Chinese official promotes data clampdown, but statement later removed: The director of China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), Zhang Jianhua, has called on Chinese energy companies to implement tighter information security measures and warned of “foreign hostile forces wanting to steal and attack” to disrupt the country’s energy transformation. In a statement on the NEA website, Zhang said, “We must … actively cultivate a confidentiality culture that keeps secrets and is cautious”. The comments come against a backdrop of ongoing tension between China and the US and international media coverage of the approval of a batch of new coal plants. “They keep a close eye on my country’s energy sector, stepping up the collection of various data and information, so as to distort and slander my country’s energy strategic planning, transformation and development, and interfere with our hard-won security and stability,” Zhang said. Zhang’s statement was later deleted from the NEA’s website. News reports featuring his comments have also been removed. (Power Technology, Reuters, National Energy Administration [Chinese/Internet Archive])

Ffos-y-Fran to close in November, but questions over rehabilitation: Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, the operator of the Ffos-y-Fran coal mine, has announced the project will close on November 30. The planning permit for the mine expired in September 2022, and an application to extend the operation until 2026 was rejected by the Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council in April 2023. Despite this, the company continued operating, prompting the council to begin legal action to close the mine by the end of July. The company appealed that action and continued operating. Faced with ongoing mining, the Coal Action Network and the Good Law Project applied for a judicial review of the council’s and Welsh government’s decisions not to issue stop-work orders against the company. The union covering the 115 workers on the site said the company is consulting with the council on possible rehabilitation plans, but residents have expressed concerns that there are insufficient funds to rehabilitate the site as initially agreed. (BBC)

British Columbia supports a limited review of Teck’ selenium pollution: The Confederated Kootenai and Salish tribes in Montana and the Ktunaxa Nation in British Columbia have welcomed the provincial government of British Columbia softening its opposition to the International Joint Commission (IJC) addressing cross-border selenium pollution from Teck Resources Elk Valley mines. First Nations, environmental and recreational groups and the US government have been pushing for an IJC investigation of the issue, but Canada has resisted due to opposition from Teck and the British Columbian government. The provincial government has proposed the IJC would assist in “bringing representatives together to share progress, validate issues and facts, and gather information in a way that is respectful and inclusive of Indigenous knowledge.” Kathryn Teneese from the Ktunaxa Nation in BC and Tom McDonald from the Confederated Kootenai and Salish tribes in Montana want the established IJC procedures to be followed, not modified to suit the provincial government. The Ktunaxa Nation Council has also proposed a joint Ktunaxa-Canadian government action plan. (CBC News, The Narwhal)

Indonesian court sentences former regent to seven years in prison: The Corruption Crime Court at the Bandung District Court has sentenced the former Regent of Cirebon, Sunjaya Purwadisastra, to serve seven years in prison after convicting him of accepting 64 billion rupiah (US$4.2 million) in bribes. Evidence presented to the court indicated bribes were paid to Sunjaya to approve the 2000 MW expansion of the Cirebon coal plant in West Java by Cirebon Energi Prasarana (CERP). CERP is a joint venture in which Marubeni Corporation owns a 35 per cent stake, and JERA holds a 10 per cent stake. JERA is a joint venture between two Japanese utilities, Tokyo Electric Power Company and Chubu Electric Power. Friends of the Earth Japan has called on the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, a public bank owned by Japan’s Ministry of Finance, to suspend loan disbursements for the project and require repayment of loan funds already paid out. (Kabariku [Indonesian], Friends of the Earth Japan)

Draft Just Energy Transition plan submitted to the Indonesian Government: A draft implementation plan for Indonesia’s US$20 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership has been submitted to the government and funding partners for review. Details of the draft plan have not been released, but the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Secretary General said the “full draft text” would be subject to public comment. The finalisation of the implementation plan has been delayed by Indonesia’s support for the construction of 13,000 MW of new captive coal plants for new nickel, cobalt and aluminium smelters, the selection of coal plants to retire and domestic resistance to phasing out coal power projects. (The Diplomat, Straits Times, The Business Times)

