SOLAR: 

• Texas added 6.5 GW of solar in 2023, surpassing California now twice in the last three years as the leading state for new solar installations. (Dallas Morning News) 
• A Virginia county board discusses what to do if the state moves to override local ordinances to restrict and regulate solar development after such a bill failed this year. (Lynchburg News & Advance)
• An Arkansas auto service center announces it will install solar panels, making it one of the first businesses in the area to go solar. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• A Georgia county preps a 202-acre industrial site to attract a factory as Hyundai Motor Group and SK On build a massive electric vehicle battery plant several miles away. (Rome News-Tribune)
• The United Auto Workers tries for the third time to unionize Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but so far sees diminishing returns. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• A study finds North Carolina among the top states for growing electric vehicle infrastructure, but ranks Greensboro and Winston-Salem among the least friendly for EV drivers. (WTVD, Winston-Salem Journal)
• Georgia officials hope electric vehicle maker Rivian resumes construction of its factory, but say taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $300 million in infrastructure improvements if not. (WXIA)

OIL & GAS: 

• Environmentalists call for a sharper response from Alabama officials after a truck crash spilled more than 2,000 gallons of oil and gas. (Inside Climate News)
• Police make nine arrests during a week of direct action against the Mountain Valley Pipeline, including two seniors who locked themselves to a car and an activist who spent nearly 36 hours inside a length of pipe. (Inside Climate News)

COAL: An Alabama family sues for damages after a coal mine explodes because of what a lawyer blames on a buildup of methane gas. (Inside Climate News)

CLEAN ENERGY: A report finds Georgia ranks second in the U.S. for clean energy development with $23.12 billion in investment. (Augusta Chronicle)

POLITICS: Virginia lawmakers use a budget amendment to try to force the state to rejoin a regional carbon market, but it will likely be vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. (Inside Climate News)

CLIMATE: 

• A nine-mile island in New Orleans is slowly being swept away by rising seas, and its erosion could severely affect more heavily populated parts of the city that it helps to protect from storm surge. (NOLA.com)
• A Texas power company faces numerous lawsuits after investigators say its decayed power pole sparked this month’s historic wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma. (Grist)

COMMENTARY: 

• The abrupt departure of a South Carolina regulator protesting legislation to speed development of a natural gas-fired power plant should serve as a warning about the utility-friendly legislation’s rollback of consumer protections, writes an editorial board. (Post and Courier)
• Florida should not rely on natural gas in the clean energy transition because the emissions that come from its production, transportation and distribution still accelerate climate change, writes a climate advocate. (Florida Times-Union)

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EFFICIENCY: A Virginia company offers a free online calculator to help homeowners navigate federal tax credits and point-of-sale rebates for efficient appliances. (Energy News Network)

EMISSIONS: 

• Majority Hispanic neighborhoods along the 52-mile Houston Ship Channel face toxic emissions from one of the world’s largest petrochemical complexes, but inadequate monitoring data leaves them largely unaware of whether the air they breathe is safe. (Texas Tribune)
• A new study finds oil and natural gas wells, pipelines and compressors may be leaking three times more methane than official estimates, though scientists note most emissions come from a small fraction of facilities, potentially making the problem easier to solve. (Associated Press)

CLIMATE:

• The role of a decayed power pole in sparking this month’s historic Texas wildfires has led to discussion about the state’s general lack of regulations for utilities related to wildfire mitigation. (NPR, Houston Chronicle)
• New research shows how hurricanes and other extreme weather worsened by climate change severely disrupts college students by making them more likely to withdraw from difficult courses and default on their student loans. (NPR)

OVERSIGHT: 

• Kentucky lawmakers advance legislation to create a commission to view the state’s energy needs through an economic lens and add another layer of consideration to power plant retirements, but critics say it gives fossil fuel interests even more influence. (Courier Journal)
• South Carolina lawmakers consider legislation to clear the way for Dominion Energy and state-owned utility Santee Cooper to partner on a 2,000 MW natural gas plant, though it also makes sweeping regulatory changes that led one state regulator to resign. (South Carolina Daily Gazette)
• Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoes a bill to require that long-running vacancies on the state’s environmental justice council be filled. (Virginia Mercury)

BIOMASS: 

• Wood pellet producer Enviva says it will continue building a $375 million Alabama plant despite filing for bankruptcy to restructure and shed $1 billion in debt. (AL.com)
• Tax breaks and direct appropriations from the congressional climate package could boost the Southeast’s biomass industry, which has seen growing exports to Europe but struggled economically. (Inside Climate News)

