Hot days ahead — Weeks before the depths of summer, record-setting heat is scorching large swaths of the country, threatening to destabilize the power grid and compromising human health.
The human toll is staggering. At least 1,300 people die a year in the U.S. due to extreme heat, according to federal data. And a report published this week in Environmental Research found that climate change-driven deaths, especially from heat, are vastly undercounted.
At least 53 people died from extreme heat after being trapped in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio earlier this week. This month is already the hottest June on record for that city, with 17 days so far hitting 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.
Migrants entering the country through the southwestern border are particularly vulnerable to heat deaths. U.S. Customs and Border Protection counted 557 deaths along the border last year, the highest since the agency began keeping track.
Temperatures are reaching near or above 100 degrees in major cities, shattering records, and boosting demand for air conditioning at unanticipated rates, straining an already vulnerable electricity system.
A fragile grid
The retirement of coal-burning power plants coupled with rising energy demand tied to another hot summer is exacerbating grid instability. And energy regulators are warning that the kinds of rolling blackouts all too familiar to states like Texas and California could spread across the Midwest, Great Plains and Southeast.
“Low-income families and, accordingly, communities of color are going to be bearing the brunt of the tsunami of shut-offs and the lack of access to electricity and air conditioning,” said Jean Su, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re unfortunately going to see fatal and severe public health consequences.”
States are trying to get creative. Texas, which reported record-high electricity demand this month, is weighing a proposal from Tesla that would create a virtual power plant made up of home solar panels and batteries.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration used the Defense Production Act to order an acceleration of domestic manufacturing and deployment of rooftop solar and storage, which could insulate low-income customers from blackouts.
Still, experts worry that the instability driven by extreme weather could stall efforts to shift more of the electric grid to zero-carbon sources. Worsening the problem is a sluggish regulatory process that has stalled scores of renewable power projects from connecting to the grid.
To address this, the nation’s top energy regulator has mapped out a plan to overhaul U.S. transmission and open the floodgates to clean power.
Who pays for the grid transformation is another story.
It’s Wednesday — thank you for tuning into POLITICO’s Power Switch. I’m your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to [email protected]
April was the third-highest month for electric vehicle sales, according to the most recent data from Atlas Public Policy, an EV advisory group.
Ford Motor Co. had its best month ever, selling 5,000 electric automobiles. And General Motors’ Chevrolet Bolt made a comeback after it was recalled last year with more 1,200 sales in April.
March set a record with 82,000 EVs sold, accounting for nearly 7 percent of the market, despite supply chain woes. President Joe Biden has set a goal that half of all U.S. auto sales will be electric by decade’s end — that’s a long way to go in just eight years.
Oil showdown
The Biden administration is holding its first lease sale on public lands and could release several key decisions this week that may affect the oil industry for years, writes Heather Richards.
Environmental activists are drafting lawsuits and later in the week, the Interior Department is slated to unveil a draft plan for offshore oil and gas auctions over the next five years. Read more here.
Pipelines in peril
Federal judges yesterday ruled against environmentalists and approved a key extension of the embattled Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline, writes Pamela King.
Still, it’s an uphill battle for the 303-mile project, which recently lost key permits and is in danger of losing its main project certificate. Read the story here.
Climate deals
E.U. countries clinched ambitious climate deals today, agreeing to phase out internal combustion vehicles by 2035 and creating a multibillion-euro fund to insulate poor citizens from carbon costs, writes Zia Weise.
But negotiations on the broader package to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent this decade are ongoing and will likely prove difficult. Read the full story here.
A showcase of some of our best subscriber content.
A Swiss startup has begun construction of a facility that can suck 36,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the air, but the total CO2 it can remove remains a fraction of a single coal-fired power plant.
A federal watchdog has determined that Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm violated the Hatch Act last year when she called it “good news” that Democrats won the majority in Congress.
Volkswagen AG announced it will voluntarily invest $450 million more into the electric vehicle charging network it was court-ordered to launch after getting caught violating emissions standards.
Well, that’s concrete: A new technology is sucking carbon pollution from power plants and elsewhere and permanently embedding it in concrete, cutting that concrete’s carbon footprint by more than half.
Today in POLITICO’s energy podcast: Catherine Morehouse breaks down how the nation’s top energy regulator has proposed a massive clean energy overhaul of the U.S. electric transmission system. Figuring out how to pay for it is another story.
Bonus track: Music festivals are increasingly vulnerable to climate change. Tennessee, the home of Bonnaroo, saw a record 24-hour rainfall last year that killed 20 people, for example.
The science, policy and politics driving the energy transition can feel miles away. But we’re all affected on an individual and communal level — from hotter days and higher gas prices to home insurance rates and food supply.
Send me your questions with “Question Corner” in the subject line. We’ll pick a handful to answer each week in the newsletter.
That’s it for today, folks! Thanks for tuning in.
