** Amazon and Global Optimism announced that Best Buy, McKinstry, Real Betis, Schneider Electric, and Siemens have joined The Climate Pledge, a commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040—a decade ahead of the Paris Accord’s goal of 2050.
** The EPA threatens to close its regional office in New York City following President Trump’s declaration that the city is an “anarchist jurisdiction.”
** Concho Resources Inc. will host a conference call on Thursday, October 29, 2020 at 8:00 AM CT to discuss third-quarter 2020 financial and operating results. The Company plans to announce third-quarter 2020 results on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, after close of trading.
** Harvest Midstream announced the successful commissioning of two connections between Harvest’s Ingleside Pipeline and Moda Midstream. The first connection provides shippers access from the Harvest Ingleside Pipeline to Moda Midstream LLC’s Ingleside Energy Center located in Ingleside, Texas. The second connection is a bi-direction connection between the Harvest Ingleside Pipeline and Moda Midstream’s Taft Terminal located in Taft, Texas.
** Range Resources Corp. agreed to become an anchor supplier for a proposed ethylene cracker in Appalachia, the Fort Worth, Texas-based company said Sept. 23.
** California plans to ban the sale of new gasoline powered passenger cars and trucks starting in 2035 as the top U.S. auto market shifts to electric vehicles to reduce climate-warming emissions, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Sept. 23.
** Southern Company insists that it can reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while keeping natural gas as a central part of its business.
** A Houston firm purchases the Seahawk Pipeline project connecting the Eagle Ford and Permian Basins with an export terminal at the Port of Calhoun.
** New York officials unveil the first of 200 fast-charge stations for electric vehicles around the state.
** A former manager at Vitol Group, the world’s largest independent oil-trading firm, was indicted for allegedly bribing Ecuadorian government officials to get business for his firm with state-owned Petroecuador.
** The average cost of a lithium-ion battery has fallen 82 percent between 2012 and 2020, making electric vehicles and renewables more competitive with fossil-fuel burning cars and power plants.
** China has poured billions of dollars of investment into the Caribbean while signing tax and trade deals in an attempt to wrest the region out of the West’s sphere of influence and bring it under the sway of Beijing. The Chinese government has invested at least $7 billion in six Caribbean nations since 2005, records show.
** Tesla drivers locked out of their cars after a complete network outage hit its internal service and customer mobile app were able to get back in after about an hour. The hitch comes a day after the company lost $50 billion in its market value due to its failed ‘Battery Day.’
** Industry experts are skeptical about Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s recently announced plan to extract lithium from clay deposits in Nevada. Experts are optimistic about the possibility of future Tesla electric vehicles connecting to the grid despite CEO Elon Musk not wanting them to.
** Environmental groups claim victory after the Ohio Department of Natural Resources cancels permits for a proposal to create underground fracked gas liquids storage caverns.
