Texas Doesn’t Like the EPA’s New Methane Rules

Current conditions: It will be very blustery across the northeast today • Flooding and landslides killed 26 people in Indonesia • Catholics in drought-stricken Barcelona celebrated the coming of rain by carrying a figure of the Holy Christ through the city’s old town.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Texas challenges EPA’s new methane rules

Texas is suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its sweeping methane rules that target oil and gas operations. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is 80 times more warming than carbon dioxide, and oil and gas sites are a key source of man-made methane emissions. The EPA regulations, announced late last year, ban polluting practices like routine flaring of natural gas from new wells, require wells to be regularly monitored for leaks, and phase out some old and leaky infrastructure. As Heatmap’s Emily Pontecorvo reported, the EPA says the rules will prevent the equivalent of 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted between 2024 and 2038, almost as much as was emitted by all power plants in the country in 2021. Texas is the largest oil-producing state in the U.S. It challenged the rules late on Friday, accusing the EPA of “overreach.”

2. Analysis shows Europe is woefully unprepared for climate change

Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, heating at twice the global rate, but is underprepared for the “catastrophic” risks posed by climate change, according to an assessment from the European Union Environment Agency. The group considered 36 major climate risks, including ecosystem collapse, drought, and extreme heat, and concluded that unless preparations are made, hundreds of thousands of people could die from heat waves, and coastal floods could cost 1 trillion euros per year. The EEA warned that policymakers need to do more to shore up critical infrastructure, agriculture, and healthcare systems to prepare for extreme weather before it’s too late. “Our new analysis shows that Europe faces urgent climate risks that are growing faster than our societal preparedness,” said Leena Ylä-Mononen, the EEA’s executive director.

Climate hazards pose risks to many essential services and systems.EEA

3. Low-voltage batteries failing in some EVs

Some new electric vehicles are experiencing repeated problems with their 12-volt batteries, reported The Wall Street Journal. These are the low-voltage batteries that have been found under the hoods of most cars for years. They power things like interior lights and electronics, and seem to be dying quickly in some brand new EVs, including models from Cadillac, Hyundai, and Rivian. “The 12-volt battery is in many ways a dated technology for cars on the road today, which are becoming more like computers on wheels and have greater power needs,” Ryan Felton reported for the Journal. “But switching to a higher-voltage system is also difficult because it would essentially mean wholesale changes to the supply chain for these parts.” Tesla’s Cybertruck has already moved to a 48-volt system, and the company’s director called it “the future for low voltage design at Tesla and likely the rest of the industry in due course.”

4. Musk Foundation is ‘largely self-serving,’ according to NYT

A New York Times investigation calls into question the integrity of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s charity, the Musk Foundation, accusing it of failing to give away the minimum amount of money to justify hefty tax breaks, and being “haphazard and largely self-serving.” The Musk Foundation has a history of donating millions less than is required by tax law, and the Times found that about half of its donations between 2021 and 2022 were linked to Musk in some way, including a food charity run by his brother and a school where Musk’s own children attended. “The really striking thing about Musk is the disjuncture between his outsized public persona, and his very, very minimal philanthropic presence,” said Benjamin Soskis, who studies philanthropy at the Urban Institute.

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5. Seedlings from famous Sycamore Gap tree begin to sprout

Seedlings from England’s famous Sycamore Gap tree, which was felled by vandals last year, have sprouted. Conservation experts collected seeds and cuttings from the 300-year-old tree before it was removed from its home along Hadrian’s Wall and brought them to the National Trust’s conservation center with hopes of cultivating them and perhaps planting a new tree in the same location. The first seedlings began to sprout at the start of 2024. The conservation center is in a secret location in London. It houses genetic copies of important plants including the apple tree said to have inspired Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity, and a tree where Henry VIII courted Anne Boleyn, according to The Guardian. “while there’s a way to go before we have true saplings, we’ll be keeping everything crossed that these plants continue to grow stronger and can be planted out and enjoyed by many in the future,” said Andrew Jasper, Director of Gardens and Parklands at the National Trust.

National Trust

THE KICKER

America’s unusually warm winter forced farmers to start collecting maple syrup from trees more than a month early.