EnviroPolitics Blog

Rich lode of lithium needed for electric car batteries could boost Taliban and its new Chinese partners

The Pentagon dubbed Afghanistan ‘the Saudi Arabia of lithium.’ Now, it is American rivals that are angling to exploit those coveted reserves.

CHAPA DARA, Afghanistan — Sayed Wali Sajid spent years fighting American soldiers in the barren hills and fertile fields of the Pech River Valley, one of the deadliest theaters of the 20-year insurgency. But nothing confounded the Taliban commander, he said, like the new wave of foreigners who began showing up, one after another, in late 2021.

Once, Sajid spotted a foreigner hiking alone along a path where Islamic State extremists were known to kidnap outsiders. Another time, five men and women evaded Sajid’s soldiers in the dark to scour the mountain. The newcomers, Sajid recalled, were giddy, persistent, almost single-minded in their quest for something few locals believed held any value at all.

“The Chinese were unbelievable,” Sajid said, chuckling at the memory. “At first, they didn’t tell us what they wanted. But then I saw the excitement in their eyes and their eagerness, and that’s when I understood the word ‘lithium.’”

A decade earlier, the U.S. Defense Department, guided by the surveys of American government geologists, concluded that the vast wealth of lithium and other minerals buried in Afghanistan might be worth $1 trillion, more than enough to prop up the country’s fragile government. In a 2010 memo, the Pentagon’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, which examined Afghanistan’s development potential, dubbed the country the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” A year later, the U.S. Geological Survey published a map showing the location of major deposits and highlighted the magnitude of the underground wealth, saying Afghanistan “could be considered as the world’s recognized future principal source of lithium.”

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An old, obscure federal law (the Jones Act) makes Philly Shipyard a player in offshore wind energy

By Frank Kummer, Philadelphia Inquirer

Few realized until President Joe Biden’s visit to the city Thursday that the Philly Shipyard could become a player in the offshore wind industry emerging off the Eastern seaboard.

The shipyard signed a contract as far back as 2021 to build the Acadia, a 461-foot-long, highly specialized vessel that’s needed to get the skyscraper-high turbines set in the seafloor. A key boost for the shipyard: An old and obscure federal law known as the Jones Act that requires vessels transporting cargo within the U.S. to be built in the U.S. instead of overseas.

Who is building the Acadia?

The Acadia is being built at the Philly Shipyard for the Houston-based Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp., the country’s largest dredging operation, which has jumped into the offshore wind business.

At least initially, the ship would be used for the Empire Offshore Wind project, a joint venture between Equinor and BP for wind farms approved off the New York coast.

Biden announced Thursday during a steel-cutting ceremony for the ship that it would be the first offshore wind vessel of its kind to be made in the United States.

The vessel would be built by the pool of 1,400 workers and nine unions based at the shipyard, according to Matthew Cassidy, a spokesperson for the shipyard. The ship’s steel plates will be made by United Steelworkers in Indiana. Biden said the activity surrounding the ship would generate an estimated $125 million a year as it is being built.

The ship is expected to be complete for delivery in 2025, according to the Philly Shipyard’s second quarter report, and is about 6% complete.

What will the ship do?

The vessel would be used as part of subsea rock installation work for the Empire Wind I and II wind farms to be built off the coast of New York, according to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock company literature. The two wind farms would have the capacity to provide power to more than one million homes in New York.

The rock installation will be used to protect and stabilize monopile foundations, electrical substructures, and export cables by the mid-2020s, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock said.

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Murphy signs bill allowing some small NJ water companies to build treatment facilities on Green Acres property

Legislation sponsored by Sen. Holly Schepisi that would help municipally-owned water companies comply with new DEP regulations while still being able to provide water to customers was signed into law today by Gov. Murphy. (Pixabay)

“I’m proud that Governor Murphy signed this much needed legislation into law. Due to New Jersey’s strict regulations concerning forever chemicals, water companies in the state are required by the DEP to engage in mitigation measures when any water well exceeds, or is expected to exceed, the maximum contaminant level for PFAS, said Schepisi (R-39).

“These measures can be extremely costly for small, municipally-owned water companies and can impair the ability of those companies to provide an adequate supply of water to the communities they serve. Many pre-existing wells exist on municipally-owned properties that are encumbered by Green Acres and are prohibited from constructing the very treatment vessels that are required. This new law would address the issue by allowing certain exemptions from Green Acres regulations.”

Schepisi’s measure, S-3444, would allow municipal water systems, under certain circumstances, to use lands preserved for recreation and conservation for pre-existing water wells and associated treatment equipment or facilities.

It would also allow a municipally-owned and operated water utility to use a pre-existing well for the supply of drinking water and certain associated treatment vessels located on lands acquired, by a local government unit, for recreation or conservation purposes.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a member of the group of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), used as a processing aid in the manufacture of fluoropolymers used in non-stick cookware and other products, as well as other commercial and industrial uses, due to its resistance to harsh chemicals and high temperatures.

