Federal Judge Orders Keystone XL Pipeline Review
A federal judge in Montana on Wednesday ordered the U.S. State Department to do a full environmental review of a revised route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, possibly delaying the project's construction and dealing the latest setback for Canada's TransCanada Corp.For more than a decade, environmentalists, tribal groups, and ranchers have fought the $8-billion, 1,180-mile (1,900-km) pipeline that will carry heavy crude to Steele City, Nebraska from Canada's oilsands in Alberta.U.S.
PHMSA Orders Further Keystone Analysis, Studies
A U.S. regulator's preliminary investigation into the biggest oil pipeline spill this year has raised a red flag that could trigger an extensive and costly inspection of tens of thousands of miles of underground energy lines. The 5,000-barrel leak on TransCanada Corp's Keystone pipeline on Nov. 16 in South Dakota might have stemmed from damage caused by a weight put in place when it was built in 2008, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a report published on Tuesday.
US Marine Sanctuary Oil Drilling Report Sent to Trump, Not Public
U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross sent a report to the White House on Wednesday containing recommendations on whether to change the boundaries of 11 marine sanctuaries to allow more oil and gas drilling, but the report was not made public. Commerce reviewed sanctuaries containing 425 million acres of coral reefs, marine mammal habitats and pristine beaches, as part of an administration strategy to open new areas to oil and gas drilling. The goal was to “put the energy needs of American families and businesses first…
Trump Greenlights Keystone XL Pipeline, but Obstacles Loom
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration approved TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, cheering the oil industry and angering environmentalists who had sought for years to block it. The approval reverses a decision by former President Barack Obama to reject the project, but fresh obstacles loom: To get built, TransCanada will need to win financing, acquire local permits, and fend off likely legal challenges. "It's not done yet," said Michael Wojciechowski, vice president of Americas, oil and refining markets research at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
Senate Panel Questions Trump's EPA Pick Over Energy Ties
Democratic Senators quizzed Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, over his energy industry ties, during a contentious confirmation hearing on Wednesday that was occasionally interrupted by protests. Pruitt, 48, is a climate change skeptic who sued the agency he intends to run more than a dozen times as Oklahoma's top prosecutor. He also chaired the Rule of Law Defense Fund, a group of conservative attorneys general that vehemently opposed a number of EPA regulations.
U.S. Senate set to Grill Trump's EPA Pick
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, will face tough questions from lawmakers on Wednesday about his ties to the energy industry, in what is expected to be another highly contentious confirmation hearing for Trump's Cabinet-in-waiting. Pruitt, 48, is a climate change skeptic who sued the agency he intends to run more than a dozen times as Oklahoma's top prosecutor, a strong signal he will aggressively carry out Trump's vows to slash EPA regulation to the core to encourage more U.S.
Obama Bans New Drilling off Alaska, Part of Atlantic Shore
U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday banned new oil and gas drilling in federal waters in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, in a push to leave his stamp on the environment before Republican Donald Trump takes office next month. Obama used a 1950s-era law called the Outer Continental Shelf Act that allows presidents to limit areas from mineral leasing and drilling. Environmental groups said that meant Trump's incoming administration would have to go court if it sought to reverse the move.
Trump's Energy Policies Not Yet Defined: Kemp
Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election will trigger a race among journalists, analysts and traders to explain what it means for energy policy and markets. But the president-elect does not yet have clearly formed policies on most energy issues so the implications will become clear only in the weeks and months ahead as he starts to build an administration. Energy analysts tend to make the mistake of assuming that everyone thinks about the detail of energy policy as much as they do themselves.
California to Adopt Energy-saving Rules for Computers
California regulators moved a step closer on Friday to the first mandatory U.S. energy efficiency standards for computers and monitors, gadgets that account for 3 percent of home electric bills and 7 percent of commercial power costs in the state. The latest draft standards issued by the California Energy Commission, marking the second revision of rules first proposed in March 2015, would save consumers an estimated $373 million annually when fully implemented, the agency said.
