-Envia Energy today broke ground on the first of a series of gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants to be built in Oklahoma City. Via FuelFix, the plant will be built next to a Waste Management landfill and will use landfill gas and natural gas to produce diesel, naphtha and synthetic waxes. Envia is a joint venture between Waste Management, NRG Energy, Ventech Engineers and Velocys.
-California has begun importing gasoline from the UK and South Korea amid fuel shortages caused by refinery outages, Bloomberg reports. Two ships that were scheduled to transport fuel from the UK to the East Coast instead headed for Southern California earlier this week. At least four other vessels in Asia are bound for the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. Analysts say the tanker shipments will continue until ExxonMobil’s Torrance, Calif., refinery fully recovers from a February explosion.
-Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law new safety measures for shipping crude oil through the state by rail. Via the Columbian, under the new law railroads hauling crude must show they can pay to clean up a spill and refineries are required to share what type of oil they ship and how much with state authorities and first responders. The law also provides for more rail inspectors in the state. Crude transported by rail in Washington increased from none in 2011 to 700 million gallons in 2013.
-The trend of falling power plant CO2 emissions seen over the past decade will eventually reverse if current regulations stay in place, the Energy Information Administration said today. Emissions associated with electricity generation have decreased over 2005 levels via the substitution of natural gas for coal and the emergence of renewable energy and nuclear generation. The Obama Administration has proposed stricter emissions regulations for new and existing power plants, which would likely phase out coal-fired power over the long term.
-Meanwhile, Canada has set a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% of 2005 levels by 2030. Via CBC, Canada’s environment minister also announced new regulations on methane emissions from oil and gas operations and new rules designed to cut emissions from the electricity and chemicals sectors. Environmental groups noted that Canada is not on track to meet a previously announced goal of reducing emissions by 17% of 2005 levels by 2020.
