** The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a plan that would restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution they can’t control. The federal plan announced Friday is intended to help more than two dozen states meet “good neighbor” obligations under the Clean Air Act.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Thursday called on President Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) if necessary to complete the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline following the ban on oil imports from Russia.
** Democrats introduced a bill this week to tax the largest oil companies recording their biggest profits in years — and use the money to provide quarterly checks to Americans facing sticker-shock just about everywhere they look. Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island are the bill’s main sponsors.
** The House votes overwhelmingly in favor of the Suspending Energy Imports from Russia Act, but it wasn’t unanimous as two Democrats and 15 Republicans oppose it.
** A Tennessee board approves construction at Ford’s planned $5.6 billion electric vehicle manufacturing plant, though it has yet to approve the site plan for a related battery factory.
** Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signs a bill into law that will make it harder for homeowners associations to prohibit residents from installing solar panels.
** Electric truck startup Rivian reported a $4.7 billion net loss in 2021 as various supply chain delays hampered vehicle production.
** Though it has tepid support on Capitol Hill, a gas tax holiday is gaining some steam in the states reported POLITICO.
World
** Canada is studying ways to increase pipeline utilization to boost crude exports as Europe seeks to reduce its dependence on Russian oil, the country’s natural resources minister said. Pipeline operator Enbridge Inc said in a statement it was in talks with the government “about how the industry can help relieve the current energy crisis”.
** Fears are mounting over gas supplies to Europe after Russian troops took control of key energy facilities in Ukraine. The operator of Ukraine’s gas pipelines said Russian forces were at more than one gas compressor station, posing a potential threat to smooth gas transit to Europe.
** Ukraine’s two leading suppliers of neon, which produce about half the world’s supply of the key ingredient for making chips, have halted their operations as Moscow has sharpened its attack on the country, threatening to raise prices and aggravate the semiconductor shortage.
** Schlumberger Limited SLB recently announced the receipt of an award from TotalEnergies SE TTE for drilling, completions and production services for the leading integrated energy player’s Tilenga onshore oil development in Uganda.