| | | | |  | | By Ariel Wittenberg | | Presented by |  | | | |  Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is under fire for heat safety of letter carriers. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP | Letter carriers say the Postal Service is endangering their lives during heat waves — sometimes by denying them air conditioning. The allegations detailed in my story today come during a summer that has seen record-breaking temperatures across the country. It’s not the first time the Postal Service has taken heat: The death of a letter carrier in Texas last year was part of a storm of allegations that the agency falsified records in its own heat safety programs and penalized mail carriers for taking breaks from high temperatures. In the latest furor, internal records show that the Postal Service pushed letter carriers in recent months to rush deliveries in sweltering conditions. A manager in Buffalo, New York, angry that carriers were lingering in post offices, sent an email in July telling local supervisors to “turn A/C off and drive them out.” A week later, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration received a complaint from a Wisconsin letter carrier that their local post office was “refraining from starting up air conditioning units while route preparations are being performed.” OSHA is also investigating the death of a USPS worker in North Carolina earlier this summer as possibly heat-related. The case follows the 2023 death of Eugene Gates Jr., who died of heat stroke while delivering the mail in Texas. As I reported last year, Gates’ supervisors had reprimanded him for being too slow to work his route, accusing him of taking too many stops. He was also one of thousands of letter carriers who alleged that their personnel records had been doctored to show they had received heat safety training when they had not, according to the National Association of Letter Carriers union. Those cases are in arbitration, but hundreds of additional letter carriers say their records were falsified again this year. Democrats in Congress are now pushing USPS to do more to protect workers during heat waves, which are becoming more frequent and more intense as the climate changes. Today, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) led more than 70 House Democrats in a letter urging the Postal Service to implement safeguards included in a rule proposed by OSHA earlier this summer. The proposed rule, which could take years to be finalized, would require employers to provide rest and water breaks for employees when temperatures and humidity combine to exceed 80 degrees. The Postal Service informed Casar’s staff in a letter that it does not want to implement such measures because the regulation’s requirements are costly and could change before they are finalized. But Casar intends to keep pushing. “If there is a set of supposed mistakes coming up over and over again across the country that put people at risk of the heat, that becomes a systemic problem,” Casar said.
| | | | It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Ariel Wittenberg, with help from Nicole Norman. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to jkirkland@eenews.net.
| | | | A YEAR OF CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: A year ago, the California Climate newsletter was created with a goal in mind — to be your go-to source for cutting-edge climate policy reporting in the Golden State. From covering Gov. Newsom's crucial China trip to leading the coverage on California's efforts to Trump-proof its climate policies, we've been at the forefront of the climate conversation. Join us for year two if you haven’t already, subscribe now. | | | | | | | | Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Kelsey Tamborrino breaks down the results of Wednesday's offshore wind lease sale in the mid-Atlantic and what it means for the industry.
| | | | A message from Equinor: At Equinor, we never stop searching for better. We’re producing the energy the world needs today while developing innovative solutions for a lower carbon tomorrow. The work we’re doing to harness American energy resources, from oil and gas to offshore wind and low carbon fuels like hydrogen, can help us deliver a safe, reliable, and sustainable energy future. Discover more about Equinor at www.equinor.com/USA. | | | | | | | 
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) during this year's Republican National Convention. Johnson has not been outspoken about climate change issues. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP | Republicans forced to confront their climate differences
Growing Republican support for electric cars and renewable energy tax credits is complicating conservative opposition to the Democrats’ 2022 climate law, Emma Dumain and Kelsey Brugger write. The GOP split on clean energy is becoming more of a challenge as the party makes plans for a potential "red wave" in November. Last week, 18 congressional Republicans signed a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson asking him to spare energy tax credits from any planned takedown of the Inflation Reduction Act. Lobbyists and Capitol Hill aides say that talks are in the works and everything is on the table. “They are in the collecting ideas phase,” said Mike McKenna, a well-known GOP energy lobbyist who worked in the Trump White House. “Everyone is like, ‘Hey, what are your best ideas?’ Reconciliation is kind of the Wild West of legislation. It doesn’t have a lot of constraints of regular legislation.” Wind industry blows past setbacks and threats
A federal lease for wind projects off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia drew nearly $93 million in bids at an Interior Department auction on Wednesday, a sign that developers are willing to push through setbacks to develop wind energy, writes Kelsey Tamborrino. “This bidding could suggest that some project developers view the potential risks associated with a return on the Trump administration as overdone,” said Tim Fox, managing director at advisory firm ClearView Energy Partners. The sale shows that there is interest in long-term options for renewable energy projects, despite supply chain issues and a recent spate of canceled projects and auctions. U.S. struggles with supply chain issues
Speaking of the wind industry, U.S. companies are having to rely on the other nations’ supply chains to build projects, writes Heather Richards. “Mostly all of our components are coming from Europe,” said John Larson, director of public policy and economic development for Dominion Energy. Companies like Dominion Energy are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into building up the U.S. supply chain, but more will have to be done to keep up with the quickly growing industry.
| | | | A message from Equinor:   | | | | | Salty solution: The startup Natron Energy plans to invest $1.4 billion in a factory in North Carolina to produce batteries that rely on sodium instead of lithium. Trouble for the trees: Joshua trees are blooming more frequently because of climate swings in rain and temperatures, but the conditions may make it harder for saplings to survive.
| | | | A message from Equinor: Our world needs energy to keep moving forward, and we all have a role to play. At Equinor, we never stop searching for better, producing the energy the world needs today while developing innovative solutions for a lower carbon tomorrow. We’re using our competence, skills, and innovative spirit to continually search for better solutions. Our ambition is to break through barriers, create lasting value for all our stakeholders, and supply energy to a thriving world while achieving net zero emissions by 2050. The work we’re doing to harness American energy resources, from oil and gas to offshore wind and low carbon fuels like hydrogen, can help us deliver a safe, reliable, and sustainable energy future. But this is only the beginning. Discover more about Equinor at www.equinor.com/USA | | | | | A showcase of some of our best subscriber content.
|  Vice President Kamala Harris (C) speaks alongside Chief of the US Forest Service Randy Moore (L) and Senator Alex Padilla (R) at the US Forest Service Del Rosa fire station in San Bernardino, California on January 21, 2022. | Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images | Worsening wildfires in California have helped shape Vice President Kamala Harris' views on climate change. When a blade came off a Vineyard Wind turbine in July, it was another setback for the parts supplier GE Vernova, which could be on the hook for cleanup and construction delays. A Wisconsin utility wants to build a novel kind of battery storage project on the site of a coal plant that's set to close. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
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