COAL ASH: Georgia Power’s acquisition of nearly 1,900 acres around five of its 12 coal ash ponds could shield it from millions of dollars in cleanup costs. (ProPublica)
ALSO:
• Georgia Power reports that cleanup of coal ash at a northwest Georgia plant will take 15 years. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• A federal judge rules that a Knoxville newspaper can protect the identities of its sources in an investigation of radioactivity in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s coal ash waste. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
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SOLAR: A rapid proliferation of solar farms puts Texas on a course that could see it eventually surpass California as the nation’s leader in solar capacity. (Wall Street Journal)
WIND: Offshore wind power has become the most ambitious and expensive part of Virginia’s plan to achieve a carbon-free grid by 2050. (Virginia Mercury)
NUCLEAR:
• Duke Energy Florida begins decommissioning a damaged nuclear reactor at its Crystal River Energy Complex, 50 years ahead of its original schedule. (Tampa Bay Times)
• A former South Carolina utility official pleads guilty to fraud involving the failed $10 billion V.C. Summer nuclear project. (The State)
OIL & GAS:
• A Texas city shuts down a natural gas drilling site after it violates an ordinance requiring electric-powered rigs near homes and other protected places. (Fort Worth Star Telegram)
• A company based in the Bahamas plans to begin looking for oil at a well 150 miles off Florida’s coast, despite an executive order that bans offshore drilling off the state’s Atlantic coast. (Miami Herald)
PIPELINES: A congressional subcommittee presses the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission about its process for resolving conflicts between pipeline companies and landowners along project routes. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)
UTILITIES: After Virginia regulators deny its requested rate increase, Appalachian Power appeals the decision to the Virginia Supreme Court. (Roanoke Times)
GRID: The East Kentucky Power Cooperative expects to complete construction of a substation by the end of December. (Commonwealth Journal)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Tennessee approves $35 million in incentives for General Motors to retool a factory to build electric vehicles. (Associated Press)
CLIMATE:
• A Georgia group inspired by the 2017 book “Drawdown” releases 20 proposals that if widely adopted could reduce Georgia’s annual carbon output by 35% over the next decade. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Radford University forms a task force to pursue making its western Virginia campus carbon-neutral. (Roanoke Times)
POLITICS:
• West Virginia’s coal, oil and gas industries prepare for a shift in presidential administrations and watch for signs of how President-elect Joe Biden will approach fossil fuels. (WVNews)