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Native tribes seek renewable future; Occidental adds institutional investors

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Native tribes seek renewable future; Occidental adds institutional investors

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Long tied to fossil fuels, Native American tribes seek renewable future

In the past three months, Public Service Co. of New Mexico has asked state regulators to approve power purchase agreements for 100-MW worth of solar projects that a Chicago company plans to build on the Jicarilla Apache Nation Reservation in northern New Mexico.

Colorado developing as ideological battleground for future of oil, gas sector

Energy-focused strategists in the western U.S. see Colorado as a critical ideological battleground for the future of oil and gas development, and their message at two recent conferences was the same: Oil and gas companies need to close the communication gap the communities where they want to operate or risk losing the social license to do so.

Occidental bucks trend, adds institutional investors — who are mostly displeased

Institutional investors were not kind to independent shale oil producers in the second quarter, as many cut their stakes in the underperforming sector. Occidental Petroleum Corp. was one of only a handful of companies to see an increase in institutional investor holdings — and its biggest buyer did so to punish Occidental's leadership for its $57 billion takeover of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

Withheld evidence in former coal CEO's case could upend landmark conviction

"There is no question" prosecutors violated former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship's constitutional rights on the way to a misdemeanor conviction of conspiracy to violate mine safety, a magistrate judge wrote Aug. 26, even if the evidence withheld from his defense may not have resulted in a different verdict.

Quoted

"The more we can try to split that enthusiasm with the mainstream environmental community the better off we can be," said Ted Trimpa, CEO of political consultancy Trimpa Group, speaking at the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, or COGA, Energy Summit in Denver, where industry figures believe that Colorado has emerged as a critical ideological battleground for the future of oil and gas development.

Power

* Regardless of whatever Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring plan that PG&E Corp. and its operating arm Pacific Gas and Electric Co. propose by Sept. 9, California's largest utility may have to go back to the drawing board months later based on the results of parallel proceedings in three separate courts that ultimately will determine how much the debtors owe victims of wildfires linked to the company's electric infrastructure.

* The Cincinnati Enquirer reviewed claims made in an ad by Ohioans for Energy Security, which supports recently passed state legislation subsidizing two nuclear plants, that another advocacy group opposed to the legislation and is now gathering signatures for a statewide referendum on the measure backed by Chinese financial interests. The connection, the newspaper found, is that a power plant developer, Clean Energy Future, who canceled a planned gas-fired plant in Trumbull County, Ohio, and cited the legislation as the reason why in part received financing from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. FirstEnergy Corp., whose former affiliate FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. operates the two nuclear plants, has also received funding from the same Chinese bank, the newspaper reported.

* The governors of five East Coast states, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Virginia, are urging the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Commerce to give the green light to Vineyard Wind LLC's planned 800-MW Vineyard Offshore Wind Project off Cape Cod, Mass., by March 2020.

* In adopting a final work plan to implement Washington state's new Clean Energy Transformation Act and 10 related bills, utility regulators set a schedule for the numerous rulemakings, workgroups, reports and other proceedings to be completed over the next three years.

* Xcel Energy Inc. expects to commence construction of the 522-MW Sagamore wind project in Roosevelt County, N.M., in the fourth quarter. The project is estimated to cost approximately $900 million and is expected to enter operation in late 2020.

* The Maryland Department of the Environment denied approval of Origis Energy USA Inc.'s proposed 32.5-MW Shugart Valley and 27.5-MW Ripley Road solar projects in Charles County. In a statement, Maryland Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles said the projects "would harm the nearby high-quality stream in Charles County and threaten our continued restoration progress in the Chesapeake Bay watershed."

Natural gas

* The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to announce a proposal today that would erase the Obama administration's regulation of methane leaks from oil and gas facilities in a bid to further boost oil and gas production, The Wall Street Journal reported.

* People living along the proposed route of Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC's MVP Southgate extension questioned the potential environmental impacts associated with the interstate natural gas pipeline project, which is designed to meet growing demand in southern Virginia and central North Carolina.

* Colorado's Weld County signed an agreement with the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to review gas and oil drilling permits within 60 days, as the state faces a backlog of applications from energy companies, The Denver Post reported.

* Cheniere Energy Inc. received permission from federal regulators to start commercial operations on the second natural gas liquefaction train of its Corpus Christi LNG export terminal in Texas.

* Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said at an industry event that international markets and instability abroad have more impact on the gas and oil sector in Colorado than new regulations passed in April, which shifted focus on public health and safety, The Denver Post reported.

Oil

* Crude oil and natural gas drilling and completion activities are slowing in the U.S. under the strain of global political unrest and producers' spending restraint, analysts said.

* After peaking in the first quarter of 2019 at 74 rigs, the number of active horizontal shale gas drilling rigs in Appalachia's Marcellus and Utica shales dropped 18% through mid-August, with several shale gas drillers signaling they plan to lay down more rigs in 2020.

* Baker Hughes, a GE company is shifting its focus away from the "struggling" oilfield services sector to new technologies, including turbines for LNG plants, drones to identify leaks from pipelines, and clean energy to power hydraulic fracturing operations and cut greenhouse emissions, the Houston Chronicle reported.

* Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said the Trump administration is working to finalize a plan that would boost demand for biofuel, according to Reuters. The plan may be announced in the "next couple of weeks," Perdue said.

* U.S. energy investors are turning bearish on the oil and gas stocks due to a number of factors, including an uncertainty about the long-term outlook of the fossil fuel industry and concerns over new shale-focused drillers' ability to generate cash, the Financial Times reported.

* Galveston, Texas-based fuel storage operator Texas International Terminals confirmed that it intends to operate a crude processing facility, which is designed to produce 50,000 barrels per day to meet "IMO 2020 marine fuel rules" the Houston Chronicle reported.

Coal

* Peabody Energy Corp. commenced cash tender offers to purchase any and all of its $500 million in outstanding 6.0% senior secured notes due 2022 and any and all of its $500 million in outstanding 6.375% senior secured notes due 2025, as part of a refinancing initiative to accommodate the pending Powder River Basin and Colorado joint venture with Arch Coal Inc.

* After a brief uptick in Colorado coal production in the first half of 2018, output has since resumed its decline more, dropping by about 10.5% in the first half of the year from the year-ago period and by 9.4% from the back half of last year.

* Blackhawk Mining LLC is on schedule to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization without impairing its general unsecured claims, according to court documents.

ChartWatch

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a large draw in U.S. petroleum and crude oil stockpiles for the week to Aug. 23.

New from RRA

* New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, is expected to nominate Dianne Martin to succeed Martin Honigberg as chair of the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. Honigberg is departing the commission on Aug. 29 to serve as a state Superior Court judge.

* Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc. is seeking a two-step increase to its Oahu electric rates to fund capital and operating costs associated with infrastructure modernization investments and the ongoing integration of renewable energy to the island's electric grid.

The day ahead

* The EIA natural gas storage report is due out today.

* Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. equity markets. To view more SNL equity market indexes, click here. To view more SNL Energy commodities prices, click here.

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