“Robert Murray, the U.S. coal baron who pressed the Trump administration to help save America’s struggling miners, placed his company into bankruptcy as demand for the fossil fuel continues to weaken,” Bloomberg reports.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who will be leaving his post by the year’s end, said Friday that he is not sure whether he will comply with a subpoena from House Democrats conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, CNBC reports.

Politico: “Energy Department Secretary Rick Perry’s departure from the Trump administration doesn’t resolve the most pressing question about his role in the Ukraine scandal — whether he will cooperate with House Democrats’ impeachment probe.”

“Perry, who told President Donald Trump on Thursday he intends to resign, faces a Friday deadline to comply with a House subpoena for information about outreach to Ukraine, which came as the president’s emissaries were pushing Kiev to launch a corruption investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. House investigators also appear to be edging toward issuing a subpoena for Perry to testify — something he could be freer to do once he’s no longer in the administration.”

New York Times: “Rick Perry, the energy secretary who has drawn scrutiny for his role in the controversy surrounding President Trump’s efforts to push Ukraine officials to investigate the son of a political rival, on Thursday told the president he would resign from the cabinet.”

“The Perry resignation had been anticipated for several weeks, even before the news emerged of his involvement in efforts to pressure the new president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate a company that had worked with Hunter Biden, the younger son of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.”

Three House committees leading the impeachment inquiry against President Trump issued a subpoena for Energy Secretary Rick Perry to testify, NBC News reports.

Cecil Roberts, the president of United Mine Workers of America, said that the coal industry is not “back,” despite President Trump’s claims, CNN reports.

Said Roberts: “Coal’s not back. Nobody saved the coal industry.”

He added that coal-fired plants are closing all over the country, calling it a “harsh reality.”

“Joe Balash — who oversaw oil and gas drilling on federal lands before resigning from Interior on Friday — is joining a foreign oil company that’s expanding operations on Alaska’s North Slope,” the Washington Post reports.

“Balash, who had served as the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for Land and Minerals Management for nearly two years, confirmed in a phone interview Tuesday night that he will begin working for the Papua New Guinea-based Oil Search, which is developing one of Alaska’s largest oil prospects in years.”

“President Trump ordered cabinet members on Monday to stem the tide of rising anger in Iowa and other Farm Belt states over his administration’s decision to allow numerous oil refiners to mix less ethanol into their gasoline,” Reuters reports.

“About a week ago, the administration granted 31 exemptions from the nation’s biofuel laws to 31 refineries.”

“Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is recommending that the agency cut back on inspections at the country’s nuclear reactors, a cost-cutting move promoted by the nuclear power industry but denounced by opponents as a threat to public safety,” the AP reports.

“The recommendations, made public Tuesday, include reducing the time and scope of some annual inspections at the nation’s 90-plus nuclear power plants. Some other inspections would be cut from every two years to every three years.”

The Guardian: “America is the land of freedom, as any politician will be happy to tell you. What you don’t hear quite so often is that the stuff under the land is also apparently made of freedom as well. That is, at least according to a news release this week from the Department of Energy.”

“Mark W Menezes, the US undersecretary of energy, bestowed a peculiar honorific on our continent’s natural resources, dubbing it ‘freedom gas’ in a release touting the DoE’s approval of increased exports of natural gas.”