• The Interior Department said that oil drilling in a portion of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would have a limited environmental impact, an assessment that was backed by Alaskan officials and sets the path for lease sales to oil companies this year. Drilling in the refuge, which became permitted under a 2017 law, has been opposed by environmental groups, and while the U.S. House passed legislation Thursday to repeal the law, it has little chance of making it past the Senate. (The Wall Street Journal)

• The Trump administration plans to move forward with its proposal to revoke California’s authority to set its own emissions and fuel economy standards, according to a person familiar with the matter. The decision was made during a meeting between President Donald Trump, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the person said. (Bloomberg)

• General Electric Co.’s Baker Hughes, two subsidiaries and an employee are facing a grand jury indictment on 25 felony charges of assault related to toxic chemical releases during the 2014 construction of a chemical transfer facility in Kenai, Alaska, according to Alaska’s attorney general’s office. Baker Hughes and its subsidiaries could be ordered to pay fines totaling $2.5 million if convicted. (Reuters)

U.S. House passes bill to repeal drilling in Alaska refuge
Timothy Gardner, Reuters

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to reverse a 2017 law that allows oil and gas drilling in part of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which conservationists say is one of the last pristine regions on Earth.

Proposed fracking bans may hurt Democrats in 2020
Josh Siegel, Washington Examiner

Democratic presidential contenders are promising to swiftly ban fracking, the drilling technique responsible for cheap natural gas, but it’s a plan that could backfire and raise carbon emissions in the short term — if, that is, it’s even feasible.

Senate releases massive $48.9B spending bill
Jeremy Dillon et al., E&E News

Clean energy research and the interim storage of nuclear waste are big winners in the Senate’s $48.9 billion fiscal 2020 Energy-Water spending bill released this morning.

Ford, GM rev up electric pickup trucks to head off Tesla
Ben Klayman, Reuters

Large pickup trucks that tow most of the profits in to Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co are holdovers from another century – with heavy ladder frames and big internal combustion engines in the front driving the wheels in the back.

Transformative? New Device Harvests Energy in Darkness
Rebecca Boyle, The New York Times

“It took us about five minutes to realize we were passing through a town, because it was completely dark,” Dr. Raman said. “There wasn’t a single light on.” Dr. Raman wondered whether he could use all that darkness to make something to light it up, not unlike the way that solar panels generate electricity from the sun’s heat and light.

Oil Set for Weekly Drop as IEA Warns OPEC Faces Looming Surplus
Tsuyoshi Inajima and Alex Longley, Bloomberg

Oil is set for its biggest weekly decline in nearly two months as the International Energy Agency warned of a looming supply glut.

Mexico’s Pemex offers to prepay chunk of $14.7 billion in bonds
Ana Isabel Martinez and Abraham Gonzalez, Reuters

Mexico’s Pemex said on Thursday it had launched a tender offer to prepay around a third of $14.7 billion in bonds maturing between 2020-2023, in President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s latest effort to shore up the state oil firm.

Alta Mesa files for bankruptcy under former Anadarko chief
Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle

The Houston oil producer Alta Mesa Resources filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday amid collapsing finances and an SEC investigation into possible fraud.

Greenpeace Protesters Partially Shut Key U.S. Oil Waterway
Simon Casey and Barbara J. Powell, Bloomberg

The Houston Ship Channel was partially shut Thursday after Greenpeace activists suspended themselves from a bridge spanning the key oil route in protest against the fossil fuel industry.

Political staffer nixed EPA concerns on major Alaska project
Ariel Wittenberg, E&E News

EPA scrapped objections to a massive proposed natural gas pipeline in Alaska two years ago after developers spoke to a high-ranking political appointee, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show.

Can state’s grid manager be held accountable for its errors?
L.M. Sixel, Houston Chronicle

Panda Power built three power plants earlier in this decade, investing billions of dollars based on projections from the state’s grid manager that Texas desperately needed more generation to meet growing electricity demand. But those projections turned out to be wildly wrong — Texas, in fact, had plenty of power — and Panda ended up losing billions of dollars and putting one of the plants into bankruptcy, unable to sell electricity at prices sufficient to cover debts.

FERC Sends DER Data Request to RTOs
Amanda Durish Cook, RTO Insider

FERC is asking RTOs for information on aggregated DER portfolios in their wholesale markets, the first significant movement in a possible rulemaking in more than a year.

Biggest Battery System Inches N.Y. Toward 100% Green Energy Goal
Chris Martin, Bloomberg

The biggest battery system in New York is now storing electricity at a technology campus north of Albany to help stabilize the state’s power grid and reduce carbon emissions.

Weekly US coal production falls 10.5% on week, 5.7% on year: EIA
Tyler Godwin, S&P Global Platts

Weekly US coal production totaled an estimated 13.29 million st in the week that ended September 7, down 10.5% compared with a week earlier and 5.7% lower than the year-ago week, US Energy Information Administration data showed Thursday.

Exelon’s Byron 2 Completes First Insertion of Westinghouse Accident-Tolerant Fuel
Sonal Patel, Power Magazine

Exelon’s Byron Unit 2 nuclear power plant has completed installation of EnCore Fuel, Westinghouse Electric Co.’s accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) solution, marking the start of the first test of uranium silicide fuel pellets in a commercial nuclear reactor. 

Climate change poses major risk to flood insurance program, experts warn
James Jarvis, The Hill

Environmental experts on Wednesday warned House lawmakers about risks to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) posed by climate change, saying the situation is likely to worsen in the coming years.

Trump’s plan for the economy: Make Drinking Water Dirty Again
Catherine Rampell, The Washington Post

The Trump administration recently revealed its grand plan for turbocharging economic growth: Make Drinking Water Dirty Again.

A Road Map for Successful US Disaster Policy: How to Reform US Disaster Policy to Prepare for a Coming Century of Crisis
SmarterSafer

Devastating extreme-weather events and natural disasters are becoming normal occurrences across the country. In 2018, the US sustained 14 separate billion-dollar natural disasters, and, the previous year, it experienced 16 billion-dollar disaster events totaling $309.5 billion in damages, making 2017 the most expensive year in US history in terms of disaster spending.