OIL & GAS: Eliminating $4 billion of petroleum subsidies would have a minimal effect on oil production and demand and boost the country’s global influence in advocating against climate change, according to a new report. (Bloomberg)
ALSO:
• Louisiana leaders are seeking billions of dollars from oil companies who have damaged the state’s coastline. (Associated Press)
• North Carolina’s Duke Energy says it’s poised to close on a $4.9 billion purchase of Piedmont Natural Gas. (Charlotte Business Journal)
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COAL:
• The evolution of one West Virginia coal mine represents a larger industry trend where a frenzy for fast profits has led to corporate buyouts and bankruptcies. (Reuters)
• Bankrupt Peabody Energy Corp. asks a U.S. judge for permission to pay nearly $12 million in bonuses to the company’s top six executives. (St. Louis Business Journal)
• Environmental groups oppose a $500 million project to covert a New Jersey power plant from coal-fired to gas-fired. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Two environmental groups file a public records request seeking facts about North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s coal ash regulatory tactics. (WSOC)
PIPELINES: Native Americans arrive in Washington, D.C., to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, which will transport crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois. (The Hill)
TRANSPORTATION: The U.S. government is suing a Utah oil company for selling bad diesel fuel to Amtrak that caused eight trains to break down in 2011. (Deseret News)
POLICY: A little-known provision of the Clean Power Plan could help atone for a long history of disproportionate impacts of fossil fuels on low-income residents, Appalachians and minority groups. (Midwest Energy News)
SOLAR: Electric cooperatives in Minnesota stir backlash for instituting new fees – as high as $89 a month – on customers generating their own electricity. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
FRACKING:
• Two oil and gas initiatives that “would grind drilling development to a halt” in Colorado may be on the ballot this fall. (CNBC)
• Citizen activism grows in Colorado as the state becomes “ground zero” in the battle against fracking. (Colorado Independent)
• Norwegian shale driller Statoil is suing a West Virginia county for refusing to refund almost $350,000 in property taxes that the company says it overpaid. (The Intelligencer)
ELECTRIC CARS: Tesla wants to expand its market with stores that sell electric cars, charging stations, rooftop solar systems and batteries, all in the same place. (Los Angeles Times)
NUCLEAR: The Department of Energy predicts it will reopen an underground nuclear waste facility in New Mexico by December. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
COMMENTARY:
• The California legislature should extend a bill that reduces greenhouse gas emissions. (Sacramento Bee)
• Obama has done more to save energy than any other president. (Washington Post)
• The Bureau of Land Management should not allow oil shale mining in the Colorado River Basin. (New York Times)