General
Lease for New BLM Office Signed Before Full Funding, Group Says
Tripp Baltz and Tiffany Stecker, Bloomberg Environment
The Bureau of Land Management’s lease for its new headquarters in Grand Junction, Colo., shows the Interior Department is going forward with the move before it gets full congressional funding, an environmental group said Dec. 17. The lease was signed in September and obtained by the Western Values Project through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Judge Finds U.S. Liable For Hurricane Harvey Damage
Sara Randazzo, The Wall Street Journal
The ruling from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims brings the owners of some 10,000 properties in subdivisions west of Houston closer to receiving government compensation tied to the devastating 2017 storm.
Jeff Van Drew won’t talk about his party switch: ‘I’m reevaluating my life’
Pranshu Verma and Jonathan Tamari, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Six senior aides who resigned from the New Jersey Democrat’s office after the revelation that he plans to become a Republican will soon be hired by Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone, according to two people familiar with the matter. Those aides will work on “short-term projects” for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, one of the people said.
Maryland Gov. Hogan promotes energy plan, including nuclear power to reach goals for renewable sources
Pamela Wood, The Baltimore Sun
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan continued his rollout of 2020 priorities Tuesday, offering more details of a previously announced clean energy plan, including a push to add nuclear energy to the ways the state can achieve goals for getting electricity from renewable sources.
A Lesson From the USDA: Want to Make Workers Unhappy? Move Their Office to Another State
Liz Crampton, Politico
Engagement at the USDA’s Economic Research Service, which conducts research into areas such as climate change, nutrition, export data and the farm economy, fell by a significant 30.1 points.
Oil falls as U.S. inventories rise but demand hopes stem bigger drop
Noah Browning, Reuters
Oil prices fell on Wednesday after U.S. industry data showed a surprise build up in crude inventories but losses were kept in check by expectations for an uptick in demand next year on the back of progress in resolving the U.S.-China trade row.
Oil and Natural Gas
WaterBridge Raises $345 Million for Permian Expansion
Rachel Adams-Heard, Bloomberg
WaterBridge Holdings LLC, a U.S. company that handles water for the fracking industry, is scooping up more infrastructure in the Permian Basin, this time from private equity-backed drillers.
Superior Energy Services latest casualty of ‘fracking’ market downturn
Liz Hampton, Reuters
Oilfield service company Superior Energy Services Inc. on Monday said it will shutter its hydraulic fracturing unit, the second supplier this month to exit a business hammered by slower shale activity.
Natural-Gas Shorts at Highest Level Since Financial Crisis
Sarah Toy, The Wall Street Journal
Net bets on declining natural-gas prices are at their highest level since 2008, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data, highlighting how a glut of supply and mild winter weather continue to weigh on investors’ views of the commodity.
US SEC to again propose disclosure rules for oil, gas companies
Brian Scheid, S&P Global Platts
Nearly a decade after they were passed by the US Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to again propose Wednesday rules requiring multinational oil and natural gas companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments.
A Decade in Which Fracking Rocked the Oil World
Rebecca Elliott and Luis Santiago, The Wall Street Journal
There is a simple reason for the surge: fracking. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques spurred a historic U.S. production boom during the decade that has driven down consumer prices, buoyed the national economy and reshaped geopolitics.
Utilities and Infrastructure
U.S. Concedes Defeat on Gas Pipeline It Sees as Russian Threat
Jennifer Jacobs et al., Bloomberg
Senior U.S. administration officials, who asked not to be identified discussing the administration’s take on the project, said sanctions that passed Congress on Tuesday as part of a defense bill are too late to have any effect.
Renewables
New York MTA to invest $1.1B for zero-emission bus fleet
Cailin Crowe, SmartCities Dive
The MTA’s investment is the latest way New York City is taking the lead against climate change. The city’s climate goals include a Green New Deal commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and 100% use of clean electricity.
