By Justin Mikulka • Dec 23, 2020 @ 15:03 PST A train carrying over 100 cars of volatile Bakken oil derailed in Washington state, causing the evacuation of the town of Custer. At least two of the train cars ruptured and the oil ignited and burned — reminding us once again why these dangerous trains are known
MORE »Year: 2020
Investigation continues around oil-train derailment, fire in Custer, Whatcom County, Seattle Times ($)
By Elise Takahama , Ron Judd and Lynda V. Mapes • Dec. 22, 2020 at 12:46 pm | Updated Dec. 22, 2020 at 9:44 pm Jenny Reich was preparing to open her glass shop in Custer, Whatcom County, on Tuesday afternoon when there was a loud noise and suddenly “everything was shaking.” Reich, a longtime Custer resident, said she is so
MORE »Ottawa defers $844M in Muskrat Falls payments, almost all due by end of year, CBC
Federal government again said it will help make hydroelectric project stable, but offered few details Stephanie Tobin · CBC News · Posted: Dec 17, 2020 11:32 AM NT | Last Updated: December 17, 2020 The federal government is again saying it will take steps to make Newfoundland and Labrador’s Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project financially stable — including waiving immediate payments
MORE »U.S. nets $46,000 on Trump’s California oil, gas drilling auction, Reuters
By Nichola Groom (Reuters) -U.S. taxpayers netted less than $50,000 on Thursday in bids for oil and gas leases in California as the Trump administration held the first federal drilling auction since 2012 in the Democratic and environmentally minded state. The auction for drilling rights on seven parcels covering 4,100 acres (16.6 square kilometers) generated $46,148.64,
MORE »Trump administration rushes sale of California oil leases despite certain legal battle, LA Times ($)
By Anna M. Phillips Staff Writer • Dec. 9, 2020 6 AM PTWASHINGTON The Trump administration on Thursday plans to hold the first oil lease sale in California in eight years, part of a last-minute rush to auction off as much federal land as possible before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in. The Bureau of
MORE »PG&E bills to rise over $160 per year on average to fund wildfire risk reduction, SFGATE
Roland Li • Dec. 4, 2020 | Updated: Dec. 4, 2020 7:49 p.m. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will raise rates by an average of 8% for residential customers to fund improvements to reduce wildfire risk. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the rate hike, which is set to begin in March, on Thursday. Households are
MORE »Researcher raises Muskrat methylmercury alarm, but Nalcor contractor says levels safe, CBC
1 year after Muskrat reservoir filled to capacity, biologist says no surprises being found Terry Roberts · CBC News · Posted: Nov 24, 2020 7:00 AM NT | Last Updated: November 24, 2020 There’s mixed messaging emerging from the debate over methylmercury contamination in Labrador, with a U.S. researcher again raising the alarm about the toxic organic compound, while a contractor monitoring the
MORE »Federal judge knocks down two permits needed for proposed $2 billion Kalama methanol plant, Seattle Times ($)
By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times staff reporter • Nov. 24, 2020 at 9:49 am | Updated Nov. 24, 2020 at 9:49 am A U.S. District Court judge in Tacoma struck down Army Corps of Engineers permits for a proposed $2 billion methanol plant in Kalama, Cowlitz County, because they were not the result of a full review of
MORE »Canada Energy Regulator projects there may be no need for Trans Mountain expansion or Keystone XL, Financial Post ($)
Report says if more climate policies put in place, oil output will grow until 2039, but only enough to need Line 3 Mia Rabson • The Canadian Press • Nov 24, 2020 • 3 minute read OTTAWA — A new report from the Canada Energy Regulator projects that if Canada strengthens its climate policies to cut more
MORE »Canada Energy Regulator projects there may be no need for Trans Mountain expansion or Keystone XL, Financial Post ($)
Report says if more climate policies put in place, oil output will grow until 2039, but only enough to need Line 3 Mia Rabson • Nov 24, 2020 OTTAWA — A new report from the Canada Energy Regulator projects that if Canada strengthens its climate policies to cut more greenhouse-gas emissions, neither the Trans Mountain
