OIL & GAS: 

• Landowners and conservationists petition a federal court to block construction of the massive Calcasieu Pass liquified natural gas terminal in Louisiana after the court previously rolled back federal approval of two other LNG facilities in Texas for failing to address their effects on climate and low-income and minority populations. (DeSmog)
• A billionaire pipeline mogul gives $5 million to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in hopes of accelerating his company’s liquified natural gas export facility in Louisiana and fending off challenges to existing projects such as the Dakota Access oil pipeline. (E&E News)

SOLAR: 

• A Georgia county commission rejects a proposed 280 MW solar farm on more than 4,600 acres next to a wildlife management area home to an isolated population of about 300 black bears. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• A Virginia county board adds solar amendments to its zoning ordinance to address siting, effects on neighboring properties, decommissioning and more. (Kingsport TimesNews)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Ford partners with a Texas electric company to cover the cost of at-home charging of electric vehicles during off-peak hours to incentivize EV purchases while curbing grid demand during peak times. (Utility Dive)

GRID: 

• Virginia regulators hold a public hearing on Dominion Energy’s plans to build 9.4 miles of overhead transmission lines to support new data centers, while nearby residents pressure the utility to move at least part of the new lines underground. (WUSA)
• Texas lawmakers criticize a regulatory body for initially approving a state-backed loan for a 1,292 MW gas-fired power plant before rejecting it because it included NextEra, which denied its involvement in the project. (Utility Dive)

NUCLEAR: 

• The Tennessee Valley Authority clears a former coal-fired power plant in Tennessee for use by an energy company as a nuclear fusion testing site. (WVLT)
• Florida officials begin studying how to expand nuclear power in the state, which currently only has two active nuclear power plants that provide roughly 13% of the state’s power. (Spectrum News)

UTILITIES: 

• A Kentucky electric cooperative will receive a portion of $7.3 billion in federal funding to invest in renewable energy. (Kentucky Lantern)
• Georgia regulators approve a $122 million rate decrease for Georgia Power based on savings from corporate tax cuts enacted by state lawmakers earlier this year. (Capitol Beat News Service)

COMMENTARY: Texas is successfully transitioning to renewables despite the best efforts of GOP leaders who deny climate change and want to double down on fossil fuels, writes a columnist. (Houston Chronicle)

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NUCLEAR: 

• A company announces it will build a multibillion-dollar uranium enrichment facility on federal land in Tennessee, in what will be the largest single investment in state history. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• Florida regulators will meet at a workshop today to study the possibility of using “advanced” nuclear technologies due to a legislative mandate tucked into a wide-ranging energy bill passed earlier this year. (News Service of Florida)

SOLAR: Virginia solar developers again ask state regulators to press Dominion Energy to suspend new rules they say are holding up mid-sized solar projects from connecting to the grid. (Virginia Mercury)

GRID: 

• Texas is on pace to surpass California by the end of the decade as the top solar state, but projections show it will still struggle to produce enough energy to meet growth in power demand from the electrification of oil and gas production and rapid expansion of data centers. (Bloomberg)
• An expert touts programs to incentivize voluntary power reductions during times of high demand, which Texas lawmakers have hinted toward with recent legislation. (KMID/KPEJ)

OIL & GAS: 

• Texas regulators collect public comment on proposed revisions to rules for oil and gas drilling waste disposal sites, which environmentalists say don’t go far enough but industry officials complain are too stringent. (Inside Climate News)
• Texas officials deny a company’s request for a state-backed loan to build a natural gas-fired power plant after Florida-based NextEra said it was unknowingly listed as a co-sponsor on the project. (Houston Chronicle)
• Oil and gas producers plan to take advantage of a tax credit in the landmark federal climate package to inject carbon dioxide to squeeze more oil from the ground, but critics warn about a lack of federal oversight and uncertainty about the practice’s effectiveness. (E&E News)
• A study finds the oil and gas companies have donated millions and played a role in governance and instruction at colleges and universities, creating conflicts of interest for researchers. (Floodlight)

STORAGE: A Canadian company announces it will deploy three battery storage systems in Virginia, including a 225 MWh unit with a solar facility at a transportation hub that will be the state’s largest battery storage project to date. (Renewables Now)

UTILITIES: CenterPoint Energy tells Texas lawmakers it plans to propose a $5 billion plan to boost grid resilience around Houston and will forego some profits from its purchase of large generators that went unused during its heavily criticized response to Hurricane Beryl. (Utility Dive)

FINANCE: A business group sues Texas officials over a 2021 state law that prohibits state agencies from doing business with companies considered hostile to the fossil fuel industry, arguing it violates constitutional free speech and discrimination protections. (Dallas Morning News)

COMMENTARY: A first-time Georgia voter says the Democratic presidential ticket will maintain momentum for the state’s rapidly growing clean energy sector. (Savannah Morning News)

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STORAGE: A battery supplier delays the start of operations at a planned South Carolina facility due to weaker-than-expected electric vehicle demand growth. (Utility Dive)

OVERSIGHT: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin appoints new members to an environmental justice council and state air board. (Virginia Mercury)

GRID: A Louisiana parish has been waiting for three years for funding from a federal agency to tear down and replace a power plant damaged by Hurricane Ida. (WWL)

POLITICS: Virginia’s attorney general joins a group of 24 attorneys general pressing financial institutions over whether they use a proxy advisory firm to prioritize greenhouse gas reductions and other environmental goals when voting on shareholder proposals. (Virginia Mercury)

