By Jerry Bohnen | OK Energy Today
• Gasoline prices have risen in the wake of the shutdown of an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery for unexpected repairs. It happened at a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery, one of the largest in the nation. The shutdown could last for much of the rest of the summer driving season, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The cost to fill up at the pump shot up last week. AAA reported that the monthslong calm in gas prices “is over.” The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline jumped 4 cents last Tuesday to $3.64, but by last Thursday it was up to $3.71 – the biggest one-day increase in 13 months.
Oklahoma’s average rose by 4 cents, from $3.35 to $3.39 a gallon as of July 27. The new average was 15 cents higher than a week previously and 21 cents more than a month ago, according to AAA.
• New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an order requiring 43% of new vehicles sold in New Mexico by 2027, and 82% by 2032, to be zero-emission electric or hydrogen cars/trucks. However, selection of electric cars at dealerships is limited and dealerships have no all-electric trucks.
• Kansans may be having second thoughts about besting Oklahoma in the competition over selection of a $4 billion Panasonic battery plant.
Evergy, the largest utility in the Sunflower State, says it will ask regulators to approve a rate increase to pay for additional infrastructure needed to meet the anticipated electricity demands of the plant that’s under construction.
The Kansas City Star reported the demand created by the nearly 4 million square-foot plant is expected to double that of Evergy’s current largest customer in the state and require two new substations, upgrades to three substations, and upgrades on 31 miles of transmission lines.
Evergy, which services eastern Kansas and western Missouri, already announced in April it would ask the Kansas Corporation Commission to approve rate hikes of 5.9% in some areas of Kansas and up to 24.9% in a region that includes Topeka, Wichita and western parts of Johnson County. The potential rate increase related to Panasonic would be on top of those proposed rate hikes.
• Washington State, like Oklahoma, is mulling over ideas to make up for the fact that electric vehicles do not have to pay the state’s motor fuels tax because they don’t use gasoline or diesel. Currently the gas tax costs drivers 49.4 cents per gallon, but according to a Yakima television station, a new proposal will replace that with a pay-per-mile system that’ll cost 2.5 cents per mile driven.
• The Oklahoma Corporation Commission voted 2-1 July 27 to approve a 17-cent increase in the universal service fund and the Oklahoma Lifeline Fund: from $1.85 to $2.02 per month per connection. The charge appears on telephone customers’ monthly bills.
The Universal Service Fund underwrites broadband service to schools, libraries, and telemedicine, and reimburses rural telephone providers in higher-cost service areas for their upgrades to basic telephone service. Lifeline provides discounted wireline and wireless services for low-income consumers, which helps them connect to the nation’s communications networks, find jobs, access health care services, connect with family, and call for help in an emergency.
The fund is a legislative mandate, and all of its collections and expenditures are listed on the Corporation Commission’s website.
• A little-publicized clause in the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act has companies scrambling to recycle electric vehicle batteries in North America, putting the region at the forefront of a global race to undermine China’s dominance of the field. The IRA includes a clause that automatically qualifies EV battery materials recycled in the U.S. as American-made for subsidies, regardless of their origin.
• A Republican Florida lawmaker warns against using electric vehicles during hurricane evacuations until more charging stations can be built.
• Colorado Springs, Colorado, is getting a new solar cell manufacturing plant that reportedly will create 350 jobs. Switzerland-owned Meyer Burger plans to begin production in the second half of 2024.
• In Colorado – where counties, cities and some state officials are fighting the prospects of a train that would carry Utah oil across the state and eventually to Cushing, Oklahoma – Union Pacific Railroad can’t answer questions about the risks associated with the plan.
Rod Doerr, UP’s chief safety officer, recently told Colorado lawmakers the company had not done an analysis of the “risks” of increased traffic.
Public concerns about railroad safety have grown more acute in the wake of this year’s East Palestine, Ohio, disaster and the Biden administration’s approval of an 88-mile rail extension in eastern Utah that could drastically increase the number of hazardous materials transported on the Union Pacific line through western and central Colorado.
• Another effort has been launched in Oklahoma’s seemingly never-ending fight against redcedar trees along the North Canadian River. State Rep. Mike Dobrinski (R-Okeene) filed a bill to spend $3.2 million to eradicate the trees – each of which consumes one-half-gallon to 21 gallons of water per day – on 5,000 acres of the North Canadian River watershed stretching from the Panhandle to Oklahoma City.
• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has not yet acted on a first-in-the-nation bill called the Birds and Bees Protection Act; starting in 2027 it would ban the sale of pesticides that use neonicotinoids. Farm groups oppose it because it also would ban the sale of corn, soybean or wheat seeds coated with the pesticides.
• Canada released a framework for eliminating inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, making it the first G20 country to deliver on a 2009 commitment to rationalize and phase out government support for the sector.
• China has begun drilling a 10,000-meter (6.2-mile) hole in the ground for the second time this year as it seeks ultra-deep reserves of natural gas.
Mike W. Ray contributed to this story.