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Climate

Global Electricity Use Is Expected to Soar
Energy

AM Briefing: Power Hungry

On the IEAs latest report, flooding in LA, and Bill Gates’ bad news

Politics

AM Briefing: Clawing Back Climate Grants

On the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, armored EVs, and China’s coal addiction

Yellow
Economy

AM Briefing: A $1 Billion Bailout

On costly payouts, soaring air travel, and EV sales

Yellow
Climate

AM Briefing: A New Era of Warming?

On breaching 1.5, NYC’s new EV chargers, and deforestation

Yellow
It’s NDC Deadline Day. Almost Nobody Is Prepared.

AM Briefing: What Deadline?

On climate plans, Super Bowl ads, and hydrogen planes

Yellow
Trump’s Crackdown on Environmental Justice Begins

AM Briefing: Trump’s Environmental Justice Crackdown

On changes at the EPA, New York’s climate superfund, and a failed merger

Yellow
Energy

AM Briefing: Unleash the Energy!

On DOE directives, Orsted, and Volkswagen’s affordable EV

Chris Wright’s First Order of Business
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

Current conditions: Back-to-back winter storms are hammering states in the Northeast with ice and snow • Atmospheric rivers have dropped more than 2 feet of rain on parts of Northern California in recent days • Temperatures could soar above 120 degrees Fahrenheit this week in Western Australia.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Chris Wright orders DOE to ‘unleash American energy’

Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed an order yesterday telling the Department of Energy to “unleash American energy” and restore “energy dominance” in line with President Trump’s agenda. Wright, who was confirmed by the Senate on Monday, began his order by denigrating the quest for a carbon-free future, claiming that net-zero policies “threaten the reliability of our energy system, and undermine our energy and national security.” After getting that out of the way, he went on to outline the following priorities:

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Sparks

A Key Federal Agency Stopped Approving New Renewables Projects

The Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees U.S. wetlands, halted processing on 168 pending wind and solar actions, a spokesperson confirmed to Heatmap.

A solar panel installer.
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

UPDATE: On February 6, the Army Corp of Engineers announced in a one-sentence statement that it lifted its permitting hold on renewable energy projects. It did not say why it lifted the hold, nor did it explain why the holds were enacted in the first place. It’s unclear whether the hold has been actually lifted, as I heard from at least one developer who was told otherwise from the agency shortly after we received the statement.

The Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that it has paused all permitting for well over 100 actions related to renewable energy projects across the country — information that raises more questions than it answers about how government permitting offices are behaving right now.

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