The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced plans to provide nearly $3 billion to a pair of programs designed to spur domestic production of advanced batteries for electric vehicles (EV) and energy storage.
One program will spend about $2.8 billion to support new, retrofitted, and expanded domestic operations for the production of battery materials and cell components and battery recycling. Another $60 million will go to research and development of second-life sources for EV batteries, according to the two notices of intent.
The funds are part of the more than $7 billion Congress dedicated to improving the domestic battery supply chain in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Gray wolves will regain federal protection across most of the lower 48 United States following a court ruling Thursday that struck down a Trump administration decision to take the animals off the endangered species list.
Senior District Judge Jeffrey S. White, of United States District Court for the Northern District of California, found that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in declaring wolf conservation a success and removing the species from federal protection, did not adequately consider threats to wolves outside of the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains where they have rebounded most significantly.
Although the decision to delist wolves came under the Trump administration, the Biden administration has defended it in court.
“Wolves need federal protection, period,” said Kristen Boyles, an attorney at Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization that has helped lead the legal fight.“The Fish and Wildlife Service should be ashamed of defending the gray wolf delisting.”
Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin).Julio Cortez / AP
By Andrew Seidman Philadelphia Inquirer
The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Doug Mastriano, the Pennsylvania Republican state senator who is running for governor.
The panel said Tuesday that it sent subpoenas to six people, including Mastriano, demanding information “about efforts to send false slates of electors to Washington and change the outcome of the 2020 election.”
“Based on publicly available information and information produced to the Select Committee, we believe that you have documents and information that are relevant to the Select Committee’s investigation,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.) wrote in a letter to Mastriano that was dated Tuesday.
Citing Mastriano’s public statements and news accounts, Thompson said Mastriano participated in a plan to get the GOP-led state legislature to send a pro-Trump slate of electors to Congress on Jan. 6, spoke with former President Donald Trump in the aftermath of the election, and was present on Capitol grounds the day of the riot.
“We understand you participated in these activities based on assertions of voter fraud and other asserted irregularities and based on a stated belief that under the U.S. Constitution the ‘state legislature has the sole authority to direct the manner of selecting delegates to the Electoral College,’” the letter says. “We have an interest in understanding these activities and the theories that motivated them.”
It cites a Nov. 28, 2020, tweet by Mastriano that wrongly alleged there was “mounting evidence” Pennsylvania’s election was compromised — in which case, the senator said, the state legislature “has the sole authority to direct the manner of selecting delegates to the Electoral College.”
That statement was consistent with a legal argument developed by Trump allies claiming Vice President Mike Pence could reject pro-Biden slates from key swing states such as Pennsylvania. That idea has been widely discredited by mainstream legal scholars.
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New Report Links Off-Site Dust to Norlite’s Operations
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos announced that DEC is ordering the Norlite facility in the city of Cohoes to immediately cease and desist off-site dust impacts as documented in the agency’s new report released today.
Based on the findings of a comprehensive analysis of fugitive dust monitoring that directly links dust impacting neighboring properties to Norlite’s operations, DEC is requiring new corrective actions to protect area air quality. This week, DEC issued a Notice of Violation that requires the facility to immediately cease and desist actions resulting in dust leaving the property, in addition to other facility operation improvements and enhancements to address these serious and preventable violations.
“Norlite continues to show a blatant disregard for the surrounding community by allowing dust to blow off their property, and if they do not address these violations, the state of New York will do everything in its power to shut them down,” Commissioner Seggos said. “This cannot continue and we are working on multiple legal fronts to stop these violations and require necessary facility upgrades to prevent any future impacts to the people of Cohoes.”
Results of the interim study show that dust particles larger than PM2.5 from the Norlite facility are migrating to the Saratoga Sites property. The data show that dust particle plume events usually occur in short, one- to four-hour intervals at levels higher than observed by DEC air monitors in downtown Albany during the same hours and demonstrate that Norlite has been violating DEC’s stringent air pollution control regulations and permit conditions.
This update focuses on continuing the State’s mission of sustainably managing the more than 807,000 acres of state forests under its stewardship, while also providing safe, inclusive areas for people to recreate outdoors, economic benefits for local communities, and protection for wildlife and their habitats.
Ensuring that our State’s forests remain resilient in the face of a changing climate was a major consideration for this update as well. In addition to guiding management decisions on state forests, the plan also serves as the General Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for the work done on state forests, multiple-use areas, and unique areas.
The GEIS satisfies the requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act to ensure no negative environmental impacts occur as a result of the management actions DEC undertakes.
Trenton – Senator Bob Smith has announced the formation of the Forest Stewardship Task Force.
“Forests are critical to the environmental welfare of our State,” said Senator Smith (D Middlesex/Somerset), Chair of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee.
“They can play a major role in mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide; providing habitats for endangered wildlife; helping clean and protect drinking water sources; and stabilizing soils. Proper management of forests is also necessary for preventing wildfires which are becoming more frequent and intense.”
The purpose of the task force, Smith said, will be to study and identify ways in which the State can best manage its forests in order to fight climate change, prevent forest fires, improve ecosystems, and protect soil and water quality, among other things. The task force will take feedback from interested parties and then compile a report on consensus and non-consensus issues with respect to forest stewardship for submission to the Committee.
“For decades, we have been debating what proper management of the State’s forests should look like, and what the State’s policies for forest stewardship should be,” said Senator Smith. “We’ve assembled this task force in order to identify and debate the major issues and ultimately develop consensus solutions which could form the basis for future legislation.”
The task force will be led by the following four co-chairs:
Eileen Murphy, Vice President of Government Relations, NJ Audubon
Andy Bennett, Board Member, NJ Forestry Association
Tom Gilbert, Co-Executive Director, NJ Conservation Foundation
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