COAL: The Southeast is home to five of the 14 coal plants that closed in the U.S. last year, but power generators are still largely looking to natural gas to replace that capacity. (Inside Climate News)

COMMENTARY: 

• Legislation to clear the way for a new natural gas-fired power plant in South Carolina also removes guardrails requiring utilities to act in the public interest, writes an official in the state’s League of Women Voters. (South Carolina Daily Gazette)
• West Virginia should consider repurposing some of the seven coal-fired power plants scheduled for closure over the next 15 years for nuclear power production, writes a Democratic state lawmaker. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

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OVERSIGHT: A South Carolina energy regulator resigns in protest of legislation to facilitate a natural gas-fired power plant that critics warn limits public engagement and offers a blank check to the power industry. (The State, Post and Courier)

BIOMASS: Wood pellet producer Enviva files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and plans to restructure after reaching agreements with creditors to significantly reduce its debt. (Wilmington StarNews, Associated Press)

CLEAN ENERGY: 

• A new report ranks North Carolina just behind Michigan, Georgia, Texas, California and South Carolina as one of the top six states for clean energy investment since the 2022 passage of a federal climate package. (WRAL, Climate Power)
• U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen joins Kentucky’s governor and other state leaders to cut the ribbon on a new factory that makes carbon batteries and other products for electric vehicles. (Louisville Public Media)

SOLAR: Rural health centers in Tennessee consider applying for a federal grant to install solar microgrids to maintain critical services during power outages. (WPLN)

OIL & GAS: 

• Texas lawmakers call for more state investment into oil and gas infrastructure in the Permian Basin to continue to break production records there. (Odessa American)
• Mild weather and rising inventories along the Gulf Coast lead natural gas prices at the benchmark Henry Hub to fall to their lowest since the early 1990s. (S&P Global)
• Nine Virginia lawmakers come out against Dominion Energy’s plans to build a natural gas-fired plant near the state capital. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Entergy asks Louisiana regulators to approve its plan to build a 112 MW natural gas-fired power plant on a floating barge to support several nearby communities. (E&E News, subscription)

GRID: An Arkansas electric cooperative receives nearly $50 million in federal funding to install hundreds of miles of power lines and fiber-optic lines. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• Georgia residents who sit near the site of electric vehicle maker Rivian’s planned factory say silt from the construction site has seeped into groundwater and contaminated their wells. (WSB)
• A private water company wants Georgia lawmakers to allow it to bypass local governments to provide water service to new homes near Hyundai’s planned electric vehicle and battery factory. (WAGA)
• Electric vehicle charger manufacturer Blink relocates its headquarters from Florida to Maryland. (South Florida Business Journal, subscription; Daily Record)

CLIMATE: A lawyer representing one of the landowners suing a Texas utility over a downed power line says damages from the enormous wildfires that resulted could exceed $1 billion. (KXAN)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp responds to Rivian’s announcement it will at least delay construction of an electric vehicle plant in the state, saying the state will hold the company to its plans since it put up $1.5 billion in incentives. (WSB)
• A private utility wants Georgia lawmakers to alter a state law so it doesn’t need local approval to provide water service to new homes built near Hyundai’s sprawling electric vehicle and battery factory. (Associated Press)

STORAGE: Texas residents are worried about a developer’s plans to build a battery storage facility near a neighborhood and elementary school. (KTRK)

OIL & GAS: 

• The U.S. breaks global records for crude oil production, producing more oil than any nation ever for each of the last six years. (U.S. Energy Information Administration)
• A proposed 2,500-acre reservoir in Texas still faces public comment, but could fuel more buildout of the state’s massive petrochemical industry on the Gulf Coast. (Texas Observer)

COAL: 

• Kentucky lawmakers advance a Republican-backed bill to create an energy review commission that would provide another regulatory hurdle for utilities that want to retire coal-fired power plants. (Kentucky Lantern)
• Georgia officials warn about the presence of mercury in rivers and fish due to emissions from coal-fired power plants. (WGXA)
• A Virginia bank moves to dismiss a lawsuit by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s companies to block the auction of a sporting club to satisfy a multi-million dollar debt incurred by the Justice family’s coal companies and other branches of its businesses. (WV Metro News)

CLIMATE: 

