Fast energy reads

** In the latest blow to Native Americans who oppose the controversial Resolution Copper mine project in Arizona, the U.S. Forest Service plans to set in motion a land swap between the U.S. government and Rio Tinto.

** As U.S. refiners rejigger operations to reflect declining domestic motor fuels demand in the next decade, they will seek to maximize diesel and biofuels production for exports, industry analysts say. A rationalization of global refining capacity along with Russia’s continued war in Ukraine has encouraged U.S. refiners to prioritize distillates as global diesel inventories sagged and demand jumped.

** The U.S. oil refining industry expects to maintain a competitive advantage exporting fuel to Latin America even though Brazil has started to import more Russian diesel, according to an official at a top U.S. refining lobby. Latin America accounted for about 35% of U.S. refined product exports last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

** Nevada’s Avi Kwa Ame and Texas’ Castner Range were designated Tuesday by Biden as the country’s newest national monuments. Biden announced the proclamations during a conservation summit held at the Interior Department, blocking a total of about 514,000 acres of public lands from development.

** Michigan will pay $600 million to settle lawsuits over the contamination of Flint’s water supply, which combined with settlements from the city and a local hospital will comprise the largest legal settlement in the state’s history.iana that has become known as “cancer alley” due to the prominence of pollution coming from industry there are alleging that they are the victims of environmental racism in a new lawsuit.

** A paper published in the Harvard Environmental Law Review says oil companies should be put on trial for murder because of the climate change they have caused.

** A U.S. safety board said on Tuesday it found anomalies in pressure relief devices (PRDs) of the freight train operated by Norfolk Southern Corp that derailed on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio.

** President Joe Biden released a first-of-its-kind U.S. Ocean Climate Action Plan on Tuesday, which he said will “harness the tremendous power of the ocean to help in our fight against the climate crisis.” Speaking at the White House Conservation in Action Summit, Biden said: “We can reduce emissions by building offshore wind farms, better protect our coastal and fishing communities from worsening storms, changing fisheries and other impacts on climate change.”

** The U.S. Oil and Gas Association caught failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in a political mistake as she joined an environmental group pushing to ban gave stoves. But the Association pointed to one of her campaign ads which featured a gas-powered stove.

World

** Brazil has ousted almost all illegal gold miners from the Yanomami territory, its largest indigenous reservation, and will remove miners from six more reserves this year, the head of the federal police’s new environmental crimes division said Tuesday.

** Ecuador will need to revise down its daily crude oil production target by some 40,000 barrels, equivalent to about 8%, its oil minister said, after state-run company Petroecuador declared force majeure on three more oil blocks on Tuesday because of protests.

** France’s parliament voted in favour of the government’s nuclear investment plan with a large majority on Tuesday, a day after the government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote over its pension reform plan. The nuclear renewal plan, whose key plank is the planned construction of six new nuclear reactors, was approved with 402 votes in favour and 130 against.

** Argentina’s mining exports hit historic levels last year, the government said on Tuesday, powered by surging lithium income as the South American agricultural powerhouse targets profits from the metal key to meeting booming electric vehicle (EV) demand.

** Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA has accumulated $21.2 billion in accounts receivable, according to documents viewed by Reuters, after turning to dozens of little known intermediaries three years ago to export its oil under U.S. sanctions.