Daily on Energy: New lead dust rules, advanced manufacturing credit finalized, and Ioneer’s lithium mine greenlit

In today’s edition of Daily on Energy, Callie and Maydeen kick things off with finalized rules from the Biden administration regarding lead dust standards and tax credits for domestic critical mineral mining. We also take a look at breaking news within the green-energy industry, including U.S. financing for foreign wind farms, and more nuclear moves in the Midwest. Missed major headlines from yesterday? We’ve got you covered. Callie and Maydeen take some time to look at millions of administration funding for methane monitoring towers and accusations from House Republicans over an alleged LNG export study conducted last year. 

Wrapping things up today, our Election Countdown takes a look at what young voters in northwestern North Carolina are saying ahead of casting their ballot after facing the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene. 

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.

EPA TIGHTENS LEAD DUST STANDARDS: The EPA finalized stricter standards for the removal of lead paint dust in older homes and child care centers to reduce the toxic exposure, particularly for children. 

“There is no safe lead exposure level,” White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi told reporters. “Even small exposures to this toxin can pose a long-term risk to the development of our children.”

The details: Lead paint has been banned for residential use since 1978. Still, the agency estimated that nearly 31 million pre-1978 houses still contain lead-based paint which, when it crumbles, becomes contaminated dust. Children are at greater risk of lead exposure and a variety of health harms.

Property owners of a home or child care facility do not have to actively test for lead but if a child living or attending the facilities has a high blood lead level, the owner must test for it and clean it up. 

The rule’s final standards lower the dust-lead clearance levels for floors, window sills, and window troughs to 5, 40, and 100 micrograms per square foot. The clearance level determines when cleaning work can be considered completed. 

Read more from Maydeen here. 

ADMINISTRATION FINALIZES TAX CREDITS TO BOOST DOMESTIC MINING: The Biden administration has unveiled final rules for the Advanced Manufacturing Product Credit, which officials say will boost domestic mining of critical minerals and reduce reliance on foreign materials from nations such as China. 

The details: On Thursday, the Treasury Department and IRS released the final rules, which are meant to provide clarity on the tax credit available for U.S. manufacturers through Section 45X of the Internal Revenue Code. The final rules now allow taxpayers to claim the credit for material as well as extraction costs for producing critical minerals and electrode active materials. The administration said this will allow for more investments in domestic mining for critical minerals, thereby strengthening national energy security and boosting the supply chain.

What does it actually look like? The tax credit will allow battery cell manufacturers to claim $35 for every kilowatt-hour produced and sold. Meanwhile, critical mineral producers can receive 10% back on their production costs. 

Key quote: “The U.S. has major deposits of critical minerals like lithium and palladium,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said. “Extracting and processing them here in America, as opposed to relying on China, Russia, and other countries with weak worker and environmental protections, is an economic and national security priority for us.”

Mixed reaction: Many have welcomed the final rules, including Sen. Joe Manchin, who praised the inclusion of critical mineral mining costs for the tax credit. However, industry players like National Mining Association CEO Rich Nolan have said the rules don’t go far enough. Nolan claimed the rules still allow foreign-sourced minerals (later refined in the US) to be subsidized, according to the Wall St. Journal.

Read more from Callie here. 

US FINANCES WIND FARMS IN TURKEY: The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation is providing a $350 million loan to Enerjisa Enerji Üretim A.Ş. (Enerjisa) to help develop new onshore wind projects in western Turkey. 

DFC is a development finance institution that invests in projects in lower-income countries. The loan will help build nine wind power plants in the Aydın, Balıkesir, and Çanakkale regions, which are expected to generate 2.51 terawatt-hours per year. 

“DFC is committed to driving the growth of clean energy infrastructure in Türkiye and around the world to enhance energy security and advance sustainable economic growth,” said DFC Deputy Chief Executive Nisha Biswal. 

IOWA NEXT TO GET REVIVED NUCLEAR PLANT? Utility giant NextEra Energy is considering restarting the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant in Iowa in response to demand from data centers.  

Key remarks: “We’re very busy looking at Duane Arnold,” CEO John Ketchum told investors on Wednesday. “We’re very interested in recommissioning the plant.” He indicated also that the interest is being driven by desire from customers, including data-center customers, to purchase nuclear power from the facility. 

Some background: The Duane Arnold nuclear plant, just 8 miles northwest of Cedar Rapids, first opened in February 1975. The 600-megawatt plant shut down in 2020 after one of its major customers ended its power purchase agreement. It had been licensed to operate until 2034. 

If NextEra moves forward with reopening the plant, it would be the third retired nuclear facility scheduled to come back online – following the Palisades nuclear facility in Michigan and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. 

Read more from Callie here. 

DATA CENTER BOOM: The United States isn’t the only world leader seeing energy demand from data centers soar, as the European Union and several nations across greater Europe are expected to see consumption nearly triple by 2030. 

The details: A new McKinsey report reviewed by Reuters estimates that total demand for data centers within the EU, Norway, Switzerland, and Britain will jump from 10 to 35 gigawatts in just six years. Power consumption for data centers is also projected to nearly triple, increasing from 62 terawatt hours to over 150. As a result, data centers are expected to make up 5% of all European energy consumption by 2030 (much higher than the 2% it makes up now). 

