** The Trump administration files a lawsuit seeking to overturn California’s law banning new oil and gas wells near homes, schools, hospitals, and parks, claiming it violates federal law and hampers energy development.
** Advocacy groups revive a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration’s proposed oil and gas leasing program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
** Arizona utility officials say Phoenix-area data center-driven energy demand is changing electricity use patterns, stifling decarbonization efforts, and threatening to overwhelm the grid.
** A New Mexico lawmaker introduces legislation that would give state utility regulators greater oversight of data centers’ on-site microgrids and require the facilities to comply with the Energy Transition Act.
** Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes accuses Tucson Electric Power of lying about tariff rates the proposed Project Blue data center near Tucson would pay the utility.
** A Nevada advocate accuses NV Energy of falsely claiming the Greenlink West transmission project would lead to fossil fuel plant closures, saying data center demand will lead to more natural gas generation.
** The city of Fort Worth is planning litigation related to the oil spill that contaminated a municipal water treatment plant last summer. In May, a 16-inch pipeline owned by Dallas-based Energy Transfer broke and discharged 6,800 barrels of crude oil near Lake Arlington.
World
** The only oil tankers to leave Venezuela since the arrest of its former leader, Nicolás Maduro, have been bound for the U.S., according to a new report by shipping intelligence firm Kpler. There were two ships this year that were headed to other countries before Maduro’s Jan. 3 capture by the U.S.
** Russia launched a barrage of drone strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight on Monday, cutting off power in five regions across the country amid freezing temperatures and high demand, Ukrainian officials said. The Ukrainian air force said that Russian troops had launched 145 drones. Air defence units shot down 126 of them, it said.
** The Philippines has announced its first major natural gas discovery in more than ten years, reinforcing the strategic importance of the Malampaya gas complex and offering a potential boost to the country’s long-term energy security.