By Jerry Bohnen | OK Energy Today
• The Biden administration on Aug. 1 started enforcing a nationwide ban on various types of popular light bulbs as part of its aggressive energy efficiency agenda. Under Department of Energy regulations, manufacturers and retailers will be prohibited from selling incandescent and similar halogen light bulbs, which represent a sizable share of current light bulb supplies.
• The U.S. Senate passed an amendment aimed at increasing domestic advanced nuclear reactor fuel production and jumpstarting uranium mining in Utah and Wyoming.
• Boston Mayor Michelle Wu signed an executive order last week that eliminates use of fossil fuels in new construction and major renovations of city buildings.
• The U.S. is eyeing Mongolia as a source of raw materials needed for clean energy manufacturing, but shipping will be a challenge as the country is landlocked between Russia and China.
• Operators of the electricity systems of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia signed an agreement Aug. 2 to disconnect from the Russian power system and synchronously connect to the European grid, the Lithuanian Energy Ministry announced.
• A California-led coalition of 22 U.S. states and territories is taking bipartisan legal action against a recently proposed settlement between 3M company and water utilities affected by “forever chemicals” – arguing that the deal would shift accountability from the polluter to the providers.
3M offered up to $10.3 billion in present-day dollars to eligible public water suppliers over 13 years, with the caveat that the deal “is not an admission of liability.” The settlement would apply to water providers that have already detected chemicals belonging to a group known as PFAS, as well as those that might do so in the future.
“PFAS can cause serious health impacts – including various forms of cancers, developmental defects, infertility, diabetes and liver damage – and frequently have been detected in water systems nationwide,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
According to The Hill, Bonta and his colleagues emphasized that the proposed settlement would require water providers to withdraw the hundreds of lawsuits they have filed against 3M over its use of PFAS.