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OIL & GAS: The tangle of fights over the abandonment of an old Louisiana oil and gas wastewater well showcase the political and environmental challenges that could shape the fate of millions of similar abandoned wells across the U.S. (DeSmog Blog)
ALSO:
• U.S. authorities intercept a tanker from Russia carrying a load of fuel to New Orleans on suspicion that it violates an embargo against Russian oil. (Wall Street Journal, subscription; NOLA.com)
• Louisiana officials evacuate a half-mile area around a ruptured natural gas well. (KLFY, The Advocate)
• Fossil fuel producers blame high oil prices on labor shortages, inflation and supply chain bottlenecks — all of which they connect back to the federal government’s COVID-19 response. (The Texan)
PIPELINES:
• Gas begins flowing through 482 miles of the long-contested, 515-mile Sabal Trail Transmission Pipeline from Alabama to supply Florida Power & Light power plants. (Miami New Times)
• Energy company Kinder Morgan announces a capacity expansion for the Permian Highway Pipeline in Texas. (S&P Global)
• A federal judge rejects the arguments of environmental groups and allows Mountain Valley Pipeline to move forward with its Southgate extension from Virginia into North Carolina. (Bloomberg Law, subscription)
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Activists and a state lawmaker call out a Texas environmental agency for permitting too many polluting concrete batch plants in a largely low-income, minority area. (Texas Observer)
WIND: A spokesperson for Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin says the state did not participate in an 11-state partnership on wind energy development because it’s “already a leader” in the industry and is focused on promoting new jobs consistent with its “right-to-work philosophy.” (Virginia Mercury)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Austin, Texas, moves toward its electric vehicle deployment goal by installing 1,300 charger ports and increasing outreach to encourage EV adoption. (KXAN)
COAL:
• None of the five members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation have expressed support for legislation to create a grant program to fund reclamation at coal mines developed since 1977. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Coal severance tax money received by a West Virginia county falls to a record low of nearly $40,000 from previous annual highs of $1.5 million. (WBOY)
• An eastern Kentucky woman testifies to a congressional committee about the difficulties of living near a surface mine that a coal company has long neglected to reclaim. (Spectrum News)
• The United Mine Workers award $2,000 bonuses to about 900 coal miners who have been striking for 16 months against a coal company in Alabama. (AL.com)
COAL ASH: Georgia Power announces plans to recycle more than 9 million tons of coal ash stored at a power plant into concrete for building roads, bridges and buildings across Georgia and the Southeast. (Capitol Beat News Service)
GRID: Texas regulators approve a weatherization rule for “critical” oil and gas wells, underground storage facilities, gas processing plants and some gas pipelines. (Reuters)
EMISSIONS: The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling today on whether the U.S. EPA can regulate greenhouse gases from power plants. (E&E News)
HYDROGEN: West Virginia University researchers will receive $1.9 million in federal funding to develop a coating to protect critical components in hydrogen turbine power systems. (Daily Energy Insider)
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