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Electric Vehicles

Tesla Just Recalled Nearly 4,000 Cybertrucks

On sticky accelerators, Alaskan oil, and sinking cities

Tesla Just Recalled Nearly 4,000 Cybertrucks
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Unseasonably heavy rainfall killed at least 130 people across Pakistan and Afghanistan • Temperatures will soar to 111 degrees Fahrenheit today in Mali • It will be cool and cloudy in NYC, where thousands of high school students are expected to leave class to join a climate strike.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Tesla recalls Cybertrucks over sticky accelerator pedals

Tesla is recalling 3,878 Cybertrucks due to potentially faulty accelerator pedals. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “the accelerator pedal pad may dislodge and become trapped by the interior trim,” causing the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally. Or, as Rob Stumpf at Inside EVs put it, this issue “could potentially turn the stainless steel trapezoid into a 6,800-pound land missile.” The recall affects every single Cybertruck that has shipped so far, according to TechCrunch. Owners will be notified by mail, and Tesla will replace or repair the accelerator pedal at no charge. The news caps off a rough week for the embattled EV maker that started with mass layoffs.

2. Biden finalizes plan to limit new oil drilling and mining in Alaska

The Interior Department today moved to wall off huge swathes of the Alaskan wilderness to new drilling and mining activities. The plan will limit oil leasing and development across 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, and block new leasing completely across 10.6 million acres, plus the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean. “The move puts nearly half of the NPR-A’s 23 million acres off limits to oil drilling,” Politico reported. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) also recommended against the construction of a 211-mile mining route known as the Ambler Road that would have allowed for copper and zinc mining. The move would protect undeveloped land but has the downside of limiting access to critical minerals essential for the clean energy transition. Local Native tribes cheered the decisions; fossil fuel and mining groups condemned them.

In a separate decision, the BLM yesterday finalized a rule to help protect and restore public lands by recognizing and prioritizing conservation as an essential part of land management. The rule puts conservation “on equal footing” with other activities like grazing and energy development, and will help BLM “improve the health and resilience of public lands in the face of a changing climate,” the bureau said. Mining groups slammed the rule, while House Republicans called it “a classic example of overreach” and vowed to fight to have it rescinded.

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  • 3. Biden administration to unveil some recipients of clean energy tax credits

    Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is expected to announce the recipients of about $2 billion in clean energy tax credits today during a visit to a Siemens Energy facility in Raleigh, North Carolina. Among the grant winners are Siemens Energy Inc. and Danish electrolyzer manufacturer Topsoe A/S, according to Bloomberg. The Biden administration restarted the tax credit program last year thanks to injection of funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. The “Advanced Energy Project Credit,” as it’s called, provides a 30% tax credit for clean energy projects that “expand domestic manufacturing, reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions, or help create a domestic supply chain for critical minerals.” The first round of funding will total $4 billion in credits for more than 100 projects. One source told Bloomberg that Topsoe will receive $136 million to put toward building a green hydrogen electrolyzer plant in Virginia.

    4. Heat-related ER visits rose substantially last year

    Nearly 120,000 heat-related visits to U.S. emergency departments were recorded last year, a substantial increase compared with previous years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Men under the age of 65 were the most likely demographic to show up in the ER with a heat-related health concern. The report notes that last year’s warm season (May through September) was the hottest ever recorded in the U.S. It calls for continued monitoring of health implications to help inform prevention measures as heat waves worsen. “Heat-related illness will continue to be a significant public health concern as climate change results in longer, hotter, and more frequent episodes of extreme heat,” the CDC said.

    5. Study: Many of China’s major cities are sinking

    Nearly half of China’s major cities are shrinking due to a combination of climate change and land subsidence, according to a study published in the journal Science. The researchers analyzed nationwide satellite data and found that 45% of urban lands are sinking at more than 3 millimeters per year. In total, one in 10 coastal residents in China could be living below sea level within a century. The subsidence is caused by water extraction and “the sheer weight of the built environment,” Reuters said. It’s exacerbated by rising sea levels due to climate change, a trend reflected across the world’s coastal regions. “By 2040, almost one-fifth of the world’s population is projected to be living on sinking land,” according to Nature.

    THE KICKER

    Investment in renewable energy reached a record $88 billion in the U.S. last year.

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    AM Briefing

    Exxon Counterattacks

    On China’s rare earths, Bill Gates’ nuclear dream, and Texas renewables

    An Exxon sign.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    Current conditions: Hurricane Melissa exploded in intensity over the warm Caribbean waters and has now strengthened into a major storm, potentially slamming into Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica as a Category 5 in the coming days • The Northeast is bracing for a potential nor’easter, which will be followed by a plunge in temperatures of as much as 15 degrees Fahrenheit lower than average • The northern Australian town of Julia Creek saw temperatures soar as high as 106 degrees.

    THE TOP FIVE

    1. Exxon sued California

    Exxon Mobil filed a lawsuit against California late Friday on the grounds that two landmark new climate laws violate the oil giant’s free speech rights, The New York Times reported. The two laws would require thousands of large companies doing business in the state to calculate and report the greenhouse gas pollution created by the use of their products, so-called Scope 3 emissions. “The statutes compel Exxon Mobil to trumpet California’s preferred message even though Exxon Mobil believes the speech is misleading and misguided,” Exxon complained through its lawyers. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office said the statutes “have already been upheld in court and we continue to have confidence in them.” He condemned the lawsuit, calling it “truly shocking that one of the biggest polluters on the planet would be opposed to transparency.”

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    The Aftermath

    How to Live in a Fire-Scarred World

    The question isn’t whether the flames will come — it’s when, and what it will take to recover.

    Wildfire aftermath.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    In the two decades following the turn of the millennium, wildfires came within three miles of an estimated 21.8 million Americans’ homes. That number — which has no doubt grown substantially in the five years since — represents about 6% of the nation’s population, including the survivors of some of the deadliest and most destructive fires in the country’s history. But it also includes millions of stories that never made headlines.

    For every Paradise, California, and Lahaina, Hawaii, there were also dozens of uneventful evacuations, in which regular people attempted to navigate the confusing jargon of government notices and warnings. Others lost their homes in fires that were too insignificant to meet the thresholds for federal aid. And there are countless others who have decided, after too many close calls, to move somewhere else.

    By any metric, costly, catastrophic, and increasingly urban wildfires are on the rise. Nearly a third of the U.S. population, however, lives in a county with a high or very high risk of wildfire, including over 60% of the counties in the West. But the shape of the recovery from those disasters in the weeks and months that follow is often that of a maze, featuring heart-rending decisions and forced hands. Understanding wildfire recovery is critical, though, for when the next disaster follows — which is why we’ve set out to explore the topic in depth.

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    The Aftermath

    The Surprisingly Tricky Problem of Ordering People to Leave

    Wildfire evacuation notices are notoriously confusing, and the stakes are life or death. But how to make them better is far from obvious.

    Wildfire evacuation.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    How many different ways are there to say “go”? In the emergency management world, it can seem at times like there are dozens.

    Does a “level 2” alert during a wildfire, for example, mean it’s time to get out? How about a “level II” alert? Most people understand that an “evacuation order” means “you better leave now,” but how is an “evacuation warning” any different? And does a text warning that “these zones should EVACUATE NOW: SIS-5111, SIS-5108, SIS-5117…” even apply to you?

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