** Unless new evidence emerges about how the Eaton Fire in Los Angeles started earlier this year, Southern California Edison and parent company Edison International Inc. are likely to incur “material losses,” Edison President and CEO Pedro Pizarro said earlier this week. Pizarro said company officials and other investigators have made progress of late on the investigation into the Eaton fire, which burned more than 14,000 acres and killed 18 people in January.
** The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday announced it has declined to hear Apache Stronghold v. United States , a case that could have shielded the sacred Western Apache site of Oak Flat from being turned into a massive copper mine.
** A recent study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology has found that 95% of 23 tested beers across the US contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — commonly known as “forever chemicals” due to their lingering presence in the environment and human body.
** Texas lawmakers advance a bill to block offshore wind farms from connecting to the state power grid through state waters.
** Avangrid Announces $41 Million Investment to Improve Capacity and Reliability of Electrical Grid in New York. The five projects in Ithaca will benefit more than 42,000 New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) customers in the region by adding additional capacity and reliability to the grid.
World
** Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 plant, currently under U.S. sanctions, has shut down its first production train because reservoirs are full in the absence of tankers to load, a source close to the matter told Reuters.
** Solar developer Silicon Ranch recently agreed to a $500 million deal with Denmark-based AIP Management to bolster the solar company’s market position amid political polarization around clean energy.
** China’s wind and solar capacity now exceeds its coal-fired power capacity, according to China’s National Energy Administration. Reuters reported that the country initially set a goal to get wind and solar power to 1,200 gigawatts by 2030. But by the end of March, China’s wind and solar capacity had already reached 1,482 gigawatts.
** Australiai’s bid to be listed as a World Heritage Site for ancient rock art is stalled over pollution.
** Egypt is in talks with energy firms and trading houses to buy 40-60 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) amid a worsening energy crunch ahead of peak summer demand, three sources aware of the matter told Reuters. The country faces spending up to $3 billion at current prices to secure the LNG, squeezing government coffers already under strain to keep the lights on amid falling gas production and a cost of living crisis.
** Insiders in the industry say that Japan will likely sweeten its terms to developers who want to build an offshore wind farm. The country is looking to re-establish its energy ambitions against a global slump of projects that have been hit by rising costs and delays.