** Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called on Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to resign Tuesday following a heated exchange over her past financial transactions. Hawley’s tense back-and-forth with Granholm came during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing held to review the Department of Energy’s (DOE) 2025 budget request. The Missouri Republican excoriated the energy secretary for violating the STOCK Act and for continuing to own shares of individual companies last year despite testifying that she did not own any individual stock.
** On the eve of a vote on union representation at Volkswagen’s Tennessee factory, Gov. Bill Lee and five other southern governors told workers that voting for a union will put jobs in jeopardy. About 4,300 workers at VW’s plant in Chattanooga are voting on representation by the United Auto Workers union. Vote totals are expected to be tabulated Friday night by the National Labor Relations Board.
** The nation’s largest public power company, the Tennessee Valley Authority, which serves 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six neighboring states, has put forward plans for eight new natural gas plants since 2020. The nation’s largest public power company, the Tennessee Valley Authority, which serves 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six neighboring states, has put forward plans for eight new natural gas plants since 2020.
** A stretch of the Ohio River near Pittsburgh remained closed to maritime traffic on Monday as crews equipped with sonar looked for a barge believed to have sunk over the weekend — one of more than two dozen barges that broke loose and floated down the rain-swollen river.
** Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Tuesday of potential global economic damage from rising tensions in the Middle East as the Biden administration said it was readying new sanctions in response to Iran’s malevolent activity in the region.
World
** Iran’s strikes on Israel over the weekend sparked a fresh wave of fears over oil supply disruptions, but the International Energy Agency foresees a global slump in oil demand amid a host of factors set to weigh on the market through the rest of 2024.
** The world installed 117 gigawatts of new wind power capacity in 2023, a 50% increase from the year before, making it the best year for new wind projects on record, according to a new report by the industry’s trade association. The latest Global Wind Report, published Tuesday by the Global Wind Energy Council, explores the state of the global wind industry and the challenges it’s facing in its expansion.
** An influential global body has forecast Russia’s economy will grow faster than all of the world’s advanced economies, including the US, this year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Russia to grow 3.2% this year, significantly more than the UK, France and Germany.
** Important deep sea cables and pipelines are at risk, warns NATO’s Allied Maritime Command’s deputy commander Vice Adm. Didier Maleterre. “It’s a security issue for nearly 1 billion NATO-nation civilians. We need to be protected and well supplied by our vital undersea infrastructures,” Maleterre told the Guardian on April 16.
