** General Motors Co. made a counteroffer to the United Auto Workers union, proposing a total 16% pay raise for the top wage earners in its plants and a 56% hike for newer employees who make less, the company said in a statement. UAW President Shawn Fain reacted quickly saying the proposal is “insulting.”
** The White House withdrew its nominee for an Energy Department posting, ending a months-long standoff and handing a win to , who has protested the agency’s plans to regulate gas stoves. Jeff Marootian’s nomination to be assistant secretary of the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy had been stalled since May, when Manchin, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, scrubbed a committee vote.
** The Lone Star State apparently loves cryptocurrency so much that it’s willing to pay mining firms to not do their jobs. One of those mining operations, called Riot Platforms, claims the state’s grid operator awarded it $31.7 million in energy credits last month for agreeing to cease operations amid a brutal August heatwave.
** Coco Gauff’s U.S. Open semifinal victory over Karolina Muchova was delayed by 50 minutes because of a disruption by four environmental activists in the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands Thursday night. One protester glued his bare feet to the concrete floor.
** Danish company Orsted expects to write down the value of its U.S. projects by up to 6 billion Danish krone, or about $860 million, due to higher costs driven by an inadequate supply chain in the U.S., high interest rates, and insufficient federal subsidies. The Biden administration attempted to auction off leases to add offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Mexico last week but only attracted two bidders and sold a lease on one of three parcels.
** A large coalition of industry groups are calling on the Biden administration to rescind its recent proposal to tighten air-quality standards, saying the action would devastate the economy. The coalition — led by the Chamber of Commerce and joined by 33 other groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), American Farm Bureau Federation and American Petroleum Institute — penned a letter Thursday to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan, warning about the consequences of the proposed regulations.
** Former President Trump criticized the Biden administration Friday on an unexpected front: experimentation with making Army tanks all-electric. “The Biden Administration wants to now make our Army Tanks all Electric so that, despite the fact that they will not be able to go very far, fewer pollutants will be released into the air,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
World
** The UK’s net zero ambitions are expected to be dealt a blow as offshore wind farm developers halt new projects because of a shortfall in government funding.
** Europe is making itself stronger against Russian attempts to weaponize energy by switching to clean sources faster, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate said this week. Kerry also said countries like Romania and Bulgaria could use natural gas in their transition provided steps were made to capture emissions from new developments, warning against “self-destructive choices” that would amplify the climate crisis.
** Workers at Chevron’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Australia went on strike on Friday after talks broke down, potentially disrupting output from facilities that account for over 5% of global supply.
** Carmaker Stellantis believes internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles could be on the road until 2050, making it necessary to contain their carbon emissions until they’re finally replaced by fully electric ones. The world’s third-largest carmaker by sales, whose brands include Fiat, Peugeot and Jeep, said this week tests it ran with Saudi oil giant Aramco showed 24 types of internal combustion engines in European vehicles it produced since 2014 can use advanced e-fuels without modification.
** Argentina was ordered to pay at least $8.4 billion in damages and $7.6 billion in interest in a US lawsuit over its 2012 re-nationalization of state oil company YPF SA, a sharp blow as the Latin American country’s financial situation has grown increasingly precarious.