NEW RULES FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE TAX CREDITS: The Treasury Department’s new proposed guidance for the revised electric vehicle tax credit represents a paradigm shift for the program, and officials said they expect it to knock down the number of models eligible for the full $7,500 subsidy in the near term.
For critical minerals, it’s 40% and limited to those extracted or processed in the United States or a country with which the United States has a free trade agreement, or recycled in North America. Here were some of Manchin’s musings on the direction of the guidance on Wednesday, particularly the meaning of “processing”: “Does it mean basically the process of the raw product into a form that we can take it and put it in a manufacturing form? Or is it basically the making the powders and the wafers and everything that we need, and foils, and calling that processing? Well, you do that and we don't, we don't meet our objective of being self-reliant.
Treasury said it would issue further guidance on this component of the rule, but it’s expected that suppliers tied to China and Russia will be at the top of that list. Interior said the effort would help protect land at risk of climate change-induced threats, such as wildfire and drought, as well as areas in need of habitat restoration. It would allow Interior to issue 10-year conservation leases for these lands. It stressed that conservation would not be put above other land uses––but simply on par with the other considerations within its multiple-use framework.
The amendment stops short of issuing a moratorium on offshore wind projects, but would require the GAO to investigate the environmental review processes for such projects carried out by BOEM, NOAA, and all relevant federal agencies involved in the process. It would also require the GAO to investigate the impacts that offshore wind development might have on whales or other marine life on the East Coast.
JUSTICE DEPT SUES NORFOLK SOUTHERN OVER EAST PALESTINE DERAILMENT: The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern over the East Palestine train derailment, seeking injunctive relief and civil penalties payments for the pollution caused by the Feb. 3 derailment. E.U. STRIKES DEAL ON HIGHER RENEWABLE ENERGY TARGET: European Union leaders reached a provisional deal yesterday to raise their renewable energy targets by 2030, with negotiators agreeing to source between 42.5% and 45% of their energy from renewable sources by the end of the decade, compared to the previous target of just 32%.