Key remarks: “Meeting (the rise in electricity) demand will require an extensive increase in electricity supply; a notable shift for Europe, where aggregate power demand has remained relatively stagnant since 2007,” the report read. 

WALL STREET FINANCES DIRECT CARBON CAPTURE: Morgan Stanley reportedly announced on Thursday that it was investing in the world’s largest direct carbon capture project, helping finance its expansion in the U.S.

The details: The bank is entering an agreement with Swiss carbon removal Climeworks AG, which is attempting to remove 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide through direct air capture, according to Bloomberg. Morgan Stanley has agreed to finance the project through 2037, but the financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Climeworks has reportedly said the deal marks its second-largest thus far. As part of the agreement, Morgan Stanley is expected to “secure a sizable volume of carbon removal credits.” 

A reminder: Direct air capture is a technology that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using large fans. It is considered to be an energy-intensive and high-cost process, with some climate scientists claiming it can foster pollution from the oil and gas industry. 

IONEER NEVADA LITHIUM MINING PROJECT GETS FINAL APPROVAL: Breaking news today – the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Land Management gave final approval to the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron mining project in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The project, managed by Ioneer, is meant to boost the supply of critical minerals used to develop electric vehicle batteries. The mine will be able to supply lithium to power about 370,000 electric vehicles annually. 

“This project and the process we have undertaken demonstrates that we can pursue responsible critical mineral development here in the United States, while protecting the health of our public lands and resources,” said Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis. 

Ioneer struggled to get permits because the project will take place in the habitat of the Tiehm’s buckwheat, an endangered wildflower protected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

However, in the final Environmental Impact Statement, released in September, the BLM and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service created several initiatives to protect the endangered wildflowers, including redesigning and relocating project features, funding Tiehm’s buckwheat propagation work, and developing a formal Tiehm buckwheat protection plan.

“This decision is the result of the hard work and dedication of BLM staff and our partners, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to come up with approaches that protect the environment while supporting the Biden-Harris administration’s climate goals,” said Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning.

ICYMI – HOUSE REPUBLICANS CLAIM DOE HID LNG REVIEW: Republicans with the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability have accused the Biden administration of hiding an LNG report that they claim was conducted months before this year’s pause on export approvals. 

Some background: In January, the Biden administration issued a pause on new LNG export approvals to non-free-trade-agreement countries in order to conduct a study on the climate effects of the projects before giving the green-light. 

Critics have lambasted the pause as unconstitutional, while environmentalists have praised the move as a way to reduce emissions. In July, the freeze was overturned by a federal judge in Louisiana after several Republican states claimed it would hurt their economies. One month later, the DOE said it would be appealing the decision. 

The details: Chairman James Comer sent a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday claiming the committee has learned that a study looking at the economic and environmental impacts of LNG exports was actually conducted in 2023. The Republicans accused the DOE of failing to provide this information. 

The letter also claimed the agency said they did not find a “final LNG export study” earlier this month, despite acknowledging in September that documents may exist that respond to a FOIA request about any LNG study.

Key quote: “Transparency on this issue is essential. DOE’s action has thrown vital U.S. businesses—companies that invest billions in capital in long-term projects, support tens of thousands of U.S. jobs, and bolster the energy security of our allies—into turmoil as they grapple with uncertainty from politically-motived federal actions,” Comer wrote. 

ICYMI – DOE SENDS FUNDS FOR METHANE MONITORING TOWERS INSTALLATION: The Department of Energy announced Wednesday a $162.4 million loan to install methane monitoring towers. 

The DOE said it would grant the loan to LongPath Technologies Inc. to help finance and develop more than 1,000 remote monitoring towers as part of a methane emissions monitoring network. The towers will be located in states like California, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming. 

The project’s network will monitor up to 24,000 square miles and is expected to prevent methane emissions equivalent to at least six million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, the agency said. 

“We’re building on that leadership to create real-time methane emissions monitoring for the rest of the country thanks to these Inflation Reduction Act investments and our homegrown innovators like LongPath,” said Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper.

ELECTION COUNTDOWN – CLIMATE CHANGE IS PERSONAL IN THIS YEAR ELECTION FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS: Students from universities across northwestern Carolina wrote an op-ed explaining that the issue of climate change in this year’s election is personal for them, as they witnessed Hurricane Helene make landfall in their towns. 

The op-ed was written by Lili Jones from Warren Wilson College; Zach Powell & Sam Ogburn from Western Carolina University; Lydia Pate & Allison Melrose from UNC-Asheville; and Hazel Grine & Will Davis from Appalachian State.

“This year we experienced what awaits us if we don’t move fast on climate action. But we are also excited to see leaders finally stepping up to meet the challenge,” the students wrote. 

“Unfortunately, others continue to deny there is a problem and actively try to roll back progress. Addressing this crisis will take our whole lives, but we are not afraid to meet the challenge,” they continued. “This Election Day our loud and urgent voices will be heard.”

The students did not directly endorse either presidential candidate. 

There are 11 days until election day. 

RUNDOWN 

New York Times The U.N.’s Verdict on Climate Progress Over the Past Year: There Was None

Forbes The Summit For The Future’s Vision: Will It Help The Energy-Poor Now?

Inside Climate News Adding up the Public Health Costs of Using Coal to Make Steel