LNG, power rates, spill settlement and Green New Deal

Exxon, Qatar greenlight LNG complex

Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum will go ahead on construction of the Golden Pass LNG export facility on the Texas Gulf Coast, the companies said. The more than $10 billion facility, which will be capable of moving 16 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year, is scheduled to begin construction in the east Texas community of Sabine Pass by the end of March. It is the latest in a string of LNG projects along the Gulf Coast, where the availability of cheap, natural gas is drawing interest from buyers and investors around the globe.

Higher rates boost investment

A group of Texas power generators that produce about 60 percent of the state’s electricity said its members are planning to invest more than $100 million in existing generation facilities to prepare for the upcoming summer demand for electricity. The Texas Competitive Power Advocates, which includes NRG Energy, Calpine, Vistra Energy, Tenaska and Talen Energy, are making the investments after Texas regulators last month agreed to changes in the wholesale electricity market, a move that is expected to increase revenues for power generators during times of peak demand.

Green New Deal unveiled

A Democratic plan to address climate change would cut net U.S. greenhouse emissions to zero in 10 years through measures that include shifting the power grid to renewable energy and investing in chargers and other technology to support electric vehicles. The plan, dubbed the Green New Deal, would launch a massive spending program to shift the U.S economy from fossil fuels.The proposal was sharply criticized by oil and gas interests in Texas., where a rollback of fossil fuel on the scale detailed in the proposal could be disastrous for the energy industry, a pillar of the state economy.

Pipeline firm settles spill case

Sunoco Pipeline, a subsidiary of Dallas company Energy Transfer, will pay more than $5.4 million to settle with Louisiana and federal governments for three crude oil spills between 2013 and 2015 in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The company agreed to pay civil penalties and state enforcement costs to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act due to oil spills caused by pipeline corrosion.

Sempra starts on LNG terminal

More than 8,000 people are working to bring the Gulf Coast’s third liquefied natural gas complex into operation within the next few months as global demand for LNG grows and U.S. natural gas production surges. Sempra Energy of San Diego recently received clearance from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to begin the process of starting up its Cameron LNG project in Louisiana.

Melissa Phillip / Staff photographer Workers make their way beneath the main pipe rack at Cameron LNG in Hackberry, La. More than 8,000 people are working day and night to bring the liquefied natural gas plant’s first production unit into operation over the next few months.

Pete Marovich / New York Times Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., call for a sweeping environmental and economic mobilization.