Critics say 2022 Gulf Coast explosion points to lax LNG regulations

OIL & GAS: Experts say the 2022 explosion of a Gulf Coast liquified natural gas terminal in Texas shows the risk underlying the industry’s rapid growth and gaps in federal rules that haven’t been updated since 1980. (CNN)

ALSO: U.S. crude oil inventories decline for a second week, leading to a price increase. (CNBC)

WIND:

• Federal officials announce plans for an auction of four offshore wind areas in the Gulf of Mexico, after their first auction last year received underwhelming response. (Renewables Now, Reuters)
• The first images emerge of a specialized vessel to help Dominion Energy build an offshore wind farm near Virginia. (Maritime Executive)

GRID:

• Next month’s solar eclipse has the potential to reduce solar generation in Texas, but grid officials say they don’t expect reliability problems. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
• Experts say Texas must accelerate permitting and infrastructure projects if the state grid is to keep up with population and economic growth. (S&P Global)
• An Oklahoma investigation of natural gas generators and traders over price spikes during the 2021 winter storm has made little progress since last year. (Oklahoma Watch)

NUCLEAR:

• After touting plans to build a small modular nuclear reactor in southwestern Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin changes course and suggests other sites are ​“better suited.” (Cardinal News)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority partners with a Tennessee community college to provide two-year radiation protection and nuclear engineering technology programs. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

COAL: Kentucky lawmakers advance legislation to restrict who can review workers’ compensation claims for black lung disease, leaving only a single black lung doctor in the state who qualifies. (NPR)

OVERSIGHT: South Carolina lawmakers advance a wide-ranging bill to fast-track construction of a natural gas-fired power plant, but critics say it eliminates multiple consumer protections and increases the regulatory burden for large solar projects. (Post and Courier)

ACTIVISM: A scientist who was fired from a federal Tennessee lab for her protest at a California conference has become increasingly outspoken, including locking herself to West Virginia pipeline equipment. (Sierra)

UTILITIES: Customers of a Virginia electric cooperative are upset after receiving bills that were double and triple their usual amounts because of the cooperative’s bad estimates. (WDBJ)

COMMENTARY:

• The Tennessee Valley Authority owes Tennessee residents a transparent process around its decision to replace a coal-fired power plant slated for closure, especially after a 2008 coal ash spill there poisoned hundreds of cleanup workers, writes the spouse of a worker suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• An advancing Kentucky bill may appeal to coal advocates, but which adds unnecessary energy regulation and pushes ratepayers to shoulder the costs of financial benefits for a small number of coal companies, writes the president of a think tank. (Kentucky Lantern)