MORE »Trump Administration Lifts Protections For Largest National Forest In US, NPR
Emily Kwong, Madeline K. Sofia, and Rebecca Ramirez • November 17, 2020, 4:00 AM ET The Trump administration has eliminated federal protections for the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. In late October, the U.S. Forest Service, part of the Department of Agriculture, cleared the way for
MORE »Trump Rolled Back 100+ Environmental Rules. Biden May Focus on Undoing Five of the Biggest Ones, Inside Climate News
Together, the five regulations, if not reversed, would release an additional 1.8 billion to 2.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by 2035. By Marianne Lavelle • November 17, 2020 Even if President-elect Joe Biden can reassemble the pieces of climate policy shattered by President Donald Trump, it is not likely to be
MORE »PennEast Cert Petition Challenging Third Circuit Opinion Remains Pending, Law.com, The Legal Intelligencer
PennEast Pipeline Co. continues to await a decision on its petition for certiorari challenging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit’s opinion in In re PennEast Pipeline, 938 F.3d 96 (3d Cir. 2019). By Megan S. Haines and Emily Davis • November 12, 2020 at 01:03 PM PennEast Pipeline Co. continues to await a decision on
MORE »Biden EPA likely to confront tough Clean Air Act choices for US power sector, S&P Global Market Intelligence
By Zack Hale • 10 Nov, 2020 With razor-thin control of the U.S. Senate resting on the outcome of two special elections in January 2021, President-elect Joe Biden will likely be forced to pursue much of his energy and climate agenda through executive orders and administrative rulemakings. And that may require the U.S. Environmental Protection
MORE »The Trump Administration Is Reversing More Than 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List, New York Times ($)
By Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-ripka and Kendra Pierre-louis • Updated Jan. 20, 2021 Over four years, the Trump administration dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals. In all, a New York Times analysis, based on research from Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School and other sources, counts
MORE »Energy Transfer pushing ahead on Dakota Access expansion, bullish on litigation, S&P Global ($)
Author: Jordan Blum • 04 Nov 2020 | 23:47 UTC Houston Houston — Energy Transfer executives said Nov. 4 they still plan to expand the controversial Dakota Access crude pipeline in 2021 — the same day that plaintiffs argued in a federal appeals court for shuttering the 570,000 b/d pipeline entirely. The Dallas pipeline operator is
MORE »Colorado Coal Mine Road Construction Blocked by Tenth Circuit, Bloomberg Law ($)
Mountain Coal Co. LLC can’t continue road work as part of a coal mine expansion in western Colorado, the Tenth Circuit ruled in a win for environmental groups who argued the Arch Resources Inc. subsidiary was violating the court’s mandate. The Sierra Club, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, and others sought an injunction after
MORE »In Colorado, Federal Judges Block Coal Mining Construction in Protected Roadless Forest, Earthjustice Press Release
Victory: The injunction prevents Mountain Coal from further destruction of the roadless forest in the West Elk Mountains until a challenge from conservation groups is resolved DENVER, CO The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today blocked further construction for a coal-mine expansion in the Sunset roadless area of Colorado’s Gunnison National Forest. The injunction prevents Mountain Coal,
MORE »Federal Judge Denies Bid to Halt Work on Keystone XL, Pipeline & Gas Journal
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge has denied a request by Native American tribes to halt construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada over worries about potential spills and damage to cultural sites. Work started this spring on the long-stalled pipeline that would carry oil sands crude from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska.
