** Baker Hughes (NYSE: BKR) announced that the Baker Hughes Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $.18 per share of Class A common stock payable on June 5, 2020 to holders of record on May 26, 2020.
** Arizona’s state Supreme Court upholds the ruling of a lower court that removed a state regulator from the ballot over forged signatures.
** New Mexico’s renewable energy sector continues to advance despite the coronavirus crisis as state leaders try to diversify the state’s energy economy.
** After Pueblo, Colorado voters rejected a plan to cut ties with Black Hills Energy, the utility says it is focused on lowering rates and advancing renewable energy goals.
** A spokesperson for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association says oil consumption and demand should begin to increase as state economies re-open from coronavirus restrictions.
** Tesla says a new battery under development could make its electric cars as cheap as gasoline models, and that the batteries could find a second life as grid resources.
** A settlement with the U.S. EPA will require DTE Energy to reduce air pollution from five southeastern Michigan coal plants, pay a $1.8 million civil penalty and replace old school and municipal transit buses with cleaner models.
** The planned closure of a major North Dakota coal plant may signal a shift for electric cooperatives, which have been slow to embrace clean energy.
** Michigan’s attorney general urges the state Public Service Commission to reject Enbridge’s request to move forward with construction of a pipeline tunnel for Line 5.
** Job losses are piling up in Texas where The Houston Chronicle reports that another 1,000 job cuts in the industry were announced in Texas just this week.
** EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is slated to testify before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee next week for an oversight hearing.
** The Small Business Administration issued an interim final rule on Thursday that allows nonprofit power cooperatives to get federal loans so they can maintain payrolls.
** U.S. coal mining employment dropped substantially in the first quarter, and the figures are likely to get worse as the full impact of a drastic drop in demand has likely not yet shown up in the data.
** Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said job loss resulting from the coronavirus pandemic could have lasting effects on the energy industry, including the oil and gas sector.