Washington Post: EPA Website Removes Climate Science Site From Public View After Two Decades

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday evening that its website would be “undergoing changes” to better represent the new direction the agency is taking, triggering the removal of several agency websites containing detailed climate data and scientific information.

One of the websites that appeared to be gone had been cited to challenge statements made by the EPA’s new administrator, Scott Pruitt. Another provided detailed information on the previous administration’s Clean Power Plan, including fact sheets about greenhouse gas emissions on the state and local levels and how different demographic groups were affected by such emissions.

The changes came less than 24 hours before thousands of protesters were set to march in Washington and around the country in support of political action to push back against the Trump administration’s rollbacks of former president Barack Obama’s climate policies.

Reuters: Global Pension Funds Warm to India's Solar Power Ambitions

Some of the world's biggest pension funds, seeking long-term returns on green investments, are scouting for deals in India's solar power sector, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is targeting $100 billion in investment in the next five years.

Power demand in Asia's third-largest economy is set to surge as the economy grows and more people move into the cities. India estimates peak electricity demand will more than quadruple in the next two decades to 690 gigawatts, which would require rapid growth in generation and transmission capacity.

That potential, helped by cheaper solar material costs and government efforts to curb pollution, is drawing global investors, including Canada's top pension fund managers: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), and Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan (OTPP).

New York Times: Trump Administration’s Push for Gas Exports Faces Market Glut

The Trump administration is moving to make the United States the world’s leading exporter of natural gas as a central component of both energy and trade policy.

But whether global markets, currently awash with gas, will play along remains a long shot over the next several years. Any breakdown of talks to remodel the North American Free Trade Agreement, which set the regulatory framework that allowed gas exports to Mexico to triple over the last six years, could also get in the way.

The administration’s ambitions were explained emphatically last month by Gary D. Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, and they were followed up by the Energy Department’s authorization last Tuesday for a Texas export terminal that Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum have pursued for years. Other administration plans include opening the way for more gas exports from Oregon to serve Asia.

Newsday: Block Island to Start Getting Power From Wind Turbines

Block Island on Monday will formally throw the switch on a first-time connection to the New England energy grid through a new cable to the mainland, and begin receiving power from the country’s first five offshore wind turbines.

In an interview Friday, Block Island Power Co. chief executive Jeff Wright said the event will end nearly a century of dependency on loud, smoky diesel-fired power generators that burn about 1 million gallons a year.

“We’re so looking forward to the peace and the quiet,” said Wright, alluding to the shutdown of the combustion generators. A switch connecting to the grid via a National Grid cable to the mainland is scheduled to be thrown at 5:30 a.m. “We’re confident in the switch-over.”

Business Insider: Elon Musk Revealed New Details About His Tunneling Project

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed new details about his futuristic tunnel-boring project during his TED Talk on Friday.

The Boring Company, Musk's latest venture, led by SpaceX engineer Steve Davis, is working on building a network of underground tunnels in Los Angeles that would transport cars on an electric skate. The skate would propel cars through the tunnel at a maximum speed of 130 mph -- fast enough to get from Westwood to Los Angeles in five minutes, Musk said.