UTILITIES: The New Orleans City Council unanimously passes a package of measures aimed at investigating Entergy’s Hurricane Ida response and studying the city’s options for severing ties with the utility. (NOLA.com)

GRID:
• Ida has forced a reckoning between the city and Entergy, which has a long history of resisting changes that would have made its electric grid more resilient to strong storms, interviews and public documents reveal. (NBC News)
• Federal regulators propose new reliability rules that would require utilities to better protect grid infrastructure from extreme cold weather in hopes of preventing deadly winter power outages like February’s in Texas. (Reuters) 

OIL & GAS:
• Authorities still do not know how much pollution was spilled or released during Hurricane Ida, and they probably never will. (Inside Climate News)
• Gulf of Mexico oil refineries continue to recover after Hurricane Ida, though most of the nine impacted facilities are back online. (Fox 8)
• A federal judge will allow Louisiana to intervene in a lawsuit challenging an upcoming drilling lease auction. (Reuters)

PIPELINES: Local officials in central Virginia complain about a lack of information related to the proposed Chickahominy Pipeline. (Virginia Mercury)  

COAL: U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is among a group of senators reintroducing legislation to extend a tax for the federal black lung disability trust fund, which faces insolvency without the revenue. (WVNews) 

WIND: A group of 10 advocacy groups forms a coalition to lobby and advocate for offshore wind development in North Carolina. (Blue Ridge Public Radio)

SOLAR:
• Mississippi officials approve one of the state’s largest solar projects, a $235 million, 175 MW project to be built in Scott County. (Scott County Times)
• Florida Power and Light announces four new community solar projects and promotes a voluntary program in which customers can subscribe to support solar trees or canopies. (Daily Energy Insider, WPTV)
• Toyota signs a virtual power purchase agreement with a 100 MW solar project in Mississippi. (Renewables Now)

TRANSPORTATION:
• Petersburg, Virginia, converts all 49 of its municipal vehicles to run on renewable propane made from agricultural and cooking waste. (Progress Index)
• Several communities, including New Orleans, Auburn, Alabama, and the Outer Banks in North Carolina, will host events for National Drive Electric Week, which starts tomorrow. (Biz New Orleans, OBX Today)

COMMENTARY: A Virginia energy democracy organizer says providing compensation to intervenors in utility regulatory cases could help ensure the process is more fair and equitable. (Energy News Network)  

Dan has two decades' experience working in print, digital and broadcast media. Prior to joining the Energy News Network as managing editor in December 2017, he oversaw watchdog reporting at the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, part of the USA Today Network, and before that spent several years as a freelance journalist covering energy, business and technology. Dan is a former Midwest Energy News journalism fellow and a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and mass communications from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.