INFRASTRUCTURE: The U.S. Department of Energy released a report Tuesday calling for billions of dollars to repair leaky natural gas pipelines, upgrade the electric grid, overhaul the strategic oil stockpile and improve crude oil transport. (E&E Daily)
EFFICIENCY: Congress on Tuesday passed a bill on improving energy efficiency in buildings and water heaters, a move celebrated by both parties for breaking longstanding partisan gridlock. (The New York Times)
JOBS: Thirty-one states lost jobs last month, but the biggest losses were in states with large oil and gas drilling, led by Texas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. (U.S. News & World Report)
DRILLING:
• U.S. oil and natural gas companies set up 8 percent fewer new drilling wells during the first three months of 2015 than the same period last year, according to the American Petroleum Institute. (The Hill)
• With real-time monitors, scientists have linked a swarm of small earthquakes west of Fort Worth, Texas, to nearby natural gas wells and wastewater injection. (Associated Press)
EPA RULE:
• The EPA’s proposed emissions limits for power plants would create more than a quarter of a million additional jobs, according to a new analysis by economists at the University of Maryland. (InsideClimate News)
• Utilities will need more time to comply with the EPA’s new emissions rule, the organization responsible for electricity reliability said Tuesday. (The Hill)
SOLAR:
• New York’s governor is making solar energy more attractive in the state, and one of the nation’s largest investor-owned utilities is taking full advantage. (Fierce Energy)
• Solar power makes electricity more accessible to the estimated 18,000 homes that still lack electricity on the Navaho reservation. (NPR)
GEOTHERMAL: In the Pacific Northwest, the U.S. Forest Service is set to open more than 80,000 acres for potential geothermal power development. (NPR)
WIND: As many as three offshore wind-power lease sites will be approved for North Carolina next year, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management told a conference in Raleigh on Tuesday. (Triad Business Journal)
NUCLEAR: The nuclear power sector is telling lawmakers that closing the Export-Import Bank would threaten billions of dollars in economic activity and tens of thousands of jobs from export of U.S. nuclear power technology and products. (The Hill)
METHANE: Reducing methane leaks from oil and gas operations around the world could provide a relatively inexpensive way to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report. (The New York Times)
CONVERSION: Nebraska’s largest utility is swapping out coal for hydrogen at a power plant south of Lincoln, in a move to cut its carbon footprint by about 10 percent while adding 100 new jobs. (ClimateWire)
DIVESTMENT: After months of demonstrations, sit-ins and talk with school officials, the divestment movement’s results are mixed, and the answer many activists keep getting is still no. (NBC Bay Area)
POLITICS: Jeb Bush, a likely contender for the Republican presidential nomination, told the New England Council in New Hampshire that he’s concerned about climate change and the world needs to cut carbon emissions. (VICE News)