All eyes on Alabama as EV auto workers decide whether to unionize

PIPELINES:

• Documents reveal federal investigators identified more than 70 possible flaws in the Mountain Valley Pipeline and called for the removal and replacement of about 15 cutouts of pipe in West Virginia. (Virginia Mercury)
• Protestors set up a blockade, including a man who locked himself to two barrels, to prevent Mountain Valley Pipeline crews from reaching a construction site. (WFXR)

SOLAR:

• Jacksonville, Florida’s municipal utility announces an agreement with NextEra to develop three solar farms totaling 200 MW. (Jacksonville Daily Record)
• A Kentucky power company considers building a solar facility as it moves to diversify from coal and natural gas. (WLEX)
• Mississippi regulators vote to do away with several solar programs, arguing that federal funding can fill the gap, and sparking a legal challenge from environmental groups. (Mississippi Today)
• A New Orleans company that markets solar installations to low-income households announces that a firm has increased its investment by $110 million. (NOLA.com)

STORAGE:

• Virginia regulators approve iron-air, zinc-hybrid and metal-hydrogen battery projects for Dominion Energy. (VPM)
• A national laboratory in Tennessee investigates a battery that captures carbon dioxide and converts it into a byproduct while discharging. (WBIR)

UTILITIES:

• South Carolina regulators prepare for the final public hearing on a proposed Duke Energy rate hike, even as several state and clean energy groups have reportedly agreed to a settlement with Duke. (Greenville News)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority has made an additional $192 million in revenue since a rate increase last year, much of which will be reinvested into its aging nuclear plants. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

POLITICS:

• An analysis of the deal Donald Trump allegedly offered to oil and gas executives for $1 billion in campaign contributions finds tax breaks if he’s reelected president could save the industry $110 billion. (Guardian)
• West Virginia’s two U.S. senators talk up the potential to pass energy permitting reform for projects other than renewables. (Parkersburg News and Sentinel)