** The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a rule Tuesday that could strip protections from the majority of U.S. wetlands, saying the Supreme Court forced its hand. EPA Administrator Michael Regan called the amended Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule necessary to comply with the court’s May Sackett vs. Environmental Protection Agency decision.
** In 2022, solar photovoltaic panel shipments in the United States increased 10% from 2021, setting another annual record (31.7 million peak kilowatts [kWp]), based on the latest published data. U.S. solar panel shipments have been growing as solar capacity continues to rise.
** Survey crews begin work determining the best place to moor research buoys as the first step toward construction of two offshore wind farms off North Carolina’s coast.
** Scientists say “ridiculously warm” water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico resulting from climate change and this summer’s heat waves could rapidly intensify hurricanes and storms as they approach the coast.
** Student groups at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland call for administrators to divest the school’s investments in fossil fuels.
** Support for offshore wind development in New Jersey has dropped dramatically in recent years as projects near construction, according to polling released Monday.
** The first-ever US government auction of leases to build wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico ended with only one tract sold, a blow for advocates cheering on renewable-power development in the region.
World
** Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi inaugurated on Monday the last phase of the South Pars gas field, one of the world’s largest natural gas condensate field and the country’s biggest. Iran shares the gas field with energy giant Qatar and there are 24 platforms on the side of the Islamic republic which has been developing it in the Gulf since the 1990s.
** Vietnam’s exports fell for a sixth straight month in August, extending the longest plunge since 2009 amid softer global demand for goods and China’s worsening economic outlook.
** A forest blaze in Greece is “the largest wildfire ever recorded in the EU” and the bloc is mobilising nearly half its firefighting air wing to tackle it, a European Commission spokesman said Tuesday.
** A South Korean company plans to build a $72 million factory in Georgia to make parts for electric vehicles, hiring more than 140 workers. Daesol Ausys announced its plans on Tuesday to build a factory in West Point, making luggage boards and covers for compartments in electric vehicles. The company supplies parts to Hyundai, Kia and General Motors.
** Shell plc is currently in discussions to sell its Bukom oil refinery in Singapore to China’s Sinopec. While this potential deal is still in its early stage, it has already generated significant interest within the industry.
** Thousands of protesters on cars and motorbikes took to the streets of Colombia’s main cities on Monday to reject recent hikes in gasoline prices that have drastically increased the price of fuel in the South American country.
** Orsted A/S shares plunged the most on record after the renewable energy company warned of impairments of as much as 16 billion Danish kroner ($2.3 billion) to its US portfolio because of supply chain issues and soaring interest rates.
