As Mountain Valley Pipeline nears finish, residents complain about pollution

PIPELINES: Residents who live along the Mountain Valley Pipeline complain that Virginia regulators are ignoring erosion and pollution complaints as construction nears completion. (WVTF)

ALSO: The Mountain Valley Pipeline’s biggest stakeholder announces it will merge with its former owner, Pittsburgh gas company EQT, in a $5.5 billion stock deal. (Cardinal News; Bloomberg, subscription)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• A new report finds North Carolina leads the country with $8.9 billion in new electric vehicle manufacturing and battery supply chain investments since August, and trails only Georgia and Michigan with a total of $19.2 billion in EV and battery investments in recent years. (Raleigh News & Observer)
• A Georgia lawmaker misrepresents why a planned 500-home subdivision near Hyundai’s planned electric vehicle factory was canceled. (Savannah Morning News)
• Florida’s Miami-Dade school system receives $19 million from the U.S. EPA for 50 electric school buses. (WTVJ)

SOLAR:

• A company obtains financing to build a 408 MW solar farm in Texas, with all of its power going to Microsoft through a power purchase agreement. (Dallas Morning News, news release)
• Texas and Florida rank first and third for solar installations in 2023. (PV Tech)
• A Virginia county board narrowly approves a 12 MW solar farm — the county’s first — after a contentious two-hour public hearing. (Cardinal News)
• A North Carolina public works commission considers bids to build a 1.9 MW solar farm. (City View)

OIL & GAS:

• Texas oil companies are charging ahead with drilling test wells for carbon capture in a race to capture federal permits and incentives available through the Biden administration’s climate package. (Houston Chronicle)
• Texas sues the U.S. EPA’s over its methane emissions rule that would mandate better leak monitoring and other emissions-reducing measures. (The Hill)
• A Texas group leads oil producers challenging federal rules that would require them to report their greenhouse gas emissions. (Bloomberg, subscription)

COAL:

• Kentucky lawmakers advance legislation to let the state’s smallest coal companies reduce the number of miners with emergency medical training required to staff each shift, which critics warn is an important safeguard against mining deaths. (Kentucky Lantern, Associated Press)
• Austin, Texas’ municipal utility agrees to consider the mayor’s push to withdraw from its partial ownership of a coal-fired power plant, but warns doing so would complicate its future generation plans. (KXAN)

UTILITIES: The prosecution rests and defense begins its case in the trial of two former executives who are accused of scheming to collect bonuses by privatizing Jacksonville, Florida’s municipal utility. (WTLV)

CLIMATE:

• A study finds the Gulf Coast is rapidly sinking, with Louisiana especially threatened by rising seas. (WSB-TV)
• Texas officials say the largest wildfire in state history is now 89% contained, but caution that forecasted weather conditions could lead to more blazes. (Texas Tribune)
• Virginia lawmakers pass a bill allowing localities to impose restrictions on developers to preserve the tree canopy and its climate benefits, but builders warn the measure could significantly drive up their costs. (Virginia Mercury)
• A study ranks Richmond, Virginia, as the most climate-resilient city in the U.S., based largely on an extremely low score in a federal index which determines vulnerability to natural disasters. (WRIC)