Are Louisiana environmental justice funds reaching the right people?

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Environmental justice advocates in Louisiana worry that federal money intended to reduce electricity bills, weatherize homes and reduce pollution in underserved communities is being blocked from reaching Black, minority and lower-income residents. (Floodlight/​Louisiana Illuminator)

OIL & GAS:

• Federal and West Virginia officials update a county commission on cleanup measures at an abandoned site used to treat radioactive fracking fluids that has become a local party spot. (WV News, Truthdig)
• Federal judges deny a request by landowners along the Mountain Valley Pipeline to halt construction until their eminent domain cases can be resolved. (Cardinal News)
• A retired energy executive is charged for allegedly coordinating a 2019 scheme that helped Siemens win a bid to build a gas turbine for Dominion Energy. (Bloomberg Law, subscription)

CLIMATE: Already home to some of the highest insurance rates in the U.S., Florida residents see insurance premiums rise by as much as 40% this year as companies account for increasingly extreme weather, pushing some to leave the state. (NPR)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Hyundai officials mark the first anniversary of the groundbreaking on the company’s massive Georgia factory by discussing its concept of a ​“Metaplant” that will include flexibility to produce electric vehicles for all three of its brands. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• The United Auto Workers reach a tentative deal with Ford as the automaker moves to complete construction of electric vehicle and battery factories in Tennessee and Kentucky. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

POLITICS:

• Newly elected Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana has opposed clean energy initiatives and denied that burning fossil fuels is changing the climate. (New York Times)
• The oil and gas industry has spent millions on lobbying and campaign contributions to state lawmakers who have passed sweeping anti-protest laws making it harder for communities to protest pipelines and other fossil fuel projects. (Guardian)

SOLAR: A Texas airport buys 68 acres of neighboring land, likely for a solar farm as it projects the need for more electricity as aircraft go electric. (KIII)

HYDROGEN:

• Duke Energy contemplates using hydrogen to power natural gas-fired plants it plans to build in North Carolina to meet the state’s emission-reduction goals, even though the state was not awarded a federal hydrogen hub. (Wilmington StarNews)
• Renewable energy advocates in West Virginia worry a new hydrogen hub approved for Appalachia will perpetuate fossil fuels. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

EMISSIONS: A Virginia county adopts its first-ever plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to sustainable energy, but critics call it ​“greenwash” to obscure planned development of up to 34 new data centers. (Prince William Times)

GRID: The U.S. solicitor general tells the U.S. Supreme Court that a Texas law banning non-incumbent companies from building transmission facilities in the state is unconstitutional. (Utility Dive)

WIND: Dominion Energy selects contractors and gears up to begin construction of an offshore wind farm near Virginia as the first German-manufactured monopiles for the project begin to arrive. (Offshore Wind)

COAL: Appalachian advocacy groups host a virtual meeting to discuss reforesting and restoring the natural landscape on former coal surface mines. (Times Leader)