** Virginia panel denies air permit to Mountain Valley Pipeline extension. The 75-mile extention had been expected to be completed and in service sometime in 2023, a year after the hoped-for operation date of the larger Mountain Valley Pipeline.
** Helium prospecting is picking up in north-central Montana with Canadian companies expanding south after years of development in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
** Federal authorities have moved to reverse a Trump administration decision that cleared the way for Cadiz Inc. to pipe water across public land in the California desert.
** A federal judge has halted U.S. Forest Service plans to log portions of the Willamette National Forest near Breitenbush Hot Springs and Detroit Lake that were affected by the 2020 Labor Fires. This ruling comes after two conservation groups, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild, filed a lawsuit to stop the logging.
** The company decommissioning Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts has told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it plans to start discharging radioactive water from the plant into Cape Cod Bay sometime within the first three months of 2022.
** New Mexico’s debate on the impacts of leasing public lands to the oil and gas industry was brought before Congress during a Dec. 2 hearing in the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources.
** Elon Musk suggested that an age limit should be set for running for political office. The Tesla CEO tweeted on Thursday, calling for those over the age of 70 to be barred. His comments follow recent squabbles with Bernie Sanders, during which Musk mocked his age.
World
** Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline was slated to restart operations on Sunday, weeks after shutting down during a record-breaking rainstorm in British Columbia that washed out road and railways, Trans Mountain Corp said in a statement on Saturday.
** Saudi Arabia raised oil prices for buyers in Asia and the U.S., signaling it sees demand staying strong despite the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The move comes days after OPEC and its allies — a 23-nation group led by Saudi Arabia and Russia — surprised traders with a decision to boost crude outpu