Four oil and gas associations—American Petroleum Institute, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, Independent Petroleum Association of America, and Western States Petroleum Association—joined 20 other business groups on Apr. 18 in asking the US Supreme Court to review the US Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of greenhouse gases.

Calls for the Obama administration to authorize construction of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline’s final segment increased as the US Department of State began hearings on the project in Grand Island, Neb., on Apr. 18.

Concerned about rising domestic oil consumption, the new minister of energy of the United Arab Emirates has called for national-level improvements in energy-use efficiency.

A London think tank study warned against expansion of biofuel use in the UK as the requirement rose to 5% by volume in transportation fuel on Apr. 15 and faced European pressure to increase further.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) defeated a proposal that was intended to stop falling prices of carbon in the carbon-emissions trading scheme through a reform known as backloading.

A failure to apply an inherently safer design, identify and evaluate damage mechanism hazards, and use effective safeguards led to an Aug. 6, 2012, pipe rupture and vapor release that ignited and shut down the No. 4 crude oil unit at Chevron USA Inc.’s Richmond, Calif., refinery, the US Chemical Safety Board said in a draft report.

The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) asked the US Supreme Court to overturn the District of Columbia Circuit Appeals Court’s August 2012 decision to dismiss it and other oil industry associations’ legal challenges of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s partial approval of gasoline with a 15% ethanol blend.

Canada’s National Energy Board has published “Regulations Amending the Onshore Pipeline Regulations, 1999.” The regulations clarify requirements for federally regulated pipelines regarding management systems, with the purpose of protecting the public, workers, and the environment, according to NEB.

Gina McCarthy pledged to use a collaborative, commonsense approach if the US Senate confirms her nomination to become the US Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator.

ConocoPhillips has cancelled plans to drill in the Chukchi Sea because of federal regulatory uncertainty, the company said Apr. 10.

Bipartisan legislation will be introduced to remove corn-based ethanol from the federal Renewable Fuels Standard in 2014, a group of US House members announced on Apr. 10.

The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement issued a new Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) rule for offshore oil and gas activity that aims to improve SEMS requirements under the original workplace safety rule that became effective on Nov. 15, 2010.

US energy-related carbon dioxide emissions reached 5.3 billion tonnes in 2012—the nation’s lowest level since 1994, the US Energy Information Administration reported.