Holiday Greetings from EnviroPolitics
We are celebrating the holidays and resting up a bit before the New Year.
Your daily EnviroPolitics newsletter will return on January 2, 2024
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Drone to sniff out methane at Kansas landfill under EPA agreement
By Jabob Wallace, Waste Dive Editor
Hamm, the owner and operator of a landfill in Lawrence, Kansas, agreed to pay a $4,206 civil fine and use drones and light detection and ranging technology to monitor methane emissions and ensure the landfill’s cover integrity, the U.S. EPA’s Region 7 announced last week.
Deploying drones t o detect methane leaks (video)
Inspectors determined that the landfill violated Clean Air Act regulations during a site visit in March 2022. Hamm allegedly exceeded methane emissions standards and failed to correct the emissions, per a release.
Hamm is expected to pay about $30,000 to implement the technologies. The operator proposed using Sniffer Robotics’ drones for its monitoring, according to EPA. It’s the first settlement involving the use of drones for surface emissions monitoring, an EPA spokesperson said via email.
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NJ lawmakers approve first-in-the-nation EV battery recycling bill
By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor
TRENTON – The New Jersey legislature has passed a first-in-the-nation bill that creates industry guidance for the recycling of lithium-ion vehicle batteries. The Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Battery Management Act (S3723/A5365) provides a framework for the collection, transportation, remanufacturing, reuse, recycling, and responsible disposal of propulsion batteries found in electric and hybrid-electric cars and trucks.
“New Jersey has taken a forward-looking, and holistic view of the true value of these batteries,” said Senator Bob Smith, Chairman of the New Jersey Senate Environment and Energy Committee and sponsor of the bill. “We developed guidance for those in the growing recycling industry that will support innovation, job creation, and environmental stewardship from reusing materials and parts.”
This bill aims to support the creation of a circular economy surrounding EV batteries in New Jersey by keeping EV batteries out of landfills, re-using materials to decrease the cost of new batteries, incentivizing job creation in the State, and reducing reliance on foreign mining and the importation of rare minerals.
As the first EV batteries are now starting to reach the end of their useful lifespans, New Jersey will require battery producers to submit a battery management plan to the State Department of Environmental Protection. These management plans will include planned methods for the acceptance and transport of batteries. It must also outline the means of recycling, reuse, or repurposing of batteries. It allows for new material or other recycling companies to utilize the batteries or components and supports manufacturers in their recycling efforts.
Related EV battery news:
Tesla Supplier Panasonic Drops Plan for Oklahoma EV Battery Factory (Wall Street Journal)
Chemical plant shifts gears to produce critical battery materials in the US (The Cool Down)
LG Chem breaks ground on Tennessee EV battery plant (United Press International)
EV battery repair is dangerous. Here’s why mechanics want to do it anyway (MSN)
Solid-state batteries promise to radically change EVs (CNN Business)
Smith expects that as EV adoption continues to increase domestically, the need for lithium-ion batteries will grow.
“With the EV Battery Management Act, New Jersey will be poised to take advantage of this increasing demand through the recycling of critical materials and other components.,” he said.
Keep up with news about electric vehicles and battery recycling
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Despite Tesla’s self-driving embarrassment, this company ramps up
By Keenan Willard, NBC5
In the wake of several high-profile setbacks for self-driving car companies, one Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) company is going the other way, building up a fleet of autonomous delivery vehicles on Metroplex streets.
Estonian company Clevon is expanding its self-driving couriers to new areas in DFW in the coming months, using the Fort Worth area to launch its efforts to build a national delivery network.
On the busy streets by Alliance Airport, another vehicle whisks a package off to its destination. But this one stands out easily: because there’s no one behind the wheel.
“Our on-demand electric vehicle is working as a robot courier,” said Sander Sebastian Agur, Clevon’s CEO and co-founder.
This is the autonomous delivery vehicle from Clevon, an Estonian company that made its US headquarters in Fort Worth in 2022.
Their robot-piloted vehicles have been delivering packages on the street in the Northlake community since July, sing human-assisted oversight.
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The EPA is concerned about using coal ash as fill. Here’s why.
By Robert Zullo, News from the States
Coal ash, what’s left over after coal is burned to generate electricity, is one of the largest waste streams in the U.S., with hundreds of millions of tons of it lying in hundreds of sites across the country.
However, a lot of that ash, which can contain a host of toxic metals, isn’t just sitting around in landfills or disposal pits, it’s also been a cheap source of fill material, with 2 million tons of it being used for that purpose in 2021 alone, according to the American Coal Ash Association, a trade group.
EarthJustice, an environmental group, citing the association’s numbers, says 180 million tons of coal ash has been used for fill since 1980. Ash has been used on everything from a golf course in Virginia to playgrounds in Tennessee and much of an entire Indiana town.
But in a draft risk assessment published last month by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as part of a proposed broader revision of its coal ash management rules, the agency now says using coal ash as fill may create elevated cancer risk from radiation.
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Manchin is battling Biden — again. This time over EV batteries
| Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) speaks during the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree lighting ceremony on Nov. 28. | AP |
| BY CHRISTIAN ROBLES, Politico Power Switch |
| When the energy nerds of the world write tales of Joe Biden’s presidency, a chapter will be devoted to Sen. Joe Manchin’s regular jabs over electric vehicles. Since the passage of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, the irascible chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee has challenged the Treasury Department over how it interprets “Made in America” requirements for electric car batteries. The West Virginia Democrat is now asking the Government Accountability Office to issue a legal opinion on whether Congress can undo Treasury’s actions, writes Timothy Cama. The letter targets Treasury guidance for how car companies should interpret language in the law that requires that minerals and parts used to make EV batteries are sourced primarily out of the U.S. or through its trading partners. The global supply chain for EVs began revolving around China long before automakers shoveled billions of dollars into electric car and battery assembly plants and before the U.S. government spent taxpayer money on developing a U.S. market to replace gasoline-fueled cars. So Manchin has made a sport of arguing that Biden and auto manufacturers are coddling China by pushing for too much flexibility, as the U.S. hands out generous tax benefits to EV buyers. The White House has been grappling with how to balance a climate policy that requires more zero-carbon cars on the road and the equally desirable push for electric cars to be built on the back of U.S.-based manufacturing. Manchin, representing a state rooted in a fossil fuel economy, has been a persistent thorn in Biden’s side and complicates the White House goal of zeroing out U.S. carbon pollution by 2050. They’ve crossed each other over a methane fee program and a tax credit for hydrogen production. He’s pushed back through letters, regulatory comments, and legislation. Read the full story here If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation. |
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