Keeping track: Louisiana state Rep. Patrick Connick, R-Marrero, has backed a bill requiring facilities that break state and federal environmental guidelines to line their fences with air monitors to detect leaked pollutants, The Associated Press reports. Supporters say they’ve been seriously sickened by the chemicals released into their communities. The House Natural Resources Committee voted 16-1 Wednesday to advance the measure to the full House for debate. Connick says he brought his bill because plants won’t publicly share their data. He says the bill wouldn’t penalize large plants doing their jobs, only “bad actors.” Facility representatives opposing the bill called the measure a “one-size-fits-all approach” that would impose costly but flawed technology on about 500 facilities around the state.
Indicted: A federal grand jury in western Pennsylvania has indicted a Louisiana man on charges of defrauding hundreds of real estate agents across the nation of more than $2 million. The Associated Press reports a Pittsburgh grand jury returned an 11-count mail fraud indictment April 19 against 40-year-old Rex Alan Harris of Covington. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday after the arrest in Louisiana of Harris, who has several aliases. Harris is accused of having promised television and Internet advertising to generate home sales. Agents paid thousands of dollars, but the advertising never occurred and Harris and others spent the money on such things as merchandise and New Orleans Saints season tickets. Court documents don’t list an attorney for Harris who could respond to the charges.
Posting a loss: ConocoPhillips is reducing spending further as it posted the fourth straight quarterly loss amid an oil rout that continues to strain independent producers. Bloomberg reports ConocoPhillips’ 2016 capital budget was lowered by 11% to $5.7 billion, primarily driven by cuts to deepwater exploration activity, deferrals and lower costs across the portfolio, the Houston-based company says in a statement released today. The producer maintained its full-year guidance for production and operating costs, and its earnings per share beat analysts’ estimates by 10 cents. ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil producer by market value, is among a slew of drillers that have turned to asset sales and cost cuts as crude trades about 60% below its 2014 peak.
