** Joe Biden earned a key endorsement Monday from a pipe-fitting and plumbing union — despite Biden’s opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline that the union wants to build.
** Worldwide turboprop utilization in July reached its highest levels so far in 2020, with 85,574 multi-engine flight hours and 61,510 single-engine flight hours, according to Aviation Week Intelligence Network flight tracking data.
** California’s power grid operator delivered a blistering rebuke Monday to the state’s Public Utilities Commission, blaming the agency for rotating power outages — the first since the 2001 energy crisis — and warning of bigger blackouts to come.
** Eagle Ford operator Penn Virginia Corp. on Aug. 17 said its CEO, John A. Brooks, had retired from the Houston-based company, effective immediately. Concurrent with Brooks’ retirement, Darrin J. Henke was appointed as president, CEO and director of Penn Virginia.
** Amazon is expanding its physical offices in six U.S. cities, adding 3,500 corporate jobs in New York, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Detroit and Dallas, The Wall Street Journal reports.
** Houston’s -Allied Power Group announced it has acquired Combustion Parts Inc. , a leading provider of combustion components for heavy-frame industrial gas turbines. Lori Jenks, one of the founders of CPI, has joined the APG team.
** Fort Worth-based Lonestar Resources US Inc., a driller in the Eagle Ford of South Texas reported a nearly $43 million loss in the second quarter of 2020.
** The Trump administration on Monday announced it will open up 1.5 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling efforts. The declaration was signed by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and will open up the refuge’s Coastal Plain, which accounts for about 8% of refuge’s total acreage.
** An Indiana group prepares to launch a broadband-by-blimp service to boost agricultural production and improve sustainability.
** Xcel Energy is among utilities planning major wind turbine repowering investments before federal tax incentives expire.
** South Dakota regulators are expected to approve a settlement agreement between a solar developer and Black Hills Power involving the utility’s requirement to buy power from the project.
** A judge approves a $60 million settlement in a shareholder lawsuit challenging Tesla’s 2016 acquisition of solar panel installer Solar City.
** California Gov. Gavin Newsom orders an investigation into the state’s rolling power outages, saying they are “unacceptable and unbefitting of the nation’s largest and most innovative state.”
** The U.S. District of Court for the Central District of California sentenced United Pumping Service, Inc. to 3 years’ probation, a $375,000 fine and a $500 special assessment for violating the Clean Water Act.