Energy news in brief

** Venezuela has swapped millions of barrels of crude for supplies of corn and water trucks under an oil-for-food deal struck with a Mexican firm, in an effort to secure imports amid tightening U.S. sanctions, according to the company and export schedules.

** Enbridge hires contractors to build a tunnel for the Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac, giving a 2024 completion date despite ongoing legal disputes. 

** Residents hope for lower utility bills as three large-scale wind projects prepare to come online in northwestern Missouri. 

** Kinder Morgan says the future of its proposed Permian Pass natural gas pipeline is uncertain as no customers for the project have been lined up in the current low-price environment.

** North Dakota regulators reject plans for a wind project based on concerns over blinking turbine lights near a military base.

** Peabody Energy has laid off 50 temporary workers at its North Antelope Rochelle mine in Wyoming.

** Two conservation planning reports address a potential population decline of Wyoming’s golden eagles due to conventional and renewable energy development and other human-caused threats.

** Critics say some of a proposed California hydro plant’s facilities would flood scenic canyons, interrupting free-flowing stretches of river and harming fish and wildlife.