** Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Tuesday said he “absolutely” thinks Congress will quickly pass the legislation crafted by the White House and House GOP leadership to address the debt ceiling, even as the plan faces opposition on both sides.
** Ørsted A/S, the world’s largest developer of offshore wind farms, has agreed to pay Eversource Energy $625 million to take full control of about 175,000 leased acres off Massachusetts’ south coast. Eversource executives also said they have received offers for their 50% stake in three contracted offshore projects but expect to take a roughly $250 million charge to account for the Ørsted deal and any sale of the contracted projects.
** The FBI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have opened a joint investigation into the release of hazardous materials from a Bay Area oil refinery — an incident that has sparked heated criticism of the facility’s owner as well as local government officials.
** California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to buy massive amounts of renewable energy to help keep the lights on this summer.The idea is to use the state’s purchasing power to convince private companies to build largescale power plants that run off of heat from underground sites and strong winds blowing off the coast — the kinds of power that utility companies have not been buying because it’s too expensive and would take too long to build.
** The idea that polluters should pay reparations for climate change is gaining steam among advocates. Some environmentalists and academics argue the companies or states that are most significantly contributing to the climate crisis should be made to compensate the people bearing the brunt of its impacts.
World
** Chinese scientists have begun drilling a 10,000-meter (32,808 feet) hole into the Earth’s crust, as the world’s second largest economy explores new frontiers above and below the planet’s surface.
** Chile, the biggest supplier of lithium after Australia, sees the battery-metal market remaining relatively tight through next year before swinging into surplus as new supply comes onstream.
** European natural gas rose as traders assessed the impact on demand from record German solar output while new outages were announced at a Norwegian facility.
** Coal India Ltd., the world’s biggest miner of the fuel, raised prices for the first time in five years to offset an increase to its $5 billion wage bill.