US environmental justice groups criticise CCS push: US environmental justice advocates have criticised the Biden administration promoting carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects as doing little to reduce pollution affecting marginalised communities. The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Panel appointed by President Biden recommended that CCS projects should not be counted as part of the Justice40 initiative that committed to deliver 40 per cent of the benefit of climate and energy investment to underserved communities. Despite the recommendation, Department of Energy (DOE) support for CCS and direct air capture (DAC) projects are included in the tally. Various environmental justice groups were invited to a meeting in June to discuss the DOE’s approach to CCS and DAC projects, but many declined to attend. While the DOE says it is committed to engaging with civil society groups on CCS and DAC projects, environmental justice groups argue communities do not have the right to say now to proposed plants. (ClimateWire)

Canada: SaskPower’s 630 MW Poplar River coal plant in Saskatchewan was knocked offline by a flood on June 2. One unit has been restarted, with the second due back online shortly.

Canada: Democracy Watch has formally requested an investigation into potential conflict of interest breaches by British Columbia’s former Premier John Horgan. The day after resigning as an MP, Horgan announced he would be nominated to join the board of Teck Resources coal spinoff, Elk Valley Resources.

China: Eleven miners were killed in an underground mine explosion at the Xintai coal mine in Shaanxi province.

India: The Central Bureau of Intelligence is seeking a seven-year jail term for a Ministry of Steel official found guilty of corruption in allocating Vijay Central Coal Block in Chhattisgarh.

India: The High Court of Delhi has suspended the prison sentences of three civil servants convicted over irregularities in the allocation of the Fatehpur (East) coal block in Chhattisgarh, pending an appeal.

Kazakhstan: Inquiry ordered into the conveyor belt fire at ArcelorMittal’s Kazakhstanskaya coal mine that killed five and resulted in 11 more hospitalised. MP says over 100 workers have died in ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s operations over the last 15 years.

Vietnam: Thua Thien Hue Province has approved PTS Far East Investment undertaking a study on building a coal conveyor of up to 130 kilometres from the Ka Lum mine in Laos to the border crossing at Hong Van in Vietnam. The conveyor could move up to 15 million tonnes of coal annually.

Reduced hydro generation and rapid demand growth put pressure on Vietnam’s grid: A senior executive of Vietnam Electricity (EVN) told a recent energy industry conference that reduced water inflows into hydro storages during the El Nino event, combined with fuel shortages and other problems at the utility’s coal plants, made meeting power demand in May and June “particularly challenging”. Vietnam’s north has been experiencing rapid demand growth and limited supply, while renewable projects in the south have been curtailed due to a lack of transmission capacity. EVN said demand management measures, increased rooftop solar capacity, and cutting transmission losses to less than six per cent could avoid the need for a further 1200 MW coal plant. EVN said that without new measures, the northern provinces could have a generation shortfall of 2000 MW by 2024/25. (VietnamNet)

Australian power utility strikes deal for 2035 closure: AGL, Australia’s largest coal plant operator, has struck an unspecified “risk sharing” agreement with the Victorian Government to keep the 2210 MW Loy Yang A brown coal plant open until June 30, 2035. The utility said the deal would prevent an unplanned closure “in the event of adverse market conditions” if the state government requires the plant to remain online. The agreement allows for the earlier closure of the plant. AGL said it has “ambitious plans” to repurpose the power station site and associated mine but declined to provide details. Friends of the Latrobe Valley said the company’s statement about reusing the site for other energy projects is delaying addressing the problem of having a large unused mine void. The mine can produce up to 30 million tonnes of brown coal annually for the Loy Yang A plant and Alinta’s adjoining 1026 MW Loy Yang B power station. Days before the announcement, AGL revealed it had agreed to supply 300 MW for Alcoa’s Portland aluminium smelter until June 2035. (The Age, ABC News, AGL)

Adani family offloads stake in Adani Power to raise cash: The Adani family has sold a nine per cent stake in Adani Power, India’s largest private coal power generator, raising US$1.1 billion and boosting cash reserves of the Adani group of companies in the wake of the Hindenburg Research report. In a separate development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has closed its investigation of Adani Enterprises and Virender Singh, the former National Cooperative Consumer Federation chairman, over the coal import supply agreement for Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation. In 2020, the CBI filed a case of cheating and corruption against Adani Enterprises, Singh and others associated with the deal. (Times of India, Mint)

