• Energy

Atlantic Coast Pipeline Officially No More

• Atlantic Coast Pipeline
• oil and gas
• Virginia West Virginia

Yesterday, Dominion Energy and its partner, Duke Energy, announced they were ending a 600-mile natural gas project that would have cost at least $8 billion to complete. As the Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote, Dominion and Duke canceled the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in the face of mounting regulatory uncertainty caused by a federal court […]

• Energy

Chesapeake Energy Files For Bankruptcy Protection Due to Debts and Slumping Gas Prices

• bankruptcy
• Chesapeake Energy
• COVID-19
• fracking
• natural gas

Chesapeake Energy, one of the first companies to take advantage of directional drilling and push fracking, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Houston on Sunday, the latest victim of the oil and gas price plunge caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Why This Matters:  This is one of the most high profile firms to fall apart during the pandemic, but due to the long term economics of oil and gas, it won’t be the last.

• Energy

Dept. of Energy Announces $122M In Funding For “Coal Innovation” Centers

• carbon
• coal
• coal products
• Department of Energy
• fossil fuels
• innovation

On Friday, the Energy Department announced it will provide more than $120m in funding to create “coal products innovation centers… [that] …will focus on manufacturing value-added, carbon-based products from coal, as well as developing new methods to extract and process rare earth elements and critical minerals from coal.” 

Why This Matters: Coal innovation is an oxymoron or maybe just moronic – and certainly a dubious investment.

• Energy

One Cool Thing: A Million Mile Battery

Tesla has announced that on September 15 — “Battery Day” — the company will reveal details about its “million mile” battery.  Two weeks ago, in an interview with Bloomberg, the Chairman of the Chinese company that will make the battery for Tesla, Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited or “CATL”  said they are ready to build the […]

• Energy

Tesla Breaks Major EV Range Record

• electric cars
• EV
• Tesla

In a major milestone for electric cars, Tesla announced yesterday that it has cracked the 400-mile barrier, a first for a production electric vehicle sold to the public. The company says the EPA will officially rate the new Long Range Plus version of the Model S for a 402-mile range. The new range is due […]

• Energy

Cabot Oil and Gas Charged With Environmental Crimes

• fracking
• Marcellus Shale
• Pennsylvania

On Monday, Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. was charged with environmental crimes by the Pennsylvania attorney general following a grand jury investigation that found the company failed to fix faulty gas wells in its operations along the Marcellus Shale. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said that Cabot will face […]