The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is due to receive comments on draft supplemental environmental reviews for two Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales. The reviews will inform the processes for lease sales 259 and 261, which the agency is required to hold by the end of March and September 2023, respectively, to comply with the Inflation Reduction Act enacted in August. In September, the agency announced it has accepted 307 valid high bids from lease sale 257 in the Gulf of Mexico, totaling about $190 million, pursuant to the act.

The U.S. Energy Department is due to receive applications seeking funds through a $156 million grant to establish a unique refinery facility for separating rare earth elements and critical minerals from mining wastes and other unconventional sources. The funding, provided by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, will support a first-of-a-kind domestic demonstration facility that will extract, separate, produce, and refine rare earth elements and other critical minerals that are key to manufacturing clean energy technologies, such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is due to receive comments on its proposal to provide incentive-based rate treatments for utilities for investments in advanced cybersecurity technology and participation in cybersecurity threat information sharing programs. The proposed rules would make incentives available to utilities that make specific cybersecurity expenditures to enhance their security posture by improving their ability to detect, protect, respond to, or recover from a cyber threat. RM22-19-000

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment are due to receive input on a draft work plan for implementing an agreement signed in March to advance environmental justice through enforcement and compliance assurance. The plan focuses on strategically targeting inspections in disproportionately impacted communities, collaborating on enforcement and compliance assurance actions to reduce pollution burdens, and creating equitable opportunities for communities to learn and engage with the agencies about enforcement and compliance issues.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration will issue its Monthly Energy Review, providing data on energy production, consumption, prices, trade, and emissions. U.S. coal production is expected to increase by about 3 percent in 2022 compared to last year, reflecting a strong international demand and the need to replenish power plant operators’ stocks, according to the agency’s latest short-term outlook. Coal inventories were 19 percent lower in August 2022, compared to the same month from the previous year, given that production was insufficient to satisfy summer power demand and replenish stocks. However, given the projected declines in coal consumption and net exports, the agency expects coal inventories to increase by 18 percent in 2023.