Scrapping: Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy has introduced legislation, known as the License Natural Gas Now Act, that would largely scrap decades-old restrictions that require the federal government to sign off on exports of natural gas abroad. The online media company E&E News reports current federal law assesses whether such exports meet a “public interest” test, although nations that have free-trade agreements with the United States automatically qualify for exports. Baton Rouge-based G2 LNG, the American Petroleum Institute, Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, Natural Gas Supply Association and LNG Allies have endorsed the legislation. Read more.
Stop the press: The changing media landscape and the downtown in the oil and gas industry are partly to blame for the end of Lafayette news publications The Independent and The INDsider, publishers say. In a Facebook post, Steve May and Cherry Fisher May announced they are ending publication of their daily newsletter, The INDsider, effective June 30. The move also effectively ends publication of The Independent, an alternative news weekly founded in 2003 that converted to online-only earlier this year. The Mays also confirmed the suspension of business publication ABiz after its July Acadiana Top 50 Private Companies issue. The Current, the company’s culture and arts magazine, also has been immediately suspended as an ownership restructuring is being explored. Read more.
Going under: Japan’s Takata Corp., the firm at the center of the auto industry’s biggest ever product recall, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States and Japan. Reuters reports TK Holdings, its U.S. operations, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Sunday, citing $10 billion to $50 billion in liabilities. Its airbag inflators have been linked to at least 16 deaths and 180 injuries around the world because they can rupture and send metal fragments flying. Takata also says it had agreed to be largely acquired for $1.6 billion by the Chinese-owned U.S.-based Key Safety Systems. Read more.
