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Late last week, West Coast dockworkers voted to ratify a long-term employment contract that was agreed upon earlier this summer, (subscription) reports.

What’s going on: Approximately 75% of International Longshore and Warehouse Union members voted in favor of the six-year labor contract with the Pacific Maritime Association.

• This ratification vote formalizes the tentative agreement reached in June, which was preceded by several brief work stoppages, and is the culmination of negotiations that began in May 2022.
• “The ILWU represents about 22,000 workers at 29 ports from California to Washington state.”

Why it’s important: These negotiations, which ultimately took 14 months to resolve, were at times tumultuous, and the resulting supply chain disruptions led to a significant loss of West Coast cargo business to the East and Gulf coasts.

• Together the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach constitute the busiest ocean trade gateway in the U.S., handling almost 40% of U.S. imports from Asia, according to the .
• The 17�Թ����� consistently  for a resolution to these talks and commissioned an economic impact in 2022 that found even a 15-day shuttering of these two West Coast ports would cost the U.S. economy nearly half a billion dollars a day and 41,000 jobs.

The 17�Թ����� says: “Ratification of this six-year contract provides manufacturers with the supply chain reliability they need for operational planning and stability,” said 17�Թ����� Director of Infrastructure and Labor Policy Ben Siegrist.

• “17�Թ����� members have overcome countless shipping challenges over the past few years and were at the forefront of calling for this resolution. We are pleased the contract has been ratified.”

The federal permitting process for major transmission lines should soon get a lot easier to navigate, according to POLITICO’s (subscription).

What’s going on: Last Thursday, the Department of Energy proposed “completing environmental reviews and other federal approvals for electric power lines within two years.”

• In addition, “DOE would be the lead agency conducting environmental impact statements and other federal reviews for transmission projects so that developers wouldn’t need to go through multiple federal agencies.”
• Once finalized, the framework will be called the Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorization and Permits Program.

Why it’s important: The draft revision—a response to the recent debt-ceiling deal—could slash the time it takes to get long-distance power lines built and operational.

• This “could help integrate more solar and wind into the U.S. energy resource mix,” according to ENERGYWIRE.
• Though Congress authorized the DOE as lead federal agency in reviewing electric power lines, this proposal marks the first time the authority has been “formally proposed,” a source told the news outlet.

Developers’ role: The proposal details what developers would have to do under the new process.

• “For example, DOE would require developers to complete resource reports about potential environmental impacts from construction or operation of their projects. Applicants would also need to submit plans for engaging with communities affected by a new transmission line.”

However … CITAP wouldn’t cancel the need for local and state permits.

• “Rather, the goal is to ensure that developers have a clearer and smoother process for obtaining necessary federal permits.”

The 17�Թ�����’s take: “This is a step in the right direction,” said 17�Թ����� Vice President of Domestic Economic Policy Brandon Farris. “As part of our push for permitting reform, the 17�Թ����� has long advocated for a lead federal agency to run point and streamline the permitting process.”

• “The 17�Թ����� will continue to work with Congress and the administration to make the permitting process more predictable and consolidate the many complex layers of review so the U.S. can continue to build on our shared goals of boosting domestic manufacturing.”

A new COVID-19 vaccine is set for a September release as cases of the new virus variant “Eris” rise nationwide, according to (subscription).  

What’s going on: “Some public health experts hope that Americans will welcome the new shot as they would a flu jab. But demand for the vaccine has dropped sharply since 2021 when it first became available and more than 240 million people in the U.S., or 73% of the population, received at least one shot.”

• Health care providers and pharmacies will begin offering the updated shots—which target XBB.1.5, “a sub-lineage of the still dominant Omicron variant”—in the second half of next month.
• The new vaccines still need authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Why it’s important: Though the COVID-19 public health emergency ended in May and the private sector has taken on “much of the duty of vaccinating America,” virus-related hospitalizations are up 40% from June’s lows.

• “CDC Director Mandy Cohen said last week in a podcast that … Americans should view these shots as an annual measure to protect oneself, in line with the annual flu shot.”

Workforce challenges and the regulatory onslaught against manufacturers were some of the key topics covered during a recent 17�Թ����� meeting with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) in Princeton, Minnesota.

What’s going on: Emmer met 17�Թ����� leadership last Monday for a facility tour of heavy-gauge metal spinnings company Glenn Metalcraft, led by its president and CEO, Joe Glenn.

• On the walkthrough, Emmer got to see and hear the impact of the current legislative deluge hitting manufacturers.
• “My visit to Glenn Metalcraft demonstrated the need to address the regulatory state overwhelming manufacturers in the heartland,” Emmer said. “Small and medium-sized manufacturers are working hard to grow their businesses and increase compensation for employees, but those efforts are undermined by new regulations and the lack of permanent, competitive tax policies to promote research and development and capital investment.”

“Fighting to thrive”: Glenn spoke candidly about his and other manufacturers’ current struggles with the excessive mandates handed down by federal agencies.

