Main Street program at a crossroads, EPA to rescind methane regulations, and more

Preserving North Dakota's declining coal industry was a priority mission for state lawmakers when they arrived in Bismarck on Jan. 5, and in the months since, the Legislature has taken historic steps to slash taxes on coal producers and rewrite regulations to keep the fossil fuel source economically competitive.

Across the United States, coal power is on the wane. Hundreds of coal-fired power plants have been shuttered or slated for retirement in the last decade in the face of competition from cheap natural gas and an accelerating national transition toward renewable resources such as wind and solar.

Roughly 700 abandoned oil and gas wells are scattered throughout the San Juan and Permian basins, many of them posing environmental hazards and all marring the landscape.

Also known as “orphaned” wells, they are unsightly reminders that not all operators have prospered in New Mexico’s lucrative fossil fuel industry. Some faded like ghosts and left taxpayers to clean up the mess.

The dramatic reductions in asset valuations and decline in output show the depth of the pain in the second quarter. Fuel demand at one point was down by more than 30% worldwide, and still remains below pre-pandemic levels.

Several executives said they took massive writedowns because they expect demand to remain impaired for several more quarters as people travel less and use less fuel due to the ongoing global pandemic that has killed more than 700,000 people.

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to adopt new rules that would rescind regulations for methane-gas emissions, including ending requirements that oil-and-gas producers have systems and procedures to detect methane leaks in their systems, senior administration officials said.

The rule changes will apply to wells drilled since 2016 and going forward, and remove the largest pipelines, storage sites and other parts of the transmission system from EPA oversight of smog and greenhouse-gas emissions. The changes also ease reporting requirements for the industry and, for some facilities, how often a plant must check for leaks of other pollutants, the officials said.

The plunge in oil demand caused by the pandemic won't fix the climate crisis. But it could force the oil industry to accelerate a shift away from fossil fuels as executives try to carve out a future in clean energy.

What's happening: UBS analysts estimate that earnings in the sector were down 172% on average last quarter compared to the same period a year ago. That puts pressure on producers to make big strategy moves that companies have long resisted.