As Mountain Valley Pipeline nears finish line, activists fight on

PIPELINES: Activists combat the long-delayed, over-budget Mountain Valley Pipeline as developers forecast it’ll be completed by the end of March, in hopes of pushing fossil fuel companies to avoid building similar projects in the future. (Grist, Roanoke Times)

SOLAR:

• Virginia lawmakers worry that locally imposed limits on construction of solar projects could prevent Dominion Energy from attaining the state-set goal of building 16,100 MW of solar by 2035 — more than 10 times what it’s built so far. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Virginia lawmakers introduce legislation to expand community solar by expanding and lowering prices in Dominion Energy’s program and introducing a program for Appalachian Power. (Cardinal News)

GRID:

• A cold snap with waves of snow and ice covers the Southeast and puts regional power grids to the test with soaring demand and extreme conditions. (CNN, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Austin American-Statesman)
• Even colder temperatures are forecast across the Southeast for this week, sparking ongoing concern about grid resilience. (Lexington Herald-Leader; Atlanta Journal-Constitution, subscription)
• Texas grid officials say they don’t expect a repeat of the winter storm that caused widespread blackouts, but are still warning residents to conserve energy. (New York Times)
• Virginia lawmakers introduce dozens of bills to address the effects of the state’s booming data center sector, including its effect on power infrastructure. (Virginia Mercury)
• Residents and activists sue two tech developers and a Virginia county to block a 2,100-acre data center corridor they say will turn the community ​“into a dystopian hellscape.” (Inside NOVA)

STORAGE: Puerto Rico begins connecting residents’ battery backup systems to the grid in hopes of building resilience and building a large ​“virtual power plant” that can offer an alternative to natural gas-fired ​“peaker” plants. (Grist)

OIL & GAS:

• The U.S. Coast Guard says it’s contained an estimated 1,008-gallon crude oil leak from a pipeline in Louisiana. (WVUE)
• A company asks Texans to conserve natural gas after repairing an outage amid high demand in cold weather. (CBS News)
• As President Biden begins his re-election campaign, environmentalists and climate activists press him to slow a massive buildout of liquified natural gas export infrastructure along the U.S. Gulf Coast. (Axios)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: While Georgia embraces electric vehicle companies and their factories, consumers are slower to purchase EVs. (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)

EMISSIONS: West Virginia officials ask for public feedback on how to cut greenhouse gas emissions as they develop an application for a federal grant. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

CLIMATE: North Carolina’s insurance industry pushes for premium increases that average 42% across the state and spike higher on the coast due to rising seas and other effects of climate change. (Wilmington StarNews)

FINANCE: Oklahoma lawmakers consider legislation to exempt municipalities from a state law barring state agencies and pension systems from working with banks considered hostile to fossil fuel companies. (Oklahoma Voice)

COMMENTARY: The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida investigate purchasing the mineral rights around Big Cypress National Preserve to protect aquifers from oil drilling, writes the tribe’s chairperson. (The Invading Sea/​Palm Beach Post)