Auto strike could drive EV jobs to non-union Southeast

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: As the United Auto Workers strike expands, the union’s deal with Mack Trucks, which doesn’t cover a non-unionized electric truck plant in Virginia, shows how automakers could move more jobs to electric vehicle factories in Southeastern states with ​“right to work” laws. (Winston-Salem Journal)

ALSO:

• Electric vehicle company Canoo announces a stock sale to an unnamed foreign investor as it begins hiring for its planned Oklahoma factory. (Journal Record)
• Shares of Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast’s stock fall 22% as it seeks additional funding for a planned $4 billion factory in North Carolina. (Raleigh News & Observer)
• Alabama prepares to spend $80 million building electric vehicle chargers as it seeks to improve its low ranking as 38th in the U.S. for charging stations. (WBRC)

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CLIMATE:

• Insurance company Nationwide decides not to renew 10,525 homeowners’ insurance policies in eastern North Carolina because of concerns about climate severity and weather-related losses. (Raleigh News & Observer)
• Forecasters observe rising temperatures across North Carolina, with winter seeing the biggest spike upward. (WRAL)

PIPELINES:

• Federal officials order the Mountain Valley Pipeline to ensure the safety of pipe sections that were exposed to rain and sunlight during years-long delays in construction. (Roanoke Times)
• Activists fighting the Mountain Valley Pipeline compare the negotiation of easement agreements with landowners along the route to coal companies’ purchase of mineral rights in the 1800s. (Daily Yonder)

EMISSIONS: Virginia begins to craft plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the U.S. EPA awards $6 million to the state, three regional planning organizations and the Monacan Indian Nation. (Virginia Mercury)

SOLAR: A nonprofit financial institution launches a program that offers solar panel leases with no up-front cost to low- and moderate-income Georgia homeowners. (Georgia Current)

COAL: A federal judge declines to dismiss conservationists’ lawsuit against Alabama Power’s plan to store coal ash near a waterway. (Bloomberg Law, subscription)

OIL & GAS: A Florida county launches a website to provide updates about a proposed fossil and bio-fuel terminal. (Spectrum News)

POLITICS: Climate change has gone largely unacknowledged in the Kentucky governor’s race as Democratic incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear largely avoids mention of fossil fuels as he walks a tightrope in the coal-heavy state. (Louisville Courier Journal)

UTILITIES:

• Mississippi regulators press Entergy to bring back local call centers after residents complained about not receiving useful phone assistance during outages over the summer. (WAPT)
• Kentucky officials laud Kentucky Power for upgrading electrical infrastructure at a 1,400-acre ​“mega site” the state is shopping to companies in different industries. (Lexington Herald-Leader)

COMMENTARY:

• Texas’ Republican leaders are fighting to protect the state’s big corporations at the expense of residents forced to breathe polluted air and die from preventable respiratory diseases, writes an energy columnist. (Houston Chronicle)
• Rising seas, extreme weather events and increasingly hotter temperatures are exacerbating ​“climate gentrification” by affecting vulnerable low-income communities, writes a healthcare activist. (Sun Sentinel/​Invading Sea)
• Virginia’s leadership on clean energy and climate is at stake in its state legislative elections next month, as well as ​“no-brainer” bills opposed by its Republican governor and state lawmakers, writes an energy columnist. (Virginia Mercury)