Additional headlines of energy stories

** The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued notices to 15 states for failure to submit plans for air pollution reduction, four months after a lawsuit on the matter from a coalition of environmental groups. The states receiving notices are Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.

** California’s newly announced rule barring the sale of new gas-powered cars in 2035 will apply to Virginia as well under the terms of a 2021 state law, Attorney General Jason Miyares’s (R) office confirmed to The Hill on Monday.  In 2021, the state General Assembly, where Democrats then held majorities in both chambers, passed a law requiring the state to adopt the same automobile standards as those adopted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

** Diesel and heating oil supplies in the Northeast are more than 50% below the recent average, raising concerns that an extreme weather event could cause supply disruptions, federal officials said.

** First Solar said it plans to invest up to $1.2 billion to scale its U.S. solar panel manufacturing capacity in a bid to capitalize on the influx of capital and government funds designated for clean energy.

** Elon Musk calls for more oil and gas drilling. To reduce dependence on Russian gas supplies, the tech mogul has just commented in favor of the oil and gas industry, which should annoy environmental activists even more.

** Tesla sues Louisiana over a law it says unfairly restricts its ability to sell electric vehicles directly to customers.

World

** Canada has invoked a 1977 pipeline treaty with the United States for the second time in less than a year, in this case to prevent a shutdown of Enbridge Inc’s Line 5 pipeline in Wisconsin, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Monday.

** Saudi Arabia’s threat last week to lead the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) into a concerted cutting of its collective crude oil production – which would lead to even higher prices over a longer period – marks the end of the U.S.’s and the West’s Middle East dream.

** European gas prices broke yet another record last week, driven by the anticipation of production outages in Norway, lower nuclear energy production in France, and, of course, Gazprom’s planned shutdown of Nord Stream 1 for three days beginning on Wednesday.

** Russia’s state-controlled energy company Gazprom further reduced gas deliveries to the French company Engie, raising fears that Moscow might cut off gas completely as political leverage over the war in Ukraine.

** Denmark will increase a planned offshore wind capacity in the Baltic Sea and hook it up to the German grid to help wean Europe off its reliance on Russian gas.

** With Europe facing a major energy crisis, Spain wants to become the new gateway for gas through an ambitious trans-Pyrenees pipeline and is hoping supply-starved Germany will pressure a reluctant France.

** Germany and Denmark have agreed on a $9 billion deal to build an offshore wind power project in the Baltic Sea that authorities said would provide enough power for up to 4.5 million households by 2030.