NOTE TO READERS: U.S. Energy News is taking a break for Thanksgiving. We’ll return on Monday, November 28.
POLITICS:
• EPA chief Gina McCarthy is confident that President-elect Trump will not roll back progress on clean energy: “The inevitability of our clean energy future is bigger than any one person or nation.” (Associated Press)
• President-elect Donald Trump releases a video in which he promises to “cancel job-killing restrictions on the production of American energy, including shale energy and clean coal.” (Climate Home)
POLICY: Michigan and Minnesota are exemplary states when it comes to clean energy development policies, according to a recent report. (Midwest Energy News)
UTILITIES: An executive of an electric cooperative association explains how North Carolina’s 26 co-ops are driving the state’s clean energy future. (Southeast Energy News)
RENEWABLE ENERGY:
• A study from the U.S. Department of Energy predicts significant growth in natural gas and renewables through 2050. (Utility Dive)
• A new arrangement calls for half of the electricity in Northeast Ohio to come from or be offset by renewable energy. (Midwest Energy News)
• Renewable energy investments in Minnesota could create more than 5,000 construction jobs and $7 billion in economic activity, according to a new report. (Midwest Energy News)
SOLAR: Amazon Inc. teams up with a Virginia utility to add 180 megawatts of solar capacity in the state. (WTOP)
CLIMATE:
• Over 70 percent of Americans support the Paris climate deal, according to a new survey. (Washington Post)
• Exxon Mobil is accusing the Rockefeller family of masterminding a conspiracy against it by supporting research and reporting into the company’s tactics to downplay the threat of climate change. (New York Times)
• Shareholders file a class-action lawsuit against ExxonMobil, alleging the company “has long understood the negative effects of climate change” and misled investors by failing to disclose the business risks. (InsideClimate News)
REGULATION: Wyoming and Montana file a federal lawsuit to block the Obama administration’s new rule limiting methane emissions from the oil and gas industry on public lands. (Associated Press)
OIL & GAS:
• Sunoco Logistics announces a merger with the Texas-based company that’s building the Dakota Access Pipeline in what’s being called the first of many “Trump deals” in the energy sector. (Mother Jones)
• The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused widespread shoreline erosion and loss of wetlands, according to a recent study. (Washington Post)
• An environmental group is suing the Federal Railroad Administration for ignoring a request seeking information about the hazards of carrying liquid natural gas by rail in Alaska. (Associated Press)
• Environmentalists and federal officials praise a decision to ban drilling in the Arctic, while Alaskans and industry groups say the ban will hurt business. (Christian Science Monitor)
PIPELINES:
• More than two dozen tribes in Washington state ask President Obama to stop and reroute the Dakota Access Pipeline after roughly 167 protesters were injured during a confrontation with police in North Dakota over the weekend. (Seattle Times)
• Authorities in North Dakota defend their use of water on pipeline protesters in subfreezing temperatures. (Associated Press)
• Executives behind the Dakota Access Pipeline say they expect the federal government will approve the completion of the project this year. (Dallas Business Journal)
NUCLEAR: A New York court says the state will be allowed to review federal relicensing applications for a controversial nuclear power facility on the Hudson River. (Associated Press)
POLLUTION: Environmental officials in Maryland say they want to monitor air quality near a coal-fired power plant after residents expressed concerns over pollution. (Baltimore Sun)
COMMENTARY: Nuclear and renewables need to join together to help fight climate change. (Huffington Post)