** Officials in San Jose, California vote to ban natural gas in new commercial and high-rise residential buildings in an 8-3 vote, the largest city in the U.S. to do so according to the San Jose Spotlight.
** Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, has resigned her position effectively immediately, Defense News has learned.
** A fleet of around 20 tankers laden with U.S. crude oil is expected to leave for Asia this month as the region continues to outpace the rest of the world in its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic according to Bloomberg.
** The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers abandons its four-year battle to dredge 13 miles of waterways to clear San Francisco Bay for larger oil tankers reported the Bay City News Service.
** South Texas environmentalists worry that billions of bird deaths will result from the Trump administration’s weakening of a historic law protecting migratory birds from threats around wind turbines, oil fields, power lines and other developments reported KXAN.
** The federal Maritime Administration will hold public hearings on a Dallas company’s plan to replace an offshore natural gas platform and build a crude oil export facility off the coast of southwest Louisiana according to the New Orleans Advocate.
** Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf vetoes a bill that would have relaxed regulation of conventional oil and gas wells, saying it did not do enough to protect the environment according to the Pennsylvania Business Report.
** San Antonio’s city-owned electric utility solicits bids for 900 MW of solar energy and 500 MW of other generation as it looks to replace five natural gas power plant units and a coal-fired unit that it hopes to close by 2030 reports the Laredo Morning Times.
** The Courthouse News Service reports Los Angeles officials will consider a zoning update that would ban oil drilling within city limits.
** Reuters reported that a former Tesla factory employee is set to pay $400,000 to the company as part of a lawsuit settlement for allegedly tipping off reporters about alleged production inefficiencies and delays.
** The New York Times reported Senators Tom Udall (D-NM) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) advocate for a new bill that would set a uniform federal royalty for new oil and leases on public lands.
** Many green activists who supported Joe Biden are now calling on him to reject anyone for a climate-focused post in his administration who previously worked with fossil fuel companies or Wall Street firms that invested in coal, oil or natural gas according to POLITICO.