** Iowa House lawmakers advance bills that would strengthen eminent domain protections, limit permit lengths and include more involvement of a consumer advocacy office in an effort to clamp down on carbon pipelines. ** The federal Bonneville Power Administration could lose up to 20% of its workforce to the Trump administration’s job cuts and hiring freeze, raising concerns about …
Category: EPA
Sen. Lankford attacks Biden Administration in latest Federal Fumbles book
Elon Musk and Oklahoma U.S. Sen. James Lankford have something in common—-each is focused on eliminating government waste. Each is also highly critical of what the Biden administration’s green new energy plan did to the nation’s energy industry. Musk, of course, is in charge of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency while Sen. Lankford …
Energy briefs
** EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Wednesday that he’s found $20 billion in taxpayer money that the Biden administration “parked” at a financial institution — in an apparent effort to hide the dollars. “This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history, and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in …
Texas asks new EPA Administrator for help in carbon capture projects
Oil and gas groups along with industrial firms in Texas want some help from the new EPA administrator in approval of carbon capture projects in the state. They’re wanting the state, rather than the Environmental Protection Agency, to approve projects that might boost private investment and help develop capture technology. According to Reuters, the …
Former Oklahoma Deputy Energy Secretary named to head EPA regional office
The newly named regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is Scott Mason, a former Deputy Secretary of Energy for Oklahoma. In the position, he’ll be in charge of EPA programs in Oklahoma and four other states as well as 66 Tribal Nations. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that President …
AG celebrates Trump pulling the plug on Biden’s EV mandate
Attorney General Gentner Drummond is celebrating after the Trump administration took action to end the EV mandate created by the Biden administration, a mandate challenged by Oklahoma and 21 other states. “The Biden Administration’s zeal for federal overreach was seemingly insatiable, particularly when it came to attacking the oil and gas industry,” said Drummond. “I …
Energy briefs
** This week, Ford Motor Company reported that it lost $5.1 billion on its EV business in 2024. During the fourth quarter, it incurred $1.4 billion in operating losses on its EV segment. That was a slightly better result than the fourth quarter of 2023, when the company lost $1.6 billion on EVs. ** Arizona’s largest …
New Energy Secretary reverses Biden’s policies
Energy Secretary Chris Wright went about his first day of business by ordering a reversal of the anti-oil and gas policies implemented by Jennifer Granholm, the woman who held the job in the Biden administration Wright, the former oil company leader from Denver, Colorado immediately signed an order to have the Energy Department “unleash …
Energy briefs
** President Donald Trump on Monday indicated that he wants to reach an agreement with Ukraine to gain access to the country’s rare earth materials as a condition for continuing U.S. support for its war against Russia. ** Colombian energy company Ecopetrol is renewing its oil joint venture with U.S. firm Occidental Petroleum in the Permian …
Burgum makes quick energy changes at Interior Department
Carrying out the direction of President Donald Trump, his new Interior Secretary, former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on Monday initiated six orders changing the way energy was viewed by the Biden administration. Burgum’s orders, with a goal of maximizing domestic energy and minerals production, directed agencies to speed up the permitting of energy …