** Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday failed to slow down the House Republican push for new oil and gas leases on federal land after GOP lawmakers shot down her attempt to require further study of the public health impacts of energy extraction.
** As Colorado River basin states struggle to come to an agreement over proposed cutbacks to water consumption, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is pushing to evaluate the issue.
** New England power stations reverted to burning oil over the weekend as an arctic mix of cold air brought sub-zero wind chills across the region. Petroleum-based fuel including diesel briefly surpassed natural gas as the region’s top source of electricity Saturday morning, according to ISO New England, the area’s grid operator.
** A California law barring new oil drilling in residential areas and school zones will be put directly to voters next November following a campaign by a state oil trade group.
** Microsoft founder Bill Gates, in an interview with the BBC, rejected accusations of hypocrisy for engaging in philanthropy and advocacy to address climate change, while generating outsized carbon emissions when he travels by private jet.
** Bill Gates is advocating for building more high-voltage power lines. It’s the best way to support a 40 to 60 percent increase in electricity demand, he says.
** Freeport LNG’s long-idled liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Texas was on track to receive no natural gas from pipelines on Tuesday after receiving small amounts of fuel over the past 12 days, according to Refinitiv data.
** A U.S. judge has ordered the government to revisit part of its environmental review of a lithium mine planned in Nevada, but denied opponents’ efforts to block it in a ruling the developer says clears the way for construction at the nation’s largest known deposit of the rare metal widely used in rechargeable batteries.
World
** Oil giant BP is scaling back its plans to cut emissions by reducing its oil and gas production by 2030, the company said Tuesday. In announcing 2022 profit of nearly $27.7 billion, the company said it would now try to reduce the emissions from its products by 20 to 30 percent by 2030.
** The European Union is proposing a ban on the use of a group of common toxic chemicals known as PFAS. They are sometimes called “forever chemicals” because they can linger in the human body and the environment. They are used in a variety of waterproof and nonstick products including pans, raincoats and cosmetics.
** Mexico Pacific said on Tuesday that a unit of Exxon Mobil Corp had agreed to buy liquefied natural gas from the Mexican company’s proposed Saguaro Energia LNG export plant in Sonora state.
