** A “terrorist attack” on an oil tanker off the Saudi port city of Jeddah Monday was caused by an explosive-laden boat, the kingdom’s energy ministry said, after the fourth assault on Saudi energy infrastructure in a month.
** Now South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg is being mentioned as the leading candidate to become secretary of transportation in a Biden administration. He originally was mentioned as a possible ambassador to China.
** U.S. solar installations are expected to soar 43% this year, just shy of a pre-pandemic forecast, as the industry has recovered more quickly than expected from a virus-related slowdown, according to a report by the top solar trade group reports Reuters.
** A Bureau of Land Management official halts a Utah tar sands lease sale after a media investigation finds a beneficiary of the deal also worked as a contractor in the BLM’s Salt Lake City office reported the Salt Lake Tribune.
** A three-day oil and gas lease sale is underway this week in Wyoming and the Casper Star-Tribune reports all of the available parcels are located in sage grouse habitat.
** Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy seeks to require state agencies to end relationships with financial institutions that won’t finance oil and gas development in the Arctic reported Alaska Public Media.
** The Houston Chronicle reports Oil companies are pushing to have state climate lawsuits heard in federal courts, where they are more likely to win a favorable ruling.
** A 1,200-acre solar project in southwestern Ohio is opposed by a citizens group that wants county officials to intervene according to the Dayton Daily News.
** Oil companies are increasingly relying on rapid COVID-19 tests to determine if Bakken oil field workers have contracted the virus according to the Bismarck Tribune.
** Protests continue along the route of the Line 3 replacement project in northern Minnesota as construction moves forward.
** Mercedes-Benz announces six new electric vehicles, including two SUVs that will be built in an Alabama plant according to Forbes.