** The US Commerce Department on Monday proposed prohibiting key Chinese software and hardware in connected vehicles on American roads due to national security concerns – a move that would effectively bar nearly all Chinese cars from entering the US market.
** The U.S. Energy Department awards a manganese and zinc mine under development in southern Arizona $166 million to spur production of the battery metals.
** A rural Nevada county pushes back on the federal Bureau of Land Management’s plan to open hundreds of thousands of acres to solar development, fearing it will become “an industrial park.”
** Using a combination of satellite data and artificial intelligence, Kayrros found that the United States is continuing to release more and more methane into the atmosphere. Scientists are seeing this as a “red flag” considering the United States was one of the first to sign the Global Methane Pledge.
** Tennessee residents and environmental groups protest in Nashville against the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to build a wave of natural gas-fired power plants across the Southeast.
** Texas residents are allowed to return home after a multi-day pipeline fire went out and an evacuation order was lifted.
** Minnesota regulators order Xcel Energy to refund customers millions of dollars they paid for more expensive power after utility workers severed a cable that shut down a nuclear plant for months.
** “Paper or plastic” will no longer be a choice at grocery store checkout lines in California under a new law signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom that bans all plastic shopping bags. California had already banned thin plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other stores, but shoppers could purchase bags made with a thicker plastic that purportedly made them reusable and recyclable.
World
** A Spanish infrastructure company said it has achieved a “historic milestone” for Spain’s energy industry. Madrid-headquartered Redexis announced has begun injecting hydrogen produced with renewable energy into the country’s natural gas supply via Spain’s first hydrogen pipeline.
** China’s steel crisis is setting the stage for a wave of bankruptcies and speeding a much-needed consolidation of the industry, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Almost three-quarters of the country’s steelmakers suffered losses in the first half and bankruptcy is likely for many of them, Michelle Leung, a senior analyst at BI, said in a note.
** Officials from nine southern European Union member countries said Monday they’re focused on harnessing offshore wind and solar energy to try to turn the Mediterranean region into a renewable energy hub and stave off the risks of climate change. The announcement came from the energy ministers of Cyprus, Slovenia and Malta, Croatia’s economy minister as well as officials from Greece, Italy, France, Portugal and Spain.
** The world needs more mines to cope with rising demand for key energy-transition metals like copper, as mergers and acquisitions will not plug a looming supply gap, Rio Tinto Group Chairman Dominic Barton said.
** Ecuador’s government has announced the suspension of electricity service for nine hours on Sunday in 12 of the Andean nation’s 24 provinces and placed 19 areas on red alert due to a drought that has reduced the water levels of hydroelectric plants.