COAL: Robert Murray, founder and former president of America’s largest privately held coal company, dies just days after his retirement and weeks after filing for federal black-lung benefits. (Associated Press, West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
ALSO: High schoolers from Kentucky, West Virginia and Wyoming discuss prospects for life after coal. (Ohio Valley ReSource)
PIPELINES: Environmentalists hope that a combination of legal obstacles and production declines among natural gas companies will result in the demise of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
UTILITIES: Frontier Energy purchases a coal-fired AEP power plant slated for closure and will instead convert it to natural gas. (KFDX)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Northern Virginia county partners with Dominion Energy and state agencies to launch passenger service on an autonomous electric shuttle. (Green Car Congress)
SOLAR: Residents in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley gather for a solar-barn raising to install 357 solar panels on a building at Eastern Mennonite School. (Daily News-Record)
WIND: An economic impact study suggests that offshore wind development in Virginia could create 5,200 jobs for each gigawatt of electricity that’s installed. (Virginian-Pilot)
STORAGE: A North Carolina electric cooperative eyes battery storage and other technology as it aims to reduce carbon emissions 50% by 2030 and to net-zero by 2050. (Anson Record)
OIL & GAS:
• BP evacuates workers from four offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of Tropical Storm Zeta. (Reuters)
• Joe Biden’s debate comment about transitioning from oil has become a focal point for Republicans in oil-producing states, especially battleground Texas. (Associated Press, Houston Chronicle)
NUCLEAR: Georgia Power’s construction of two new units at Plant Vogtle emerge as an issue in two statewide elections for the state Public Service Commision. (Associated Press)
COMMENTARY:
• States that voted for Donald Trump in 2016 comprise seven of the top 10 for solar and wind generation as a percentage of their electricity consumption, according to a report released last week by Environment America. (Forbes)
• A newspaper editorial board argues that President Trump’s actions and words give lie to his executive order promising to protect Florida from offshore drilling for at least a decade. (South Florida Sun Sentinel)