Energy Efficiency, Energy Procurement, Utilities, Finance, Regulation, Sourcing Renewables  -  July 8, 2017

Weekend reads: Rick Perry fails econ; EPA to critique climate science; Edison Energy's exec shakeup & more

Every Saturday, we'll bring you five of the most interesting — or quirky; it is the weekend after all — energy stories from around the web that you may have missed this week. Here are your weekend reads:

Management shakeup underway at Edison Energy amid strategic review (Smart Energy Decisions): A number of leadership changes have been made at Edison Energy LLC, the unregulated energy advisory arm of utility holding company Edison International, including the departure of President Allan Schurr. The management shakeup is part of an ongoing strategic review announced earlier this year of the competitive businesses of Edison Energy Group, the holding company of Edison Energy and SoCore Energy LLC, a spokeswoman for Edison International said July 7. 

Rick Perry on supply and demand economics: Supply it, then demand will follow (CBS News): Secretary of Energy Rick Perry sparked disbelief on Twitter Thursday after he tried to offer an economics lesson while touring a coal plant in West Virginia. "Here's a little economics lesson: supply and demand. You put the supply out there and the demand will follow," Perry said, responding to a question about a shale gas boom in comments captured by S&P Global Market Intelligence reporter Taylor Kuykendall. 

Buffett's Berkshire bids to buy Oncor, bankrupt parent EFH (Utility Dive): Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Energy announced a $9 billion all-cash deal to purchase bankrupt Energy Future Holdings, resulting in the acquisition of its utility subsidiary Oncor. The deal has an enterprise value of about $18 billion, including debt, according to media outlets.
The Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUCT) recently rejected NextEra Energy's proposal to purchase Oncor for $18.4 billion, as well as a previous proposal by Hunt Consolidated to spin the utility into a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).

Court rejects Trump's delay of EPA drilling pollution rule (The Hill): The Trump administration cannot delay an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule limiting methane pollution from oil and natural gas drilling, a federal court ruled Monday. In an early court loss for President Trump’s aggressive agenda of environmental deregulation, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the EPA didn’t meet the requirements for a 90-day stay of the Obama administration’s methane rule.

Pruitt will launch program to 'critique' climate science (E&E News): U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is leading a formal initiative to challenge mainstream climate science using a "back-and-forth critique" by government-recruited experts, according to a senior administration official. The program will use "red team, blue team" exercises to conduct an "at-length evaluation of U.S. climate science," the official said, referring to a concept developed by the military to identify vulnerabilities in field operations.

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