The Trump administration plans to allow new oil and gas drilling off the California coast for the first time in roughly four decades, according to three people briefed on the matter. The move would set up a confrontation with Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has fought offshore drilling and who has emerged as one of...
Author: New York Times
Exxon and California Spar in Dueling Lawsuits Over Plastics
Did California’s attorney general and several other groups defame Exxon Mobil when they sued the oil giant last year over its role in widespread plastic pollution? That was the question looming over a recent hearing in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, where Exxon Mobil has countersued Attorney General Rob Bonta of California and the nonprofit...
Can This Model Make Nuclear Energy Hot?
“You have to go see the waste — did you see the waste?” Isabelle Boemeke shouted into the wind, which whipped her long, dark braid behind her as she stood on the California shoreline in San Luis Obispo. The waste in question was the leftover uranium rods from producing nuclear energy, which are stored in...
E.P.A. Moves to Cancel $7 Billion in Grants for Solar Energy
The Trump administration is preparing to terminate $7 billion in federal grants intended to help low- and moderate-income families install solar panels on their homes, according to two people briefed on the matter. The Environmental Protection Agency is drafting termination letters to the 60 state agencies, nonprofit groups and Native American tribes that received the...
British Government to Spend $19 Billion on New Nuclear Plant
The British government said on Tuesday that it would spend as much as 14.2 billion pounds, or about $19 billion, on constructing a nuclear power station, a project that is expected to create 10,000 jobs and help light up six million homes. The decision likely means that the giant plant called Sizewell C, whose site...
Supreme Court Curbs Scope of Environmental Reviews
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Thursday that a federal agency had done enough to consider the environmental impact of a proposed 88-mile railway in Utah. The ruling limits the scope of environmental reviews required by federal law in all sorts of settings. The proposed railway would connect oil fields in the Uinta Basin in northeast Utah...
U.S. Takes Another Step Toward Opening the Seabed for Mining
The Interior Department said it would review a new proposal for operations off the coast of American Samoa. Read more in The New York Times here.
Chevron Joins Race to Generate Power for A.I.
The artificial intelligence boom has turbocharged demand for electricity, and everyone who is anyone in the U.S. energy industry wants a piece of the action. The latest entrant is Chevron, the country’s second-largest oil and gas company, which sees opportunity in building natural gas-fueled power plants that will feed energy directly to data centers. Chevron...
Newsom Suspends State Environmental Rules for Rebuilding After Fires
Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a broad executive order that aims to make it easier to rebuild after the fires by suspending California’s costly and time-consuming environmental review process for homeowners and businesses whose property was damaged or destroyed. The order is likely to be the first of several permit streamlining measures issued by state,...
Exxon Plans to Sell Electricity to Data Centers
Demand for electricity is rising so quickly in the United States that even Exxon Mobil, the country’s largest oil and gas company, is planning to get into the power business. Exxon is designing a massive natural-gas fueled plant meant to directly supply electricity to data centers. The company says the plant will be fitted with...