Ford to add 3,000 jobs in the Detroit area, invest $1.45B
Tom Krisher and David Eggert, The Associated Press
Ford Motor Co. is adding 3,000 jobs at two factories in the Detroit area and investing $1.45 billion to build new pickup trucks, SUVs, and electric and autonomous vehicles.
Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot Agree on Terms to Forge New Auto Giant
Jack Ewing and Liz Alderman, The New York Times
Perhaps the most important rationale for merger is that it will allow the companies to share the cost of developing electric cars and autonomous-driving technology, which world automakers expect to be crucial in the coming decades. Electric cars need to meet stricter emissions regulations in Europe to avoid steep fines.
Coal
Coal Giant Provided Secret Financing to Group Challenging Climate Lawsuits
Lee Fang, The Intercept
Murray Energy showered donations to several think tanks focused on questioning the link between human activity and global warming, providing grants to groups such as the Heartland Institute, which once sponsored billboards comparing those who accept climate change to the Unabomber.
Coal Backer Manchin Comes Out Against Mountaintop Removal Mining
Stephen Lee and David Schultz, Bloomberg Environment
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a past supporter of mountaintop removal mining, said Dec. 17 he’s changed his mind about the practice.
Nuclear
Nevada accuses US government of ‘secret plutonium smuggling’
Scott Sonner, The Associated Press
Nevada wants a federal judge to declare illegal what it calls the U.S. government’s “secret plutonium smuggling operation” and order the removal of weapons-grade material already shipped to a security site north of Las Vegas over the state’s objections.
Climate
Ship industry proposes $5 billion research fund to help cut emissions
Jonathan Saul, Reuters
Shipping associations have proposed creating a research fund with $5 billion raised by the industry to develop technology to help the sector meet U.N. targets on cutting emissions.
A Once-Iffy Form of Carbon Capture Is Getting a Lot Better
Peter Coy, Bloomberg Businessweek
The companies leading the commercialization of direct air capture—Carbon Engineering of Canada, Climeworks of Switzerland, and Global Thermostat of the U.S.—say the technology is meant to supplement, not replace, shifts toward solar and wind power.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
The U.S. Should Accelerate Offshore Wind Plans
Erik Milito, Morning Consult
The United States needs a reliable and predictable road map of offshore wind opportunities if the new offshore wind industry is to truly thrive.
California has power over PG&E. Use it
The Times Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times
PG&E has blatantly ignored demands for accountability and structural change even though the governor and the state Legislature have spent a year making it crystal clear what the investor-owned utility needs to do to be allowed to continue to provide power when it emerges from bankruptcy next year.
How Has This Pesticide Not Been Banned?
The Editorial Board, The New York Times
The pesticide known as chlorpyrifos is both clearly dangerous and in very wide use. It is known to pass easily from mother to fetus and has been linked to a wide range of serious medical problems, including impaired development, Parkinson’s disease and some forms of cancer.
Happy birthday and thank you, O2K (Order 2000)!
James J. Hoecker, Utility Dive
Birthed by a Commission deadlocked at the time over the need to institute RTOs, Order No. 2000, or “O2K,” has long since exceeded our modest expectations in producing economic, reliability, and (I maintain) environmental benefits for electricity consumers.
Why Goldman Sachs Is Fighting Climate Change—And the UN Isn’t
Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic
But the bank’s easy-to-devise selfish intentions suggest that it may actually follow through on its stated policy
Can the Internet Survive Climate Change?
Kevin Lozano, The New Republic
There are some downsides to the solar-powered site—a cloudy day in Barcelona might force Low-Tech to go off-line. And since Google search prioritizes faster and more reliable websites, sites like Low-Tech might always be relegated to the margins of the mainstream web.
Research Reports
Nuclear Cleanup: Actions Needed to Improve Cleanup Efforts at DOE’s Three Former Gaseous Diffusion Plants
U.S. Government Accountability Office
EM has reported spending a total of about $15.5 billion on GDP cleanup as of fiscal year 2018. However, EM’s cost estimates for completing cleanup at the three sites are not reliable.
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