NUCLEAR: Georgia Power’s parent company says it will cost an additional $149 million to complete the Plant Vogtle nuclear plant, and that it may eventually ask to pass along the increase to customers. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
OIL & GAS:
• An oil industry group predicts Texas oil and gas jobs could fall to a 15-year low in the fall and may never fully recover. (Houston Chronicle)
• Chevron says it will build 500 MW of renewable energy projects to power some oil and gas operations, including ones in Texas. (Greentech Media)
• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of a compressor station in a majority Black neighborhood in Georgia raises questions about how the agency weighs environmental justice. (E&E News, subscription)
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PIPELINES: With the Atlantic Coast Pipeline canceled, some North Carolina landowners whose property was seized by developers are left with damaged land and questions about how it will be restored. (NC Policy Watch)
COAL ASH: The EPA changes a rule to extend the life of coal ash ponds, allowing facilities that were supposed to stop taking waste by 2021 to keep doing so for two to seven more years. (The Hill)
EMISSIONS:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority says it is on pace to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 70% below 2005 levels by 2030. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• A whiskey distilling company is building a carbon-neutral facility in Kentucky that will be powered with renewables and use electric boilers. (Business Green)
SOLAR: Despite the pandemic, a solar cooperative will launch in Broward County, Florida, this year to help homeowners afford to go solar. (Sun Sentinel)
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BIOGAS: Duke Energy partners with a Charlotte, North Carolina, startup to produce renewable natural gas from cow manure. (Charlotte Business Journal, subscription)
COMMENTARY:
• An energy policy professor says that North Carolina needs to shift its policy environment to drive solar investment and jobs and improve public health and the economy. (Energy News Network)
• An environmental group says the release of VW settlement funds to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure will benefit North Carolina’s economy, creating jobs and reducing emissions. (Environmental Defense Fund)