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A summary of legislative and regulatory action on carbon pricing, clean fuel standards, and clean energy at the US subnational and federal level this week, including developments in Oregon and the PJM wholesale grid.

Company has been issued with a huge fine but those affected by its actions are finding it hard to celebrate

• Southern Water fined £90m over sewage
• Timeline: privatisation to pollution fines

The town of Whitstable sits on the north Kent coast, home to the oysters that have brought it worldwide fame from waters that are some of the most protected in Europe.

Celebrities, royals, tourists and locals flock to its annual festival to taste the native Whitstable oyster. But in 2013 the pollution in the sea where the famous oysters feed was so extreme that the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and other high-profile guests had to be served Irish shellfish hastily imported for the occasion.

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Privatised firm dumped billions of litres of raw sewage off north Kent and Hampshire coasts to avoid costs and penalties

• Timeline: from privatisation to pollution fines
• ‘The sea was milky white’: how the scandal unfolded

Southern Water has been fined a record £90m for deliberately dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into protected seas over several years for its own financial gain.

Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson, sentencing the privatised water company, said it had discharged between 16bn and 21bn litres of raw sewage into some of the most precious, delicate environments in the country.

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EU plans for an upstream cap on emissions from buildings and transport are both welcome and worrying, says Sanjeev Kumar of the European Geothermal Energy Council.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a hungry hippo, coot chick and mother and basking turtle

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Developing offsets from so-called blue carbon projects will play an important role in China’s efforts to meet its climate targets, and the country is also pushing for crediting sinks created by the farming of bivalves and other ocean life forms.

Harmful PFAS chemicals are being used to hold food, drink and cosmetics, with unknown consequences for human health

Many of the world’s plastic containers and bottles are contaminated with toxic PFAS, and new data suggests that it’s probably leaching into food, drinks, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, cleaning products and other items at potentially high levels.

It’s difficult to say with precision how many plastic containers are contaminated and what it means for consumers’ health because regulators and industry have done very little testing or tracking until this year, when the Environmental Protection Agency discovered that the chemicals were leaching into a mosquito pesticide. One US plastic company reported “fluorinating” – or effectively adding PFAS to – 300m containers in 2011.

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Limiting NZU positions or purchase volumes and requiring all transactions to go through an exchange are among the options considered by the New Zealand government as it plans to strengthen the governing regulations of its emissions trading scheme.

Federal environment minister flags appeal of Federal Court order that she has a duty of care to protect young people from the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions.

The post “Embarrassing:” Ley to appeal court ruling she has duty of care to young people on emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Alinta’s Gary Bryant on how battery storage is accelerating the shift to renewables.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Batteries accelerating shift to renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Battery storage installations are getting bigger and delivering more services as the market shifts more rapidly to wind and solar.

The post Batteries getting bigger and leaping to four-hour storage as market changes appeared first on RenewEconomy.

One of the largest floating solar projects in the world has been completed and is sending power to the grid.

The post Singapore’s largest floating solar plant begins commercial operation appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Synergy says its 100MW/200MWh big battery has been given the green light for development at a decommissioned fossil fuel power station.

The post First big battery on WA’s main grid gains development approval appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Researcher accidentally spots tiny insect walking on the underside of the water surface as if it were a pane of glass

An Australian beetle has been observed walking upside down along the surface of water – the first instance that such behaviour has been visually documented.

The tiny aquatic beetle, about 6mm to 8mm in length, has been recorded scuttling along the undersurface of a pool of water in New South Wales.

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Enel Green Power and Energy Vault want to use recycled wind turbine blades in an innovative, long-duration energy storage system.

The post Wind turbine blades to get second life as long duration energy storage appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The Australian beetle, about 6mm to 8mm in length, was discovered by a PhD student while researching frogs in the Watagan Mountains of New South Wales. The unidentified species is believed to belong to the Hydrophilidae family of beetles, commonly known as water scavengers

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Securing community buy-in for new transmission network projects will be crucial for success of Renewable Energy Zones, the RE-Alliance says.

The post Warning for renewable energy zones: Don’t repeat mistakes of early wind and solar appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New Norwegian initiative should allow project sponsors and investors to access investment capital cheaper than otherwise available in the market.

The post Norway pledges billions to replace fossil fuels in developing countries appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Sri Lanka is still grappling with the consequences of the cargo ship fire, which dumped tonnes of plastic and hazardous chemicals into the ocean. Claudio Bozzi, Lecturer in Law, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

We are seeking your feedback on the actions and targets to be included in this first Action Plan. We want to find out more about what species and places are important to you. The survey will close 26 July 2021.