** The Interior Department on Tuesday finalized a rule restoring a 2016 order, rolled back by the Trump administration, that tightens offshore oil drilling safety standards.
** The Biden administration on Tuesday approved a wind energy project off Rhode Island, the fourth major commercial-scale offshore wind energy project approved by the Biden Interior Department.
** A lawsuit challenging a natural gas expansion project on the East Coast could change how federal regulators assess state climate policies. Environmental groups and a landowner sued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this year for approving Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co.’s pipeline project in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey over the objections of state officials in the Garden State.
** Lake Mead water levels are at the highest point this year after Hurricane Hilary swept through the Southwest. The lake stands 1,063.95 feet above mean sea level according to information collected by LakeLevels. This is over 20 feet higher than where the lake was on this day last year.
** The Biden administration issued new restrictions on oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico, in an effort to protect a whale species after it settled last month with a coalition of environmental groups.
** The amount of natural gas flowing to U.S. energy company Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Texas was on track to decline on Wednesday, a day after Tropical Storm Harold hit South Texas.
World
** Japan says it will begin releasing treated radioactive water from its destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday despite opposition to the plan from China and local fishing communities. The plant was severely damaged in the 2011 tsunami, and the plan to dump its wastewater was approved by the Japanese government two years ago in what it sees as a vital stage of decommissioning the site.
** Even as unprecedented wildfires hamper Canadian oil drilling, fossil fuel firms are seeking to boost production, ramping up Canada’s oil output by 8 percent over the next two years.
** Talks to avoid strikes at Australia’s biggest liquefied natural gas export terminal began Wednesday morning, as the threat to supply continues to rock global markets for the fuel.
** European natural gas prices plunged as talks aimed at heading off strikes at Australian LNG facilities entered the final stretch.
** Norwegian energy firm Equinor and its partners will inaugurate the world’s largest floating offshore wind power farm, whose output will supply nearby oil and gas platforms and cut their greenhouse gas emissions.