FRACKING:
• Portland, Oregon’s claim to lead US cities in combating climate change is under threat from plans to build a $500 million terminal to export gas pumped from fracking in Canada. (Guardian)
• The Texas House overwhelmingly approved a bill on Friday that would give the state the exclusive right to regulate the oil and gas industry, and take away the power of municipalities to pass anti-fracking rules. (Reuters)
OIL & GAS:
• Institutional investors representing nearly $2 trillion in assets have called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to force oil and gas companies to disclose more about climate-related risks to their businesses. (InsideClimate News)
• The Obama administration is considering whether to increase rates and royalties imposed on oil and gas companies drilling on federal lands. (The Hill)
OIL TRAINS: The Obama administration is requiring freight rail companies to impose a 40 mile per hour speed limit on oil trains that run near major cities that have large populations. (The Hill)
COAL: Coal’s low demand and prices in Appalachia are pushing mining companies to limit production and supporting players, such as makers of mining equipment, to look for business elsewhere to survive. (Pittsburgh Review-Tribune)
ENERGY REFORM: The House Energy and Commerce Committee will kick off efforts this week toward writing Congress’s first comprehensive energy legislation in eight years. (The Hill)
NUCLEAR: The daily electricity production at Florida Power and Light’s nuclear plants benefits Florida’s economy by more than $1.4 billion annually, according to a new study by the Nuclear Energy Institute. (FierceEnergy)
SOLAR:
• Duke Energy has been given permission to move forward with their solar farm at a marine base in North Carolina. (FierceEnergy)
• In Hawaii, where 12 percent of the homes have solar panels, handling the surplus power is putting pressure on the state’s biggest utility, which is fighting to reduce what it pays for the energy. (The New York Times)
WIND: Roughly 30 bills relating to the Oklahoma wind industry have been filed in the state legislature in the 2015 session, including at least one targeting the tax breaks and others attempting to alter regulatory policies. (Fox News)
BIOMASS: Burlington, Vermont, is now powered entirely on renewable mix of wind, hydro and biomass, but critics point out that burning biomass, although renewable, is not clean and carbon-free. (Al Jazeera America)
COSTS OF CARBON: Low-income residents’ health and pocketbooks are disproportionately affected by burning fossil fuels and stand to benefit the most from EPA carbon limits, according to two new reports. (Midwest Energy News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicle owners in San Francisco can now recharge their batteries at any of three off-the-grid charging stations powered entirely by solar energyhttp://bit.ly/1aIWkf1—for free.
POLITICS: Republican policymakers who deny climate change are increasingly at odds with the majority of their constituents, according to a new analysis by researchers at Yale University. (InsideClimate News)