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Environment and Politics
Biden Administration Making Companies Pay For Metal Extraction
What is it about?
A gold-rush era General Mining Law is proposed to be updated by the Biden administration to make companies pay for metal extraction in lieu of the rising demands of nickel, cobalt, copper, etc. for electric vehicle manufacturing.
Unlike companies that extract oil and gas, hard rock miners pay no royalties to the federal government, per NYT. However, this will most likely change.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration said the law needed to be updated to ensure the United States developed a supply of critical minerals that are “responsibly sourced” to achieve Mr. Biden’s clean energy goals.
The call to impose a fee of 4-8% of the net value of what is mined could translate into as much as $97 million annually and drew sharp opposition from mining operators.
A Move Towards Sustainable Future
A working group of official led by Tommy Beaudreau, the deputy secretary of the Interior Department, said that the law did not do enough to steer mineral exploration away from sensitive resources or to promote “early and meaningful” engagement with tribes or other affected communities.
The law also lacks incentives for companies to mine land when they acquire a stake. “It’s common for speculators to sit on claims for decades,” Mr. Beaudreau said.
The working group recommended money raised by royalties on net proceeds and maintenance fees be used to fund the cleanup of abandoned mines or aid communities that are most affected by mining activities.
Mining companies do pay state royalties and taxes. But operators mining on federal land only pay the U.S. government one-time claim processing fees totaling $60. Many companies also pay an annual $165 maintenance fee per site, according to the report.
“It fails to provide the American taxpayer with any direct financial compensation for the value of hardrock minerals extracted from most publicly owned lands,” the report stated.
Environment and Sustainability
Ohio Injection Wells Suspended After Health Warning
Four fracking waste injection wells in Athens County, have temporarily suspended operations by order of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), which says the wells present an “imminent danger” to health and the environment.
On May 1, ODNR Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management ordered the suspension of a Class II injection well on grounds that its operator, Reliable Enterprises LLC, violated an Ohio Administrative Code section that bars operators from contaminating or polluting surface land and surface or subsurface water. In late June, three wells in Torch operated by K&H Partners were suspended on the same grounds.
Applications for new Class II injection wells from both Reliable Enterprises and K&H were denied because of the suspensions. K&H’s application for a fourth well at its $43 million facility in Torch generated controversy when it was proposed in 2018.
Class II wells are used to contain toxic waste from oil and gas production thousands of feet underground. The wells are intended to isolate the waste water, known as brine, from groundwater.
However, the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management found that waste fluid injected into the three K&H wells had spread at least 1.5 miles underground and was rising to the surface through oil and gas production wells in Athens and Washington counties.
That suggests that all four wells “endanger and are likely to endanger public health, safety, or the environment,” the ODNR orders said. If the wells continue to operate, the ODNR orders say “additional impacts may occur in the future and are likely to contaminate the land, surface waters, or subsurface waters.”
The suspension orders for both K&H and Reliable Enterprises say the wells cannot resume operation until “the conditions that caused the suspension have been corrected.”
Read more here.
Environment and Energy
Biden’s Climate Law Is Reshaping Private Investment in the United States
Private investment in clean energy projects like solar panels, hydrogen power and electric vehicles surged after President Biden signed an expansive climate bill into law last year, a development that shows how tax incentives and federal subsidies have helped reshape some consumer and corporate spending in the United States.
Good Stats
New data being released on Wednesday suggest the climate law and other parts of Mr. Biden’s economic agenda have helped speed the development of automotive supply chains in the American Southwest, buttressing traditional auto manufacturing centers in the industrial Midwest and the Southeast.
The 2022 law, which passed with only Democratic support, aided factory investment in conservative bastions like Tennessee and the swing states of Michigan and Nevada. The law also helped underwrite a spending spree on electric cars and home solar panels in California, Arizona and Florida.
The data show that in the year since the climate law passed, spending on clean-energy technologies accounted for 4 percent of the nation’s total investment in structures, equipment and durable consumer goods — more than double the share from four years ago.
But what about wind?
The law so far has failed to supercharge a key industry in the transition from fossil fuels that Mr. Biden is trying to accelerate: wind power. Domestic investment in wind production declined over the past year, despite the climate law’s hefty incentives for producers.
And so far the law has not changed the trajectory of consumer spending on some energy-saving technologies like highly efficient heat pumps.
Wind investment was lower in the first half of this year than at any point since the database was started. In the United States, wind projects are struggling to navigate government processes for permitting, transmission and locating projects, including opposition from some state and local lawmakers.
Read more here.
Climate Tidbits
Fun Read - Experts debunk the World Climate Declaration that was allegedly signed by “over 1,100 scientists and professionals.” The petition appears to show a faction of the science community that—concerned the debate surrounding climate change has strayed from empirical evidence and become too political—is courageously breaking from dangerous groupthink to declare that “there is,” in fact, “no climate emergency.”
Read more on Inside Climate News.
New York University plans to divest from fossil fuels, the Guardian has learned, following years of pressure from student activists. The move from one of the US’s largest private universities, whose endowment totals over $5 billion, represents a significant win for the climate movement, organizers said.
Read more on Guardian