Energy & Environment — California to ban new gas-powered cars after 2035 

California is on track to ban new gas-powered car sales this week. Meanwhile, an Interior Department watchdog says a former secretary lied to investigators, and drought threatens “catastrophe” in the Horn of Africa. 

This is Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. For The Hill, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. 

California to pass 2035 ban of gas car sales

California is expected on Thursday to approve a ban on the sale of new gas-powered cars that would begin in 2035.  

The state’s Air Resources Board on Thursday will vote on the ban, which would also ratchet up the percentage of vehicles sold in the state that are electric leading up to the 2035 date.  

What comes next? California’s clean car standards are also often adopted by other states, so the impact of this rule could stretch far beyond its borders. 

Gas-powered cars are a major source of climate-warming emissions and other air pollutants, and the measure has been touted as an attempt to both tackle climate change and improve public health. 

In 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) issued an executive order seeking to phase out the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035, but Thursday’s action will actually put that goal in motion.  

How does it compare to the White House target? The California plan is more ambitious than federal goals. President Biden said last year that he hoped that half of new vehicle sales would be electric by 2030. That year, California’s regulations would mandate 68 percent of vehicle sales in the state are electric. 

Automakers in recent months have moved toward increasing electric vehicle sales, with several making pledges to increase the proportion of vehicles they sell that are electric. 

Read more about the rule here. 

Watchdog: Trump Interior head misled investigators 

Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his chief of staff misled an internal federal watchdog about the department’s decision to punt on a proposed Native American casino in Connecticut, the watchdog said in a report released Wednesday. 

The Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) wrote in the report that in May 2017, an unnamed political consultant texted a casino lobbyist to inform him he would be dining with Zinke. The consultant confirmed to the OIG that he and Zinke regularly dined together and discussed the casino lobby’s arguments against amendments by two tribes to allow them to construct casinos off-reservation.  

In interviews with OIG personnel, Zinke — who is now the GOP nominee for a new congressional district in western Montana — reportedly said he had not discussed the matter with the lobbyist, who was also unnamed, saying if he had interacted with the lobbyist it was only in a casual social setting.

• However, in the report, OIG wrote that “extensive evidence” indicated the lobbyist had specifically used the consultant to convey his concerns to Zinke. 
  
• The consultant told the OIG that in addition to discussing the casino’s arguments against the tribes at multiple dinners, he also asked Zinke if he could send him a one-page summary of those arguments in August 2017, to which Zinke responded, “Sure.”
  
• Later that month, both the lobbyist and the consultant dined at Zinke’s house, which the consultant said was specifically to allow the lobbyist to make his case directly to Zinke.  

The OIG referred its finding in 2018 to the Justice Department, which declined to take action. 

Zinke responds: In a response included with the OIG report, Zinke denied any wrongdoing and suggested the report’s release was improper ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, as he is a candidate for a House seat. Zinke’s attorneys also called the report’s findings inaccurate, noting that he did not outright reject the proposal and thus “did not adopt the position of any lobbyist for or against the project.” 

Read more about the report here. 

Kids enduring Africa drought close to ‘catastrophe’

Children in two vast regions of Africa could die in devastating numbers due to the compounding effects of malnutrition and waterborne illnesses, the United Nations’s International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday. 

The children at particular risk are those who live in the Horn of Africa — Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia — and several countries in the semi-arid Sahel region, including Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, according to the agency. 

UNICEF issued the warning in conjunction with the first day of World Water Week — organized annually by the Stockholm International Water Institute — which began on the same morning. 

“History shows that when high levels of severe acute malnutrition in children combine with deadly outbreaks of diseases like cholera or diarrhea, child mortality rises dramatically – and tragically,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

“When water either isn’t available or is unsafe, the risks to children multiply exponentially,” Russell continued. “Across the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, millions of children are just one disease away from catastrophe.” 

More than 2.8 million children across these two regions are already enduring acute malnutrition, meaning that they are at up to 11 times greater risk of dying from waterborne illnesses than their well-nourished peers, according to UNICEF. 

Read more from The Hill’s Sharon Udasin. 

WHAT WE’RE READING

• This massive wind farm could save California — and forever change the American West (The Los Angeles Times) 
• The Gulf’s first offshore wind energy zones prompt concerns from Texas, shrugs from Louisiana (NOLA.com) 
• Biden admin eyes funding Canadian mining (E&E News) 
• Beshear calls special session of Kentucky legislature to address flood relief (The Courier-Journal) 
• Solar power is booming in Germany as Russia turns down the gas (CNN)

💒 Lighter click: Swimming down the aisle. 

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Energy & Environment page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.  

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