** The number of faults on the power grid near three of the major Los Angeles County fires skyrocketed in the hours before the blazes began, according to a company that monitors electrical activity. Bob Marshall, the chief executive of Whisker Labs, said in an interview with The Times that the areas near the Eaton, Palisades and Hurst fires all saw massive increases in faults in the hours leading up to the fires. Faults on the power grid are caused by tree limbs hitting electrical wires or wires hitting one another, among other causes. Each fault causes a spark.
** The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Environmental Protection Agency‘s authority to enforce stricter regulations on coal ash, a product created by coal-burning power plants. East Kentucky Power Cooperative initially pushed back against the EPA’s plan in a federal appeals court before taking the matter to the Supreme Court.
** Wildfire smoke has “minimal” impact on U.S. solar power generation outside of active fire zones, according to a new study from Colorado State University, reported POLITICO.
** The U.S. EPA plans to lift sanctions imposed on Alaska for failing to address toxic emissions in Fairbanks after the state revised its air pollution plan.
** The U.S. Interior Department announces it received no bids for oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying industry’s lack of interest shows some places are “too special and sacred” for drilling.
** Rocky Mountain Power cancels several Wyoming coal plants’ previously scheduled retirements, but plans to convert some of the units to run on natural gas.
** Daimler plans to stop selling large diesel trucks in Oregon over concerns it won’t meet the state’s advanced clean truck rule’s electric vehicle quota.
World
** Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he is ready to deploy a range of political and economic sanctions against neighboring Ukraine to force the country to help ship Russian gas to the European Union. Fico told reporters at a press conference that if Kyiv continues to stand in the way of Russia’s fossil fuel exports, the “Slovak government will introduce harsh reciprocal measures.”
** Russian firefighters were on Thursday still battling a fire reported to have broken out at an oil depot near an air base for strategic bombers in the Volga region, more than 24 hours after a Ukrainian drone attack.
** Fresh oil started pouring from a stricken Russian tanker in the Black Sea on Friday, said officials in Moscow, as Ukraine warned of “terrible environmental consequences” from the spill. Heavy fuel oil has been washing up on hundreds of kilometres of beaches along Russia’s southern coast and on the annexed peninsula of Crimea since two ageing Russian tankers were caught in a storm in the Kerch strait on December 15.
** Oil refiners in India and China have increased crude purchases from the Middle East and other regions amid concern that further restrictions on imports from Russia and Iran may crimp access to supplies. This week, two Indian state refiners bought up to 6 million barrels of Oman and Abu Dhabi’s Murban crude for prompt loading in February.
** China’s Zijin Mining Group Co., already a global force in copper and gold, is stepping up its foray into lithium with the potential purchase of a Chinese producer of the battery material.