GRID: The entire city of New Orleans loses power when Hurricane Ida takes all eight electricity-transmission lines into the area offline, including one tower that collapsed into the Mississippi River; close to 1 million Louisianans remain without power. (NOLA.com)

ALSO:
• The battles over Central Maine Power’s transmission line project highlight the massive hurdles President Joe Biden will encounter while trying to dramatically increase the amount of renewable energy in the country. (E&E News)
• A small power outage was quickly resolved in New York City but nevertheless caused lengthy transit delays and forced transit officials to evacuate hundreds of people from stalled trains. (amNY, CBS New York)

OIL & GAS:
• Roughly 95% of the Gulf Coast’s oil and gas production shut down ahead of Hurricane Ida, along with many refineries and petrochemical plants. (S&P Global)
• The Biden administration will restart the process required to sell 1 million acres of oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Cook Inlet by revising a Trump-era environmental analysis. (Alaska Public Media)

OVERSIGHT: The U.S. EPA urges the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revise its environmental review for two natural gas projects to account for the social cost of carbon. (Utility Dive)

CLIMATE:
• Birthed in hot, moist air thick with clouds and incubated in unusually warm water in the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Ida becomes the poster child for climate change-driven disasters. (Washington Post)
• A task force in Bar Harbor, Maine, works to draft a climate action plan for town officials to soon consider, but the necessary solutions will likely require regional partnerships and buy-in from residents. (Energy News Network)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicle startup Rivian officially filed to become a publicly traded company last week. (Associated Press)

WIND:
• Floating platforms will vastly expand how much ocean water can harbor offshore turbines, though technical challenges could prove prohibitively costly as the U.S. begins installing them. (Canary Media)
• Developers near completion of a massive New Mexico wind project, the largest single-phase renewable energy build-out in the nation, along with a transmission line to carry the power to California markets. (Albuquerque Journal) 

UTILITIES:
• PacifiCorp announces plans to shutter all of its Wyoming coal plants by 2039, reduce natural gas generation and add 9,200 megawatts of solar and wind generation and 6,700 megawatts of battery storage. (Casper Star-Tribune)
• An effort by Minnesota’s largest electric cooperative to drop its membership with a power plant operator highlights an emerging clash as some co-ops seek a faster transition to clean energy. (Inside Climate News)

SOLAR:
• Industry executives and analysts say the federal government has begun blocking panel imports from at least three Chinese companies over allegations of forced labor. (Washington Post)
• Evergy customers in Kansas with solar panels on their homes will get refunds in the coming weeks for unconstitutional charges the utility required them to pay but a court later struck down. (Kansas Reflector)

LITHIUM: Three Indigenous nations ask a federal judge to halt work at a proposed Nevada lithium mine while the court considers whether the Trump administration improperly fast-tracked an environmental review. (Nevada Independent) 

EMISSIONS: A partnership in Virginia helps eight low-income homeowners reduce their carbon footprints by nearly 40% with an all-electric conversion. (Energy News Network)

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn brings her extensive editorial background to the Energy News Network team, where she oversees the early-morning production of ENN’s five email digest newsletters as well as distribution of ENN’s original journalism with other media outlets. From documenting chronic illness’ effect on college students to following the inner workings of Congress, Kathryn has built a broad experience in her more than five years working at major publications including The Week Magazine. Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Science in magazine journalism and information management and technology from Syracuse University.