** Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched an $85 million campaign to block the planned construction of plastic and petrochemical plants across the U.S. on Wednesday, modeled on his decade-long effort to shutter coal plants.
** At least 154 Chinese scientists who worked on government-sponsored research at the U.S.’s foremost national security laboratory over the last two decades have been recruited to do scientific work in China — some of which helped advance military technology that threatens American national security — according to a new private intelligence report obtained by NBC News.
** A stalled $6.6 billion natural gas pipeline would get preferential treatment under legislation intended to fast-track energy projects that was made public on Wednesday evening by Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
** During an extreme heat wave in early September, the California power grid relied on natural gas for almost half of its electricity generation to meet peak demand, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
** Democratic and Republican senators on Tuesday proposed that U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration use secondary sanctions on international banks to strengthen a price cap G7 countries plan to impose on Russian oil over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
World
** French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called for a “massive acceleration” of renewable energy development in his country, including offshore wind farms and solar power, via a new plan that seeks to bring lagging France closer to the energy policies of its European neighbors.
** The threat that Russia will completely halt its supply of natural gas to Europe is the “million-dollar question” heading into winter, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday.
** As Europe scrambles to cut its energy dependence on Russia, it risks further entrenching its reliance on another authoritarian country—China—for solar panels, in its push to tap alternative energy sources. Chinese customs data show a steep rise in exports of solar panels to Europe. The value of solar panels sold to the EU from January to August this year totals over $16 billion, more than double the $7.2 billion over the same period last year.
** Across northern and western Europe, vegetable producers are contemplating halting their activities because of the financial hit from Europe’s energy crisis, further threatening food supplies.
** Turkey is seeking to increase gas purchases from the US and distribute some to its neighborhood, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, as Europe faces an energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.