Energy briefs

** The Biden administration is ordering Norfolk Southern to clean up after a train derailment spilled chemicals and officials are eyeing new rail reforms after the wreck.

** Democrats have joined the criticism of US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over his mishandling of the Palestine, Ohio train derailment and chemical disaster. David Sirota, a former speechwriter for Senator Bernie Sanders, urged people to keep pressuring Buttigieg to deliver on his promises.

** More than 100 activist groups are calling on California’s state legislature to adopt Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) proposal to penalize oil companies for “price gouging.”

** Demand for U.S. offshore wind nearly doubled last year while investments in the sector tripled, a new report has found.

** According to Open Secrets, Norfolk Southern spent $1.8 million lobbying last year and $1.6 million the year before. Since 1998, it has spent over $79 million on lobbying efforts and $16,948,996 on political contributions.

** Freeport LNG, the second largest U.S. liquefied natural gas exporter, said on Tuesday that federal regulators had approved it to partially restart commercial operations at its Texas plant after an outage that lasted more than eight months.

World

** British scientists are recommending Second World War style rationing of petrol, household energy and meat to help fight climate change.

** American oil and gas companies are pushing to solve the short-term problem of a tight European gas supply, driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) contracts, a new report shows. The US fossil fuel industry has locked in 45 long-term contracts and contract expansions since the start of the war, according to research by Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen and BailoutWatch.

** U.S. nuclear energy company Westinghouse Electric Co. signed a pre-design cooperation deal with Poland for the country’s first nuclear plant, which will use American technology. Construction of the nuclear power plant is expected to start in 2026 with the goal of supplying Poland’s power grid with energy in 2032.