Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in 35 counties, many of which are still recovering from Hurricane Helene.
Associated Press, Updated: 12:42 PM EDT October 6, 2024
MIAMI — Hurricane Milton quickly intensified Sunday and is on track to become a major hurricane with the Tampa Bay area in its sights, putting Florida on edge and triggering evacuation orders along a coast still reeling from Helene’s devastation.
While forecast models vary, the most likely path suggests Milton could make landfall Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area and remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters said. That would largely spare other southeastern states ravaged by Hurricane Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian Mountains and a death toll that rose Sunday to at least 230 people.
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The 2.8 gigawatt Atlantic Shores project aims to start construction next year and connect to the grid by 2029. But it still must beat legal challenges.
South Fork Wind Farm, off the coast of Long Island, NY. (Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
Federal regulators gave a huge, contentious offshore wind project the green light to start construction off the coast of New Jersey.
Owned by Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a 50-50 venture by Shell and EDF Renewables, the project received approval of air permits from the Environmental Protection Agency and of construction and operation permits from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Tuesday.
The developer plans to install a total of about 200 wind turbines in federally owned waters between 10 and 20 miles off the Jersey shore. It’s also working with utilities to build several offshore substations and two undersea transmission lines that will connect the project to the grid near Atlantic City and farther north in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Construction on phase one of the recently approved project, known as Atlantic Shores South, is set to begin in 2025, and it could start sending power to the grid in 2028 or 2029, according to the developer. The second phase of the project was also approved, but there is no timeline for its construction yet.
DETROIT (AP) — The union representing 45,000 striking U.S. dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports has reached a deal to suspend a three-day strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract.
The union, the International Longshoremen’s Association, is to resume working immediately. Both sides also reached agreement on wages, but no details were given, according to a joint statement from the ports and union Thursday night.
The union went on strike early Tuesday after its contract expired in a dispute over pay and the automation of tasks at the ports from Maine to Texas. The strike came at the peak of the holiday shopping season at 36 ports that handle about half the cargo from ships coming into and out of the United States.
The walkout raised the risk of shortages of goods on store shelves if it lasted more than a few weeks. But most retailers had stocked up or shipped items early in anticipation of the work stoppage.
Eric Adams, a retired police captain who was elected as New York City’s 110th mayor nearly three years ago on a promise to rein in crime, has been indicted in a federal corruption investigation, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The indictment remained sealed on Wednesday night, and it was unclear what charge or charges Mr. Adams will face. But the federal investigation has focused at least in part on whether Mr. Adams and his campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations.
When the indictment is made public, Mr. Adams, a Democrat, will become the first New York City mayor to face a federal charge while in office. It was not clear when he will surrender to the authorities. Federal prosecutors were expected to announce more details on Thursday.
US ports are bracing for a tempest, but the ominous choppiness is in the negotiating room. Dock workers on the East and Gulf Coasts are preparing to walk off the job if their union can’t negotiate a new contract with shipping companies by October 1, threatening a throwback to pandemic-era supply chain bottlenecks.
The International Longshoremen’s Association union and the United States Maritime Alliance, the trade organization representing port operators, remain oceans apart in their talks. The main sticking points are worker pay and plans to automate certain container operations.
The union warns that up to 45,000 port workers could strike. The labor stoppages would disrupt major ports that handle 60% of US shipping traffic, per Oxford Economics.
JPMorgan analysts say a work stoppage could cause $5 billion in economic damage per day.
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After decades, giant Passaic River Superfund cleanup details released
The Passaic River is one the nation’s most toxic waterways, tainted by the by-products of Agent Orange manufacturing and decades of industrial dumping, leaving the lower 17 miles of the river marked for cleanup in the nation’s most complex environmental remediation effort.
But the bulk of that work still has not started almost 40 years after the river and surrounding areas were placed on the federal Superfund list. Today the Environmental Protection Agency has split the challenge into four parts that it is trying to tackle separately but in concert with each other: the former factory in the Ironbound section of Newark that once produced the defoliant Agent Orange, the lower eight miles of the river, the upper nine miles of the river above that section and Newark Bay.
The EPA has completed interim work to entomb toxic material at the site of the former Diamond Alkali site in Newark. In addition, some material near Lyndhurst was dredged up in 2013.
The EPA has lurched forward toward cleanup in recent years, emphasizing a $1.38 billion plan to carry out an intensive remediation effort on the heavily polluted lower eight miles of the river — the stretch between Newark Bay and the Newark-Belleville border.
It’s that part of the river that contains the bulk of the contamination — the place where dioxin, PCBs, PAHs, and heavy metals like lead and mercury settled into the mud long ago. The EPA’s plan calls for this part of the river to be dredged from bank to bank, ultimately scooping and sucking an estimated 2.5 million cubic yards of polluted sediment from the riverbed.
BMW and Redwood partner to recycle lithium-ion batteries
By Hannah Carvalho, ReMA News
On Thursday, Sept. 19, battery recycler Redwood Materials announced a partnership with BMW of North America to recycle lithium-ion batteries from all electrified vehicles (EVs) in the BMW Group, including BMW, MINI, Rolls Royce, and BMW Motorrad. Redwood and BMW aim to forward the future of electrification and toward a more sustainable battery supply chain.
Redwood will work with BMW Group’s network of over 700 locations, including dealerships, distribution centers, and internal facilities, to facilitate the recovery of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries.
According to the company’s press release, Redwood’s relationship with BMW of North America embodies its continued commitment to recovering end-of-life EV battery packs to ensure valuable materials are recycled, refined, and returned to the battery supply chain to build sustainable electric vehicles.
In its two U.S. campuses—one outside Reno, NV, and the other under construction in Charleston, SC—Redwood recycles, refines, and manufactures battery components. With South Carolina’s rich automotive history and being home to more than 500 automotive companies, including BMW, it’s no surprise that both Redwood and BMW are establishing significant operations in that region. Redwood’s Carolina Campus is located near BMW Group’s Plant Spartanburg and Plant Woodruff, where the company plans to assemble at least six fully electric models, and the high-voltage battery packs for those vehicles, before the end of the decade.
According to the press release, Redwood’s mission to build a sustainable battery supply chain is realized through collaborations with leaders in the electric vehicle and clean energy sectors. Its partnership with BMW of North America represents a significant milestone toward building a more sustainable future.
NanoGraf gets $60M grant for battery materials plant in Michigan
NanoGraf, the West Loop-based maker of advanced lithium-ion batteries, will build a $175 million manufacturing facility in Flint, Michigan. The company announced last week it received a $60 million U.S. Department of Energy grant through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. Additional grants could come from the Make it in Michigan Competitiveness Fund, a pool of state money administered through the Michigan Infrastructure Office.
The project, which will retrofit an existing facility, will be completed in 2027 and produce an annual 2,500 tons of silicon anode material — enough to supply 1.5 million electric vehicles per year.
California’s new law bans all plastic shopping bags at grocery stores
“Paper or plastic” will no longer be a choice at grocery store checkout lines in California under a new law signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom that bans all plastic shopping bags. California had already banned thin plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other stores, but shoppers could purchase bags made with a thicker plastic that purportedly made them reusable and recyclable.
The new measure, approved by state legislators last month, bans all plastic shopping bags starting in 2026. Consumers who don’t bring their own bags will now simply be asked if they want a paper bag. State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, one of the bill’s supporters, said people were not reusing or recycling any plastic bags. She pointed to a state study that found that the amount of plastic shopping bags trashed per person grew from 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) per year in 2004 to 11 pounds (5 kilograms) per year in 2021.”
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