That doggone Elon is at it again

Though its EV business is contracting, Tesla’s energy storage segment is growing fast, helping it reap the benefits of surging demand for batteries.

By Dan McCarthy, Canary Media

Tesla may be struggling when it comes to electric vehicle sales, but its energy storage business is on a serious upswing.

In the second quarter of this year, Tesla deployed 9.4 gigawatt-hours of battery storage, a record for the firm and more than double its deployment in Q2 of last year. Revenue from the firm’s energy generation and storage segment doubled year over year to just over $3 billion in the quarter, contributing nearly 12 percent of Tesla’s revenue for the period; in Q2 of last year it accounted for just 6 percent of revenue.

“This is growing faster than anything else,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said of the energy storage business, which sells both residential and utility-scale battery products, during the company’s Q2 earnings call.

The strong storage growth is helping the firm weather a difficult time for its EV business.

Its automotive revenue dropped by 7 percent year over year in Q2 and is down by more than 10 percent through the first half of the year. Vehicle production and deliveries also slipped both this quarter and last. The company’s profits plunged 45 percent year over year, despite record-high quarterly revenue.

Tesla’s turbulence comes as EV sales climb to record heights both globally and in the U.S., despite recent analysts’ concern about a potential contraction for the overall market. The EV pioneer faces increasing competition both on the global stage from the likes of Chinese EV giant BYD, which briefly dethroned Tesla as the largest EV maker in the world late last year, and in the U.S. from traditional automakers like Ford, General Motors, Kia, Hyundai, and BMW.

Read the full story here

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How PA’s oil industry quietly dumps waste across the state

Spreading fracking wastewater on roads is banned. Oil and gas companies do it anyway

By Jake Bolster, Grist, July 24, 2024

Siri Lawson and her husband live on a stamp of wooded, hilly land in Warren County, Pennsylvania, nestled in the state’s rural northwest corner. During the summer heat, cars traveling on the county’s dirt roads cast plumes of dust in their wake. Winter’s chill can cause a hazardous film of ice to spawn on paved roads. To protect motorists from both slippery ice and vision-impairing dust, communities across Pennsylvania coat these roads with large, cheap volumes of de-icing and dust-suppressing fluids. In Lawson’s case, her township had been using oil and gas wastewater as a dust suppressant, believing the material was effective.

But researchers have found it is no better at controlling dust than rainwater. It can also contain toxic chemicals and have radioactive concentrations several hundred times the acceptable federal limit in drinking water. Given the risks it poses to human health and the environment, Pennsylvania lawmakers and the state’s environmental agency disallowed this practice more than seven years ago. 

But oil and gas companies have continued to spread their wastewater practically unchecked across the state, thanks to a loophole in state regulations.

A Grist review of records from 2019 to 2023 found that oil and gas producers submitted more than 3,000 reports of wastewater dumping to the state Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP. In total, they reported spraying nearly 2.4 million gallons of wastewater on Pennsylvania roads. This number is likely a vast undercount: About 86 percent of Pennsylvania’s smaller oil and gas drillers did not report how they disposed of their waste in 2023. 

Read the full story here

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Trump coming to private Kushner fundraiser on the Jersey Shore

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the bandage on his right ear visible after the assassination attempt on his life.
President Trump is scheduled to attend a fundraiser in Deal Sunday, hosted by the Kushners, casino mogul Steve Wynn, and Rep. Elise Stefanik.

By Carly Baldwin, Patch Staff

DEAL, NJ — Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend a fundraiser in Deal this Sunday.

This was first reported by the Asbury Park Press, but the invitation to the event can be found here on YouTube.

The last time Trump was on the Jersey Shore was in May, when he held a rally in Wildwood that the Associated Press reported drew 80,000 to 100,000 people. This past weekend, Gov. Phil Murphy reportedly met Trump at Trump’s Bedminster golf club; Murphy said the meeting was to wish Trump well as he recovers from the assassination attempt.

Sunday’s event will be a private fundraising dinner; the invitation does not say where exactly it will be held. Guests are asked to RSVP to t47events@gop.com. At minimum, tickets are $3,300 to attend and VIP tickets are $10,000. A photo with Trump is $50,000 per person; a seat at his dinner table is $150,000, the Press reports.

