** U.S. officials announced a $241 million settlement with Marathon Oil over alleged air pollution violations at dozens of the company’s oil and gas facilities on a North Dakota Indian reservation, saying it was part of an ongoing crackdown.
** More than a dozen Democratic senators called on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to relax guidelines around federal tax subsidies for the hydrogen industry in a letter this week. The current guidance, backed by green and progressive advocates, requires eligible companies use new energy rather than preexisting energy from the grid, while also ensuring that new clean energy is produced at the same time and in the same geographic region as hydrogen projects.
** The environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity, has sued the federal government to force the Interior Department to reassess long-term environmental effects of delays in shutting down inactive oiland gas infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico.
** Two firms agree to pay $50 million to settle litigation over alleged conspiracy to manipulate southern California gasoline spot prices in 2015.
** An advocacy group that opposes environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing launched a broad public relations effort to shape negotiations around a new farm bill. Consumers’ Research, a leading anti-ESG group, wrote to top lawmakers on agricultural issues in a letter obtained first by The Hill and launched billboards and television ads warning against the risks of including certain policies in potential legislation.
** A statewide referendum challenging a South Dakota law that critics say is too supportive of carbon pipeline developers is certified for the November ballot.
** Iowa State University researchers land a $1 million federal grant to improve the performance of grid distribution transformers, which regulate voltage amounts from the distribution grid to homes.
** The shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant, which experienced an infamous partial meltdown 45 years ago, is among a growing number of retired U.S. nuclear plants that could be recommissioned as power demand grows.
World
** A surging supply of thick sea ice — fragmenting due to the warming effects of climate change — is shortening the shipping season through the Northwest Passage, a new study has found. While previous analyses have explored whether the Northwest Passage might become a more viable alternative to traditional shipping routes as the climate warms, the study authors expressed fear that the opposite may be true.
** The United Nations General Assembly has demanded that Russia “urgently withdraw its military and other unauthorized personnel” from Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and return it to the full control of Ukrainian authorities.