Southeast Energy News

Virginia Gov. Northam pledges to reach 30% renewables by 2030 

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RENEWABLES:
• Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam opens a virtual clean energy summit with a pledge to get the state’s power grid to 30% renewable energy by 2030. (WVTF)
• Alabama Power seeks proposals for renewable energy projects by December 1. (Alabama Newscenter)

COAL ASH:
• Alabama regulators seek public input on utilities’ plans to bury coal ash in place rather than move it to a lined landfill. (AL.com)
• The EPA issues a revised rule that expands options for utilities storing coal ash, prompted by high-profile spills in North Carolina and Tennessee but softened by the Trump administration. (Utility Dive)

COAL:
• Donald Trump ran in 2016 on promises of bringing coal back in Appalachia, but the industry has further deteriorated since his election.

Southeast Energy News

A coal giant announces his retirement

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COAL: Coal baron Robert Murray announces he will retire after more than six decades as one of the industry’s most combative and outspoken advocates. (Wheeling News-Register)

ALSO: West Virginia University researchers develop methane sensors that could reduce the chance of explosions in longwall mining. (WBOY)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• General Motors is expected to announce today that it will build electric Cadillac SUVs at a Tennessee factory. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Chattanooga is set to give Volkswagen an industrial park site for an electric vehicle battery testing lab. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• A northern Virginia city unveils three electric buses — the first in northern Virginia — with eight more expected by 2021.

Southeast Energy News

Federal court freezes Mountain Valley Pipeline construction, again

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PIPELINES: Mountain Valley Pipeline construction is back off again after a federal court placed a stay on the project crossing streams in Virginia and West Virginia. (Roanoke Times)

ALSO:
• The Appalachia Regional Commission helps fund construction of a natural gas pipeline to an industrial park in southern Virginia. (Greensboro News & Record)
• A state-commissioned study launched in the wake of Virginia’s approval of a pipeline compressor station calls for a “cultural shift” toward environmental justice among state regulators. (Virginia Mercury)

CLIMATE:
• A Louisiana company plans to store up to 80 million tons of greenhouse gases from industrial plants in an underground repository. (New Orleans Advocate)
• Southeast Texas power plants rank among the nation’s worst for unauthorized pollution, according to a recently released report.

Southeast Energy News

In Arkansas, solar savings free up money for teacher pay

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CLIMATE: A recent survey finds nearly 4 in 5 adults in Virginia say they are interested in news about how climate change affects their communities. (Energy News Network)

SOLAR:
• An Arkansas school district invests in solar panels and energy efficiency upgrades and starts putting the savings into teacher salaries. (E&E News)
• A solar developer starts construction on a 284 MW solar-plus-storage project west of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. (Solar Industry)
• An Arkansas renewable energy company breaks ground on two solar arrays, one for a school and another for a water association. (TB&P)

COAL:
• After making it a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign, President Trump has all but stopped even mentioning coal in 2020.

Southeast Energy News

Orlando utility to close coal plants by 2027

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UTILITIES: Orlando’s municipal utility announces that it will stop burning coal by 2027 and switch to solar and natural gas as it charts a course toward eliminating carbon emissions by 2050. (Orlando Sentinel)

TRANSPORTATION:
• As leaders from a dozen states, including Virginia, discuss equity issues around a regional transportation emissions pact, environmental justice advocates say they need to involve more people of color in the process. (Energy News Network)
• Kentucky announces $8.5 million in funding from its Volkswagen settlement fund to replace about 170 buses with cleaner, more efficient vehicles. (WMKY)

PIPELINES:
• A malicious prosecution lawsuit claims that a security firm conspired to have three Mountain Valley Pipeline opponents arrested based in part on a false accusation that they were “affiliated with Antifa.” (Roanoke Times)
• Three environmental groups file a motion with a federal appeals court supporting North Carolina regulators’ denial of a key water permit for the MVP Southgate pipeline. (news release)
• South Carolina residents are concerned about the impact on property values and the environment from a planned Duke Energy gas pipeline.