• “Manufacturers across the country are fighting to thrive under the weight of an increasing number of unbalanced and often unfeasible regulations from agencies across the federal government—all amid an uncertain economic environment,” Glenn said before thanking Emmer for “giving us a voice.”
• The majority of manufacturers—more than 63%—say they now spend over 2,000 hours a year complying with federal mandates, according to the .

Tax treatment of R&D: Emmer’s support of the American Innovation and R&D Competitiveness Act—which would permanently restore immediate research-and-development expensing for small businesses for 2022 and all subsequent years—has been instrumental in the legislation’s progress, 17�Թ����� Managing Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs Jamie Hennigan told the whip.��Now we just need to move the issue forward, he added.

• Glenn underscored the importance of full expensing when he told Emmer that it had helped his company open new facilities.
• Emmer agreed on the necessity of competitive tax provisions and said he, too, wanted to see them reinstated.

A persistent problem: 17�Թ����� leaders and Glenn also addressed another ongoing challenge for manufacturers in their discussion with Emmer: the acute shortage of skilled workers.

• The difficulty of attracting and retaining skilled workers has consistently ranked among the top problems cited by manufacturers in the Outlook Survey, as Hennigan pointed out.

​�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ The last word: “Manufacturers have made it clear that the [Biden] administration’s regulatory agenda could easily derail manufacturing’s recent success,” 17�Թ����� President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a statement after the visit.

• “Glenn Metalcraft and so many others are forced to make tough decisions as agencies issue unbalanced regulations that threaten our sector’s ability to grow and compete.”
• “The positive effects of tax reform, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act are all being undermined by the growing regulatory burden, and I want to thank Whip Emmer for spotlighting this threat in his home state of Minnesota.”

Consumer credit rose more than anticipated in June, according to .

What’s going on: “Overall credit increased $17.8 billion, topping economists’ average forecast for a $13 billion gain, to $4.977 trillion in June, the Fed said late Monday. May’s borrowing also was revised up by about $2 billion.”

• However … despite the June rise, “overall credit increases have moderated over the past year, showing the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes to squelch spending and lower inflation are working.”

“Nonrevolving” credit: Nonrevolving credit—lump sums repaid only once, such as those for school tuition and car purchases—jumped by $18.5 billion to $3.735 trillion, largely on the strength of auto sales.

Short-term debt: Short-term debt, such as credit card debt, fell in June for the first time in more than two years, to $1.262 trillion. This is likely due to the sharp increase in credit card interest rates, according to a report cited by USA Today.

The big picture: Consumer spending has stayed steady despite rising inflation owing to savings built up during the global pandemic.

The Small Business Administration is streamlining its lending process, according to (subscription).

What’s going on: “The Small Business Administration is simplifying loan requirements, automating more of the process and expanding the pool of nonbank lenders licensed to issue SBA loans. The moves, many of which take effect Aug. 1, will make it easier for financial-technology firms to participate.”

• The goal: to increase credit extended to small businesses that have typically struggled to get it.

The concern: “[T]he changes—and the decision to couple relaxed requirements with new lenders—have drawn criticism from the industry and members of Congress, who say the revisions could jeopardize the program by increasing loan defaults.”

• Some worry that without “firm guardrails from the SBA” lenders will make risky loans, resulting in more defaults.
• Even if defaults don’t increase, loans could get more expensive for borrowers, as lenders will now be able to charge flat fees.

Why it’s important: “The SBA is authorized by Congress to guarantee as much as $34 billion in loans annually through its main lending program” but qualifying for the funds requires adhering to a set of burdensome rules—and that’s led to underutilization of available funds, according to the Journal.  

The changes: “Under the new SBA rules, lenders can use their own standard credit policies to make SBA loans of as much as $500,000 instead of following government guidelines. Lenders are encouraged to check a box to indicate why borrowers can’t get credit elsewhere, a crucial program requirement, instead of providing a detailed written explanation.”

• Revisions to the loan requirements include reduced or eliminated downpayments for some borrowers.

The Biden administration will soon announce the first grant winners of a multi-billion-dollar competition to speed up development of technology to “remove carbon dioxide from the sky,” according to E&E News’ (subscription).

What’s going on: The “awards for so-called direct air capture hubs could define the future of the nascent DAC industry in the United States as well as the broader CO2 removal sector, experts say.”

• The Department of Energy received more than a dozen proposals in response to the $3.5 billion DAC hub competition, which was created in 2021 as part of the historic bipartisan infrastructure legislation and seeks to increase the use of DAC technology.
• The projects expected to be announced this month could get “between $3 million and $500 million in matching funds” for efforts such as DAC undertakings capable of capturing and storing one million tons of carbon dioxide every year.

What it is: DAC plants use filters, power, piping and fans to remove carbon dioxide from the air and sequester it underground.

• Just 27 such facilities have been commissioned globally, and the largest of these can remove 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually.

