** A federal appeals court panel ruled in favor of energy industry groups in an order Tuesday evening requiring the Biden administration to hold a massive offshore oil and gas lease sale without eco restrictions. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the decision that the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) must move forward …
Category: EPA
Energy headlines
** A project to build a first-of-a-kind small modular nuclear reactor power plant was terminated this week, another blow to the Biden administration’s clean energy agenda following cancellations last week of two major offshore wind projects. NuScale Power, working with a group of Utah utilities, announced the cancellation. ** Illinois lawmakers are sending Gov. J.B. …
Headlines
** The House approved a measure late Tuesday that would slash Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s taxpayer-funded government salary to just $1. The bill — which was introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — was passed via voice vote Tuesday as an amendment to the 2024 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act. ** A group of 11 Democratic senators …
Short reads
** Taking a page from the “throw-the-bums-out” script in politics, Mainers are poised to vote on an unprecedented plan to rid themselves of the state’s two largest electric utilities and start with a clean slate. ** American Electric Power discloses that it is in negotiations with federal regulators to resolve allegations about the utility’s role in the bribery scandal …
Bill to slash EPA budget supported by Oklahoma Representatives
Oklahoma’s five members of the U.S. House were in support of a Republican move on Friday to slash about 40% of the EPA’s budget. The measure was approved on a 213-203 vote and is aimed at cutting 39% of the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency. It would be the smallest budget the agency …
Other energy highlights
** The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will pay $440 million to install solar panels in Puerto Rico. The Department of Energy (DOE) made the announcement Thursday, saying that the funding will lower energy costs for 30,000 to 40,000 single-family households in Puerto Rico and help improve the resilience of energy sources. ** Uranium prices are on a …
Energy headlines
** On Wednesday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the head of the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee, demanded documents from the climate group As You Sow as part of a broader investigation into climate-conscious investing. Jordan accused the group of an illegal conspiracy in the name of advancing a left-wing political agenda. ** The State Department on Wednesday announced a partnership with the nonprofit …
Keystone pipeline spill in Kansas declared cleaned up
Cleanup of the 13,000 barrel spill of the Keystone pipeline in northern Kansas has been declared to be officially cleaned up according to the Environmental Protection Agency. It was December of last year when TC Energy’s pipeline leaked oil into Mill Creek in Washington County. This week, TC Energy and the EPA’s regional office …
Energy quick reads
** The Biden administration is announcing it will spend $1.3 billion of new federal funding to help create three new, massive electrical transmission lines in the Southwest and New England, in an effort to improve the nation’s power grid and get more renewable energy into America’s homes and businesses. ** Hedge funds are laying bets on uranium, …
Texas is home to some of the nation’s top polluters
Four of the worst top ten polluters in the U.S., according to a ranking by the Environmental Protection Agency, are in the state of Texas. The EPA stated that 2022 greenhouse gas data showed emissions from large industrial sources were nearly 1% lower than in 2021. It also indicated there has been an overall …