General
Public Lands Ride Sidecar with Climate Change in 2020 Race
Jacqueline Toth, Morning Consult
Multiple Democratic candidates for president have specifically highlighted public lands as a climate issue and have taken positions diametrically opposed to the Trump administration’s development focus.
Key architect of car rules rollback to depart — sources
Maxine Joselow, E&E News
Regulators and other observers anticipate that Heidi King, a chief architect of President Trump’s rollback of clean car standards, will soon leave the administration. King, who currently serves as deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, could exit as soon as next week, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
Bayer Proposes Paying $8 Billion to Settle Roundup Cancer Claims
By Jef Feeley et al., Bloomberg
Bayer AG is proposing to pay as much as $8 billion to settle more than 18,000 U.S. lawsuits alleging its Roundup herbicide causes cancer, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
Texan at air office helm positioned to settle old scores
Sean Reilly, E&E News
Now, as EPA’s acting air chief, Idsal is poised to play a decisive role in settling several long-festering standoffs with direct ramifications for her home state and heavy industrial operations there.
EPA’s Science Advisers Move Ahead on ‘Secret Science’ Rule
Stephen Lee, Bloomberg Environment
The meeting, to be held by teleconference, marks the latest pull in the ongoing tug of war between the Environmental Protection Agency’s political leadership and the Science Advisory Board, a group of outside experts that reviews the quality of scientific and technical information the agency uses in regulations.
Jealousy Led Montana Chemist to Taint Colleague’s Water Tests
Heather Murphy, The New York Times
The sentence? A payment of $38,911 to the city of Billings, near Yellowstone National Park, and a three-year deferred sentence, meaning she is required to check in with a probation officer for that period.
Oil edges up despite IEA report showing demand growth at decade low
Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Reuters
Oil prices inched higher on Friday supported by expectations of more OPEC production cuts despite the International Energy Agency (IEA) reporting demand growth at its lowest level since the financial crisis of 2008.
Oil and Natural Gas
Alaska’s oil money headaches: ‘We did this to ourselves’
Becky Bohrer, The Associated Press
For decades, Alaska binged on infrastructure and community projects when oil prices were high and cut spending and closed facilities when they weren’t. This time, prices haven’t boomed and after years of drawing down savings and cutting expenses, state leaders face tough decisions.
Energy Transfer in talks to develop supertanker-ready crude oil export terminal
Sergio Chapa, Houston Chronicle
Energy Transfer is seeking to build a crude oil expoter terminal capable of supporting Very Large Crude Carriers, or VLCCs, the company’s chief financial officer Tom Long said during a Thursday morning earnings call.
The Leaks That Threaten the Clean Image of Natural Gas
Rebecca Elliott, The Wall Street Journal
They have ambitious plans to make the cleaner-burning fuel a big part of the global energy mix for decades to come by sending tankers of liquefied gas around the world. But growing public concern over leaks and intentional releases of gas and its primary component, methane, threaten to derail the dominance of gas in the new energy world order.
U.S. natural gas demand is at a record – and prices keep dropping
Scott DiSavino, Reuters
U.S. gas futures this week collapsed to a three-year low, while spot prices were on track to post their weakest summer in over 20 years. In other markets, such lackluster pricing would cause investment to retrench and supply to contract.
Russia’s Rosneft last major petrol supplier to Venezuela
Michael Strott et al., Financial Times
Caracas relies entirely on Russian state company for June imports.
U.S. Sanctions Turn Iran’s Oil Industry Into Spy vs. Spy
Farnaz Fassihi, The New York Times
Since President Trump imposed sanctions on Iranian oil sales last year, information on those sales has become a prized geopolitical weapon — coveted by Western intelligence agencies and top secret for Iran. And the business of selling Iranian oil, once a safe and lucrative enterprise for the well connected, has been transformed into a high-stakes global game of espionage and counterespionage.
Utilities and Infrastructure
Crossed wires: Wisconsin transmission proposal sparks debate over best path to 100% clean energy
Max Witynski, Utility Dive
In the Midwest, a proposed $492–543 million transmission project is raising big questions about renewables, reliability and the evolving American grid. Advocates say the high-voltage line is needed to expand access to wind energy and ensure reliability, while opponents say it is unnecessary and worse than a suite of alternatives that could include solar, demand response and other advanced transmission technologies.
