm Belt states. But it has also angered environmental groups who say the extra corn production damages land and water while prolonging the era of the internal-combustion engine.
Friends of the Earth, an environmental group, has voiced disapproval over an e-RIN program. The group sees the RFS as a policy that has failed to increase production of new generation lower-carbon fuels, while also harming the environment. It also sees expanding the program as a slippery slope toward increasing the use of feedstocks for wood and wood waste, which can generate electricity.
“The RFS should be reformed to tackle giveaways for dirty corn ethanol. It shouldn’t be expanded to include new giveaways for factory farming and woody biomass,” said Friends of the Earth spokesman Lukas Ross.
TURN TO TESLA
On the morning of Biden’s presidential inauguration in January 2021, EPA staffer Dallas Burkholder emailed a top Tesla lobbyist, Rohan Patel, to set up a meeting on how to incorporate electric cars into the RFS, according to the documents reviewed by Reuters. They scheduled a meeting for a week later, records show.
Since then, the Biden EPA has had additional meetings on the topic with Tesla, groups representing biogas producers like Waste Management Inc (WM.N) and Republic Services Inc (RSG.N) and charging station companies like ChargePoint Holdings Inc (CHPT.N), according to the documents.
The EPA has also set up at least one meeting with White House staff members, including climate adviser Ali Zaidi, to discuss the reforms, according to the emails.
The Biden White House has been an unapologetic supporter of the EV industry, pinning much of its climate hopes on getting more electric cars on the road. The bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed last year included $7.5 billion for new EV charging stations and Biden has sought to reinstate expired tax credits to help consumers pay for new vehicles.
Even so, Tesla’s CEO, Musk, has often been at odds with the White House, sending out harsh tweets directed at Biden. In February, Biden publicly acknowledged the role of Tesla in EV manufacturing, after Musk repeatedly complained about being ignored. read more
WHAT EVERYONE WANTS
Tesla is seeking changes to the RFS that will allow it to earn renewable fuel credits based on kilowatt hours driven or similar metrics, according to two sources familiar with the plan. The company has also explored partnerships with biogas-producers to give them leverage in whatever market emerges from the new rule, the sources say.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
Members of the car-charging industry, meanwhile, are also pushing for a share.
Matthew Nelson, a lobbyist with Electrify America, a charging company trade group, wrote to the EPA in October and told them that e-RINs would do more to enable Biden’s 2030 goals of 500,000 charging stations and 50% EV sales than any other policy, according to the emails. He added that charging companies need the credit to compete with gasoline.
The United States currently has about 48,000 charging stations, concentrated around coastal regions, according to Department of Energy data.
Biogas producers, like landfills, also want credits, arguing they provide renewable fuel to the grid that generates the power for electric vehicles.
Biogas-derived electricity is already eligible for generating RINs. But the EPA has never approved an application from the industry because it has yet to determine the best way to trace the power entering EVs back to its origin.
In 2020, landfill gas generated about 10 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, or 0.3% of U.S. utility-scale power.
“We feel that implementing the electricity program in the RFS aligns well with the Biden administration’s climate goals,” Carrie Annand, executive director of the Biomass Power Association, wrote to the EPA, according to the documents.
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Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia and Stephanie Kelly in New York
Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis
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SANTA FE, N.M., June 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. federal government will fund New Mexico’s full wildfire response, President Joe Biden said on Saturday speaking from Santa Fe amid anger from survivors over the blaze that was started by federal officials.
“We have a responsibility to help the state recover,” Biden told elected officials and emergency responders at an afternoon briefing from the state’s capital, where he was reviewing efforts to fight the state’s biggest blaze in recorded history.
“Today I’m announcing the federal government’s covering 100% of the cost,” Biden said, though earlier in the day he had said he would need congressional approval for some funding.
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“We will be here for you in response and recovery as long as it takes,” Biden said, adding that he saw an “astounding” amount of the perimeter of the territory that had burned in flight to Santa Fe.
“It looks like a moonscape,” he said.
Driven by drought and wind, the fire has destroyed hundreds of homes in mountains northeast of Santa Fe since two prescribed burns by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) went out of control in April. read more
Air Force One banked and circled around fire damage in New Mexico, allowing Biden to see burned forest and plumes of smoke from the sky before he landed and greeted the governor and other elected officials who have called for more financial support from the federal government.