MORE »Kamala Harris’s Fracking Record Scares Big Oil But Attracts the Left, Bloomberg ($)
Less than two hours after Kamala Harris was named Joe Biden’s running mate, President Donald Trump had cast the California Democrat as an oil industry and fracking foe. “She is against fracking. She’s against petroleum products,” Trump said at a White House news conference Tuesday. “I mean, how do you do that and go into
MORE »Trans Mountain pipeline expansion could be at least two months late, National Observer ($)
By E. McIntosh | News, Energy, Politics, Ottawa Insider Last week, Trans Mountain said its pipeline expansion project is on schedule to be done by the end of 2022. But the environmental non-profit Wilderness Committee says it appears Trans Mountain has missed its window to start key construction work in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, meaning the project is at
MORE »Trump Administration Releases Plan to Open Tongass Forest to Logging, New York Times ($)
The effort to open the Alaskan wilderness area, the nation’s largest national forest, has been in the works for about two years. By Coral Davenport • Published Sept. 24, 2020 | Updated Dec. 1, 2020 WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday finalized its plan to open about nine million acres of the pristine woodlands of Alaska’s Tongass National
MORE »California Plans to Ban Sales of New Gas-Powered Cars in 15 Years, New York Times ($)
The proposal would speed up the state’s efforts to fight global warming at a time when California is being battered by wildfires, heat waves and other consequences of climate change. By Brad Plumer and Jill Cowan California plans to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars statewide by 2035, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday, in a sweeping move
MORE »In a decarbonizing world, does it still make sense to spend taxpayer dollars on oil pipelines? Globe and Mail ($)
Thomas Gunton, Carolyn Fischer and David Wheeler • Published September 22, 2020 | Updated September 30, 2020 Thomas Gunton is professor and director of the Resource and Environmental Planning Program at Simon Fraser University. Carolyn Fischer holds the Canada 150 Research Chair in Climate Economics, Innovation, and Policy at the University of Ottawa. David Wheeler
MORE »Trans Mountain pipeline expansion on schedule, on budget: CEO, Global News
By Dan Healing • The Canadian Press A year after construction was allowed to restart on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, its chief executive says the project is on budget and on schedule for completion by the end of 2022. The project is advancing as expected despite challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, a global slump in demand for fuel, a $5.2-billion
MORE »New analysis proves Kalama methanol project is a climate disaster, Sightline Institute
Project backers are still spinning fairytales that deserve a debunking. Author: Eric de Place • (@Eric_deP) • September 3, 2020 at 11:09 am This article is part of the series Fracked Fuel & Petrochemical Projects in the Pacific Northwest With the release yesterday of a detailed climate review of the Kalama methanol proposal, Northwest policymakers have all
MORE »FERC environmental report on PennEast gas pipe project under attack, S&P Global Platts ($)
Author Maya Weber • 03 Sep 2020 | 21:56 UTC • Washington Washington — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s favorable environmental assessment for the phased-in PennEast Pipeline project generated hundreds of critical comments from environmental groups and residents opposed to one of the only large Northeast gas pipeline projects still pending at the commission. The roughly 118-mile,
MORE »Washington Ecology finds new climate impacts from Kalama methanol plant, OPB
New analysis projects more emissions from natural gas and methanol fuel markets By Cassandra Profita (OPB) • Sept. 2, 2020 6:07 p.m.PORTLAND, ORE An environmental analysis released Wednesday by the Washington Department of Ecology found additional sources of greenhouse gas emissions from the $2 billion methanol project proposed on the lower Columbia River. Ecology found the project would
MORE »FEATURE: Dakota Access Pipeline fight will heat up again in two federal courts, S&P Global ($)
Author: Jordan Blum • 20 Aug 2020 | 18:07 UTC Houston Houston — The Dakota Access Pipeline will continue to flow crude oil for now, but the legal battle heats back up again soon as the fight to shutter the pipeline continues in two separate federal courts. A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals
MORE »PennEast Pipeline Receives Favorable Environmental Review from Regulators, Pipeline & Gas Journal
By Jason Cockerham (P&GJ) — The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has released a favorable environmental statement for a revised construction proposal for Enbridge’s PennEast Pipeline. Once completed, the final 118-mile natural gas pipeline project will transport up to 1.1 Bcf/d of gas from the Marcellus Shale play to markets in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and
