Top officials from all the Chesapeake Bay states and the federal government gathered in Annapolis Tuesday to reiterate their commitment to cleaning up the historically and economically critical estuary and strengthening the decade-long partnership that has helped improve the Bay’s health — even if that progress hasn’t been as swift and consistent as they might have hoped.
See the full story in the Virginia Mercury.
More DMV News
Henrico Planning to Add 10 Electric School Buses
12 News
The Henrico School Board voted Thursday to accept grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to replace 10 diesel school buses with 10 electric school buses.
Unconstrained Power Demand Will Require 150% New Generation
LoudounNow
On Monday morning, the Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission heard a report showcasing work conducted over the past 12 months to study the data center industry and make policy recommendations.
State Panel Votes to Study, Rather Than Recommend, Ways to Pay for Climate Plan
Maryland Matters
One year after a state environmental agency calculated that it would cost Maryland at least $10 billion to meet the government’s ambitious climate mandates, the Maryland Commission on Climate Change took baby steps Thursday toward considering how to pay for them — but the panel didn’t go nearly as far as some members originally intended.
The Good, the Bad and What’s Next for Virginia’s Data Center Industry
WUSA9
As the data center industry continues to boom in Virginia, an extensive and comprehensive state review provided lawmakers with recommendations to consider in the hopes of alleviating negative impacts in the future, including energy costs and power grid strains.
National and International News
The EV Transition is Taking Time. That’s Expected.
Utility Dive
If all new car sales right now were EVs — a target for more than a dozen states by 2035 — it would still take at least a decade and likely far longer to fully transition to electric vehicles.
A New Way to Fix Grid Bottlenecks for EV Charging: Flexible Connection
Canary Media
At a Tesla high-speed EV charging site in California’s Central Valley, utility Pacific Gas & Electric has switched on a pilot project that could mark a major advance in getting big customers connected to stressed-out power grids. It’s called Flex Connect, and it’s based on a simple concept — let customers control how much power they use so that they don’t exceed what the grid can safely deliver from hour to hour.
Exxon Plans to Sell Electricity to Data Centers
New York Times
Demand for electricity is rising so quickly in the United States that even Exxon Mobil, the country’s largest oil and gas company, is planning to get into the power business.
EPA Will Grant California the Right to Ban Sales of New Gas Cars by 2035
Washington Post
The EPA intends to issue California a waiver as soon as next week to enforce its rule aimed at banning sales of new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035, said the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The Trump administration will probably try to revoke the waiver, although those efforts could run into legal obstacles.
After 2 Years, Coca-Cola’s Promise to Scale Up Reusable Packaging is Dead
Grist
Despite growing public scrutiny and legal challenges over its use of plastic, Coca-Cola appears to be moving backward on packaging sustainability. Earlier this decade, the soda giant publicly pledged to decrease its use of virgin plastic and boost the share of its beverages sold in reusable containers. But in a blog post last week, the company quietly dropped those targets.