Today, the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources passed the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, dubbed the “Dirty Deal,” sponsored by Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso. The legislation would open up federal lands and waters to more leasing and drilling and unnecessarily rush the review of proposed gas export projects, forcing decisions to be based on flawed, outdated studies.
Today, a coalition of environmental organizations and an impacted landowner backed by eight state Attorneys General and the New Jersey Ratepayer Advocate won their challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of the Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project, which would allow a massive and unneeded expansion of gas capacity into New Jersey.
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit vacated, or invalidated, a decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that allowed the construction of the Regional Energy Access Expansion project to expand the Transco pipeline to bring additional fracked gas from Pennsylvania to, primarily, New Jersey and Maryland.
Groups submitted a request for rehearing to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of Venture Global’s proposed methane gas export facility, CP2 LNG. FERC made the highly controversial decision at its June meeting with a slim 2-1 vote and a strong dissent from former commissioner Allison Clements. Niskanen Center submitted the request on behalf of Sierra Club and a coalition of environmental organizations and impacted community members.
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.
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.”
More than 70 climate, health and consumer organizations have called for utilities across the nation to leave the American Gas Association (AGA) over their efforts to block climate policies and proliferate disinformation about the health risks of gas stove pollution. AGA receives millions in annual dues from utilities across the country, primarily paid for through customer bills.
The IEA published its annual World Energy Outlook today, which shows that progress is being made to move the global economy to renewable resources, but there is still too much reliance on fossil fuels that put energy security and the future livability of the planet at risk. Thanks to existing policies, including the U.S.’s Inflation Reduction Act, IEA predicts global fossil fuel demand will peak by 2030 and urges that the transition to renewable energy must happen as quickly as possible. “The sooner the better,” according to IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.
SACRAMENTO, CA – In a stunning turn for the state claiming to lead the country when it comes to renewable energy advances, California’s Public Utilities Commission yesterday authorized SoCalGas to study transporting hydrogen derived from carbon-emitting sources via its Angeles Link project. SoCalGas had proposed to study transport of “green” hydrogen - hydrogen produced exclusively from renewable energy and water.
President Biden said in a speech that he was willing to work with Congress to enact a windfall profits tax on oil and gas companies. Oil and gas prices have hit record highs this year, as fossil fuel executives have used their profits to enrich shareholders and investors rather than easing the pain for consumers.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released its annual World Energy Outlook (WEO) and it underscores how critical the clean energy transition is for global security and energy price stability. The report finds that the global energy crisis, spurred in large part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has been felt hardest by low-income communities, but is blunted in regions with a strong commitment to renewable sources of energy.