Today’s Key Takeaways: Gen Z wants to learn skilled trades. More investment in ANWR leases. Appeals court likely to rule in favor of AKLNG – against Sierra Club. Lithium deposit in AR could meet world demand nine times over.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
Skilled trades gain traction with Gen Z, report finds
Benton Graham, Higher Ed Dive, October 21, 2024
About 9 in 10 Gen Z graduates said learning a skilled trade can be a better route to economic security than college, home services app Thumbtack found.
- Social media is increasingly driving an interest in skilled trades careers among members of Generation Z, generally defined as people born from 1997 to 2012, according to a report from home services app Thumbtack.
- Social media is the second-largest driver of Gen Z career paths, with 55% of Gen Z respondents now saying they are considering a career in the skilled trades, up 12% from last year, Thumbtack says in its Future of the Skilled Trades report. Two out of three Gen Zers say social media has made them more interested in the trades, according to Thumbtack, which surveyed 1,000 Gen Z respondents in July.
- The Thumbtack report also found that 93% of the Gen Z graduates and 80% of the parents surveyed said learning a skilled trade can be a better route to economic security than college.
OIL:
Alaska development agency looks at spending up to $20M to buy more leases in the Arctic refuge
Alex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News, October 22, 2024
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is poised to take an early step this week to once again buy oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in a sale that could be held before the end of this year.
Last year, the Biden administration canceled oil and gas leases issued to the agency by the prior administration in 2021, after determining that an environmental review and decision leading up to that first-ever lease sale in the refuge had not followed the law.
A resolution at the Alaska development agency’s board meeting Wednesday, if approved, would allow the agency to spend up to $20 million to bid on tracts in the refuge in the second lease sale, according to a proposed item on the agenda.
GAS:
US appeals court likely to reject challenge to Alaska LNG exports
Nate Raymond, Reuters, October 21, 2024
A U.S. appeals court on Monday appeared likely to reject a challenge by environmental groups to the Biden administration’s decision to approve exports from a planned $39 billion liquefied natural gas project in Alaska.
Two members of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit posed skeptical questions to a lawyer for the environmental groups as she argued that the U.S. Department of Energy inadequately weighed the risks to the climate when it authorized exports last year.
U.S. Circuit Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, said that while the climate harms may be uncertain, “it seems like there’s still going to be significant economic benefits, whether it’s a large effect or small effect.
“It seems, especially with the Natural Gas Act’s presumption in favor of gas, that if there are going to be economic benefits and if it’s merely speculative whether there will be environmental harms, that DOE in that situation at least may authorize the export,” Walker said.
MINING:
Lithium source in Arkansas could meet world demand “nine times over” study says
Chris Banks, KTVH, Little Rock, AR, October 22, 2024
A study completed by the USGS found that there are lithium reserves located under southwestern Arkansas that’s estimated to between 5 and 19 million tons.
A new study conducted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment (ADEE) discovered a method to “quantify the amount of lithium present in brines located in a geological unit known as the Smackover Formation.”
The study, which was done by the USGS and the ADEE’s Office of the State Geologist, noted that extraction was especially valuable when lithium is extracted from brines that’s been co-produced during oil and gas operation.
“Lithium is a critical mineral for the energy transition, and the potential for increased U.S. production to replace imports has implications for employment, manufacturing and supply-chain resilience,” said David Applegate, USGS Director. “This study illustrates the value of science in addressing economically important issues.”
According to the researchers, the Smackover Formation is described as a “relic of an ancient sea that left an extensive, porous, and permeable limestone geologic unit.” Researchers said that this geological unit dates back to the Jurassic geological time period and currently stretches under parts of Arkansas, along with Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.
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