Greens Urge Halt to G7 Nations' Funding for Overseas Coal
Environmental groups urged Group of Seven (G7) nations led by Japan and Germany to stop financing coal projects abroad, which they said amounted to $42 billion since 2007. Japan provided more than half of the total, with $22 billion between 2007 and 2015, a study released on Tuesday by groups including the U.S. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), WWF and Oil Change International said. Many rich nations have sharply restricted financing of coal-fired power plants at home in recent years in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Record Day One Signatures Expected for Climate Deal
A Paris deal to slow climate change is set to be signed by more than 165 countries at the United Nations on Friday, the most states to endorse an international agreement on day one, a record backers hope will inspire swift implementation. Many states still need a parliamentary vote to formally approve the agreement. It will only enter into force when ratified by at least 55 nations representing 55 percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. U.N. Secretary-General…
India Announces Plan to Slow Greenhouse Gas Growth
India has promised to shave a third off the rate at which it emits greenhouse gases over the next 15 years, in a long-awaited contribution towards reaching a deal to slow global warming at a U.N. climate summit in December. The world's third-largest emitter and last major economy to submit plans ahead of the Paris summit did not, however, commit to any absolute cuts in carbon emissions. Of the top two polluters, China has promised its emissions will peak by around 2030…
US Supreme Court Fires Warning Shot Across EPA's Bow
In a rare defeat for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered it on Monday to reconsider whether the EPA's regulations on mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants are appropriate and necessary. While the EPA considered the costs and benefits of various regulatory options later in the rule-writing process, the court faulted it for not considering compliance costs at the beginning to determine whether regulation was appropriate in the first place.
Green Group's Unconventional Fracking Fight
The residents of Grant Township, Pennsylvania, were worried about Little Mahoning Creek, a picturesque trout stream best fished in the spring when the water runs fast. The Pennsylvania General Energy Company had acquired a federal permit to drill an injection well down 7,000 feet about seven miles from the creek to dispose of wastewater from its natural gas hydraulic fracturing operations. Fearing the operation would harm the Little Mahoning watershed, the town's supervisors last year passed a "community bill of rights" that blocked the well…
EPA: Fracking Not a 'Widespread Risk' to Drinking Water
Fracking for shale oil and gas has not led to widespread pollution of drinking water, a U.S. potentially cause health risks. The study, requested by Congress and five years in the making, said fracking could contaminate drinking water under certain conditions, such as when fluids used in the process leaked into the water table. The EPA said it found isolated cases of water contamination, but "the number of identified cases ... was small compared to the number of hydraulically fractured wells.
Green Groups Ponder Hillary Clinton's Oil Ties
Hillary Clinton's connections to oil and gas interests has created a dilemma for some environmental groups, troubling activists for whom she would be the natural candidate to support for president. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate's environmental record has come under renewed scrutiny after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative have accepted large donations from major energy companies Exxon Mobil and Chevron.
EPA Pressured to Tighten Ozone Standards
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing more stringent air quality standards for ground-level ozone, the main culprit in smog, the agency's chief said on Wednesday. Under deadline to release its proposal by Monday, the agency said it will seek a National Ambient Air Quality Standard between 65 and 70 parts per billion concentration of ozone, and take comment on standards within a 60-75 ppb range, EPA administrator Gina McCarthy said. Current standards, set under then-President George W. Bush in 2008, are set at 75 ppb.
New Methane Rules can help U.S. Meet Climate Target
The Environmental Protection Agency can cut methane emissions from oil and gas production in half with new national standards, a move that could help the United States meet new pollution cutting targets pledged in a climate deal with China last week, a new report recommends. The EPA is expected decide by the end of the fall whether to issue mandatory standards for reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector as a part of President Barack Obama's broad climate action plan.
Can Oil & Gas Superpower Lead on Climate Change?
A day before President Barack Obama addressed the United Nations to declare the nation is "stepping up to the plate" to tackle climate change, nearly 400,000 protesters jammed New York City streets in a climate change march. Many held signs calling for an end to fracking. Environmental activists see the U.S. natural gas and oil production boom, spurred by fracking, as a major contributor to global warming. Obama has lauded the country's shale boom as an economic boon and a geopolitical lever.
NDRC: China Provinces Will Meet 2015 Energy Targets
Most of China's provinces are ahead of schedule or on track to meet 2015 energy savings targets, the government said on Friday, with Beijing and Shanghai among the frontrunners as the world's No.2 economy seeks to reduce its impact on the environment. China has pledged to reduce its energy intensity - the amount of energy it uses to add a dollar to its gross domestic product (GDP) - to 16 percent below 2010 levels by 2015. Beijing's intention in setting the targets was to slow emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases and cut expensive fuel imports…
