** Apple lays off more than 600 employees in California after canceling its electric vehicle development project. ** In a move
signaling a shift toward a greener energy landscape, the Biden administration is considering expediting the retirement of coal-fired power plants across the United States. This development comes as part of the administration’s strategy to reduce pollution from the electricity sector.
** The U.S. Department of Agriculture is giving eight Rural Energy for America Program grants worth a combined $307,000 to Arkansas companies, six to install solar arrays, one for an energy-efficient grain bin monitoring system and another for upgrades to an existing renewable energy system.
** The Biden administration said Monday it plans to send up to $6.6 billion in federal grants to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) as the chipmaking giant promises a $25 billion Arizona expansion that will bring a third TSMC fabrication plant to that state. The deal, the second major US chipmaking grant announcement of the last three weeks, is part of President Joe Biden‘s effort to restart advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the US.
** Unified Command, the group in charge of the Baltimore bridge collapse wreckage, began removing containers from the cargo ship on Sunday, officials announced. The purpose of removing the containers on the ship, known as the M/V Dali, is to create access to the part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge that fell on top of the ship when it collapsed, according to UC.
** A container ship near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York lost propulsion power Friday night. While the 89,000-ton container ship eventually regained control, it had officials on alert.
** U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned on Monday that the United States would not accept new industries being decimated by subsidized Chinese imports in the same way that the U.S. steel sector was crushed a decade ago.
World
** Ukraine is ramping up attacks on Russian oil refineries in a campaign that has damaged Moscow’s most important source of revenue. Ukraine’s forces have struck oil refineries deep inside Russia at least 12 times during the war, disrupting at least 10 percent of Russian refining capacity, according to the British Defense Ministry.
** Russia says Ukraine attacked nuclear plant with drones . Ukrainian intelligence denies it was behind attack. Russia says drone hit dome above reactor No. 6. IAEA confirms attacks, says they must cease.
** French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies on Monday said a planned new liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea would require ‘more work’ before a final investment decision decision could be reached.
** Large amounts of climate-warming refrigerant gases from China and Turkey are being smuggled illegally into Europe, undermining a global pact to phase them out, a report by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said on Monday.
** Guyana’s efforts to use its natural gas resources to fuel a power plant that would slash the South American nation’s energy costs have snagged on construction delays and threaten to curtail the rising oil hotspot’s revenue this year by about $1 billion.