COMMENTARY: A 34,400-gallon crude oil spill in Louisiana this summer stands as a reminder of how reliance on fossil fuel creates vulnerabilities, particularly in marginalized communities that are disproportionately affected by such incidents, writes a climate advocate. (Louisiana Illuminator)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• Florida lags on spending nearly $110 million to install fast chargers, raising questions about whether it will move fast enough to meet a deadline for another $88 million and build out electric vehicle infrastructure in a state with the second-most EV drivers in the country. (Miami Herald)
• Volkswagen’s Tennessee plant is “fast approaching maximum capacity” as it produces an average of 950 vehicles a day. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

OIL & GAS: Texas regulators select 17 natural gas generation projects totaling nearly 10 GW from 72 applications to receive up to $5.4 billion in state-backed loans from a fund to incentivize construction of gas-fired power plants. (Utility Dive)

WIND: Arkansas residents organize against a proposed 30-turbine, 180 MW wind farm. (KATV)

OVERSIGHT: 

• Louisiana advocates ponder their next move after a federal judge effectively blocks the U.S. EPA from pursuing claims against “Cancer Alley”-based chemical manufacturers through the “disparate impact” provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Inside Climate News)
• Texas regulators seek public comment on proposed changes to how they regulate oilfield waste management facilities, as well as geothermal, carbon sequestration and brine mining wells. (Houston Chronicle)

COAL: 

• A federal mine safety official touts a new rule to regulate silica dust in coal mines as a U.S. House Republicans push to block funding for the measure. (West Virginia Watch)
• A Virginia county negotiates with West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies over more than $500,000 in unpaid taxes since 2018. (WBOY)

GRID: 

• Texas’ state grid operator delays its plans to inspect a 412 MW gas-fired power plant so it can continue operating through expected high power demand this winter. (Houston Chronicle)
• A Texas lawmaker prepares legislation to delay the start of school until after Labor Day to save money on cooling and ease demand on the power grid. (Dallas Morning News)

STORAGE: Georgia Power wants to add a 57.5 MW battery at a decommissioned coal plant as part of its plan to add 500 MW of capacity. (Polk Standard Journal)

BIOMASS: Environmental groups assail Georgia Power’s request to build three biomass plants to generate a total of 80 MW. (Capitol Beat News Service)

NUCLEAR: As federal regulators rethink nuclear, South Carolina ranks third in the U.S. for nuclear generation with five nuclear power plants within the state and three more near its borders. (WPDE)

POLITICS: 

• Democratic Texas U.S. Senate candidate Colin Allred commits to opposing any bans on fracking in his race against incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. (Houston Chronicle)
• Republican attempts to suppress any mention of climate change in Florida are hampering attempts to address the health impacts of rising heat and extreme weather, experts say. (Stateline)

CLIMATE: South Carolina’s “managed retreat” from climate-vulnerable spots along its coastline has become a national model, but is still moving slowly due to residents’ reluctance to leave their homes. (Inside Climate News)

COMMENTARY: Clean energy credits in President Biden’s climate package have created more than 32,000 new good-paying jobs and spurred millions in new investment in Georgia, writes a union electrician. (Georgia Recorder)

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CLEAN ENERGY: 

• Texas leads the U.S. in adding power plant capacity so far in 2024, with most of that coming from solar power, then battery, wind and natural gas. (Inside Climate News)
• Kentucky receives $60 million in federal funding for clean energy projects in rural communities, including three 3 MW hydroelectric plants and a 5 MW solar farm. (WDRB)

COAL: 

• A sudden collapse of a fiberglass component disables two of the four turbines at South Carolina’s largest coal-fired power plant, knocking out one of them for eight days and the other indefinitely. (Post and Courier)
• A Virginia bank reaches a settlement with investors in an international lender to dismiss a lawsuit involving West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s financially strapped coal companies. (WV Metro News)
• Federal officials indict a retired union official for allegedly using explosives to damage a gas pipeline in Alabama during a labor dispute with Warrior Met Coal. (WABM)

WIND: North Carolina’s second onshore wind farm begins operations as the sector struggles under a 2018 moratorium on wind permits. (Daily Tar Heel)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• Electric vehicle maker Canoo offers to relocate 137 out of 194 workers from California to Texas or Oklahoma, with plans to lay off the rest. (Houston Chronicle)
• As demand for electric vehicles sags, Hyundai adjusts its planned EV factory in Georgia toward hybrids. (Atlanta Business Chronicle, subscription)
• North Carolina receives $1 million in federal funding to install 20 electric vehicle chargers at 10 community colleges and to add workforce training for the EV industry. (Greater Fayetteville Business Journal)

GRID: 

• Dominion Energy officials say they’re receiving so many requests from Virginia data centers to hook up to the power grid that new applicants may have to wait as long as seven years. (Bloomberg)
• A Texas lawmaker calls for schools to push back their start dates until after Labor Day to relieve pressure on the state power grid. (KDFW)

PIPELINES: The Mountain Valley Pipeline identifies a manufacturer’s defect in an elbow joint as the cause of a May rupture that occurred during water pressure testing. (Roanoke Times)

GEOTHERMAL: Two of the most promising companies in the emerging geothermal energy industry are based in Houston, largely because the technology builds on hydraulic fracturing techniques. (Texas Monthly)

BIOMASS: Environmentalists blast Georgia Power’s plan to add 80 megawatts of generation from biomass facilities, which regulators are considering ahead of a mid-September vote. (Georgia Recorder)

STORAGE: 

• San Antonio, Texas’ municipal utility partners with a company to develop 350 MW of battery storage at two sites. (PV Magazine)
• Georgia Power plans to add 500 MW of battery storage through four projects, including two at solar plants, one at a retired coal plant and at another battery site. (Capitol Beat News Service)

FINANCE: A progressive business group sues Texas over a 2021 law that blocks state investments in companies that have reduced or cut ties with the oil and gas sector and that state officials say are antagonistic to fossil fuels. (Texas Tribune)

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