Energy news in brief

** Williams plans to announce its first-quarter 2020 financial results after the market closes on Monday, May 4, 2020. The Tulsa-based company’s first-quarter 2020 earnings conference call and webcast with analysts and investors is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5, 2020, at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time (8:30 a.m. Central Time).

** Oklahoma City’s LSB Industries, Inc. announced that it will release its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 on Wednesday, May 6, 2020, after the close of the stock market. LSB’s management will host a conference call on Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 10:00 am ET / 9:00 am CT to discuss these results. Participating in the call will be President & Chief Executive Officer, Mark Behrman, and Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Cheryl Maguire.

** Iowa’s U.S. senators call on the USDA to provide aid for ethanol producers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. 

** A developer apologizes after a coal plant smokestack demolition released dust throughout Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood while city aldermen seek to regain control over the permitting process.

** Work continues on a $20 million project to replace the Line 5 pipeline beneath the St. Clair River between Michigan and Canada.

** U.S. power sector carbon emissions are expected to drop 7.5% this year due to the economic halt from COVID-19.

** Renewable fuels advocates expect the fight with small oil refiners over waivers from federal biofuel blending requirements to continue.

** County officials in northwestern Indiana advance plans for a 1,400-acre solar project.

** Pollution from oil and gas development could be increasing the risk the coronavirus poses to Navajo families in the Greater Chaco region of northwestern New Mexico.

** An industry group has sued the backers of a ballot initiative to increase taxes on Alaska’s largest oil fields, claiming petition signatures are invalid.

** A judge has approved PG&E’s plan to pay at least $19 million in criminal fines and penalties out of the $13.5 billion trust set up for wildfire victims. 

** Citing decades of impacts from pollution, the Navajo Nation joins conservation groups to oppose a federal bailout of the uranium mining industry.