Kentucky AG wants bogged down coal complaint system to stay

COAL: Kentucky’s attorney general moves to block the federal government’s attempt to restore a system residents can use to report safety concerns with strip coal mining operations, even though advocates say the current system leads to lengthy delays. (Kentucky Lantern)

CARBON CAPTURE: The U.S. EPA holds public meetings in west Texas to gather feedback about a planned carbon capture and storage facility that would be the largest in the country if it’s approved. (Texas Tribune)

COAL ASH:

• Alabama Power reaches a settlement with the U.S. EPA enabling it to avoid lining pits where it’s storing millions of pounds of coal ash, but requiring it to add groundwater monitoring wells to the site. (Alabama Media Group) Editor’s note: This item has been corrected, an earlier version incorrectly stated the utility promised to line its ash pits.
• Environmental groups sue Duke Energy on behalf of a cancer patient, alleging the utility exposed her and other residents to toxins through an unlined coal ash pit. (WCNC)

NUCLEAR: In a hearing with Mississippi lawmakers, Entergy and Tennessee Valley Authority officials make a case for new nuclear power development to meet growing power demand. (Clarion Ledger)

UTILITIES: As the Tennessee Valley Authority looks to raise rates for a second year in a row, advocates urge the utility to install renewables and implement energy savings programs that could combat price volatility. (Fox17)

MINING: Companies running quartz mines in a small North Carolina town say they’re trying to restart operations, but say Helene’s damages to the mines and employees’ homes may hold them up, further stalling production of a critical semiconductor component. (CNN)

GRID:

• Helene’s damage renews calls for burying power lines underground in South Carolina, but an electric co-op notes doing so is expensive. (WLTX)
• Duke Energy installs two mobile substations to restore power near Asheville, North Carolina. (Queen City News)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• Texas will receive $130 million for projects to reduce transportation emissions and $87 million to install electric vehicle charging stations as part of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding. (KXAN)
• Fort Smith, Arkansas, unveils an energy and environment plan that includes efforts to boost clean energy deployment and efficiency. (Arkansas Online)

STORAGE:

• A renewables developer secures financing for a 500 MW solar and storage project in northeast Texas and begins construction. (Solar Power World)
• A German company begins construction on three battery storage systems totaling 900 MWh of capacity in the smart part of Texas. (Energy Storage News)