Federal officials detain 475 people at Hyundai’s Georgia EV plant

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Southeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials detain 475 people — including about 300 South Korean citizens — at Hyundai and LG Energy Solution’s new EV battery factory in Georgia as part of an investigation into alleged undocumented and illegal work. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New York Times)

• EV advocates schedule two events in Alabama to tout vehicles and a discounted rate from Alabama Power ahead of the phaseout of federal tax credits at the end of the month. (AL.com)

RENEWABLES

• Orlando, Florida, is on track to power all of its municipal buildings with renewable energy three years ahead of a targeted date, but appears to have run afoul of Florida’s Department of Governmental Efficiency. (Orlando Sentinel)

• Spain-based manufacturer PV Hardware opens a new​solar tracker factory in Houston. (PV Magazine)

• Georgia regulators approve purchase agreements for Georgia Power to obtain power from five new solar farms with a combined capacity of 1,068 MW. (WRDW, news release)

NUCLEAR

• Startup Oklo announces plans to build a nuclear fuel recycling facility in Tennessee, while Curio says it’s also developing nuclear recycling technology. (Axios)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Louisiana shrimp industry increasingly abandons the once-productive Calcasieu River estuary as chemical plants, refineries, and now liquefied natural gas export terminals pollute the area. (Inside Climate News)

• Dozens of people speak out against the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company’s plan to significantly expand its Transco gas pipeline network. (WFDD)

• The Louisiana Environmental Action Network announces plans to sue Louisiana oil and gas company Smitty’s Supply for Clean Water Act violations stemming from recent explosions of petrochemical tanks at an industrial facility. (Louisiana Illuminator)

• Houston-based ConocoPhillips announces plans to lay off more than 3,000 employees and contractors, or about 25% of its global staff. (Houston Chronicle)

GRID

• In the wake of Hurricane Ida, New Orleans residents move to scale up a network of community hubs that use solar panels and batteries to ensure people have access to power even during widespread outages. (Places Journal)

• Data shows commercial energy use has soared in Virginia since 2020 due to its data center construction boom. (Virginia Public Access Project)

BIOGAS

• The Trump administration cancels a $417,000 federal grant to study the social and economic impacts of producing biogas from swine farms in two North Carolina counties that account for 4.2 million hogs on roughly 900 farms. (Inside Climate News)

UTILITIES

• Mississippi regulators place the Holly Springs Public Utility in receivership, citing a billing system in ​“chaos” and describing its metering system as being in a ​“death spiral” as they place its fate in the hands of a chancery court judge. (Magnolia Tribune)

MINING

• Although the nonprofit Conservation Fund’s $60 million purchase of 8,000 acres in the Okefenokee Swamp ended a company’s plans to mine titanium there, other landowners are still considering the idea of extracting minerals. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

POLITICS

• West Virginia U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito tells a group of business people she thinks a bipartisan compromise can be reached to speed up federal permitting for energy projects. (WV News)

CLIMATE

• Texas lawmakers advance bills to address camp safety, flood warnings, and emergency response in response to July flooding that killed more than 130 people, including 25 young girls at a summer camp. (Texas Tribune)

• More than 1,000 once-pristine springs in Florida are threatened by agricultural pollution, development, and climate change. (Associated Press)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Fervo, Sage Geosystems tap energy giants to scale next-gen geothermal — Maria Gallucci

• Can utilities replace power lines with solar and batteries in remote areas? — Jeff St. John