In 2018, New Jersey became the first state to adopt a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for any PFAS, setting an MCL of 13 parts per trillion for perfluorononanoic acid, or PFNA.

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Ford making big price cuts to its electric F-150 Lightning pickups

By John Rosevear, CNBC

Ford Motor on Monday cut prices for its electric F-150 Lightning pickup, saying its efforts to boost production and lower costs for battery minerals have paid off.

Ford said prices for some of the least expensive versions of the Lighting would fall by nearly $10,000. Prices for all versions, including the top-line Platinum trim, will drop by at least $6,000 from levels set in March.

The company had increased the Lightning’s prices several times since its 2021 debut, citing supply constraints and sharply higher prices for the minerals used in the electric truck’s batteries. Ford has worked to increase production of the truck in recent months, with factory upgrades that are expected to triple its output set to be in place by fall.

The Dearborn, Michigan factory that makes the Lightning will be closed for several weeks while the production upgrades are put in place, Ford said Monday.

Increasing production of the Lightning and other Ford EVs has been a key priority for CEO Jim Farley this year. But the effort to boost production hasn’t been a smooth one. Ford sold just 4,466 Lightnings in the second quarter after a fire in a just-completed truck in February led it to shut down production for five weeks.

At the time of its 2021 debut, the lowest-priced version of the Lightning – the work-truck Pro trim – was about $40,000. That price was increased several times, hitting about $60,000 in March; Monday’s cuts reduce the entry-level truck’s sticker price to about $50,000.

Read the full story here

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Murphy administration driving NJ motorists to electric cars

By Tom Johnson, NJ Spotlight

The Murphy administration is proposing a new rule that would phase out the sale of new gasoline light-duty vehicles by 2035, joining California and up to a dozen other states moving to transition to zero-emission vehicles.

The proposal, expected to be published in the New Jersey Register later next month, aims to reduce the pollution causing global warming by electrifying transportation in New Jersey, the single largest source of that pollution in the state.

The initiative is strongly backed by environmentalists and clean energy advocates as critical to achieving the state’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 2006 levels by mid-century. Curtailing the use of gasoline-powered vehicles is also necessary to improve air quality in many urban and disadvantaged areas whose residents disproportionally suffer negative health effects from such emissions.

If adopted, the rule would ramp up sales requirements for new passenger vehicle cars and light trucks to primarily electric vehicles over the course of the next decade with a 100% EV sales requirement by 2035.

Publishing the proposed rule by August 21 and adopting it by the end of the calendar year will trigger the sales requirements to kick in by the model year 2027.

“By filing the proposal, we build upon our nation-leading record of bold climate action while delivering on our promise to utilize every tool at our disposal to combat the intensifying climate crisis,’’ Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement.

But a trade group representing car dealers, while supporting the transition to electric vehicles, opposes the so-called California Advanced Clean Car II rule, saying it will negatively affect the affordability of cars and limit choice by consumers.

In New Jersey, consumers are already facing difficulties in obtaining some brands of new vehicles, according to car dealers. In some cases, only the more expensive electric vehicles are available.

“Limiting access to inventory drives up profit for manufacturers, profitability for dealers,’’ but is bad for consumers,’’ said James Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers.

But by waiting until the model year 2027 for the rule to go into effect means 90,000 fewer electric vehicles on the road by 2030, according to supporters of the program.

Read the full story here

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CORRECTED HEADLINE Energy shortfall predicted for New York in 2025

MARIE J. FRENCH reports today in Politico Pro

The state’s independent grid operator has officially identified a shortfall of electric generating capacity for New York City in 2025, which will likely prevent some highly polluting power plants from retiring.

The New York Independent System Operator, which is tasked with ensuring there’s enough electricity available even during heatwaves when people crank up their air conditioners, has been warning about the potential issue for years. The forecasted shortfall is driven by rising demand and the planned retirement of the fleet of older peaker power plants in response to state environmental rules aimed at reducing harmful co-pollutants in the downstate region.

The NYISO process will seek solutions from the market to address the identified reliability need. Given permitting and other hurdles in New York City, it’s likely that some of the peaker plants will remain online in 2025.

The NYISO’s 169-page report released Friday identifies a need for 446 megawatts of electricity for nine hours during a peak demand day in 2025 when two generators or transmission lines are unexpectedly offline and the temperature hits 95 degrees. The shortfall would be even greater if the city experiences a more intense heatwave.

“To be clear: The reliability of our grid is not in question,” Hochul spokesperson Katy Zielinski said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring New Yorkers have a reliable and affordable power supply — and we can do this while accomplishing our nation-leading climate goals. Governor Hochul remains fully committed to rapidly decreasing emissions and setting an example for how clean energy and reliability can go hand-in-hand.”

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