Morning Brief: House Committee on Un-American Activities goes after EPA

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EPA postponed an internal speaker series on environmental problems faced by racial minorities and low-income communities after the White House issued a government-wide order for agencies to stop certain “un-American” race-related training.

EPA’s postponement of the “environmental justice” series was because of a Sept. 4 memo from the Office of Management and Budget that cited a directive from President Donald Trump for agencies to halt any “divisive, un-American propaganda training session.”  That includes anything “that teaches, trains or suggests the following: (1) virtually all White people contribute to racism or benefit from racism (2) critical race theory (3) white privilege (4) that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country (5) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil (6) Anti-American propaganda.”

The series would have featured Robert Nelson and LaDale Winling of the Mapping Inequality Project, a multi-university effort that visualizes how banks in the 1930s used the practice of “redlining” to keep white and black communities segregated, which has left a legacy that continues to influence the racial makeup of many communities. Source: Politico

Nextracker entered into a strategic partnership with Shanghai Electric to supply over 1 GW of its solar trackers for phase five of Dubai’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Solar Park — the largest in the Middle East. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Solar Park is owned by the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority. Nextracker has close to 40 GW of its solar tracker technology under construction or operating globally. Financed for $564 Million DEWA V is currently entering phase five of development through ACWA Power with a planned production capacity of 1 GW for phase five and 5 GW in total. Source: Nextracker

LG Chem of South Korea said it will spin off its electric vehicle battery unit into a new company, and that it may seek to take the business public.LG Chem is the largest EV battery maker in the world, recently overtaking China’s CATL, with customers like Tesla, GM, and Audi. Source: Axios

Enel X and Ardian, a private investment house, will launch a JV to manage Enel X’s battery storage projects in Canada. The JV currently includes ten projects, making up around 30 MW of capacity, which will be dedicated to operating and developing battery storage projects in Ontario. Ardian will hold 80% of the partnership, while Enel X will hold the remaining 20%.  Source: Enel X

Webinar today — Smart Charge Hawaii in partnership with Hawaiian Electric, Enel X and Elemental developed an innovative approach to accelerate EV adoption by incentivizing zero-emission transportation, Level 2 smart charging and help integrate renewable energy into the grid — all in part to support Hawaii’s commitment to 100% renewable energy for electricity by 2045. Enel X and Elemental Excelerator are ready to reveal the data and insights from the pilot, which kicked off in September 2019, specifically one surprisingly simple way to support greater EV adoption in Hawaii and beyond. Listen in for more details on Elemental Excelerator’s Live Webinar with Enel X on September 18 at 1 p.m. PT.

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