** Houston’s Rangeland Energy III LLC and one of its subsidiaries has started construction of a 53-mile Marten Hills Pipeline System in north central Alberta, Canada. It will serve Plains Midstream Canada’s Rainbow Pipeline System and will consist of new crude oil and condensate lines with operations to be underway in the second quarter of 2020.
** Ford is offering its all-electric vehicle customers North America’s largest electric vehicle public charging network, with more than 12,000 places to charge, including fast charging, and more than 35,000 charge plugs – more than any other automotive manufacturer, addressing a big concern for those switching to all-electric cars.
** MetLife Stadium, home to the New York Jets and New York Football Giants and other sporting events has chosen a firm to provide an early warning system for drones. AeroDefense was picked because it has a drone detection system that can detect a drone before it even takes off.
** A taxi cab company in Madison, Wisconsin, is poised to become the nation’s first with an all-electric fleet. Green CAB plans to roll out 20 battery-powered Teslas next week and plans to convert the rest of the fleet by next year.
** Opponents of a Hawaii wind farm are gearing up for a protracted battle as Gov. David Ige gives his support to its construction.
** A federal court won’t allow the Trump administration to enforce its plans for managing sage grouse in Western states while litigation is still pending. The U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho issued a preliminary injunction Oct. 16 that temporarily blocks the Bureau of Land Management from implementing its 2019 plans in Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and part of California.
** Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) doesn’t expect action anytime soon on his bill, S. 13 (116) , that would extend the current moratorium against drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico for another five years, but he hopes to find a vehicle to advance it in early 2020. “There probably won’t be one this year, but we hope at some point early next year there will be a vehicle that can pass and that the president will sign,” he told reporters according to POLITICO’s Morning Energy report.