OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Energy Dept. targets Trump rollbacks on appliance efficiency | Biden officials take second look at Arctic refuge drilling | Scientists study ‘power source of stars’ in climate fight

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Today we’re looking at a move to reverse the Trump administration’s efficiency rollbacks for washers, dryers and dishwashers, the formal launch of a review of drilling at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and scientists’ efforts on nuclear fusion. 

WASH IT AWAY: Energy Department targets Trump rollbacks on appliance efficiency

The Biden administration is proposing to revoke Trump-era rollbacks to washer, dryer and dishwasher efficiency.

The Energy Department in a notice issued Tuesday put forward a new rule that would reverse the Trump-era changes, which exempted some of these appliances from energy and water conservation standards by creating a separate class of products for short-cycle clothing washers and dryers as well as dishwashers. 

By adding them to separate classes, prior standards were no longer applicable. 

OK, but why? The proposal argued that the Trump administration didn’t follow a law requiring an analysis of whether the changes were designed to achieve the most technologically feasible boost for efficiency and its prohibition against standards that decrease efficiency.

The other side: When it put forward the rules in question, the Trump administration argued that its actions increased consumer choice. 

Read more about the move here.

 

LET’S GET IT STARTED IN HERE: Biden administration kicks off second look at Arctic refuge drilling

The Biden administration is formally launching its review of the Trump administration’s opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling after a prior determination that its predecessor’s action had “legal deficiencies.” 

The Interior Department announced the review in a notice of intent scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, which indicated that it would carry out a rigorous environmental review known as an environmental impact statement. 

So what should we expect? The review will serve “to identify the significant issues, including any legal deficiencies in the Final EIS [Environmental Impact Statement],” Laura Daniel-Davis, principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, said in the notice.

The supplemental EIS ordered by the department will consider possible alternatives like declaring some areas of the Coastal Plain off-limits to leasing, banning surface infrastructure in “sensitive areas” and barring more than 2,000 acres of surface development across the Coastal Plain. 

But we knew this was coming. The formal announcement in the Federal Register notice follows an announcement made in June that there will be a further environmental review after the Biden administration said it found the legal deficiencies in the formal decision that opened up the refuge for drilling. 

This included what Interior Secretary Deb Haaland described as a “failure to adequately analyze a reasonable range of alternatives” in the prior environmental review. 

Read more about the review here.

 

SHOOTING FOR THE MOON? Scientists race to replicate ‘the power source of stars’ in climate fight

The net-zero energy mix of the future will rely not only on renewable resources like solar and wind, but also on technology that allows scientists to “re-create and control the power source of stars,” according to economist and plasma physicist Arthur Turrell.

Scientists and investors are now exploring the possibility of nuclear fusion working its way into the mix of power sources like wind and solar that are seen as crucial in the long-term fight against climate change.

While lawmakers in Congress are aiming to provide new funding for traditional nuclear reactors that use nuclear fission, experts like Turrell say the U.S. needs to be thinking bigger by pursuing nuclear fusion.

“Climate change is so important that we are going to need to throw the kitchen sink at it,” he told The Hill.

Not your mother’s nuclear…Fusion is different from fission, the process used by nuclear reactors that generates a byproduct of radioactive material that can linger for up to 10,000 years.

About 100 experimental fusion projects — including around 20 private ventures — are underway globally, but scientists recognize that making fusion commercially viable is a Herculean task. Fusion demands so much energy that Turrell described its upkeep as “a leaky bathtub.”

Read more about efforts on fusion here.

 

ON TAP TOMORROW:

• The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a markup of an energy and water funding bill

 

WHAT WE’RE READING:

Some veterans exposed to toxins from burn pits to have compensation fast-tracked by VA, Stars and Stripes reports

The Biden Administration Won’t Explain Its Handout To Big Coal, HuffPost reports

Energy Cyber Role Unfilled Over Power Struggle as Hacks Increase, Bloomberg Government reports

Gas projects reveal FERC’s environmental justice conundrum, E&E News reports

ICYMI: Stories from Tuesday…

Bakers push Biden administration to ease biofuel requirements

Energy department targets Trump rollbacks on appliance efficiency

2020 heat wave revealed new source of Arctic methane emissions: study

Biden administration kicks off second look at Arctic refuge drilling

Seven-figure ad campaign urges GOP to support infrastructure bill

Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ larger than normal, NOAA says

Scientists race to replicate ‘the power source of stars’ in climate fight

OFFBEAT AND OFF-BEAT: Cats are better than baseball anyway!