Feds greenlight Louisiana natural gas export terminal

OIL & GAS: Federal regulators unanimously approve a liquefied natural gas export terminal on the Louisiana coast despite concerns that it will only worsen greenhouse gas emissions and further harm communities frequently exposed to pollution. (Reuters)

ALSO:
• Parts of the Permian Basin are rocked by a 5.3-magnitude earthquake that demonstrates the seismic impact of widespread fracking. (Bloomberg)
• A Louisiana contractor warns docking facilities at a planned crude oil export storage terminal could reduce the ability of a proposed $1.4 billion coastline restoration project to divert sediment and rebuild land. (NOLA.com)

PIPELINES:
• The U.S. Forest Service will again study the environmental impact of the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s path through the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia after a court twice rejected earlier approvals. (Roanoke Times)
• A Shell pipeline between Houston and Port Neches, Texas, will run at reduced capacity until mid to late December, potentially bottlenecking crude oil shipments. (Reuters)

SOLAR:
• A 15 MW solar farm that will sell energy to Appalachian Power begins operation in central Virginia. (Altavista Journal)
• A North Carolina county board approves rezoning for a 10 MW solar farm. (Iredell Free News)
• A 2.8 MW solar farm to power a southern Virginia electric cooperative nears completion. (Danville Register & Bee)
• A North Carolina planning board discusses changing its solar farm regulations to give county officials greater flexibility in recommending or requiring more specific standards for proposed projects. (WECT)

RENEWABLES: American Electric Power’s Oklahoma subsidiary asks state regulators to approve its purchase of a 999.5 MW portfolio of wind and solar projects in Texas and Kansas. (Renewables Now)

COAL:
• An expert refutes the West Virginia consumer advocate’s suggestion that utility Mon Power buy a coal-fired power plant to keep it open, saying it would be better to help the community move on. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announces a company will invest $60 million in the state to extract rare earth metals from coal waste. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

GRID:
• Texas lawmakers discuss changing the state electricity market to increase grid reliability, but critics say the ​“performance credit mechanism” intended to incentivize more electricity generation won’t help avoid future blackouts. (Texas Public Radio)
• The North American Electric Reliability Corp. warns inadequate weatherization of power generators in Texas could lead to outages during extreme or prolonged cold weather. (S&P Global)

NUCLEAR: Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkin touts his proposal to build a small modular nuclear reactor in southwestern Virginia as he works to gain support for his impending budget proposal. (Bristol Herald Courier)

BIOMASS: A North Carolina county approves a 6-month moratorium on biomass facilities to allow it to study and implement changes to its land use ordinance. (Asheville Citizen-Times)

UTILITIES: A bankruptcy judge approves a Texas electric cooperative’s reorganization plan to pay the state grid manager $1.89 billion of the $2.1 billion it was originally billed for 2021 winter storm costs. (S&P Global)

CLIMATE: Scientists warn sea level rise will affect coastal Virginia, but climate change did not factor into the 2022 midterm elections that saw a congressional seat in the region flip from Democratic to Republican. (Capital News Service)