• Vermont Gov. Phil Scott allows the Climate Superfund Act to become law without his signature, becoming the first state to pass a measure requiring major oil companies to pay for climate damages.
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) led 23 Democratic senators Thursday in a call for the Justice Department to investigate allegations of price-fixing by major oil companies.
• Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signs a new law to make it harder for a single company to take land through eminent domain, which was written to aid a wealthy state landowner fighting a high-voltage line to deliver Texas wind energy to a Mississippi power station.
• The Biden administration announced Thursday it will award nearly $900 million for clean energy school buses to hundreds of school districts across the country.
• Ford Motor and General Motors’ chiefs offered clashing perspectives on the importance of hybrid vehicles to their long-term strategic outlooks. Ford CEO Jim Farley wants the industry to stop viewing hybrid vehicles as only an interim solution to be used until drivers are comfortable going fully electric, while GM CEO Mary Barra does not view the technology as a longer-term play.
• Looking into data from nearly 13,000 electric cars, a new report has found that the batteries of Tesla vehicles degrade significantly in a matter of just three years. Electric vehicle analytics startup Recurrent found that Teslas, alongside the offerings of other major EV makers, never actually reach the ranges determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, even when they’re brand new.
• ExxonMobil Corp. may set a dangerous precedent by suing shareholders over a climate-related proposal, according to the head of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest public pension in the U.S.
• A coalition of comm unity activists called on House leadership to take up a broader reauthorization of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) scheduled a vote on a more limited extension next week.
• Elon Musk’s Tesla is not the only electric vehicle company laying off workers en masse; one of its ri vals, Lucid, announced last week that it’s laying off about 400 people, SFGate reports, more than a year after another round of layoffs that saw 1,300 people get the boot.
• An Iowa Republican congressional candidate says the government should phase out federal ethanol mandates, saying he supports the industry but that it should “stand up on its own two feet.”
• Developers prepare to begin clearing thousands of protected Joshua trees in southern California to make way for a utility-scale solar installation, drawing protests from advocates and residents.
• Environmental groups sue the Biden administration over its conclusion that an 800-mile liquefied natural gas export pipeline in Alaska would not harm polar bears or whales.
• The federal Bureau of Land Management reaffirms 51 Trump-era oil and gas leases in Utah following environmentalists’ lawsuit looking to overturn them.
• The Biden administration has proposed significant future lease restrictions in a major United States coal mining region in an attempt to reduce toxic air pollution. According to the proposal, coal mines will soon no longer be able to lease from government land reserves in the Powder River Basin area in Wyoming and Montana, reported the Guardian. It’s a plan that would ideally result in cleaner air, fewer health risks, and even a likely economic boost.
• Michigan Democrats are poised to pass legislation aimed at attracting big-tech data centers, but opponents say the bills would destroy nation- leading climate laws the same legislators approved in November because the centers consume massive amounts of electricity. World
• The government of New South Wales in Australia has initiated a tender for long-duration energy storage projects, aiming to secure 1GW of eight-hour storage capacity. The move is part of the state’s strategy to transition towards renewable energy sources while ensuring a reliable and affordable energy supply.
• In April 2024, 95% of Portugal’s electricity came from renewable sources, making it a clean energy leader in Europe and for the rest of the world. Per Euronews Green, this inspiring statistic is just one victor y within an overall “continental shift” — in April, “fossil fuels provided less than a quarter of the EU’s energy for the first time ever.”
• China has allayed fears that growing grid congestion could tap the brakes on its record pace of renewable installations, by relaxing limits on how much renewable power can be utilized in energy-rich areas.
• Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda apologized Monday for massive cheating on certification tests for seven vehicle models as the automaker suspended production of three of them. The wide-ranging faulty testing at Japan’s top automaker involved the use of inade quate or outdated data in collision tests, and incorrect testing of airbag inflation and rear-seat damage in crashes.
• A cargo ship that was struck by five missiles launched by Yemen’s Houthis was carrying grain destined for Iran, the group’s main backers, it has emerged. The Laax, a Greekowned, Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier, was attacked on Tuesday during an hours-long assault.