"State lawmakers from nine states introduced bills Jan. 8 aimed at blocking oil and gas drilling off their coasts, and a group of House Democrats meanwhile unveiled measures that would ban drilling in federal waters off much of the country."
The economics of fracking may be as big a worry as its environmental impacts, finds a new book on the energy extraction industry. Our latest BookShelf reviews the volume from a seasoned business reporter, who questions conventional views about a renewed U.S. energy “dominance,” probes the financial instability of the industry’s boom and raises the politically destabilizing spectre of a future decline for the fossil fuel market.
The topic of climate change will certainly heat up in 2019. That’s not just because a Democratic House will push back against the Trump administration, but also because of pressure from a “Green New Deal” clean-energy jobs movement, not to mention ongoing legal action, and corporate and state-level moves to limit carbon emissions. This special edition TipSheet explores the fault lines on climate in the year ahead.
"The partial U.S. government shutdown has docked fishing boats in Alaska, delayed public meetings on a proposed wind farm off the Massachusetts coast and blocked pharmaceutical companies from seeking approval for new drugs. But the Trump administration is working overtime to make sure the shutdown doesn’t halt oil drilling too -- in ways critics say may flout federal law."
"The RCMP say it has arrested 14 people Monday evening for allegedly violating the conditions of an interim court injunction requiring the removal of a blockade to a forest service road in northern British Columbia that is preventing access to a pipeline project."
"America’s carbon dioxide emissions rose by 3.4 percent in 2018, the biggest increase in eight years, according to a preliminary estimate published Tuesday."
"The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold its first hearing under the chamber’s new Democratic majority on climate change."
"A trio of public interest groups have lodged a protest against a proposed Department of Energy rule to designate critical electric infrastructure.
The rule proposed in October laid out how DOE would employ its authority to designate critical electric infrastructure under the Federal Power Act.
"ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A board of high-ranking Maryland officials on Wednesday rejected a proposed pipeline across the western part of the state that would carry natural gas produced in Pennsylvania to West Virginia.
The Board of Public Works voted 3-0 against an easement for TransCanada’s pipeline. It would run under the Potomac River near Hancock, Maryland, and extend about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from Columbia Gas’ network in Pennsylvania to Mountaineer Gas’ distribution system in West Virginia.
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