TRANSITION: President Joe Biden’s climate change plans include a promise to focus on economic development in coal-producing communities, but central Appalachian communities remain skeptical after decades of struggles with poverty and depopulation. (New York Times)
ALSO: The Biden administration faces a challenge in addressing the pay gap between jobs in traditional fossil fuel and renewables as it presses for a clean energy transition. (Houston Chronicle)
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SOLAR:
• Opposition to a 5 MW solar project by North Carolina’s utility customer advocate reveals the challenges with developing relatively small solar farms in the state. (Energy News Network)
• A natural gas company in Roanoke, Virginia, installs solar panels on its headquarters even as it sees growth in its fossil fuel-based core mission. (Roanoke Times)
PIPELINES: Opponents of the Byhalia Connection Pipeline point to its proposed route through poor, predominantly Black neighborhoods in Memphis, Tennessee, as evidence of environmental racism. (Associated Press)
GRID:
• More than 30 Texas power plants failed to heed the warnings of a 2011 cold snap and were shut down again in last month’s freeze, according to a news analysis. (Washington Post)
• Texas utility regulators reject a recommendation to return $16 billion in overcharges by retroactively lowering wholesale electricity rates. (Austin American-Statesman)
• Oklahoma experienced blackouts during February’s southern energy crisis but escaped the massive outages seen in Texas because its power grid is interconnected with a regional network. (Oklahoman)
NUCLEAR: Arkansas and Louisiana regulators say Entergy wrongfully charged customers more than $1 billion for a troubled Mississippi nuclear power station. (Associated Press)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Volvo’s commitment to transition to all electric cars by 2030 revs up its South Carolina factory, which plans to double its production. (Post and Courier)
OIL & GAS:
• Texas lawmakers consider moving regulation of the state’s oil and gas industry to a commission that oversees electric, water and telecommunication utilities. (WFAA)
• West Virginia’s oil and gas industry closely watches the state legislature, especially a proposal from the governor to eliminate the state income tax while restructuring the state’s severance tax structure. (WV News)
• Natural gas-producing counties in West Virginia prepare for budget shortfalls after a tough 2020 for the industry. (WV News)
COMMENTARY: An editorial board calls Texas’ deregulated energy market “an expensive failure” after last month’s winter storm and blackouts. (Austin American-Statesman)