• President Donald Trump called the Environmental Protection Agency last week, greenlighting the EPA’s announcement regarding biofuel blending exemptions and ending a weeks-long interagency discussion over the small refiner waiver applications, according to three people familiar with the matter. Trump had directed a change to the federal waiver program in June, but oil interests ultimately gained an upper hand, industry sources said. (Reuters)

• The Electric Reliability Council of Texas issued its second energy emergency alert in three days, amid a heat wave in the state that again sent prices spiking to a $9,000 megawatt per hour maximum multiple times yesterday in ERCOT’s service territory. A contributing factor was reduced wind production in the area compared to earlier this week, according to ERCOT Senior Director of System Operations Dan Woodfin. (RTO Insider)

• A very large crude carrier owned by Shanghai-based Kunlun Holdings shut off June 5 after a U.S. warning and came back online July 18 under a new name, according to ship tracking data from multiple companies, in what is seen as an attempt to avoid U.S. economic sanctions against its shipment of suspected Iranian oil. As of Wednesday, the ship had remained on the southeastern coast of Malaysia, according to further tracking data. (Reuters)

In Iowa, Candidates Are Talking About Farming’s Climate Change Connections Like No Previous Election
Georgina Gustin, InsideClimate News

At least 10 of the candidates—Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Steve Bullock, John Delaney, Beto O’Rourke, Jay Inslee, Klobuchar, Gillbrand, Sanders and Warren—have issued policy proposals or statements that specifically address the impacts of climate change on agriculture or the role agriculture can plan in solving the climate crisis. (John Hickenlooper also discussed climate and agriculture but ended his presidential campaign on Thursday.)

Environmentalists renew bid to overturn EPA policy barring scientists from advisory panels
Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill

The appeal stems from a controversial policy enacted in 2017 under former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who argued that scientists who receive agency grants would have a conflict of interest and shouldn’t be allowed to serve on various scientific panels that advise the EPA.

Oil rises 2% as recession fears recede
Dmitry Zhdannikov and Aaron Sheldrick, Reuters

Crude oil prices rose more than 2% on Friday, recovering from two days of declines after data showing a rise in U.S. retail sales helped to ease concerns about a recession in the world’s biggest economy.

Energy bankruptcies back on the rise in 2019
Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle

The number of oil and gas bankruptcy filings through mid-August has nearly equaled the total tally from 2018, and the aggregate debt from 2019 bankruptcy filings of almost $20 billion has already surpassed the roughly $17 billion from a year ago, according to the energy bankruptcy monitor maintained by the Houston law firm Haynes and Boone.

North Dakota posts record gas and oil production numbers
Mike Hughlett, Star Tribune

North Dakota, the nation’s second-largest oil-producing state, churned out 1.42 million barrels of oil per day, a rise of 2% over May, according to data released Thursday by the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.

Oxy to sell old ConocoPhillips HQ, hold onto Anadarko campus for now
Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle

Occidental Petroleum plans to sell the old ConocoPhillips headquarters it bought several months ago and maintain a major presence in the Anadarko towers in The Woodlands at least for now, Oxy’s chief financial officer disclosed at a Denver conference this week.

Trump’s Oil Sanctions Leave Russian Exporters $1 Billion Richer
Dina Khrennikova and Anna Andrianova, Bloomberg

Russian oil companies received at least $905 million in additional revenues between November and July, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The calculation is based on difference between the Urals spread to the Brent benchmark over the period compared to the five-year average.

IMO 2020 preparations and their impacts on US exports
Kristian Paris Tialios and Catherine Wood, S&P Global Platts

Ahead of IMO 2020, shipowners are increasingly taking ships off the water for scrubber installations, reducing tonnage availability in the Americas and supporting expectations that freight will firm in the coming months, impacting US export competitiveness.

PG&E Took 8 Months to Prune a Tree at Risk of Catching Fire
Peter Blumberg and Joel Rosenblatt, Bloomberg

That anecdote was detailed — with an accompanying photo of the tree, but no information about its location — in a report issued Wednesday about PG&E’s progress in making Northern California’s grid as safe as possible for fire season. 

Everyone loves a guaranteed discount: New financing approach drives community solar growth
Herman K. Trabish, Utility Dive

Florida Power and Light (FPL) is working to build the country’s largest community solar project; a new “fixed discount” business model is creating savings certainty for customers that could eliminate longstanding private sector marketing challenges; and new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-backed approaches are reaching underserved customers.

One Small City Beat the Texas Heat That Sent Power Price Soaring
Chris Martin, Bloomberg

A business roster of the local Chamber of Commerce boasts some big names including Formosa Plastics Corp. and Caterpillar Inc. It’s these industrial roots that may have saved it from one of the biggest power price spikes Texas has ever seen.

EPA details renewables, efficiency health benefits as DOE slows energy savings progress
Robert Walton, Utility Dive 

The benefits-per-kWh (BPK) for energy efficiency range from $0.0042/kWh to $0.0808/kWh, depending on the scenario and geography, while the BPK of solar energy can also exceed $0.08/kWh and wind tops out at $0.0759/kWh.

Lawmakers seek to close ‘loophole’ after coal bankruptcy left miners with bounced checks
Chris Kenning, Louisville Courier Journal

Sen. Johnny Ray Turner, D-Prestonsburg, is sponsoring a bill for next year’s General Assembly requiring Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Cabinet to notify the Labor Cabinet of mining permit applications from such companies. Proof of a bond will then be required before permits are issued, he said.

Coal’s Last Healthy Market Fades as Trade Woes Weigh on Steel
Will Wade, Bloomberg

Prices for steelmaking coal, which has sustained miners as exports decline and power plants forsake the fuel, are down 22% since May as concerns about the global economy weigh on demand for steel.

Perry presses ahead on advanced nuclear reactors
James Osborne, Houston Chronicle

The Energy Department announced this week it has launched a new test facility at the Idaho National Laboratory where private companies can work on advanced nuclear technologies, to avoid the high costs and waste and safety concerns facing traditional nuclear power plants.

NuScale announces grant to build reactor simulators
Nathan Brown, Post Register

NuScale Power announced it received the U.S. Department of Energy grants on Thursday. Simulators will be built in Idaho Falls, at Oregon State University and at Texas A&M University-College Station.

How ‘green’ concrete can help cities fight climate change
Cailin Crowe, SmartCities Dive

Green” or carbon dioxide (CO2) mineralized concrete has received support from the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and private companies for its use in public projects as part of the national response to climate change. A resolution passed at this year’s USCM annual meeting in Honolulu urged its members to use the concrete over less environmentally-friendly alternatives.

Now is the time for offshore wind
Ken Salazar and Mike Connor, The Hill

Since leaving government, we both have worked (in a limited capacity) with clients interested in developing offshore wind projects or infrastructure that would support the industry — an industry that will also create significant opportunities in the engineering, manufacturing, and construction sectors.

I put myself through hell as an IPCC convening lead author, but it was worth it
Pete Smith, The Conversation

The process of approval is gruelling for all concerned: it’s allocated five days, with an additional reserve day allocated which is often used. During this period, every word of the policymakers’ summary has to be agreed and approved, line-by-line, with delegates from all governments in the room.

Don’t Burn Trees to Fight Climate Change—Let Them Grow
Bill McKibben, The New Yorker

Across much of Europe, countries and utilities are meeting their carbon-reduction targets by importing wood pellets from the southeastern United States and burning them in place of coal: giant ships keep up a steady flow of wood across the Atlantic. 

The Great Western Public Land Robbery
Timothy Egan, The New York Times

The man now overseeing 248 million acres owned by every American citizen is a mad-dog opponent of the very idea of shared space in the great outdoors. He has spent his professional life chipping away — in court, in public forums, in statehouses — at one of the most cherished of American birthrights.

Sunnova Partners with California Roofer Ahead of Solar Mandate
Emma Foehringer Merchant, Greentech Media

Residential solar provider Sunnova and PetersenDean, a California-based company that installs roofs and solar, will work together on solar and storage leases and power purchase agreements in the state. California’s new policy requires solar installations on new residential buildings under three-stories. 

PG&E: Market and Policy Perspectives on the First Climate Change Bankruptcy
John J. MacWilliams, Columbia University

The Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) bankruptcy, which was caused by liabilities resulting from massive wildfires, has widely been called the first climate change bankruptcy. It will likely not be the last, as climate change exacerbates natural disasters, leading to more frequent and intense wildfires, storms, and flooding.