Headlines of more stories

** Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., filed a bill Wednesday that would require Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his staff to fly commercial until a Southwest Airlines debacle and a Federal Aviation Administration computer glitch that caused thousands of flight cancelations Wednesday were fully investigated and resolved.

** A Colorado dentist accused of setting a fire that damaged a transformer at a solar power array outside Las Vegas last week told investigators he wanted to send a message supporting clean energy and denied his intention was sabotage, police said in an arrest report obtained Wednesday.

** The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the federal agency that is weighing a potential ban on new natural gas-powered stoves, refused to point to any specific studies to justify its interest in regulating the appliance when asked Wednesday by Fox News Digital.

** New York governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday called to ban natural gas heating and appliances in the state’s new buildings in an effort to fight climate change.

** A natural gas fracking company that filed for bankruptcy in 2020 racked up $1.3 billion of profit and saw its stock double in the first 9 months of 2022 as surging global demand drives drillers in Louisiana and Texas.

** A portion of the Colonial Pipeline restarts after crews repair a diesel fuel leak in Virginia.

** California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes cutting $6 billion from climate programs, including electric vehicle incentives, to offset a projected $22.5 billion deficit.

** A recent change in the chairmanship at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could set the stage for a stalemate that could slow reform efforts for landowners rights and environmental justice, along with President Joe Biden’s climate and clean energy agenda.

** Top U.S. gas exporter, Freeport LNG, is expected to further extend the seven-month-long outage of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Texas to February, as it awaits regulatory approvals, three sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

 

World

** Vladimir Putin’s hope that oil and gas revenues would help Russia’s economy weather the storm of sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine took a big hit in December, when Russian fossil fuel sales collapsed. Russia’s fossil fuel export revenues fell 17% last month to their lowest level since before the war began.

** Russia questioned on Thursday whether Sweden had “something to hide” over explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, as it slammed Stockholm for not sharing information in the ongoing investigations into the blasts.

** Guyana is looking at awarding oil and gas exploration blocks to Indian companies as part of a broader hydrocarbon cooperation it is negotiating with India, the South American nation’s president said on Thursday.

** Germany urgently needs more carbon-neutral energy at affordable prices if it is to maintain its global relevance as an industrial player, the president of German autos association VDA warned on Wednesday, warning that it was already falling behind.

** Chevron Corp’s first cargo of Venezuelan crude under a U.S. license received in November has departed from a ship-to-ship transfer hub near Aruba to its Pascagoula, Mississippi refinery, according to shipping data seen by Reuters on Tuesday.