SOLAR: A Charlottesville, Virginia, solar nonprofit expects the biggest numbers yet for its annual group-buying program, despite delays and disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic. (Energy News Network)
PIPELINES:
• Mountain Valley Pipeline developers say it will take longer and cost more to finish, but all five customers are still sticking with the project. (Roanoke Times)
• Federal regulators approve an extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline that will run south into North Carolina for another 75 miles. (Roanoke Times)
• A Houston pipeline operator must renegotiate with a landowner after a Texas appeals court ruled it couldn’t use eminent domain. (Houston Chronicle)
***SPONSORED LINK: Join Southern Alliance for Clean Energy & Electrify the South for a free virtual Electric Vehicle test drive to see why so many people are going electric. Learn more & register here: https://www.electrifythesouth.org/events.***
OIL & GAS: Formosa Plastics tried to block a Juneteenth ceremony for buried slaves near its petrochemical complex in south Louisiana. (Truthout)
EMISSIONS: A Louisiana task force is given 12 to 18 months to come up with a science-based strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (NOLA.com)
COAL ASH:
• Duke Energy is pushing a local hiring program to find employees that will clean up its coal ash at a power plant in North Carolina. (Gaston Gazette)
• Monroe County, Georgia, officials join a river conservation nonprofit to launch an investigation into coal ash pollution in groundwater. (WMAZ)
COAL: Southwest Virginia’s struggling coal industry has furloughed employees and idled production amid safety concerns and reduced demand for coal during the pandemic. (Herald Courier)
***SPONSORED LINK: Do you know someone who works hard to facilitate the transition to a clean energy economy? Nominate yourself or someone you know for Energy News Networks’ 40 Under 40 today.***
POLITICS: Kentucky’s Democratic primary this week is a test for the Green New Deal and proposals to phase out coal in the state. (Gizmodo)
COMMENTARY:
• An editorial board says the Atlantic Coast Pipeline could help West Virginia’s economy, but it might not be as necessary as it was thought to be six years ago. (Huntington Herald Dispatch)
• A journalist describes what it’s like reporting on the energy industry’s “apocalypse” in Texas. (Houston Chronicle)
• Two members of a bipartisan group of South Carolina legislators says utility Santee Cooper is blocking plans for economic growth in the state. (The State)
• A state representative from Virginia says residents should decide energy policy, not federal regulators. (Roanoke Times)