Deal Police said they cannot comment on whether there will be any road closures or extra security measures in place this Sunday. That is all coordinated by the Secret Service.

According to the invitation, the fundraiser is hosted by Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn and his wife Andrea; Midtown Equities owner, record producer and reported billionaire Joe Cayre, as well as the Chera family.

To be named as a host, donors had to contribute at least $500,000 to the Trump 2024 re-election campaign.

Read the full story here

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‘PFAS-free’ claim for turf replacement at Philly’s FDR park: Is it true?

The Philadelphia Inquirer asked the three turf companies the city might hire for samples of their product so the newspaper could test it. None would reply.

A $250 million to redesign South Philly's FDR Park calls for the creation of a dozen artificial turf fields.
A $250 million redesign of South Philly’s FDR Park calls for the creation of a dozen artificial turf fields. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

By David Gambacorta and Barbara Laker, Philadelphia Inquirer, July 25, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET

A blue sign, draped across a perimeter of cyclone fencing, greets anyone who happens by Broad Street and Pattison Avenue with a cheerful message: “Welcome to your new FDR Park.”

Plastered next to the sign are renderings of proposed renovations, gauzy images of green spaces and happy visitors. The city’s $250 million vision for the South Philadelphia park still calls for some of that green to be fake: a dozen artificial turf playing fields.

In March, 11 residents sued the city in Orphans’ Court, and sought a preliminary injunction to bring work on the park’s makeover to a halt. Among the residents’ concerns was the likelihood that the turf fields would contain PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — so-called “forever chemicals” that have been linked to multiple types of cancer, and are found in a range of everyday items, including turf and firefighters’ protective equipment.

Lawyers for the city, in a response filed in court in April, wrote that three companies that are in the running to provide the turf for FDR Park have “provided written guarantees that their products do not contain PFAs.”

Eleven community residents have sued the city in an attempt to halt construction work at FDR Park.
Eleven community residents have sued the city in an attempt to halt construction work at FDR Park.Heather Khalifa / Staff Photographer

The Inquirer contacted the three companies that the city is considering — FieldTurf, Shaw Sports Turf, and Sprinturf — and asked if each would provide samples of their turf.

The newspaper wanted to test samples of the companies’ turf for PFAS. None of the three companies responded.

But in its court filing, the city included a Shaw Industries lab report, which purportedly showed that no PFAS were detected in its product.

The Inquirer shared that report with two experts on forever chemicals: Graham Peaslee, a physicist at the University of Notre Dame, and Kyla Bennett, a former EPA official who now directs science policy for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Both said the Shaw Industries report was misleading; the turf still likely contains PFAS.

Read the full story here

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Volvo getting $208M for heavy-duty electric trucks at Mack plants

The funds will modify plants in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, where Mack and Volvo will produce new equipment or powertrain components.

Charging LR Electric model by Mack Trucks for NYC Sanitation
A demonstration of a Mack LR Electric Truck, which are manufactured at plants set to receive significant investment via new grant funding. Permission granted by Mack

By David Taube, Waste Dive

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded $208 million to Volvo Technology of America to help fast-track the production of heavy-duty electric trucks and related powertrain components at factories that produce the Mack LR Electric refuse truck.

The funding will assist Volvo Group’s Lehigh Valley Operations truck assembly site in Macungie, Pennsylvania, where it produces Mack trucks, and its New River Valley truck location in Dublin, Virginia, Volvo’s largest truck manufacturing plant in the world.

Facilities will be upgraded and move toward mixed model assembly, allowing for scalability and flexibility, according to Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey.

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“The upgrades enable a novel manufacturing approach that will significantly increase the production capacity potential of battery electric vehicles (BEV)/fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV),” a project summary said, noting how the changes will help improve BEV and FCEV production processes.

The money will help convert the facilities to zero-emission sites, part of Volvo Group’s goal to be 100% fossil-free by 2040, according to a project summary. Among those changes, a Hagerstown, Maryland, plant will get upgrades to support powertrain operations, a Volvo spokesperson said in an email.

Read the full story here

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