If current trends continue, it will “leave the United States dependent on China and other trading partners for much of its battery supply, a risky proposition not just for the auto industry but for the military, which is planning to electrify more of its vehicles and gear,” our colleague writes.
Clean energy supporters and companies say that it will take federal action to catch up.
Per Whalen: “Aside from California, which has adopted many incentives and regulations to boost electric vehicles and renewable energy, the United States has largely left the sector to the free market.”
Meanwhile, China provides battery and electric-vehicle companies with billions in state support, subsidizes consumer purchases of electric vehicles, and makes buyers of gasoline-fueled cars wait longer to get a license place. The European Commission, for its part, promised last month to spend $3.5 billion to subsidize Tesla, BMW and other countries to produce more batteries in Europe.
The U.S. government has not been entirely absent.
Federally funded universities and labs produce some of the best early-stage battery research of anywhere in the world. A federal loan helped jump-start Tesla, and the Obama administration provided tax credits for a limited number of electric vehicle purchases.
But some federal support dried up under the Trump administration, and the United States still falls short of other countries.
U.S. investment could ramp up under Biden.
Biden has promised to “use all the levers of the federal government, from purchasing power, R&D, tax, trade and investment policies” to “position America to be the global leader in the manufacture of electric vehicles and their input materials.”
The president signed an executive order calling on all federal agencies to convert their fleets to electronic vehicles, and he has pledged to build 500,000 charging stations. On Thursday, the Energy Department announced $100 million for clean energy technology.
Power plays
Courts and the Biden administration are tackling Trump-era environmental rules.
- A federal court overturned a Trump administration decision that stripped protections for the sage grouse on 10 million acres of land to allow for mining. The judge ruled that the Bureau of Land Management failed to provide “a reasoned explanation” for why it reversed course on an earlier proposal aimed at keeping the bird off the endangered species list.
- The Biden administration is delaying a Trump-era rule that would have let oil and gas companies pay less for drilling on federal lands. The rule was expected to decrease royalties to the federal government by $28.9 million a year, the Hill reports. The Interior Department said that it is reviewing the rule and will open a 30-day comment period to allow for “public engagement.”
- The Interior Department is removing restrictions on a conservation fund used to buy public lands, the Missoula Current reports. The restrictions require state and local jurisdictions to sign off on federal land acquisitions made through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Critics said that the rules, announced in November, undermined major conservation legislation that Trump signed into law last summer.
Biden met with lawmakers to discuss the infrastructure package.
Biden met with key lawmakers to discuss how to move forward with a push aimed at creating jobs and rebuilding the nation’s transportation infrastructure, The Post’s Ian Duncan reports.
The president has proposed a $2 trillion infrastructure plan aimed at growing the economy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, although White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the size of the package is still under discussion.
“The president was joined by Vice President Harris and Sens. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee; Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the transportation subcommittee chairman; along with Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), who are senior GOP members of the committee. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined by video because he is isolating after a coronavirus exposure,” Duncan writes.
Democrats have shown significant interest in using infrastructure spending to meet environmental and racial-justice goals, but Republicans wrote off a House bill last year that prioritized those issues.
Cardin told The Post that infrastructure discussions could build off of a five-year highways package approved unanimously by the Public Works Commission. The legislation dedicates $10 billion for tackling climate change.
Former president Trump asked about shutting down the EPA, according to former administrator Scott Pruitt.
Pruitt reflected on a meeting with Trump before the president took office in which they discussed the future of the EPA, E&E News reports.
“When I met with the president-elect at the time, he asked me a question. He said, ‘Scott, should we shut down the agency?’ ” Pruitt recalled at his official portrait unveiling last month. Pruitt’s comments were captured in a video recording of the Jan. 15 ceremony that was obtained by E&E News.
Pruitt said that he urged the president not to shut down the agency, saying that it had an important mission with respect to the environment. Trump went on to nominate Pruitt as EPA administrator, a role that he resigned from in 2018 after scrutiny over his spending on travel and security.
The National Climate Task Force focused on job creation in its first meeting.
Cabinet-level leaders from 21 agencies and senior White House officials met virtually to discuss priorities in tackling climate change. The meeting is the first gathering of the National Climate Task Force, a group created by executive order last month. Biden has promised to leverage the whole federal government to meet his pledge of reaching net-zero emissions across the U.S. economy by 2050.
Gina McCarthy, who heads the White House office of climate policy, told the New York Times that the meeting focused on climate change, as well as the role of federal agencies in setting new interim targets for cutting emissions.
Climate action will cost petrostates $9 trillion.
Countries that are heavily reliant on fossil fuels could see their oil and gas revenue cut in half over the next two decades, according to a recent study by the Carbon Tracker Initiative, a think tank focused on financial questions around energy transitions.
The 40 countries most reliant on oil and gas revenue — “petrostates” — could see government revenue down $9 trillion dollars over the next two decades if the world pursues the low-carbon strategy that experts say is necessary to avert the worst effects of climate change.
Extra mileage
A former Navy meteorologist got his wallet back after leaving it in Antarctica 53 years ago.
“Paul? I think I’ve found your wallet,” the caller, Bruce McKee, told Grisham.
Grisham had left his wallet in Antarctica in 1968 after spending 13 months as a Navy meteorologist tasked with providing support for civilian scientists at McMurdough Station on Ross Island.
The wallet’s contents included: “Grisham’s driver’s license and Navy ID card; a beer ration punch card with four holes punched (“I was pretty much a martini guy,” said Grisham); a tax statement; an instruction card with steps to take in case of an atomic attack; a recipe for homemade Kahlua; and two money order receipts for the poker winnings Grisham had mailed to his wife after cleaning up in card games at the base,” Free writes.
