Energy & Fuel

"The Justice Department has opened an antitrust inquiry into the four major automakers that struck a deal with California this year to reduce automobile emissions, according to people familiar with the matter, escalating a standoff over one of the president’s most significant rollbacks of climate regulations."

"Air quality regulators on Friday killed a years-long push for stronger regulation of a dangerous acid used at two South Bay refineries that has frightened many neighbors, voting instead to accept a voluntary, oil industry pledge to enhance safety measures."

"A top Senate appropriator is seeking federal ethics information for former Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joe Balash, who recently left the department for a job with a foreign oil and gas company."

"The plastics industry is responsible for nearly a fourth of the industrial air pollution in the Houston area, a share that is expected to rise as the number of new plants and expansions doubles in the next few years, a new study found."

"Standing at an overlook on the top of Black Mountain — the tallest point in Kentucky —  the wooded Appalachian mountains stretch on like a sea of green for miles."

"Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said at CNN’s marathon forum on climate change Wednesday night that he was unaware that a fundraiser he’s slated to attend on Thursday is being co-hosted by a founder of a fossil fuel company."

"A former Interior Department official who abruptly resigned last month personally expedited environmental review for a 211-mile private road project across federal land that would open up a vast new copper, gold and precious metals mining district near a national park in northern Alaska, according to a company seeking to mine there."

"The Trump administration is rolling back Obama-era rules that expanded energy-use requirements to some of the most commonly used light bulbs."

"Nearly a century ago, America embarked on a great social experiment in the Pacific Northwest, charging up the Columbia River and erecting dams. ... Now the system is buckling."