** Airzona Rep. Paul Gosar will lose his seat on two committees he sits on, Natural Resources and Oversight and Reform, for posting a video depicting violence against a Democratic colleague. The Arizona Republican’s ouster from Natural Resources, where he also serves as the ranking member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, is a major blow for the lawmaker.
** Gas prices in California reached an all-time high Monday as the average price of a regular gallon soared to $4.682, according to the American Automobile Assn. It was the state’s second record-breaking day in a row.
** Kemmerer, a small city in the top U.S. coal-mining state of Wyoming will be home to a Bill Gates-backed experimental nuclear power project near a coal-fired power plant that will soon close, officials announced Tuesday.
** The Biden administration on Wednesday started auctioning off oil drilling rights to 80 million acres in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico days after joining a global agreement that for the first time targeted fossil fuels as the main driver of global warming.
** Enbridge Inc. won the latest round in its long-running battle to stop Michigan’s governor from shutting an oil pipeline that crosses the Great Lakes after a judge ruled that the case should remain in Federal court.
** U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he is not in agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s call for tapping the strategic oil reserve to lower gas prices, saying he believed the reserve was there to be used if there is a collapse in supply in times of emergency.
** A U.S. judge overseeing trade issues on Tuesday overturned a decision by then-President Donald Trump to allow a reimposition of tariffs on some imported solar panels. The decision by Judge Gary Katzmann of the U.S. Court of International Trade is a defeat for some domestic manufacturers.
** President Joe Biden is highlighting billions of dollars in his giant bipartisan infrastructure deal to pay for the installation of electric vehicle chargers across the country, an investment he says will go a long way to curbing planet-warming carbon emissions while creating good-paying jobs.
** The Senate confirmed Willie Phillips Jr. to serve as a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, giving the five-member panel a 3-2 Democratic majority.
** Authorities are investigating the cause of, and continue to clean up, a spill of about 6,300 gallons of crude oil and 12,600 gallons of produced water in North Dakota.
World
** Rolls-Royce, the British engine manufacturer, Exelon, the US utility, and BNF Resources, a London-based private investment firm, have joined together to produce small modular reactors (SMRs) designed by Rolls-Royce.
** British Columbia is grappling with the aftermath of intense rainfall and floods, which washed away parts of major highways and forced people to evacuate from affected locations in the southern part of the province.
** Two more energy suppliers in Britain with a combined total of 35,500 customers have ceased trading amid a backdrop of high wholesale gas prices. Neon Reef and Social Energy Supply have stopped trading, according to the energy regulator Ofgem.
** Sri Lanka shut its only oil refinery Monday after running out of dollars to import crude, in an escalating economic crisis that has triggered shortages of food and other staples.
