Hunter Biden contacted US ambassador in 2016 over Burisma deal, NYT reports
Hunter Biden contacted the U.S. Ambassador to Italy in 2016 while his father Joe Biden was Vice President, to discuss a geothermal energy project with the Ukrainian company Burisma where Hunter Biden served as a board member, according to an article by the New York Times, which cited records obtained by the newspaper.
US Interior Dept Revokes Trump Energy Policies, Focuses on Climate
The U.S. Interior Department on Friday sought to erase the Trump administration's pro-fossil fuels legacy from the nation's public lands by revoking a suite of policies that boosted drilling and mining and ordering that climate change be put at the forefront in future…
Trump Administration Seeks Swift Action on Alaska Oil Leases
The Trump administration is seeking to sell leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as quickly as possible – drawing fire from opponents of drilling in the sensitive area, who are warning against a rushed process. A top Department of Interior official who traveled…
US Senate Pushes Alaska Wildlife Refuge, But Drillers Look Elsewhere
Even as the U.S. Senate moves to allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the real action is 150 miles (241 km) west, where industry proponents hope a coming sale of 10 million acres of land will revitalize the state's sagging crude production. The Trump administration, through the U.S.
U.S. DoJ to Prosecute Energy Activist Vandals
The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday pledged to prosecute protesters who damage energy infrastructure in a move that could escalate tensions between climate activists and the administration of President Donald Trump. The DOJ said it was committed to vigorously…
SolarCity to Pay $29.5 Mln to Resolve US Gov't Allegations
SolarCity will pay $29.5 million to settle a long-running investigation into allegations it violated federal law by submitting inflated claims to the government through a popular stimulus program set up during the Obama administration, the U.S. Justice Department said Friday.
Trump Administration Approves Eni Plan to Drill Offshore Alaska
Eni US will become the first energy company allowed to explore for oil in federal waters off Alaska since 2015 after the Trump administration this week approved a drilling plan on leases the company has been sitting on for 10 years. The approval is conditional on Eni getting other state and federal permits…
Delfin Project Gains US Approval to Export LNG
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has approved a long-term application to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the first offshore project, Delfin LNG, LLC. Exports in the amount of 1.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas are approved from Delfin’s…
US Authorizes Non-FTA LNG Export from Golden Pass
The U.S. Department of Energy announced that it has signed an order authorizing Golden Pass Products LLC to export domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries that do not have a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. Golden Pass is authorized…
Green Power Law Impacting U.S. Utilities
In the last four years, North Carolina has become the second largest solar market in the United States, behind only California. It has installed more solar energy than Texas, which has nearly three times the population; more than Arizona, which has twice as many sunny days…
Company to Pay $9.5 Mln for Actions Leading to US Gulf Explosion
Wood Group PSN Inc., a Nevada corporation headquartered in Houston, was ordered to pay $9.5 million in two separate cases involving its conduct in the Gulf of Mexico. Specifically, Wood Group PSN was ordered to pay $7 million for falsely reporting over several years…
US Judge Allows North Dakota Pipeline Construction to Proceed
A U.S. judge on Friday allowed construction to proceed on a crude oil pipeline in North Dakota, denying a request from Native American tribes to enjoin the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw permits for the project. U.S. Judge James Boasberg ruled that the Corps "likely" complied with federal law in permitting the 1…
Oil Spill Response: Responder Immunity Analyzed
On February 16, 2016, Judge Carl J. Barbier of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana granted summary judgment in favor of the various commercial oil spill response companies involved in the federal government’s response to the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
BP Escapes US Lawsuits Over Post-Gulf Spill Drilling Ban
BP Plc does not have to face U.S. lawsuits by energy and drilling companies over losses they suffered from an offshore drilling ban imposed soon after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans agreed with…
Top Court to Hear MD Bid to Reinstate Gas-Plants
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear appeals seeking to reinstate a program in Maryland aimed at subsidizing construction of new natural gas-fired electricity plants. The court agreed to review an appeals court ruling that said the state's program was blocked by federal law.
BP Executive Acquitted of Lying about Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
A U.S. federal jury acquitted a former BP Plc executive on Friday of lying about how much oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010, according to lawyers on both sides of the case. David Rainey, BP's former vice president of exploration in the Gulf…
Jury Weighing Question of Whether BP Exec Lied About 2010 Oil Spill
A U.S. federal jury has begun its deliberations on whether a former BP Plc executive lied about how much oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010. Prosecutors and a lawyer for defendant David Rainey made…
U.S. Supreme Court: Antitrust Claims Over Natural Gas Prices Can Proceed
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a federal law governing the natural gas market does not shield energy companies from state antitrust claims made over the western U.S. energy crisis between 2000 and 2002. The ruling, on a 7-2 vote, was a loss for several energy companies…
BOEM Issues Offshore Wind Energy Research Lease
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has executed a wind energy research lease with the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME), BOEM announced today. This is BOEM’s first executed wind energy research lease, coming as…
BOEM Seeks Comment on Chukchi Sea Exploration
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has deemed submitted Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc.’s revised multi-year Exploration Plan (EP) and invites the public to review and comment on it. The revised EP describes Shell’s proposal to conduct exploration drilling in the shallow waters of the Chukchi Sea Outer Continental Shelf…
