** Exxon and Canada-based crude pipeline operator Enbridge were sued in Illinois federal court on Tuesday over claims they barred a competitor from building a terminal to ship oil by barge from the Chicago area to refineries in the Midwest and Gulf of Mexico.
** House Small Business Committee Chair Roger Williams, R-Texas, is demanding answers from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over a set of new federal proposals he claims “failed” to consider the potential harm to Main Street America business owners.
** The federal government has finalized two areas for floating offshore wind farms along the Oregon coast, authorities announced Tuesday, bringing the state closer to commercially developing and producing a renewable energy source that’s part of the fight against climate change.
** Google and environmental group Environmental Defense Fund on Wednesday unveiled a partnership to expose sources of climate-warming emissions from oil and gas operations that will be detected from space by a new satellite.
** A nuclear power plant in Georgia has begun splitting atoms in the second of its two new reactors, Georgia Power said Wednesday, a key step toward providing carbon-free electricity.
World
** Explosions struck a natural gas pipeline in Iran early on Wednesday, with an official blaming the blasts on a “sabotage and terrorist action” in the country as tensions remain high in the Middle East amid Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
** British energy group Shell on Wednesday forecast that world demand for liquefied natural gas would jump more than 50 percent by 2040, fuelled by China dumping coal.
** Indian refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) said on Wednesday it will set up the first-ever green hydrogen plant inside an airport in the country.
** A push to replenish depleted oil stocks notably in China, the United States and Europe could buoy demand and prices in coming months, analysts and traders said, as tensions in the Middle East threaten key shipping lanes.
** China’s BYD Co Ltd will set up a new electric vehicle (EV) factory in Mexico, Nikkei reported on Wednesday, citing the company’s Mexico head, as the EV maker aims to establish an export hub to the United States.