MORE »US FERC releases favorable environmental review for PennEast Pipeline, S&P Global Platts ($)
Author Maya Weber • 04 Aug 2020 | 18:41 UTC • Washington Washington — In a step forward for the stalled PennEast Pipeline project, staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has found the developers’ new plan to divide the project into two phases would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the environment. The roughly
MORE »20 states sue over Trump rule limiting states from blocking pipeline projects, The Hill
By Rebecca Beitsch • 07/21/20 03:31 PM EDT A coalition of 20 states is suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over a rule that weakens states’ ability to block pipelines and other controversial projects that cross their waterways. The Clean Water Act previously allowed states to halt projects that risk hurting their water quality, but that
MORE »How PG&E Is Racing to Improve Safety as Fire Season Approaches, New York Times ($)
The utility, which recently emerged from bankruptcy, is upgrading power lines, trimming trees and making other changes to prevent another big fire. By Ivan Penn • Photographs by Jim Wilson NAPA, Calif. — Atop an electrical pole overlooking grapevines, Pacific Gas & Electric recently installed a piece of equipment that will allow it to quickly turn off power to
MORE »Is This the End of New Pipelines? New York Times ($)
Defeats at three projects reflect increasingly sophisticated legal challenges, shifting economics and growing demands by states to fight climate change. By Hiroko Tabuchi and Brad Plumer • Published July 8, 2020 | Updated Jan. 18, 2021 They are among the nation’s most significant infrastructure projects: More than 9,000 miles of oil and gas pipelines in the United States are currently
MORE »Supreme Court Won’t Block Ruling to Halt Work on Keystone XL Pipeline, New York Times ($)
But the justices stayed the rest of a federal trial judge’s ruling striking down a permit program, allowing construction of other pipelines around the nation. By Adam Liptak • July 6, 2020 WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from the Trump administration to allow construction of parts of the Keystone XL oil pipeline that
MORE »Dakota Access Pipeline to Shut Down Pending Review, Federal Judge Rules, New York Times ($)
The ruling, a victory for the Native American and environmentalist groups who oppose the pipeline, said that it must be emptied of oil by Aug. 5. By Jacey Fortin and Lisa Friedman The Dakota Access Pipeline, an oil route from North Dakota to Illinois that has inspired intense protests and legal battles, must shut down pending an environmental
MORE »Supreme Court Won’t Block Ruling to Halt Work on Keystone XL Pipeline, New York Times ($)
But the justices stayed the rest of a federal trial judge’s ruling striking down a permit program, allowing construction of other pipelines around the nation. By Adam Liptak • Published July 6, 2020 | Updated Jan. 18, 2021 WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from the Trump administration to allow construction of parts of the Keystone XL
MORE »Supreme Court Reinstates Permit 12 but Excludes Keystone XL, Pipeline & Gas Journal
By Jeff Awalt, Executive Editor HOUSTON (P&GJ) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday reinstated the Army Corps of Engineers’ use of Nationwide Permit 12 but refused to let TC Energy resume construction of its Keystone XL pipeline under the fast-track permit. U.S. District Judge Brian Morris of Montana ruled in April that the Corps violated federal law
MORE »4 Things PG&E Must Do to Survive and Thrive as It Exits Bankruptcy, Greentech Media
California’s largest utility has escaped from bankruptcy after 18 months. Its next challenges are the same ones that put it there in the first place. Jeff St. John • July 02, 2020 Pacific Gas & Electric has officially ended its 18-month bankruptcy. Now it must undertake a years-long effort to prevent a repeat of the disasters that pushed
MORE »PG&E, Troubled California Utility, Emerges From Bankruptcy, New York Times ($)
The company, which has a new board and chief executive, said it had put $5.4 billion and its stock in a trust for victims of wildfires started by its equipment. By Ivan Penn • Published July 1, 2020 | Updated July 28, 2020 Pacific Gas & Electric, California’s largest utility, emerged from bankruptcy on Wednesday and put $5.4
MORE »High Court Wants White House View on PennEast Pipeline Case, Bloomberg Law ($)
Ellen M. Gilmer • June 29, 2020, 9:45 AM | Updated: June 29, 2020, 11:46 AM PennEast, New Jersey disagree over state land seizure Industry alleges broad disruptions from lower court ruling The U.S. Supreme Court wants the Trump administration’s views on a major energy case that could decide the fate of the proposed PennEast pipeline.
