** Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) unveiled a bill recently to delay new vessel speed limits on the Atlantic coast. Whale advocates say the legislation would doom the North Atlantic right whale to extinction. The bill, the “Protecting Whales, Human Safety, and the Economy Act of 2024,” S. 4948, was introduced Friday.
** The Department of Energy on Tuesday announced $2.2 billion in funding for eight projects across 18 states to strengthen the electrical grid against increasing extreme weather, advance the transition to cleaner electricity and meet a growing demand for power.
** Nearly 20 U.S. utilities have announced plans to blend hydrogen into natural gas lines, which critics dismiss as expensive experiments that will cost ratepayers and do little to reduce emissions.
** Spirit AeroSystems said on Monday its quarterly losses more than doubled as 737 fuselage shipments to its biggest customer Boeing fell and losses mounted on its Airbus A220 program.
** A Tesla Cybertruck crashed and caught fire in Texas, killing its driver in what’s believed to be the first reported fatal crash involving the truck.
** A federal appeals court overturns a lower court’s decision and revives an antitrust lawsuit by a Florida-based utility accusing Duke Energy of monopolizing the wholesale power market in North Carolina.
** A U.S. Army base in Alaska looks to tap geothermal energy as a backup heat source.
World
** Shipments of Russian liquified natural gas to France more than doubled the first half of this year, according to new analyses of trade data, at a time when Europe has tried to pull back from energy purchases that help finance the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
** For the first six months of this year, India has responded to major energy demand from its growing population and greater cooling needs because of extreme heat, in part due to climate change, by relying on its coal-fired plants. The country also plans to add more coal plants.
** Lucid Group said on Monday its largest shareholder, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, will inject up to $1.5 billion in cash, as the electric vehicle maker looks to ramp up production of a new SUV.
