Energy news in brief

** West Virginia U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, energy committee chairman and key swing vote in the narrowly divided Senate, urges President Joe Biden to reconsider his cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline.

** Bahamas Petroleum Company will stop drilling a controversial oil well it started in December about 150 miles from the South Florida coast, after saying it did not find a valuable oil source. Drilling began Dec. 20 off the west coast of Andros Island.

** Trans Mountain has begun the restart process for construction on an expansion project for the oil pipeline, the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) said on Monday, about two months since it was halted due to safety-related issues.

** United Auto Workers (UAW) President Rory Gamble held a virtual meeting last week with a top White House environmental official as the Biden administration moves to reverse the rollback in vehicle emissions rules adopted under then President Donald Trump.

** About 600 gallons of petroleum and water mixture that leaked from Chevron Corp’s wharf at its Richmond, California, oil refinery has been contained on Tuesday, according to the regional air pollution regulator’s official twitter https://bit.ly/3jygjTb account.

** Officials appointed by former President Trump interfered to overrule career scientists in a safety assessment for a toxic chemical linked to health issues at the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA said Tuesday.

** Bloomberg reported EV startup Rivian is preparing to go public as soon as September at a valuation of about $50 billion.

** Indigenous youth set out on a 93-mile run in sub-zero temperatures in South Dakota to protest the Dakota Access pipeline.

** The U.S. attorney overseeing the bribery case involving Ohio’s power plant subsidy law has resigned following a request by the Biden administration to former President Trump appointees.

** A Texas county approves a tax abatement program for solar projects as residents debate whether a proposed 300 MW solar farm should receive the abatement reported the Brownwood Bulletin.

** A judge will decide in March whether to approve a proposed settlement for 1,700 workers in central Appalachia and Wyoming who were laid off by bankrupt coal company Blackjewel.