Renewables
Solar grant costs 10 times more than agency claimed – emails
Kelsey Brugger, E&E News
The solar grant rewrite stirred up controversy in September 2018 when the agency withdrew a $46 million solar funding opportunity announcement — or FOA — five months after it had been released and days before the recipients were to be awarded. The initial grant was for 14 projects to integrate solar on the electric grid.
Closing of world’s largest cobalt mine could lead to price rebound
Ben Kilbey and Emmanuel Latham, S&P Global Platts
The shuttering of the world’s largest cobalt mine could be exactly the stimulus the metal needs to stage a comeback from recent lows, in the view of the market this week.
Tesla owner lawsuit claims software update fraudulently cut battery capacity
Alexandria Sage, Reuters
A Tesla Inc owner has filed a lawsuit against the electric vehicle maker, claiming the company limited the battery range of older vehicles via a software update to avoid a costly recall to fix what plaintiffs allege are defective batteries.
Coal
America’s coal capital knows it must rethink its future
The Economist
Almost a century ago 860,000 coal miners toiled in America; by January just 53,000 did. Roughly 17,000—including those employed indirectly—are in Wyoming, many in Campbell County. They are highly skilled and typically earn almost $90,000 a year, double the state average.
Nuclear
Ton of plutonium shipped out of SC after state sues feds over nuclear plant, AG says
Noah Feit, The Charlotte Observer
Ton of plutonium shipped out of SC after state sues feds over nuclear plant, AG says
Climate
Exxon Is Drowning Investors in Paper in Climate Suit, N.Y. Says
Erik Larson, Bloomberg
New York accused Exxon Mobil Corp. of trying to discourage potential witnesses in a state lawsuit alleging the oil and gas company misled investors about the financial impact of climate change.
A More Active Hurricane Season Could Lie Ahead, Scientists Warn
John Schwartz, The New York Times
But NOAA issued an updated El Niño report on Thursday stating that conditions had returned to a neutral status, which will eventually allow hurricane formation to ramp up. The forecasters at NOAA’s climate prediction center thus raised the likelihood of an above-normal season in the Atlantic to 45 percent, up from 30 percent in the May forecast.
Alaska’s hottest month portends transformation into ‘unfrozen state’
Yereth Rosen, Reuters
July’s statewide average temperature rose to 58.1 degrees Fahrenheit (14.5 degrees Celsius), a level that for denizens of the Lower 48 states might seem cool enough but is actually 5.4 degrees above normal and nearly a full degree higher than Alaska’s previous record-hot month.
You can now pay to turn your carbon emissions to stone
Akshat Rathi, Quartz
Starting in June, a company called Climeworks began offering customers the option to buy a personal carbon offset subscription. You can choose one of three tiers: €7 a month (~$8) will pay for trapping 85 kg of carbon dioxide in a year (about the same as driving 700 km or 435 miles in a gasoline car); €21 a month will get you 255 kg in a year; and €49 a month will convert 600 kg of carbon dioxide into stone.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
William Perry Pendley can do a lot of damage in a short period of time
The Editorial Board, The Washington Post
During any other administration, it would be a front-page scandal. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt last month tapped William Perry Pendley, an anti-government zealot who has not been Senate-approved for any position, to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which oversees one-tenth of the nation’s land.
Don’t Incinerate Waste; Get Circular, Optimize Plastics
Mathy Stanislaus, Bloomberg Environment
Since China stopped accepting our recyclable goods last year, American municipalities have been challenged with a complicated choice about how to manage a back-up of plastics and other recyclable materials: revive and expand the old-fashioned practice of solid waste incineration (a short-term fix with long-term negative consequence) or invest in a new, more sustainable future.
SoCal Gas accused of setting up an ‘astro-turf’ group to plead its case to regulators
Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times
Obtaining designation as a party in the PUC rule-making process would give it an important platform for getting its message out. Here’s what the organization, known in shorthand as C4BES, didn’t bother to mention in its application to the PUC, however: It’s not a grassroots group, but a creation of Southern California Gas Co.
Research Reports
Q2 State of the Market Report for PJM: January Through June
Monitoring Analytics LLC
The goal of competition is to provide customers wholesale power at the lowest possible price, but no lower. The PJM markets have done that.
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