News of the Day:
National Hot Dog Day 2020: How the hot dog became an American icon
How many hot dogs can a human possibly eat? Science finally has an answer
OIL
Texas oil regulator accuses Saudi Arabia and Russia of dumping crude on U.S. markets
World Oil, July 21, 2020
The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) this week passed Railroad Commission Chairman Wayne Christian’s (R – Texas) resolution urging the federal government to investigate excessive dumping of crude oil by Saudi Arabia and Russia and take appropriate action. “For much of 2019 and early 2020, Saudi Arabia shipped relatively little crude to America, with average arrivals running at about 475,000 barrels a day,” said Christian. “After the COVID-19 pandemic crippled the U.S. oil and gas industry, Saudi Arabia shipped 1.3 million barrels a day to our nation, roughly four times February’s daily volume and the highest figure since 2014.”
GAS
AG rejects Brookline’s ban on oil, gas pipes in new buildings
David Abel, The Boston Globe, July 21, 2020
In a move that irked her staunchly liberal supporters, Attorney General Maura Healey on Tuesday rejected a controversial bylaw passed last year by Brookline residents that banned the installation of oil and gas pipes in new and substantially renovated buildings, the first such prohibition in Massachusetts. The near-unanimous vote of more than 200 Town Meeting members in Brookline, heralded as the first of a number of similar local efforts to reduce carbon emissions, would have required homeowners and developers to install electric heat, hot water, and appliances. In a statement, Healey said she had long supported efforts to reduce greenhouse gases that cause climate change but had no choice but to reject the bylaw.
20 states sue over Trump rule limiting states from blocking pipeline projects
Oil & Gas 360, July 22, 2020
Oil & Gas Publishers Note: Our team has been covering the regulatory fight the Trump administration has been plagued by, and the implications. I can bet all of the states did not vote for him.
A coalition of 20 states is suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over a rule that weakens states’ ability to block pipelines and other controversial projects that cross their waterways. The Clean Water Act previously allowed states to halt projects that risk hurting their water quality, but that power was scaled back by the EPA, a move Administrator Andrew Wheeler said would “curb abuses of the Clean Water Act that have held our nation’s energy infrastructure projects hostage.” The suit from California and others asks the courts to throw out the rule, which was finalized in June.
MINING
Tectonic kicks off 2020 Alaska drilling
Shane Lasley, North of 60 Mining News, July 20, 2020
Tectonic Metals Inc. July 20 announced that drills are turning on its Tibbs Gold project less than 22 miles (35 kilometers) from Northern Star Resources Ltd.’s high-grade Pogo Gold Mine in Alaska’s Goodpaster Mining District. Immediately following a roughly 2,500-meter rotary air blast drill program at Tibbs, Tectonic will launch the first drill program in more than two decades at Seventymile , an eastern Alaska gold project that covers a more than 25-mile- (40 kilometers) long greenstone belt.
POLITICS
U.S. was ‘late to the party’ in the Arctic, says Pompeo
Reuters, July 22, 2020
The United States and allies have been too slow to react to Chinese and Russian interests in the Arctic region, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Danish public broadcaster DR in a recorded interview on Wednesday. “I think we have all been a little bit naive to watch not only the Russians but the Chinese interest there continue to become more and more aggressive,” Pompeo told DR during a diplomatic visit in Copenhagen. “We are a little late. That’s alright, I’ve been late to parties before and had a great time. We’ll succeed.”