UTILITIES: The Tennessee Valley Authority offers to roughly double its number of employees in Memphis and spend $135 million over a decade on energy efficiency and urban revitalization if the city’s utility stays contracted with TVA. (Commercial Appeal)
ALSO:
• Georgia regulators will allow Georgia Power to eventually charge customers for pandemic-related expenses like overtime, cleaning supplies and protective gear for employees. (Georgia Recorder)
• A merger between the Murfreesboro, Tennessee electric utility and a Middle Tennessee electric cooperative was finalized this week. (Murfreesboro Post)
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WIND: Oklahoma utility officials say they plan to move forward with a major wind transmission project despite its rejection by Texas regulators. (Oklahoman)
PIPELINES:
• The Mountain Valley Pipeline will have more access to federal resources now that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is dead, experts say, but scrutiny of the project will increase. (E&E News)
• A growing lack of faith in Dominion Energy, an increasing recognition of environmental injustice and a legislative shift toward renewable energy all contributed to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s defeat. (Virginia Mercury)
• A journalist discusses the reasoning behind the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s defeat, and the work of opponents for six years to stop it. (Slate)
• Duke and Dominion Energy likely began to consider abandoning the pipeline project last year, according to statements from company leaders. (Charlotte Business Journal, subscription)
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OIL & GAS: Texas issued less than a third as many oil and gas drilling permits last month as it did in June 2019, largely because of the economic fallout from the pandemic. (E&E News, subscription)
COMMENTARY: The U.S. Secretary of Energy, who is in Houston this week, says the administration is working to help Texas’ oil and gas industry make a comeback. (Houston Chronicle)