SOLAR: North Carolina’s solar industry is weathering the pandemic better than those in most states, partially because of the prevalence of large-scale projects. (Energy News Network)
ALSO:
• The Nature Conservancy is seeking a partner to help develop solar on 13,000 acres of cleared minelands in southwest Virginia. (Energy News Network)
• The city of Charlotte will build a 300-acre, 35 MW solar farm as part of a renewable energy agreement with Duke Energy. (Statesville Record & Landmark)
• A Virginia homeless shelter installs the largest rooftop solar array on any homeless shelter in the state. (Free Lance-Star)
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COAL ASH:
• Coal ash from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston plant has more than three times the amount of uranium than documented in public reports after a massive coal ash spill in 2008. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• North Carolina regulators approve excavation plans for unlined coal ash basins at three of Duke Energy’s power plants. (Gaston Gazette)
PIPELINES:
• A judge dismisses a lawsuit by private landowners in Virginia alleging that federal regulators should not have given Mountain Valley Pipeline developers the right to seize their property by eminent domain. (Roanoke Times)
• A Texas landowner says her property is being impacted by runoff from nearby construction of Kinder Morgan’s Permian Highway Pipeline. (KXAN)
OIL & GAS:
• Diversified Oil & Gas, started by a businessman from West Virginia, now owns more than 60,000 wells in Appalachia. (BBC)
• A plunge in Texas oil prices in the 1980s had ramifications for economies across the state, even without a pandemic. (Texas Tribune)
UTILITIES:
• Memphis officials and residents have a major decision ahead: whether or not to leave the TVA and buy power elsewhere. (Commercial Appeal)
• A coalition of environmental and advocacy groups pressure Duke Energy over its commitment to climate action and its monopoly in North Carolina, calling for a range of reforms. (Carolina Public Press)
COMMENTARY: For Virginia’s Clean Economy Act to work, lawmakers need to focus on decarbonizing the transportation, industrial and land-use sectors, three environmental group members say. (Washington Post)