Labor deal plugs coal miners into battery jobs

JUST TRANSITION: A new labor agreement between a West Virginia battery manufacturer and the mineworkers union could be a blueprint for helping transition fossil fuel workers into clean energy careers. (Capital & Main)

POLITICS: A Mississippi utility regulator has accepted thousands of dollars in donations to his gubernatorial campaign from employees of a solar company that had business before him on the Public Service Commission. (Mississippi Today)

SOLAR:

• New Orleans officials vote to increase utility bill credits and allow larger projects in the city’s community solar program after hearing from groups interested in providing solar power to low-income residents. (Louisiana Illuminator)
• Tesla says its Austin, Texas, Gigafactory auto manufacturing facility will eventually feature the world’s largest rooftop solar array. (Austin Monitor)
• A solar company has hired more than 100 labor union workers to help build the first of five large solar farms planned in north-central West Virginia. (WDTV)
• A Texas county will hold a public hearing Monday on a proposed 800-acre solar farm. (Killeen Daily Herald)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Alabama city officials and gas station owners attend a workshop on how to access federal money for electric vehicle charging stations. (AL.com)
• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear confirms reports that Ford plans to bring a new, as-yet-unnamed electric vehicle to its Louisville Assembly Plant. (WAVE)

OIL & GAS:

• Louisiana utility Entergy plans to sell its natural gas distribution business to a private equity firm for $484 million, pending approval by regulators. (NOLA.com)
• Louisiana increases fines for inactive oil and gas wells in an effort to reduce the number that are abandoned by owners. (NOLA.com)
• An analysis finds that companies have spilled nearly 150 million gallons of toxic, highly saline wastewater in Texas over the last decade. (Inside Climate News)

GRID: Critics say a Texas ballot proposition that would provide loans to power plant owners won’t help the grid and may hurt clean energy. (Houston Public Media)

BUILDINGS: The U.S. Department of Energy awards $400,000 to the city of Louisville to advance energy efficiency and clean energy in affordable housing. (WDRB)

COAL: A former Kentucky coal mine will be repurposed to age bourbon as part of a new $38 million distillery that’s expected to create 28 full-time jobs. (WOWK)