Local officials told Biden that they did not currently have sufficient resources to predict weather or assist residents who have been affected.
“Our citizens are tired, angry, and afraid of the future they are facing,” said David Dye, New Mexico Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
‘THIS WAS MAN-MADE’
Tens of thousands of residents have evacuated Indo-Hispano farming villages with twice the national poverty rate, upending fragile economies where residents cut firewood and raise hay to get by.
“This is not a natural disaster, this was man-made by a government entity,” said Ella Arellano, whose family lost hundreds of acres of forest around the village of Holman. “It’s a mess, just a big mess that will take generations to recover from.”
With over 320,000 acres (129,500 hectares) of mountains blackened by the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Fire – an area about the size of Los Angeles – communities are preparing for mudslides, ash flows and flooding in areas where extreme fire gave forest floors the water absorbency equivalent of asphalt.
So far the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has given over $3 million to more than 900 households. But maximum FEMA payouts of around $40,000 for destroyed houses are in some cases not enough to cover the loss of farm equipment that burned alongside homes, which at one house was likely worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
White House officials did not respond immediately to questions about whether Biden’s pledge of federal support would only cover emergency response or also include compensation for damages.
The blaze is burning along with another in southwest New Mexico that is the second largest in state history, underlining concerns that climate change is intensifying fires that overwhelm firefighters and threaten to eventually destroy most U.S. Southwest forests.
Investigators found that a USFS controlled burn jumped out of bounds on April 6 to start the Hermits Peak Fire. The Calf Canyon Fire was caused by a USFS burn pile of logs and branches on April 19. The two fires merged on April 22.
To prevent fires from spreading, land managers sometimes use controlled burns to reduce small trees, shrubs and other material that fuel wildfires. The U.S. Forest Service has since called for a temporary nationwide halt to the practice while it reviews procedures. [nL2N2XC2KJ]
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Reporting By Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico, and Trevor Hunnicutt in Santa Fe; Writing by Michael Martina; Editing by Aurora Ellis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told senators on Tuesday that she expected inflation to remain high and the Biden administration would likely increase the 4.7% inflation forecast for this year in its budget proposal.
During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Yellen said that the United States was dealing with “unacceptable levels of inflation,” but that she hoped price hikes would soon begin to subside.
U.S. Consumer Price Index inflation has been tracking above 8% in recent months, the highest readings in over 40 years and well above President Joe Biden’s administration’s forecast for its fiscal 2023 budget.
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But another metric, the core Personal Consumption Expenditures price index excluding volatile food and energy costs, has begun to cool, edging down to 4.9% in April read more
“I do expect inflation to remain high although I very much hope that it will be coming down now,” she said.
Yellen repeatedly rejected Republican assertions that inflation was being fueled by Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP) COVID-19 spending legislation last year.
“We’re seeing high inflation in almost all of the developed countries around the world. And they have very different fiscal policies,” Yellen said. “So it can’t be the case that the bulk of the inflation that we’re experiencing reflects the impact of the ARP.”
– U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is seated to testify before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on President Biden’s 2023 budget, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 7, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
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The Biden administration is still pushing for a scaled-back version of its stalled climate and social spending agenda, which would offer tax credits for clean energy technologies and reform prescription drug pricing – policies that Yellen argued would help lower expenses for American consumers weary of price hikes.
Yellen repeated her views that inflation was being fueled by high energy and food prices caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, a shift to goods purchases during the pandemic, and by new COVID-19 variants and persistent supply chain disruptions.
‘TRANSITORY’ WRONG WORD
Yellen has come under fire from Republicans after acknowledging she was wrong last year in forecasting that inflation would be transitory and quickly subside. She will face more tough questions on the issue in a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Wednesday. read more
Yellen added that both she and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell both “probably could have used a better term than transitory” in describing inflation that they thought would fade quickly.
“When I said that inflation would be transitory, what I was not anticipating was a scenario in which we would end up contending with multiple variants of COVID that would be scrambling our economy and global supply chains, and I was not envisioning impacts on food and energy prices we’ve seen from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Yellen said.
She testified as the World Bank on Tuesday warned of a heightened risk of “stagflation” – the 1970s mix of feeble growth and high inflation – returning as it slashed its global growth forecast by nearly a third to 2.9% for 2022. read more
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Reporting by David Lawder and Andrea Shalal;
Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Andrea Ricci and Howard Goller
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.