The Trump administration delivered a $4.4 billion fiscal year 2019 federal budget to Congress yesterday. A standard journalistic cliché about presidential budgets in recent years has been “dead on arrival.” As the Associated Press reported, Trump’s second budget plan was “dead even before arrival.” The current budget plan looks very much like what the president … More Trump’s FY 2019 budget: An administration flying blind

Electric vehicle maker Tesla’s financial bloodbath continues, as the company reported a loss of $675.4 million for the 2017 fourth quarter ($4.01/share), compared to $619.4 million ($3.70/share) loss for the third quarter and a $121.3 million (78 cents/share) loss for the final quarter of 2016. Bears and short-sellers are following the bloody trail, although they … More Tesla dives deeper into red ink

President Trump’s corporate tax cuts are causing trouble for the natural gas pipeline industry. Don Santa, president of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Jan. 30 sent a letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Kevin McIntyre, released on Monday, calling on the regulators to resist petitions from some gas utility interests, state utility … More Trumps tax cuts trouble natural gas pipelines

The United States could become a net exporter of energy by 2022, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. EIA’s 2018 Annual Energy Outlook, the agency’s premier analytical product, says that “continued development of U.S. shale and tight oil and natural gas resources paired with modest consumption growth” will lead to the U.S. … More EIA: U.S. to become net energy exporter

Florida-based NextEra Energy and Washington’s Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry’s lobbying group, are in a brawl over the utility’s withdrawal from NEI. NextEra, along with New Orleans-based Entergy, withdrew from NEI in January, dealing a major blow to a trade group under pressure for achieving few results with a large budget. When the two … More NextEra, NEI in a nasty brawl

Exelon Corp. last week announced it will close its Oyster Creek nuclear plant in southern New Jersey near Toms River this October, a year ahead of schedule. The Chicago-based utility holding company, the nation’s largest nuclear plant operator, said high operating costs at the General Electric boiling water reactor plant and low electricity prices led … More Oyster Creek: A historic perspective

A federal appeals court decision in Washington this week could shut down construction of a natural gas pipeline in the Southeast, the Sabal Trail project. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Wednesday denied a request from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the partners in the Southeast Market Pipeline project to reverse … More D.C. court could sideline Sabal Trail gas pipeline

The South Carolina House yesterday passed a bill to remove a $27 monthly charge that customers of SCANA’s South Carolina Electric & Gas are paying for the two failed V.C. Summer nuclear plants. The legislation is another setback to Dominion’s $14.6 billion offer to buy SCANA, as Dominion has said the deal is off if … More More troubles for Dominion-SCANA merger

As the Trump administration prepares to unveil its long-awaited infrastructure plan, some conservatives and fossil fuel interests have launched a lobbying campaign against a gasoline tax increase as a way to finance it. Trump is widely expected to present a large program to upgrade roads, bridges, railroads, and energy transportation projects in his state if … More Gas tax hike to fund infrastructure?

Tesla’s Model 3 production problems, and rumors about the company’s travail, continued this week, led by a report Thursday from CNBC, citing unidentified Tesla employees, that previously reported delays are getting worse as the electric car company continues to be unable to automate battery production. CNBC said, “Tesla’s problems with battery production at the company’s … More More tales of Tesla woes