** A federal judge on Wednesday threw out Trump administration approvals for a large planned oil project on Alaska’s North Slope, saying the federal review was flawed and didn’t include mitigation measures for polar bears. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage vacated permits for ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in a 110-page ruling.
** The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is considering increasing the penalties levied on car companies that do not comply with fuel economy standards for model years 2019 to 2021.
** Carbon emissions reductions might not be the only thing negotiated at this year’s major international climate conference — the U.K. is also hoping the meeting will be a venue for it to broker new trade agreements.
** House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and other top Democrats are demanding answers from EPA after whistleblower reports in the Intercept and New York Times alleged interference in risk assessments and downplaying of risks from new chemicals reported POLITICO.
** Exxon lobbyist Keith McCoy could be talking on the record with the House Oversight Committee soon over his comments on the company’s climate stances revealed in a sting operation last month.
** The U.S. Army on Wednesday ordered a full environmental review of a proposed Formosa Group petrochemical plant in St. James Parish, Louisiana, opposed by local groups concerned about the health impact on an area overburdened with pollution.
** Adopting policies to boost the U.S. solar industry, such as tax credits for installations and manufacturing facilities, could lead solar to supply more than 40% of the country’s electricity by 2035, a U.S. Energy Department memo says.
** Oklahoma landowners accuse a federal pipeline inspector of collusion with an energy company over a gas transmission line.
** The US Energy Information Administration forecast that total world petroleum production will average 98.9 million barrels per day (b/d) in the second half of 2021 (2H21), down from a forecast of 99.4 million b/d in the July STEO. The change is driven mostly by forecast changes to petroleum production from OPEC and Russia as a result of the most recent OPEC+ agreement.
** A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Wednesday it had signed a contract securing green methanol as the world’s largest shipping firm gears up to operate its first carbon-neutral ship in 2023.
** Tennessee residents in Hamilton, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties no longer will have to complete emissions tests on their vehicles, starting Jan. 14. The emissions change came after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved changes to Tennessee’s air quality plan.
** A ship that sank in 1981 off Alaska’s Kodiak Island recently started leaking diesel fuel and investigators suspect last month’s massive magnitude 8.2 earthquake might be to blame.
** During her 2020 campaign, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., failed to disclose her husband’s earnings from working for an oil and gas firm, and has since defended the industry while in Congress.