Companies eye extensive pipeline buildout in North Carolina

PIPELINES: North Carolina residents react to a swath of proposed pipeline projects, including a spur from the Mountain Valley Pipeline, the expansion of Transco’s pipeline network, and the expansion and new construction of pipeline to two planned Duke Energy gas-fired power plants. (Inside Climate News)

WIND: Experts say Donald Trump will likely be unable to stop Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm near Virginia, but may have leverage over other projects still in the planning stage. (Associated Press)

SOLAR:

• An explosion of rooftop solar sales in Texas has led to deceptive sales practices, expensive loans and shoddy workmanship, leaving some homeowners with long-term debt, unchanged utility bills and even damaged roofs. (San Antonio Express-News)
• An Arkansas farmer earns income by using sheep to graze around solar farms in Arkansas and Texas. (Arkansas Times/​Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• A company begins operation of a solar facility on 240 acres in North Carolina. (Salisbury Post)

CARBON CAPTURE:

• Rural Louisiana residents face uneasy choices as oil companies move to lease their land for carbon capture projects. (NOLA.com)
• New research finds Virginia’s Great Dismal Swamp has released roughly 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since settlers began developing it in the colonial era. (WHRO)
• A Virginia Tech research team receives a $9 million federal grant and $2.6 million from a company to study whether the geology beneath a cement plant is suitable for carbon storage. (Roanoke Times)

COAL: Federal officials inspect an Alabama coal mine after a family sues it for an explosion that killed a man and left his grandson in critical condition. (Inside Climate News)

GRID: Experts suggest Arkansas could be approaching an energy generation ​“crisis” as utilities retire coal-fired power plants and state incentives for solar come to an end. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

UTILITIES: Tennessee Valley Authority officials discuss the federal utility’s long-term resource plan, which includes the addition of up to 26 GW of new generation capacity by 2035. (Kentucky New Era)

CLIMATE:

• A research team discusses data showing Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage across about a fifth of western North Carolina’s million-acre federally protected forests. (Washington Post)
• Federal officials open the application process for North Carolina residents whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Helene to have their homes elevated or purchased outright. (Asheville Watchdog)

POLITICS:

• West Virginia Attorney General-elect John ​“J.B.” McCuskey promises to challenge U.S. EPA policies and support Donald Trump’s plans to undo climate initiatives. (E&E News, subscription)
• A Democratic Virginia lawmaker sets a summit next week to discuss the state’s 2020 clean energy law and related topics including soaring power demand from data centers, local restrictions on solar development and small modular nuclear reactors. (Virginia Mercury)

COMMENTARY: Technology, public opinion and economics will advance the clean energy transition despite Donald Trump’s second presidential term, as evidenced by his failure to reinvigorate coal during his first term, writes a columnist. (Virginia Mercury)