COAL: The closure of Tennessee Valley Authority’s Paradise Fossil Plant in Kentucky may mark a turning point in coal plant closures as remaining coal plants across the country tend to be newer, cleaner and less expensive to run. (E&E News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Volkswagen’s new electric SUV should begin rolling out of its eastern Tennessee plant in 2022, according to company officials. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
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BIOGAS:
• North Carolina regulators request Align RNG, a partnership between Dominion Energy and Smithfield Foods, to identify 15 of the 19 hog farms involved in its biogas project. (NC Policy Watch)
• Align RNG completes its first biogas project in Utah as it gears up for projects in Virginia and North Carolina, closer to its home companies. (Virginia Business)
NUCLEAR: Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle receives its first shipment of nuclear fuel for one of two new units currently under construction. (Augusta Chronicle)
PIPELINES: Virginia’s State Water Control Board hears concerns from citizen monitors, environmentalists and state regulators about erosion from construction along the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Roanoke Times)
SOLAR: 7X Energy wraps up construction on a 250 MW solar farm in Texas for use by Nestlé beginning in 2021. (Solar Power World)
WIND:
• Nearby residents weigh in on a central Texas wind farm as it prepares to begin operations. (KXXV)
• A 74-turbine, 350 MW wind farm nears completion in northern Oklahoma. (news release, Newkirk Herald Journal)
GRID:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority seeks public comment on a 34-mile transmission line in Mississippi. (news release)
• Dominion Energy wraps a grid improvement project for 840 customers in eastern Virginia. (Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal)
COAL ASH:
• The EPA proposes a partial permit program to give Texas more control over regulating coal ash. (Utility Dive)
• With a popular boat launch on the James River closed, possibly for good, by Dominion Energy’s coal-ash excavation, outdoor enthusiasts push for a Virginia county to buy and open another access point. (Chesterfield Observer)
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CLIMATE:
• A bipartisan coalition of Texas lawmakers who passed a 2009 law encouraging underground carbon storage has collapsed amid sharp partisan divides over climate change. (Houston Chronicle)
• The mayor of Tampa, Florida, convenes an advisory group to find ways for the city to adapt to the effects of climate change. (Tampa Bay Times)
COMMENTARY: Despite the extension of a 10-year ban on drilling off the coast of Florida, oil and gas companies still apply for federal seismic testing permits, leading an environmental advocacy group to call for a permanent ban. (Natural Resources Defense Council)