The economic challenge: “At the moment, it costs around $700 per ton for a DAC facility to remove carbon from the air, according to the industry data clearinghouse CDR. The Inflation Reduction Act, meanwhile, increased the tax incentives for DAC operators to $180 per ton for the CO2 they permanently store.”

• To bridge that cost gap, last year Congress ordered the Biden administration to start a pilot program to pay DAC firms and developers of carbon-removal technology to remove emissions from the air.

The final say: “Manufacturers view clean energy solutions—such as carbon capture and sequestration/storage technologies and hydrogen—as important parts of our country’s energy present and future,” said 17�Թ����� Director of Domestic Economic Policy Brandon Farris.

• “Manufacturers are leading the charge in developing them and scaling them up for widespread use.”

Canadian dockworkers and their employers in British Columbia agreed to a labor contract Sunday, ending the uncertainty that has plagued the North American port system for the past month, according to .��

What’s going on: The International Longshore and Warehouse Union of Canada voted to ratify a four-year agreement with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association following a tumultuous few weeks that included two dockworker strikes—one lasting 14 days and the other only a day.

• “The new deal includes increases in wages, benefits, and training,” according to BCMEA, which also said deal ratification would offer “certainty and stability for the future of Canada’s West Coast ports.”

Why it’s important: During the two-week strike, “[s]ome U.S. shippers reconsigned the destination of their containers to the U.S during that time. Other ocean carriers eventually went back to the Canadian ports and waited to unload both Canadian and U.S. freight.”

• Changes to shipping routes affect railroads, since fewer containers traveling by rail can be unloaded at ports during work disruptions.
• It could take the railroads weeks to clear the backlog of containers built up as a result of the work stoppage.
• While train trade from Canada to the U.S. is recovering, it still ended the week of July 29 with a 6.2% decrease, according to CNBC.

The 17�Թ�����’s take: “Disruptions to the interconnected North American supply chain have been a constant challenge for manufacturers over the past several years,” said 17�Թ����� Director of Infrastructure and Labor Policy. “We welcome the announcement that this agreement has been ratified and will continue urging swift resolution to labor negotiations that might further impede reliable and efficient freight movement.” 

U.S. scientists have achieved a net energy gain in a nuclear fusion reaction for a second time—this time, with a higher energy yield, according to .

What’s going on: The federal Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California announced Sunday that in an experiment on July 30, a fusion reaction produced more energy than it consumed, and more than a similar experiment produced last December.

• The December reaction used 192 lasers to produce a net gain of 1.1 megajoules of fusion energy, enough to power an average-size home for about half an hour, according to .
• The July reaction is said to have netted even more, though specific figures for it are not yet available.

Why it’s important: “Scientists have worked for decades to develop nuclear fusion as a source of effectively limitless clean energy,” Axios reports.

• However … “Scaling up the technology to support the electrical grid will require increasingly powerful lasers—and more of them,” according to Extreme Tech.

The last word: “The net gain of fusion energy—for a second time, and in a larger amount—is a tremendous milestone,” said 17�Թ����� Director of Domestic Economic Policy Brandon Farris. “It is further evidence of the enormous potential of nuclear power to help us meet our energy needs and energy-security goals.”

U.S. power companies are finding it increasingly difficult to get the large transformers they need to move electricity long distances—and the Department of Energy should step up to help them, the Government Accountability Office said this week, according to E&E News’ (subscription).

What’s going on: A “GAO report called on DOE to create a plan, with deadlines, to overcome growing delays and difficulties U.S. utilities are facing in getting new large power transformers that are required to move electricity across more than 160,000 miles of U.S. high-voltage lines.”

• Most of the transformers are imported from overseas, and there is still a shortage due to pandemic-related supply chain disruptions.
• In some cases, delivery times have more than doubled, and the largest of the transformers can cost up to $10 million.

Why it’s important: “Transformers are critical for the future energy mix, as they are needed to create a larger grid for increased wind and solar generation, according to analysts.”

• In 2027 the demand by North American power companies for large transformers will likely be about twice what it was in 2020, according to the DOE.

What can be done: The DOE should create a plan to get more power companies to take part in voluntary programs to loan out spare large transformers during emergencies, the GAO recommends.

• The largest of these sharing agreements, the Edison Electric Institute’s Spare Transformer Equipment Program, had 57 participating utilities as of March.
• Thirty-one utilities in 28 states have signed onto a grid program to furnish spare transformers during cyberattacks or natural disasters.

The challenges: “[S]hortages of skilled manufacturing craftsmen able to build the transformers’ complex windings are a significant challenge … [DOE] said it is working on expanding apprenticeship programs to address the issue.”

Our take: “Transformers and transmission lines are critical to meet our growing energy security needs,” said 17�Թ����� Director of Domestic Economic Policy Brandon Farris.​​​​​​

• “The 17�Թ����� will continue working with the DOE and others to ensure that current and future needs are met, including developing the next generation of the manufacturing workforce and breaking down permitting barriers to expedite the buildout of our grid.”