** The Center for Biological Diversity and Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe are threatening to sue the Bureau of Land Management if it does not stop construction on a geothermal power plant in Nevada. The groups warn Ormat’s 60-megawatt Dixie Meadows project threatens a toad species found only at that location that was granted emergency endangered species protections earlier this week.
** EPA Regional Administrator Earthea Nance appointed Delia Iris Gonzalez as chief of staff for Region 6, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arkansas. Gonzalez is the founding coalition director for the Coalition for Environment, Equity and Resilience.
** The U.S. EPA investigates whether Louisiana discriminated against Black residents in connection with air pollution from planned and existing industrial plants between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
** At least 16 activists are arrested for trespassing during a protest outside a West Virginia coal-fired plant that buys waste coal from U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s family company.
** At least 51 percent of voters blame President Joe Biden for the rise in fuel prices, with 52 percent blaming Democratic Party policies, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll published Sunday.
** Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News Sunday that the administration wants “us to be green so they’re going after our allies in the Middle East asking them to up production,” adding Biden “needs to take the shackles off of domestic production,” reported POLITICO.
** LUMA Energy, the company that operates Puerto Rico’s grid, said power has been restored to 99.7 percent of its 1.5 million customers following a massive island wide outage that started Wednesday.
** Mining industry officials say the Biden administration’s use of the Defense Production Act to bolster electric vehicle battery mineral production will not yield significant benefits unless it eases environmental permitting.
World
** The European Union may set more ambitious targets for its transition to renewable energy as it seeks alternatives to imports of oil and gas from Russia, EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans said on Sunday.
** The Kremlin announced plans to pad its reserves with $3.2 billion from Russia’s oil and gas sales. The funds will be used to stabilize the Russian economy against sanctions, the Kremlin said.
** Europe’s planned ban on imports of Russian coal is set to further tighten an already tight global coal market and create a domino effect on the prices of coal, natural gas, and electricity not only in Europe but also in other regional markets.
** Egypt and the European Union will enhance cooperation in energy, the Egyptian cabinet said after a meeting between Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Frans Timmermans, the EU’s climate chief, in Cairo.
** CNOOC, China’s largest offshore driller, will allow investors to subscribe to its up to 32.3 billion yuan (US$5.1 billion) initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday.