• The Trump administration is set to finalize its replacement for President Barack Obama’s “Waters of the United States” regulation today that would roll back 2015 mandates that placed federal protections on more than half of the nation’s wetlands and numerous small waterways. The administration’s replacement would rescind federal environmental protections to certain wetlands and streams that run intermittently or temporarily underground, which could make it easier for farmers to allow pesticides and fertilizers to enter waterways and give construction projects the ability to modify or fill in wetlands. (The New York Times)

• PG&E Corp. said it has reached a new agreement with bondholders to exit bankruptcy as California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) continues to threaten a state takeover of the utility. A representative for the bondholders did not comment on PG&E’s announcement, which said the bondholders will withdraw their competing Chapter 11 proposal. (The Wall Street Journal)

• Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc. reported a 26 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit in part due to increased gas transport from the Permian basin through the Gulf Coast Express pipeline. Kinder Morgan also reported $1.35 billion in distributable cash flow and $610 million in net income attributable to shareholders. (Reuters)

Trump promised his mileage standards would make cars cheaper and safer. New documents raise doubts about that.
Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis, The Washington Post

President Trump has said his plan to weaken federal mileage standards would make cars cheaper and “substantially safer.” But the administration’s latest proposal could end up costing consumers more in the long run and do little to make the nation’s roads markedly safer.

BLM employees look to unionize ahead of move West
Scott Streater, E&E News

Staffers in the Bureau of Land Management’s Washington headquarters could soon join a national federal employees union. But it’s unclear whether unionizing employees would affect BLM’s plans to relocate hundreds of positions out West.

Oil Falls to Seven-Week Low as Asia Virus Eclipses Supply Loss
Saket Sundria and Grant Smith, Bloomberg

Oil fell further after hitting a seven-week low on speculation that China’s coronavirus outbreak may dent demand, just as the market already contends with plentiful supplies.

Fracking Trespass Claims Averted With Pennsylvania Ruling
Ellen M. Gilmer, Bloomberg Environment

Pennsylvania judges have overturned a state court ruling that could have opened a floodgate of trespass claims about hydraulic fracturing in the state’s gas-rich Marcellus Shale.

Oil CEOs at Davos Debate Tougher CO2 Cuts as Pressure Mounts
Javier Blas, Bloomberg

The bosses of some of the world’s biggest oil companies discussed adopting much more ambitious carbon targets at a closed-door meeting in Davos, a sign of how much pressure they’re under from activists and investors to address climate change.

North American oil company bankruptcies jump in 2019: report
Erwin Seba, Reuters

The number of oil company bankruptcies rose 50% in 2019 over the previous year, as a slide in prices continued to shake producers in the United States and Canada, Dallas law firm Haynes and Boone said in a report released on Wednesday.

Gas Exports Have a Dirty Secret: A Carbon Footprint Rivaling Coal’s
Catherine Traywick et al., Bloomberg

Environmentalists once touted the fuel, nicknamed “freedom gas” by the Trump administration, as a better energy alternative, but an analysis shows the plants’ potential carbon dioxide emissions rival those of coal.

Keystone XL Wins Green Light From U.S. to Plow Ahead on Project
Kevin Orland, Bloomberg

TC Energy Corp.’s long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline took another step forward with U.S. approval of a key stretch of construction.

Wide gap seen in energy efficiency costs between public utility customer classes, but overall spending rising
Robert Walton, Utility Dive

A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study concludes the overall cost of saving electricity at publicly-owned utilities is about $0.024/kWh — though the price varies widely between sectors, with commercial and industrial (C&I) costs just $0.02/kWh versus residential costs of $0.034/kWh.

Former FERC chairs praise US grid regionalization, but lament headwinds
Molly Christian, S&P Global Platts

Four former chairs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission praised the agency’s 20-year-old Order 2000 encouraging utilities to form regional transmission organizations but said a lack of consensus on climate change policy poses challenges to the markets run by those organizations.

California ALJ boosts PG&E costs 70% for failures in program to prevent damage to underground equipment
Kavya Balaraman, Utility Dive

A California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) administrative law judge issued a decision Friday ordering Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to pay $110 million for violations related to the utility’s locate-and-mark program, a significant increase over the $65 million settlement that PG&E and other parties had proposed.

Arizona’s biggest utility says it will get all of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2050
Dino Grandoni and Steven Mufson, The Washington Post

After spending millions of dollars to quash a renewable energy ballot initiative just two years ago, Arizona’s biggest electricity provider announced Wednesday that it will seek to produce all of its power from carbon-free sources by the middle of the century.

Five states raise alarms about EPA coal-fired power plant waste disposal proposal
Rachel Frazin, The Hill

Attorneys general from five states have raised objections to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rollback of Obama-era regulations that stipulate how coal-fired power plants dispose of waste containing arsenic, lead and mercury.

US thermal, met coal outlook negative on weak pricing and dropping demand: Moody’s
Olivia Kalb, S&P Global Platts

Moody’s Investor Services on Wednesday issued a negative outlook for US coal markets, driven by weak coal pricing in thermal and met markets, in addition to dropping domestic and export demand.

Bill advances to pause Indiana coal power plant closings
Tom Davies, The Associated Press

A proposal aimed at making it more difficult for Indiana electric companies to close additional coal-fired power plants faces objections from consumer and environmental groups who argue it could stifle growth in renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

Nuclear bailout repeal effort dead
Jim Provance, Toledo Blade

Ohio’s nuclear power plant bailout will stand as the group trying to repeal it is dropping its court appeals.

Climate Change Could Cause the Next Financial Meltdown
Jack Ewing, The New York Times

Climate change has already been blamed for deadly bush fires in Australia, dying coral reefs, rising sea levels and ever more cataclysmic storms. Could it also cause the next financial crisis?

If National Parks Are ‘America’s Best Idea,’ Let’s Adequately Fund Them
David MacDonald, Morning Consult

The federal government may have avoided another shutdown in December, but America’s national parks are not out of the woods yet.

When Will Companies Finally Step Up to Fight Climate Change?
Kara Swisher, The New York Times

Is a “decarbonized” future possible?

Are Fires a Climate Wake-Up Call?
Holman W. Jenkins Jr., The Wall Street Journal

Whether climate change contributes 1% or 50% to Australia’s wildfires, the fierce debate dramatizes the abyss of sterility into which activists have led climate politics. There is no climate policy (short of geoengineering to block a portion of sunlight reaching the earth) that would stop Australia’s fires or prevent them from recurring.

The green swan: Central banking and financial stability in the age of climate change
Patrick Bolton et al., Bank for International Settlements

Climate change poses new challenges to central banks, regulators and supervisors. This book reviews ways of addressing these new risks within central banks’ financial stability mandate.