** Rail cars carrying hazardous material that derailed early Friday were still burning more than 12 hours later in a remote area of North Dakota, but officials said no one was hurt and the threat to those living nearby appeared to be minimal. Twenty-nine cars of a CPKC train derailed around 3:45 a.m. in a marshy area surrounded by farmland that’s about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Fargo, said Andrew Kirking, emergency management director for Foster County.
** An investigation is underway following an explosion at the Camden, Arkansas bomb plant that left two injured and one missing the day before Independence Day.
** Opponents of California’s ambitious targets for electric car adoption to lower greenhouse gas emissions took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court this week, the latest salvo against the state’s campaign to fight climate change. In its request for hearing, Valero Energy Corp’s Diamond Alternative Energy and other plaintiffs said EPA’s grant of a waiver for California’s Advanced Clean Car program for model years 2015 through 2025 enabled the state to “operate as a quasi-federal regulator on global climate change.”
** General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in penalties to the federal government because 5.9 million of its older vehicles do not comply with emissions and fuel economy standards. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said certain GM vehicles from the 2012 through 2018 model years did not comply with federal fuel economy requirements.
** Constellation Energy is in discussions with the US state of Pennsylvania governor’s office and state legislators regarding funding for a potential restart of a unit at the Three Mile Island power facility, Reuters has reported.
** A Maryland board led by Gov. Wes Moore approved a $50.3 million emergency contract to pay a Swedish construction company that removed debris from the March collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
** Crescent Energy Company in Houston and SilverBow Resources, Inc. announced the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, in connection with Crescent’s pending acquisition of SilverBow.
World
** The world’s largest fusion reactor has finally been assembled, but it won’t run for another 15 years, project scientists in France have announced. The International Fusion Energy Project (ITER) fusion reactor, consisting of 19 massive coils looped into multiple toroidal magnets, was originally slated to begin its first full test in 2020. Now scientists say it will fire in 2039 at the earliest.
** In a clear sign that fossil fuel demand remains robust despite the global push toward green energy, major oil companies are aggressively pursuing a significant stake in Galp Energia’s substantial oil discovery offshore Namibia. This rush underscores the belief that the demand for oil and gas will persist well into the future reported Zacks.
** Household purchases of electric cars have gone further into reverse in the latest sign of trouble facing the market. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Thursday called for incentives to “re-energise” sales, as figures showed just one in five new electric vehicles (EVs) were bought by consumers in the first half of this year.
** The European Union will impose tariffs of up to 37.6% from Friday on imports of electric vehicles made in China, EU officials said, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing in Brussels’ largest trade case yet.
** The German government blocked the sale of a gas turbine business owned by MAN Energy Solutions SE to a state-owned Chinese shipbuilding company over national security concerns.
