**The Environmental Protection Agency has placed roughly 140 employees on administrative leave days after they signed a public letter expressing concern about the treatment of federal employees and the Trump administration’s regulations on climate and public health. ** The arbitrators in a legal dispute between Exxon Mobil and Hess have reached a decision related to a major …
Category: EPA
Waiting and watching—LSB’s Mark Behrman
One Oklahoma City energy executive paying close attention to the One Big Beautiful Bill is Mark Behrman, President and CEO at LSB Industries Inc. He will be focused on the energy tax credits that could be affected. LSB Industries is one company that is taking advantage of some of those credits and Berhman …
Connecticut Governor wants net-zero emissions and natural gas for his state
Even though Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed legislation into law this week putting the state on a path to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, he is also taking a serious look at expanding natural gas pipelines into his state. Minutes after he signed the net-zero carbon emissions pledge on Tuesday, Gov. Lamont repeated …
North Texas environmental group sues Trump’s EPA
An environmental justice group in North Texas has sued the Trump administration’s EPA after a grant program was cancelled. Downwinders at Risk, described as a nonprofit focused on air quality and environmental justice filed suit after its air monitoring program was among victims of a recent elimination of a grant program at the Environmental …
Energy briefs
** The U.S. Department of Transportation has scrapped a rule mandating speed-limiting devices or “governors” on heavy-duty trucks, allowing them to race along the nation’s highways at top speed. Their requirement is now being dropped as part of a new DOT package intended to ease conditions for long-haul truckers. ** The U.S. Department of Energy this week …
Energy briefs
** A top EOG Resources executive agrees U.S. shale oil production has likely peaked and is now in decline., reported Hart Energy. “I think U.S. shale oil has definitely slowed, there’s no doubt about it,” EOG COO Jeff Leitzell said June 24 in response to a question about peak U.S. oil at the JPMorgan Energy, Power, …
Energy briefs
** Federal regulators have issued a handful of gas-related orders that clear the path for new pipeline and energy infrastructure in the Midwest and along the Gulf Coast. The decisions from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission come as the agency has taken steps to remove barriers to building gas pipelines, including granting a one-year waiver to a FERC rule …
Energy briefs
** Constellation Energy plans to restart Unit 1 of the former Three Mile Island nuclear power plant as the Crane Clean Energy Center. In a $16 billion deal between owner Constellation Energy and Microsoft to power the tech giant’s AI data centers, Three Mile Island is set to return to service as the Crane Clean …
Energy briefs
** Thousands of households in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania lose power as temperatures soar above 100 degrees and air conditioning use strains the grid. ** According to the Energy Information Administration, in 2023, nuclear power and renewable energy sources, such as solar power and wind power, accounted for 18% of the total energy …
Energy briefs
** The U.S. Supreme Court rules that petroleum producers have standing to sue California over its vehicle emissions rules, saying the firms would be harmed by a gasoline car phaseout. ** Two large California oil refineries are shutting down, triggering mounting concerns from state legislators, industry groups and many others. The Phillips 66 and Valero’s Benicia …