OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Feds withdraw decision allowing use of radioactive material in road construction | EPA reportedly to use two-step approach to vehicle emissions | Elsa strengthens into first hurricane of Atlantic season

IT’S FRIDAY!!!! Welcome to Overnight Energy, your source for the day’s energy and environment news.Please send tips and comments to Rachel Frazin at rfrazin@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin. Reach Zack Budryk at zbudryk@digital-staging.thehill.com or follow him at @BudrykZack.

Programming note: There will be no Overnight Energy on Monday. We’ll be back on Tuesday. Have a great 4th of July!

CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM: EPA withdraws decision allowing use of radioactive material in road construction

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has withdrawn a 2020 decision that would allow a radioactive substance in some road construction.

The October move allowed the use of phosphogypsum, a substance generated by phosphate fertilizer production. The waste product is kept in 13 predominantly southeastern states, where the majority of the construction would have occurred.

Between 1989 and the Trump-era action, the EPA required that all phosphogypsum be stored in “stacks” that experts and activists said would release dangerous amounts of radon gas if dispersed. In Florida alone, 1 billion tons of the substance are stored in 25 stacks, one of which recently leaked millions of gallons into a wastewater reservoir near Tampa Bay.

What changed?: In a memo dated June 30, EPA Administrator Michael Regan specifically addresses the Oct. 14, 2020, letter from the agency approving a request from the Fertilizer Institute to use the stacks for road construction.

Regan wrote that the agency “does not believe it can be reasonably contended” that the request for approval of phosphogypsum complied with federal regulations.

“The request generally described the type of road construction that might be undertaken but identified no actual road construction project and gave little specific, particularized information about the proposed use,” he wrote, adding that the request further did not provide sufficient information about how any of the substance that was not used would be disposed.

Read more about the withdrawal here.

TOUGHER CAR RULES: EPA reportedly to use two-step approach to vehicle emissions

The Biden administration will reportedly take a two-step approach to tackling vehicle emissions: first proposing regulations similar to those from the Obama era, and later taking on stricter rules. 

The New York Times reported the plan, citing four people familiar with the matter.

According to the newspaper, the EPA and Transportation Department will soon put forward a rule requiring passenger vehicles to have an average efficiency of 51 miles per gallon by 2026. The Obama administration had put forward a rule requiring that same efficiency level by 2025, while the Trump administration rule currently in place requires an average of about 44 miles per gallon by 2026. 

But The Times also reported that the administration will work on a more ambitious rule that will go through at least 2030. 

EPA spokesperson Nick Conger told The Hill that the Biden administration’s proposed standards for light duty vehicles is under White House review, but declined to provide additional details. 

OR ELSA: Elsa strengthens into first hurricane of Atlantic season

Hurricane Elsa became the first hurricane of the Atlantic season as it moved through the Caribbean on Friday.

Elsa strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane in Barbados and will continue to move through the Caribbean. 

Read more about the storm here.

WHAT WE’RE READING:

‘A slap on the wrist’ as jury convicts Bundy, E&E News reports

U.S. lawmakers introduce bill to restrict biofuel waivers for refiners, Reuters reports

GM shakes up lithium industry with California geothermal project, Reuters reports

Climate scientists take swipe at Exxon Mobil, industry in leaked report, Politico reports

Florida rises and shines among states with most solar energy,  the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports

ICYMI: Stories from Friday…

EPA withdraws decision allowing use of radioactive material in road construction

Elsa strengthens into first hurricane of Atlantic season

Democrats say there’s no time to wait on including climate in infrastructure

OFFBEAT AND (SOMEWHAT) OFF-BEAT: D.C. was hit with 2 tornadoes yesterday!