OFFSHORE DRILLING:
• The Obama administration will release a new rule as soon as Monday with the aim of preventing offshore drilling disasters like the major Gulf of Mexico oil spill five years ago. (The Hill)
• The Obama administration formally kicked off its full review Friday of Royal Dutch Shell’s application to restart oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean as early as this summer. (The Hill)
• The six Greenpeace activists who boarded a ship carrying a Seattle-bound Arctic-drilling rig abandoned their protect Saturday, citing rough seas. (Associated Press)
FRACKING: Maryland lawmakers on Friday voted to send their governor a two-year ban on fracking. (The Baltimore Sun)
BIOFUEL: Compelled by an oil industry lawsuit, the EPA has agreed to set biofuel quotas for 2014 by November 30—two years after they were initially due. (Fuel Fix)
OIL PIPELINE: A proposed Canadian oil pipeline through some of the Midwest’s prized lakes and wetlands has ignited a firestorm among environmentalists, tribes and anti-fossil fuel activists. (EnergyWire)
DIVESTMENT:
• Investors who have dumped holdings in fossil fuel companies have outperformed those that remain invested in coal, oil and gas over the past five years, according to the world’s leading stock market index company. (Guardian)
• Students at Swarthmore College outside of Philadelphia have been staging a sit-in for nearly a month to push their school to divest from fossil fuels. (NPR)
• Hundreds of college students in Maine held a rally and marched around the statehouse Saturday to show their disapproval of fossil fuel investments. (WGME)
HYDROPOWER: Loss of hydropower capacity due to California’s drought has cost electricity customers $1.4 billion in the past three years, according to the Pacific Institute. (Greentech Media)
NUCLEAR: The Maine legislature is considering a proposal to amend state laws to encourage the construction of small nuclear plants of 500 megawatts or less. (Energy Policy Update)
EMISSIONS: New Jersey is ahead of its 2020 target of reducing emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels, but achieving an 80-percent reduction by 2050 from 2006 levels will be difficult, according to a new study from Rutgers University. (NJ Spotlight)
GRID: New York’s integration of weather proofing and renewables into its power grid is likely influence smart grid development in the rest of the country, experts say. (Climate Central)
PRESIDENTIAL RACE:
•More than 100 environmental groups pressed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to oppose hydraulic fracturing on the eve of her presidential campaign announcement. (The Hill)
• Climate activists will hold a demonstration on Monday outside Clinton’s New York headquarters to insist she clarify her stand on the Keystone XL oil-sands pipeline. (National Journal)