** Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signs a bill exempting certain solar and wind components from state sales taxes.
** Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signs a bill barring blinking red wind turbine lights from operating when no low-flying aircraft are nearby.
** The U.S. Department of Homeland Security this week raided a factory and sales office operated by one of the world’s largest solar panel makers, China’s Jinko Solar Holding Co Ltd, the agency said on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the Homeland Security Investigations arm of DHS, Mike Meares, said search warrants were executed in Florida and California
** Attorneys general of nine states – Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Oregon, Vermont and Washington – along with New York City and Washington, D.C., called on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue “voluntary standards or mandatory regulations” aimed at reducing gas stove emissions.
** Air pollution from oil and gas production in the United States causes around $77 billion in annual nationwide health impacts, according to a study published in Environmental Research: Health.
** A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency must regulate perchlorate, reversing a Trump-era rollback on a drinking water contaminant linked to brain damage in infants.
** Minnesota is on the verge of banning non-essential uses of “forever chemicals.” And lawmakers say they are naming the legislation after a woman who spent the last months of her life campaigning for restrictions that will be some of the toughest in the country.
** Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry warned Wednesday that the world can’t tackle climate change without first addressing the agriculture sector’s emissions. Kerry lamented that agriculture production alone creates 33% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that reducing those emissions must be “front and center” in the quest to defeat global warming, during remarks Wednesday morning at the Department of Agriculture’s AIM for Climate Summit.
World
** Guyana’s environmental protection agency (EPA) has appealed a court ruling made against oil giant ExxonMobil. The EPA filed an appeal against a High Court decision that found Exxon had failed to provide sufficient insurance coverage for an offshore oil project.
** India has set a deadline of 2035 to establish green hydrogen bunkering and refuelling facilities at major ports in the drive to cut its carbon footprint, the shipping ministry said in guidelines issued on Wednesday.
** Australian lithium miner Allkem Ltd. agreed to merge with US rival Livent Corp. in an all-stock deal that will create a $10.6 billion producer, as the sector continues consolidating amid surging demand for batteries used in electric vehicles.
** Chevron Corp’s renewed oil operations in Venezuela begin a new phase next month that will boost production with the goal of accelerating a plan to recover all of the $3 billion of debt owed by the OPEC member by the end of 2025, four people close to the matter said.