Georgia bill establishes rules for EV charging

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Georgia’s state House approves legislation designed to prepare the state for electric vehicles, establishing a tax on charging station use and that customers should pay by the kilowatt-hour. (Capital Beat)

ALSO:
• North Carolina officials lay out a state clean transportation plan that calls for transitioning to electric vehicles, reducing overall vehicle miles driven, and expanding charging infrastructure. (Winston-Salem Journal)
• EV sales have grown quietly but exponentially in Southwest Florida, where new showrooms and charging stations are in the works. (Gulf Shore Business)
• A Texas city will use a company’s software to predict where additional electric vehicle charging stations are most needed. (Government Technology)
• The maker of a two-seat, three-wheeled electric vehicle expands its sales to include North Carolina and South Carolina. (WRAL)

BATTERIES:
• A Norwegian battery start-up company is accelerating its investment at a Georgia plant in response to Inflation Reduction Act tax credits. (Reuters)
• Oklahoma lawmakers are fast-tracking a $698 million economic incentive package to attract an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant. (Express Star)

OFFSHORE WIND:
• North Carolina and Denmark sign a memorandum of understanding to share information on offshore wind development and regulation. (News & Observer)
• A federal official says private developers’ focus on building transmission lines to serve single projects could slow offshore wind development. (Utility Dive)

SOLAR: A Texas community celebrates a newly completed 250 MW solar farm that will provide lease payments to dozens of property owners and a windfall of tax revenue for local schools and government. (Waco Tribune)

COAL:
• Kentucky lawmakers advance a bill to slow coal-fired power plant retirements despite objections from the state’s major utilities. (S&P Global)
• Deutsche Bank says it won’t take on new clients that get more than 30% of revenue from coal and don’t have a ​“credible diversification plan.” (Reuters)
• A Georgia House bill seeks to align the state’s coal ash regulations with federal standards and prohibit storage in contact with groundwater. (GPB)

PIPELINES: A new federal study concludes again that the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s construction would not likely harm five threatened and endangered species in the project’s path. (Roanoke Times)

POLLUTION: Residents of a Northern Virginia county protest a proposed variance that would suspend air quality rules to allow data centers to operate diesel backup generators in the event of grid failures. (Inside Nova)

POLITICS:
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he wants to exclude renewable energy companies from an economic incentive bill being considered in the Legislature. (KXAN)
• Two Florida Republicans propose legislation barring local governments from establishing or enforcing restrictions on gas stoves. (Florida Politics)

CLIMATE:
• Miami will host three major climate change events this weekend expected to draw hundreds of policymakers, celebrities and advocates. (Miami Herald)
• A Republican frontrunner for governor in Kentucky has a track record of undermining policies to combat climate change, which experts say could hurt the state’s long-term prosperity. (Louisville Public Media)

TRANSITION: A coalition looks to both preserve at-risk oil and gas jobs and attract new clean energy jobs to southeastern Louisiana. (WDSU)