Russia launches legal action to seize coal plants held by oligarch: Russia’s Prosecutor General has filed a lawsuit against billionaire oligarch Andrey Melnichenko seeking to nationalise SIBECO, which operates coal power plants in western Siberia. The prosecutor alleges the original purchase of the plants in 2018 was “antisocial” and resulted from “corrupt collusion”. Melnichenko, who is Russia’s richest man, bought SIBECO for US$571 million from the state when Mikhail Abyzov was Minister of Open Government. Abyzov was arrested in 2019 to face charges of embezzlement of funds from SIBECO and remains in prison while facing trial. Melnichenko now oversees the operation of his fertiliser company, EuroChem, and coal company, SUEK, from his base in the United Arab Emirates. SUEK, Russia’s largest coal company, produced 114 million tonnes of coal in 2022, of which  42.5 million tonnes was exported. A representative of Melnichenko confirmed the lawsuit but declined to comment until the hearing in September. (Financial Times, Radio Free Europe)

South African coal exports hinge on Transnet performance: South African coal exporters are lobbying Transnet to restore the coal capacity of the railway network. In the first half of 2023, the coal export line to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal ran at an annualised rate of 48 million tonnes. The coal terminal has a nominal capacity of 91 million tonnes annually. The CEO of Thungela Resources, July Ndlovu, said the industry wants the Transnet line to reach more than 70 million tonnes a year. During the 2022 price spike in the export market, Transnet’s capacity was constrained due to damage to the rail infrastructure by copper thieves, slow recovery from derailments and difficulties accessing spare parts for locomotives. A joint business-Transnet committee has pushed reforms that have resulted in lifting most speed restrictions on the line to the coal terminal. The business lobby is also pushing for the involvement of private companies in the rail sector. (News 24 [Paywall])

Eskom Treasury pays first instalment of Eskom bailout: Eskom’s CEO, Calib Cassim, has confirmed that South Africa’s Treasury has transferred 16 billion rand (US$852 million) to allow the state-owned utility to pay off debts to global financial institutions. A second instalment is scheduled to be paid in October. Treasury’s bailout is conditional on  Eskom not taking on new debt in the next four years, a requirement that may complicate the negotiation of the proposed US$8.5 billion Just Transition Energy Partnership. Eskom’s ability to fund maintenance of its aging fleet of coal plants has been hobbled by its limited financial capacity. High levels of load shedding have undercut revenue, significant power price increases have affected demand and boosted the attractiveness of distributed generation. Eskom has increased its reliance on expensive diesel generation to reduce load shedding. Another complication for the utility is the unknown cost of the prolonged refurbishment of the Koeburg nuclear plant, with Eskom and Framatome, the French nuclear contractor, reportedly in a dispute over delays and expenses. (Reuters, News24)

Groups welcome the decision to delay relining of Indiana steel furnace: The major US steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs announced a one-year delay to 2026 to the relining of a blast furnace at its Burns Harbour steel plant in Indiana. Relining the blast furnace would extend its life by about 18 years. The Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana has welcomed the decision as “better than nothing” but wants the company to drop the plan and switch to hydrogen-based steel production. Coal-based blast furnaces are major greenhouse gas emitters and a significant source of other pollutants. According to data from Industrious Labs, the Burns Harbor plant is Indiana’s largest emitter of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide. (Wfyi.org)

“Decarbonizing Steel and Cement: Chris Bataille”, Center on Global Energy Policy, August 8, 2023.

The 58-minute podcast features an interview with Chris Bataille from the Center on Global Energy Policy on pathways for decarbonising the steel and cement industries.

Global Climate Litigation Report 2023 Status Review, United Nations Environment Program, July 2023. (Pdf) (The media release on the report is here.)

This 109-page report provides a global overview of climate change litigation and emerging trends. The report notes that, as of December 2022, there are 2180 climate-related cases before the courts in 65 jurisdictions. Some cases are challenges against coal mines and power plants, but the report excludes those focused on cutting coal plant pollution.