** The Biden administration is reimposing sanctions on Venezuelan oil, it said Wednesday. The administration said it would renew sanctions that it temporarily lifted in October after Venezuela did not make sufficient progress toward a fair election. Companies will have 45 days to wind down their transactions with the nation’s oil and gas sector.
** The costs of enduring climate change are already six times higher than those for implementing measures to prevent it, a study published in Nature on Wednesday reveals. The researchers projected an average total cost of $38 trillion by 2050 — and that’s the best-case scenario.
** The U.S. auto industry needs regulatory certainty from politicians in Washington and the back and forth as the White House changes hands doesn’t help, but the adoption rate of electric vehicles will continue to grow, Ford Motor’s executive chairman Bill Ford said on Wednesday.
** California regulators voted Wednesday to establish a drinking water limit on hexavalent chromium, a toxic chemical compound made infamous by the movie “Erin Brockovich.”
** The owner of the Dali, the massive cargo ship that lost power and knocked down the Key Bridge on March 26, killing six men, has declared “general average,” according to Darrell Wilson, a spokesperson for the ship’s owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd.
** Constellation Energy Corp said on Wednesday it has asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to extend the operating license of its Dresden plant in Illinois by another two decades.
** Ford is recalling more than 456,000 Bronco Sport and Maverick vehicles due to a battery detection issue that can result in loss of drive power, increasing crash risks.
World
** A group of TotalEnergies investors is calling for the French oil and gas major to split the roles of CEO and chairman, which they say could speed up its shift away from fossil fuels. The resolution to be proposed for inclusion at TotalEnergies’ annual general meeting on May 24 was put forward by 19 international investors holding around 20 million shares.
** 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.
** Across shipping hubs in Europe, unsold electric cars are filling storage spaces, with some automakers even looking to rent extra warehousing space to keep their shiny new cars shiny and new, reports Automotive News. The Chinese EVs being imported into places like Europe have also been hampered by reduction in subsidies for electric car sales. Automotive News reports that a cut in EV subsidies in Germany has hit sales, leaving many cars stuck on docks with nobody to buy them.