** As the threat of a strike looms amid negotiations between the United Auto Workers union and major US automakers, the White House faces increasing pressure to deliver on its promise of better wages and benefits for workers at electric vehicle facilities.
** Los Angeles International Airport has banned the sale of single-use plastic bottles in its facility, per a Facebook post. The ban has followed a 2021 plan to gradually phase out the sale of water bottles in LAX and the Van Nuys Airport. It’s part of a larger, zero-waste initiative under Los Angeles World Airports’ Sustainability Action Plan.
** The nation’s largest power providers warn a new rule proposed by the Biden administration relies on technology not yet proven to scale and as a result will cause widespread power outages to an already overstrained grid should it be adopted.
** When businesses want to start using or selling new chemicals in America, the Environmental Protection Agency has a process to approve or deny them. The agency is legally required to perform a risk assessment to base its decision on. However, ProPublica recently revealed that the EPA seems to be ignoring its own risk assessment when approving a new fuel additive proposed by Chevron.
** Former President Trump is vowing to end the “madness” of the Biden administration’s push for electric vehicles — a likely appeal to voters in the swing state of Michigan. In a pair of Truth Social posts Monday evening, Trump took aim at the electric vehicle industry and President Biden’s push for more electric vehicles.
World
** Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed Tuesday to extend their voluntary oil production cuts through the end of this year, trimming 1.3 million barrels of crude out of the global market and boosting energy prices.
** The global liquefied natural gas spot market is expected to stay volatile until 2025 and even a normal winter in Europe could be difficult as far as gas supplies are concerned, a senior executive at Chevron said on Tuesday.
** Canada is struggling to get a key tool in place for major carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, said a representative of one of the largest such ventures, as the country seeks to launch incentives vital to cutting emissions from Alberta’s oil sands.
** Shell and Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company (NGC) are close to agreeing to credit Venezuela’s state-run oil firm for its $1 billion investment in a gas field the three want to jointly develop, four people close to the discussions said.
** Britain’s Conservative government relaxed planning rules Tuesday and lifted restrictions that effectively banned the building of new onshore wind farms in England.
** South Korean company SK ecoplant said it has secured 670 square miles of Canada’s state-owned land for building wind farms. The Seoul-based builder said Sunday the wind farms to be located in Newfoundland would be about generating electricity and getting green hydrogen in an eco-friendly manner.