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Climate

A Threat From Canada

On ExxonMobil’s behind the meter plans, a lawsuit in Washington, and Ontario’s warning to Trump.

A Threat From Canada
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions:The wind chill could reach -20 degrees Fahrenheit in Chicago today • Red flag warnings have finally expired in Malibu • Governor Kathy Hochul has declared a state of emergency for Western and Central New York due to “near whiteout conditions” from a lake effect snowstorm.

THE TOP FIVE

1. ExxonMobil to invest in natural gas power plants for data centers

ExxonMobil announced Wednesday that it plans to “generate low-carbon electricity for data centers in the United States” by building natural gas-fueled power plants outfitted with carbon capture and storage technology to supply “behind-the-meter” electricity, unconnected from the grid. Staying off the grid will help the company avoid making costly transmission upgrades, meaning the generation capacity “can be installed at a pace that other alternatives, including U.S. nuclear power, cannot match,” Exxon said. Matthew Zeitlin explains in Heatmap that the move comes as the power industry “has reached an inflection point thanks to new demand from data centers to power artificial intelligence, electrification of transportation and heating, and new manufacturing investment,” with ExxonMobil joining Chevron in exploring behind-the-meter options for natural gas.

2. Trump nominates China hawk to key economic position

President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he wants Jacob Helberg to serve as his under-secretary of State for economic growth, energy, and the environment — the highest-ranking State Department economic policy position available. A former supporter of Democrat Pete Buttigieg, Helberg reportedly “fell in love” with Trump (and became a major donor, to the tune of $1 million) partly because of the Biden administration’s move to regulate artificial intelligence, which he considered burdensome.

At 34, Helberg is notably inexperienced — he “has never built a successful tech company or led a major fund,” Forbes writes, and he currently serves as an adviser to the CEO of the defense contractor Palantir. But Helberg has earned his reputation as a China hawk, having thrown his weight behind Congress’ TikTok ban, calling the app a “weapon of war.” Helberg has broadly called for the United States to “reindustrialize” to “secure its supply chains and information networks against Chinese attacks.”

3. Ontario threatens to cut off electricity to U.S. over Trump tariffs

Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened to cut off the province’s electricity exports to the United States if President-elect Trump follows through on his proposal to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian imports next year. “Depending how far this goes, we will go to the extent of cutting off their energy, going down to Michigan, going down to New York State, and over to Wisconsin,” Ford said. “I don’t want this to happen, but my number one job is to protect Ontario, Ontarians, and Canadians as a whole.” Roughly 85% of U.S. electricity imports come from Canada, with Ontario responsible for about 13.9 million megawatt-hours of electricity, powering about 1.5 million American homes. Most electricity generated in Ontario is from renewable sources, primarily nuclear and hydropower, with the province’s exports helping New York, Maryland, and Illinois to meet their clean energy commitments.

4. Activists file challenge to Washington State’s ban on ‘gas bans’

A Washington State ballot measure that would hamper efforts to transition buildings away from natural gas is “unconstitutional,” according to a group of activists, who filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to overturn it. The ballot measure, Initiative 2066, passed with 51.7% of the vote in November after being pitched by its sponsor, the Building Industry Association of Washington, as protecting consumer choice by preventing a hypothetical “gas ban.”

“But the text of the measure goes much further,” according to the activists, since it affects “several state laws and codes designed to reduce carbon emissions and regulate air pollution,” Heatmap’s Emily Pontecorvo reported Wednesday. As such, the plaintiffs argue that Washingtonians were not fully informed about I-2066 when they voted on it — in violation of the state’s constitution, which requires ballot measures to be limited to a single, accurately represented subject.

5. Pfizer, Amazon eye RFK Jr. for opportunity to tackle climate-related health risks

Executives at Amazon and the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer described Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as potentially amenable to tackling climate-related health risks if the Senate confirms him as Trump’s Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services next year. “Some of the comments [Kennedy has] made I’m really optimistic about,” Amazon Pharmacy Chief Medical Officer Vin Gupta said while speaking at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York on Wednesday, adding that “the ways in which air and … dirty water” impact health are concerns that transcend party lines. Caroline Roan, the chief sustainability officer at Pfizer, who appeared on the same panel as Gupta, agreed. “We’re going to roll up our sleeves and we’re going to find common ground,” she said.

Separately this week, more than 75 Nobel laureates signed a letter saying that Kennedy would “put the public’s health in jeopardy” if he were confirmed to lead HHS.

THE KICKER

200% — That’s the increase in dengue fever deaths in the Caribbean and the Americas this year compared to last. The jump in the mosquito-borne disease is “linked directly to climatic events” like warmer temperatures and flooding, according to Jarbas Barbosa, the director of the Pan American Health Organization.

Hurricane Beryl flooded Kingston, Jamaica this year. Hurricane Beryl flooded Kingston, Jamaica this year. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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Energy

The New Campaign to Save Renewables: Lower Electricity Bills

Defenders of the Inflation Reduction Act have hit on what they hope will be a persuasive argument for why it should stay.

A leaf and a quarter.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

With the fate of the Inflation Reduction Act and its tax credits for building and producing clean energy hanging in the balance, the law’s supporters have increasingly turned to dollars-and-cents arguments in favor of its preservation. Since the election, industry and research groups have put out a handful of reports making the broad argument that in addition to higher greenhouse gas emissions, taking away these tax credits would mean higher electricity bills.

The American Clean Power Association put out a report in December, authored by the consulting firm ICF, arguing that “energy tax credits will drive $1.9 trillion in growth, creating 13.7 million jobs and delivering 4x return on investment.”

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Politics

AM Briefing: A Letter from EPA Staff

On environmental justice grants, melting glaciers, and Amazon’s carbon credits

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Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Severe thunderstorms are expected across the Mississippi Valley this weekend • Storm Martinho pushed Portugal’s wind power generation to “historic maximums” • It’s 62 degrees Fahrenheit, cloudy, and very quiet at Heathrow Airport outside London, where a large fire at an electricity substation forced the international travel hub to close.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Trump issues executive order to expand critical mineral output

President Trump invoked emergency powers Thursday to expand production of critical minerals and reduce the nation’s reliance on other countries. The executive order relies on the Defense Production Act, which “grants the president powers to ensure the nation’s defense by expanding and expediting the supply of materials and services from the domestic industrial base.”

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Electric Vehicles

These States Are Still Pushing Public EV Charging Programs

If you live in Illinois or Massachusetts, you may yet get your robust electric vehicle infrastructure.

EV charging.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Robust incentive programs to build out electric vehicle charging stations are alive and well — in Illinois, at least. ComEd, a utility provider for the Chicago area, is pushing forward with $100 million worth of rebates to spur the installation of EV chargers in homes, businesses, and public locations around the Windy City. The program follows up a similar $87 million investment a year ago.

Federal dollars, once the most visible source of financial incentives for EVs and EV infrastructure, are critically endangered. Automakers and EV shoppers fear the Trump administration will attack tax credits for purchasing or leasing EVs. Executive orders have already suspended the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, a.k.a. NEVI, which was set up to funnel money to states to build chargers along heavily trafficked corridors. With federal support frozen, it’s increasingly up to the automakers, utilities, and the states — the ones with EV-friendly regimes, at least — to pick up the slack.

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