The Federal Trade Commission has uncovered efforts by former CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources Scott Sheffield to collude with OPEC in order to increase the price of oil through agreed up cuts in production. The conduct was discovered as part of an investigation into the $64 billion acquisition of Pioneer by Exxon Mobil, which FTC says it will not reject as long as Sheffield is not named to the board.
House Republicans are threatening to withhold funding for the collapsed Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore unless President Biden reverses the pause on approvals for new methane gas exports, or LNG. In a visit to Maryland on Friday, the President reiterated his commitment to reopen the Baltimore port and provide federal funding. The funding would be allocated to the reconstruction of the bridge, which could take from 18 months to several years.
Today, 110 organizations sent a letter to Secretary Granholm and President Biden to thank them for the pause on approvals for new LNG export licenses and urge them to not only update the previous economic and environmental analyses that the Department of Energy (DOE) relies on for considering LNG export applications, but also to incorporate factors not currently analyzed like environmental justice.
Today marks one year since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hosted an environmental justice and equity roundtable intended to explore ways FERC Commissioners could better uphold these important values in their decisions. To date, FERC has not taken further action.
Yesterday, sixteen attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the recently announced pause on approvals of new gas exports, known as LNG. The temporary pause is in place to give the Department of Energy time to update the outdated studies it uses to determine the environmental and economic impacts of increasing LNG exports, something the agency is required to do under the Natural Gas Act.
Today, the U.S. Senators on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to consider President Biden’s nominations to fill current and future vacancies for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The FERC nominees are Democrats Judy Chang and David Rosner, and Republican Lindsay See. By statute, only three of the five commissioners can be from the same political party. FERC is an independent federal agency that makes key decisions about our nation’s energy future, including the interstate transmission of methane gas and electricity.
Oil and gas industry executives kicked off CERAWeek by dismissing the urgent need to meet globally agreed upon climate goals and calling for an increase in fossil fuel extraction and exports against scientific evidence, according to reporting from Politico. The industry message emerging from CERAWeek overlaps with House Republicans’ dirty “energy week.”
Today, Sierra Club and allies filed legal responses to American Petroleum Institute and Commonwealth LNG requests for rehearing of Department of Energy’s pause on review of new applications for methane gas exports, or LNG. The groups make clear that the industry requests “should be denied as procedurally improper because there is nothing to seek rehearing of.”
Today, residents from around the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana sent a letter to President Biden and Secretary Granholm to thank them for pausing the approval of new licenses for the export of liquefied methane gas (LNG). The letter also shares key priorities that local communities want to see incorporated into the Department of Energy’s (DOE) review of criteria used to determine whether a gas export application is in the public interest.
Today, President Biden nominated Judy W. Chang, David Rosner, and Lindsay S. See to fill current and upcoming vacancies at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The nominations will now go to the Senate.