** Rental firm Hertz Global Holdings said on Thursday it would sell about 20,000 electric vehicles from its U.S. fleet due to higher expenses related to collision and damage, and will opt for gas-powered vehicles.
** Hawaii shut down its last coal plant on September 1, 2022, eliminating 180 megawatts of fossil-fueled baseload power from the grid on Oahu — a crucial step in the state’s first-in-the-nation commitment to cease burning fossil fuels for electricity by 2045. It has been replaced by a huge battery plant.
** The EPA is pushing ahead with its investigation of Cummins after making a $2 billion settlement over emissions tampering. David M. Uhlmann, Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, spoke very candidly about the case. “Cummins deserves to pay every dollar,” he said , calling the company’s actions a “brazen scheme.”
** Texas is warning residents to brace for a deep freeze early next week that’s likely to send electricity demand soaring, raising the specter of a deadly cold blast that struck the state three years ago and caused blackouts.
World
** Iran’s navy seized an oil tanker on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman that once was at the center of a major crisis between Tehran and Washington, officials said, a seizure that further escalates tensions in the Mideast waterways.
** Protesters have threatened to shut down two oil and gas facilities near the Libyan capital Tripoli, with one group that is campaigning against corruption issuing a 72-hour ultimatum that ends on Friday.
** Britain’s thousands of wind turbines grabbed their biggest slice of the electricity mix ever in December, sending output from gas-fired plants to their lowest in almost four years.
** Canadian pipeline company Enbridge is keen on further offshore wind investments in France, but will avoid the United States, where cost and supply chain problems have contributed to offshore projects collapsing, a senior executive said.
** TC Energy Corp. is planning to meet with representatives of indigenous communities to discuss selling them a stake in its western Canadian natural gas pipeline network.