MORE »Supreme Court asks US solicitor to weigh in on PennEast pipeline case, Oil & Gas Journal
The Supreme Court, unready to decide whether it will review the legal fight between PennEast Pipeline and New Jersey, asked US Solicitor General Noel Francisco to file a brief offering the Justice Department’s views on the pipeline right-of-way case. Alan Kovski • Jun 29th, 2020 The Supreme Court, unready to decide whether it will review
MORE »Coal company says its freshly bulldozed road in roadless area near Paonia is legal, Colorado Sun
Colorado mining regulators this week ordered Mountain Coal to stop building roads after a federal court ruling blocked the West Elk Mine from expanding into the Sunset Roadless Area. Jason Blevins • 4:20 AM MDT on Jun 20, 2020 Mountain Coal Co. says the road it blazed into the Sunset Roadless Area below Kebler Pass is legal
MORE »The Supreme Court should remind New Jersey why the U.S. discarded the Articles of Confederation, Washington Post ($)
Opinion by George F. Will • June 19, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. EDT The Supreme Court justices might be bemused, or depressed, by this question they implicitly will consider in Thursday’s conference: Should they review — the answer is yes — a decision by a lower court that evidently skipped history class the day the teacher explained that a huge defect
MORE »Trump Weakens Major Conservation Law to Speed Construction Permits, New York Times ($)
By Lisa Friedman • Published July 15, 2020 | Updated Aug. 4, 2020 WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday unilaterally weakened one of the nation’s bedrock conservation laws, the National Environmental Policy Act, limiting public review of federal infrastructure projects to speed up the permitting of freeways, power plants and pipelines. In doing so, the Trump administration claimed it would save
MORE »What you need to know about Trans Mountain expansion, Globe and Mail ($)
Darryl Dyck • The Canadian Press The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has been cast as the saviour of Alberta’s energy sector – the single project that can lift the province’s economy out of a persistent slump and send oil prices rebounding. For Ottawa, it is a key test of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s long-standing promise
MORE »NJ tells high court not to bite on ‘overstated’ impacts in pitch from PennEast, S&P Global Platts ($)
Author Maya Weber • 03 Jun 2020 | 19:06 UTC • Washington Washington — The State of New Jersey has told the US Supreme Court that PennEast Pipeline exaggerated the industrywide harms likely to result from a federal appeals court decision blocking condemnation of property in which the state holds an interest. The June 2 brief from
MORE »Meet the judge at the heart of the West’s top energy battles, E&E News
Meet the judge at the heart of the West’s top energy battles Niina H. Farah, E&E News reporter • Published: Friday, May 29, 2020 Brian Morris has had a very busy few weeks. The chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, one of three active jurists on the bench, has
MORE »Alberta gears up for another legal battle over Keystone XL after Biden vows to pull permissions, Financial Post ($)
Next U.S. president has the power to force TC Energy to dig up the pipeline, says one legal scholar By Geoffrey Morgan Published May 19, 2020 CALGARY — Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said he is prepared to go to court anf file a free-trade lawsuit alongside TC Energy Corp. if Joe Biden becomes president and
MORE »NJ, NY reject Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement project, Oil & Gas Journal
OGJ editors The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) have rejected Williams’ 400-MMcfd Transco Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) have rejected Williams’ 400-MMcfd Transco Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project. The
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