• Florida Republicans are moving to block local governments from enacting workplace heat-exposure rules, even as ever-hotter temperatures are killing farmworkers in the state. (The Lever)
• Texas will create a legislative committee to investigate this month’s record-breaking wildfires, including causative factors and the state’s preparedness and response. (Texas Tribune)
• Nashville is selected as one of 25 cities to participate in a Bloomberg program to address climate change and the racial wealth gap in three neighborhoods with high energy burdens. (WSMV)

UTILITIES: Austin, Texas’ municipal utility pauses the process of reworking its resource, generation and climate plan while the mayor pushes to divest from a coal-fired power plant and environmentalists call for more renewables. (Austin Monitor)

GEOTHERMAL: A student team from the University of Oklahoma wins a competition for its design of geothermal wells to heat a 40,000-square-foot greenhouse operated by the Osage Nation. (KWTV/KSBI)

MINING: A Virginia company moves to reopen critical minerals mining and production facilities in the state, after having previously discontinued operations there in 2015. (Virginia Mercury)

COMMENTARY: 

• Virginia lawmakers seemed to have lost interest in addressing climate change, partly because of Dominion Energy’s influence, writes a columnist. (Virginia Mercury)
• A proposed Kentucky commission to consider affordable electric rates is designed less to keep energy prices low than to provide another state-mandated layer of protection for the sagging coal industry, writes the president of a state think tank. (Lexington Herald-Leader)

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ALSO: The Mountain Valley Pipeline’s biggest stakeholder announces it will merge with its former owner, Pittsburgh gas company EQT, in a $5.5 billion stock deal. (Cardinal News; Bloomberg, subscription)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• A new report finds North Carolina leads the country with $8.9 billion in new electric vehicle manufacturing and battery supply chain investments since August, and trails only Georgia and Michigan with a total of $19.2 billion in EV and battery investments in recent years. (Raleigh News & Observer)
• A Georgia lawmaker misrepresents why a planned 500-home subdivision near Hyundai’s planned electric vehicle factory was canceled. (Savannah Morning News)
• Florida’s Miami-Dade school system receives $19 million from the U.S. EPA for 50 electric school buses. (WTVJ)

SOLAR: 

• A company obtains financing to build a 408 MW solar farm in Texas, with all of its power going to Microsoft through a power purchase agreement. (Dallas Morning News, news release)
• Texas and Florida rank first and third for solar installations in 2023. (PV Tech)
• A Virginia county board narrowly approves a 12 MW solar farm — the county’s first — after a contentious two-hour public hearing. (Cardinal News)
• A North Carolina public works commission considers bids to build a 1.9 MW solar farm. (City View)

OIL & GAS: 

• Texas oil companies are charging ahead with drilling test wells for carbon capture in a race to capture federal permits and incentives available through the Biden administration’s climate package. (Houston Chronicle)
• Texas sues the U.S. EPA’s over its methane emissions rule that would mandate better leak monitoring and other emissions-reducing measures. (The Hill)
• A Texas group leads oil producers challenging federal rules that would require them to report their greenhouse gas emissions. (Bloomberg, subscription)

COAL: 

• Kentucky lawmakers advance legislation to let the state’s smallest coal companies reduce the number of miners with emergency medical training required to staff each shift, which critics warn is an important safeguard against mining deaths. (Kentucky Lantern, Associated Press)
• Austin, Texas’ municipal utility agrees to consider the mayor’s push to withdraw from its partial ownership of a coal-fired power plant, but warns doing so would complicate its future generation plans. (KXAN)

UTILITIES: The prosecution rests and defense begins its case in the trial of two former executives who are accused of scheming to collect bonuses by privatizing Jacksonville, Florida’s municipal utility. (WTLV)

CLIMATE: 

• A study finds the Gulf Coast is rapidly sinking, with Louisiana especially threatened by rising seas. (WSB-TV)
• Texas officials say the largest wildfire in state history is now 89% contained, but caution that forecasted weather conditions could lead to more blazes. (Texas Tribune)
• Virginia lawmakers pass a bill allowing localities to impose restrictions on developers to preserve the tree canopy and its climate benefits, but builders warn the measure could significantly drive up their costs. (Virginia Mercury)
• A study ranks Richmond, Virginia, as the most climate-resilient city in the U.S., based largely on an extremely low score in a federal index which determines vulnerability to natural disasters. (WRIC)

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