The Energy Department announced its long-awaited loan program that will aim to build a new fleet of nuclear reactors across the country. The department’s in-house bank will provide low-interest loans of up to $17.5 billion to help utilities and power developers buy up to 10 Westinghouse AP1000s, the third-generation nuclear reactor that is that company’s flagship product. [It is zero emission energy but so much more expensive than renewables.]
Lithuania just launched a ship that runs on green hydrogen generated from solar panels on its dock. As Luis Reyes writes The ship is called Rasa, and it was christened at the Port of Klaipėda on June 18, 2026. It’s a 42-meter tanker that’s about to start collecting sludge, sewage, stormwater and garbage from other ships calling at the port.
Century Aluminum, America’s largest primary aluminum producer and the developer behind the first new U.S. smelter in 50 years, has inked a deal with a green cement startup to supply a key raw material. Brimstone, known as a major player in the race to commercialize green cement, also generates alumina. “Foreign sources, including China, currently dominate global alumina production. Brimstone is bringing alumina production home and doing it at a globally competitive price,” Brimstone CEO Cody Finke said in a press release.
DESPOLIATION
Calculating an individual’s emissions based on their asset ownership suggests that wealthier people are responsible for an even higher share of global greenhouse gas emissions than indicated by past studies | Nature Climate Change
The oceans have absorbed roughly 30% of human-caused carbon emissions and trapped 90% of the excess heat that emissions cause. But this leads to rising ocean temperatures—and a new deadly bacterium flourishing in northern waters. As Alexandre Paquet and Natalie Alcoba report, Vibrio bacteria that thrive in warm, brackish water are now being found along the U.S. northeastern coast. Vibrio causes an infection called vibriosis, whose symptoms commonly include diarrhea, vomiting and fever—although an aggressive “flesh-eating” strain can be deadly. Read more »
Europe is in the midst of its second big heat wave of the year, and it’s breaking more records. A scientific analysis concluded that such high temperatures, across so much of the continent, would “not have been possible” without global warming.
DARK AGE CLIMATE POLITICS
A group of former government workers has recreated a valuable climate-science database shuttered last year under the Trump administration. The new site, climate.us, is an effort by former staff members at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to preserve climate science previously housed at climate.gov, including data, reports, articles and congressionally mandated national climate assessments.
Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and founder of Bloomberg L.P., has announced $590 million in new environmental commitments in recent days. Some $285 million will go to efforts accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy at a moment when the Iran conflict is rattling energy markets. An additional $260 million will be spent on efforts to protect the oceans. Grantees include the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Global Fishing Watch and Oceana.
The U.S. Interior Department moves to encourage oil and gas drilling on public land by proposing loosening rules that aimed to reduce methane pollution and hold drillers accountable for abandoned wells. (The Hill) Trump’s proposal would reduce a bonding requirement from $500,00 to $25,000, shifting the financial risk of remediation to state taxpayers.
U.S. power utilities are backing away from their emissions reduction commitments under the Trump administration, but long-range planning documents reveal they’re still preparing for a future administration that may restore climate regulations. (E&E News)
TransAlta is seeking tens of millions of dollars in reimbursement from utilities, grid operators, and a grid management firm for keeping its Centralia, Washington, coal plant ready to operate under a Trump administration order, even though the facility hasn’t run since December. (Washington State Standard) Retiring power plants ordered by the Trump administration to keep running are producing just a fraction of the power they had in previous years, even as the White House claims their generation is necessary to prevent grid emergencies. (Utility Dive)
TAKE ACTION!
The Northcoast Environmental Center ask us to comment on a FERC request.
Submit comments in support of dam removal on the Eel River, and tell FERC why you support dam removal as a keystone step towards a healthier river habitat for fish, humans, and the ecosystem as a whole.
Comments can be submitted electronically at: ferconline.ferc.gov/QuickComment.aspx and must be labelled “Potter Valley Project (P-77-332)” The FERC site recommends writing comments in a separate text/Word doc, and then pasting in their site to avoid time-out limits. Note you have to fill out a form, then you will be emailed instructions on making your comment. When you click in the email and come back to their site enter P-77-332 in the space for the Docket. Then check a box affirming that it is correct. Then you can paste in your comment. If you are not sure of all the benefits look at the CalTrout website.
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