Energy & Fuel

"A federal judge has ordered the Interior Department to expand next week’s scheduled sale of of Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leases by millions of acres, rejecting a scaled-back plan announced last month by the Biden administration as part of an effort to protect an endangered whale species."

"The Biden administration has championed carbon removal projects as better neighbors than the pollution-spewing industries of the past. But the Department of Energy’s first two candidates for its $3.5 billion direct air capture program have conducted an opaque early outreach process in the disadvantaged Louisiana and Texas communities where the projects would be built."

"Giant new oil and gas wells that require astonishing volumes of water to fracture bedrock are threatening America’s fragile aquifers."

"The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday recommended revising reliability standards for power grid and natural gas infrastructure to avoid issues during extreme weather, as part of findings from a report on winter storm Elliott in 2022."

"Buildings, particularly older ones and those with poor energy efficiency, account for 31 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. ... On Thursday, the U.S. Climate Alliance, an association of 25 governors of states accounting for half of the country’s population, announced a major move to reduce those emissions, cut utility bills, and create jobs."

"An expected new rule promoting biological diversity and environmental health within the National Wildlife Refuge System could be used to discourage oil and gas drilling on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, environmentalists say."

"The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission got a mixed ruling in a lawsuit from a fossil-fuel friendly nonprofit seeking the calendars of two Democratic commissioners."

"The power regularly cuts out on the 500-member Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, throwing the reservation’s casino, community center, and homes into the dark."

"The US government’s own scientists on Thursday questioned whether corn-based ethanol is better for the environment than traditional petroleum-based fuels, nearly two decades after Congress first mandated its use."

"Environmentalists and others want specifics on how such a hub would benefit historically polluted communities and help arrest climate change. The Department of Energy plans to help finance as many as 10 across the country."