Delayed: A hearing on Attorney General Jeff Landry’s effort to block Gov. John Bel Edwards’ order banning discrimination in state government against LGBT people has been pushed back to Nov. 29. The Associated Press reports both sides arrived in court today, but lawyers for the two elected officials disagreed on what should be handled in the hearing. Judge Todd Hernandez spent nearly two hours in a closed-door meeting with the lawyers, trying to work out scheduling details. When they emerged, the new hearing date was set. Landry, a Republican, says the Democratic governor’s anti-discrimination order violates the state constitution. Landry is asking for a preliminary injunction prohibiting Edwards from enforcing the order. Edwards accuses Landry of repeatedly exceeding his authority and is asking Hernandez to define the attorney general’s role in office.
Major find: The U.S. Geological Survey says it has discovered in West Texas one of the largest reserves of recoverable oil in the agency’s history, The Associated Press reports. The agency says in a release that the Wolfcamp Shale geologic formation in the Midland area contains an estimated 20 billion barrels of oil. It’s also estimated to hold 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 1.6 billion barrels of natural gas liquids. Officials say the discovery is nearly three times larger than the recoverable oil found in 2013 in the Bakken and Three Forks formations in the Dakotas and Montana. More advanced drilling, such as hydraulic fracturing, would be needed to reach the oil. The shale is within the Permian Basin, one of the most productive regions for oil and gas in the U.S.
Cap it: Executives from BP Fuels and Marathon Petroleum were in Washington this week meeting with political leaders about legislation that would cap the amount of ethanol that could be blended below the so-called blend wall of 10%. As FuelFix.com reports, ethanol burns hotter than straight gasoline, adding an octane boost for engines. But at a certain concentration— called the blend wall—the fuel mix burns so hot that it could damage a standard car engine not configured for higher ethanol blends. Where exactly that point is has been a long running source of debate. A 2011 U.S. Department of Energy study declared it safe to use gasoline mixed with up to 15% ethanol on cars manufactured in 2001 or later. But many oil companies balk at those results, and have released their own studies showing anything above 10% can damage cars. Read the full story.
