Louisiana considers how to regulate solar

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SOLAR

• Louisiana lawmakers consider legislation to regulate solar farms by creating approval processes at three agencies and requiring mile-long buffers between solar projects and residential properties, but there’s little consensus from property owners, developers, and the petrochemical sector. (Times-Picayune)

• North Carolina lawmakers advance a bill to reduce and eventually eliminate an 80% tax abatement for utility-scale solar projects. (WSOC)

• A Virginia county board rejects a proposed 90 MW solar farm, even after developers reduced its size after a previous rejection. (Mecklenburg Sun)

• National Park Service officials express concerns a proposed Kentucky solar farm could negatively affect the ecosystem at Mammoth Cave National Park. (WBKO)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Trump administration launches an effort to rewrite 45-year-old safety rules for liquified natural gas terminals as it moves to supercharge exports from terminals on the Gulf Coast. (E&E News)

• A Texas school district votes to begin tax break negotiations with Exxon Mobil on its $10 billion plan to build a ​“world scale” gas-fueled plastics plant. (Inside Climate News)

• West Virginia coal miners hope Trump’s executive orders will revive the sagging industry, but worry about his simultaneous cuts to safety rules and a federal office that conducts a black lung surveillance and prevention program. (Grist, USA Today)

• Crews rush to contain an oil spill in Louisiana marshes that’s already released more than 23,000 gallons of crude oil, although the exact amount remains unknown. (Fox Weather)

• A North Carolina company that wants to produce emissions-free natural gas in the Permian Basin has lost 75% of its share value in the two years since it merged with another firm to become publicly traded and raise capital. (Business North Carolina)

WIND

• Virginia Beach, Virginia, hosts an offshore wind conference as an undersea cable factory breaks ground in the city to support Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm. (WHRO, Daily Press)

STORAGE

• Danville, Virginia’s municipal utility plans to build a second, 11 MW battery energy storage system to boost its grid and save money during times of high power demand. (Cardinal News)

GRID

• Virginia hosts 13% of the world’s data center capacity, prompting discussion about its power needs, cost, and the balance of local versus state regulation. (Inside Climate News)

• Dozens of people criticize high power demand and the potential air quality effects on Memphis, Tennessee, neighborhoods from the xAI supercomputer, but neither the Tennessee Valley Authority or municipal utility send representatives to take questions at a public meeting. (WHBQ)

• West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signs legislation to attract data centers to the state by streamlining their ability to power the energy-hungry facilities with microgrids, including those powered by coal and gas. (West Virginia Watch)

CARBON CAPTURE

• Louisiana lawmakers kill seven bills to regulate or limit carbon capture projects and defer two more. (WGNO)

OVERSIGHT

• North Carolina’s Republican treasurer nominates a climate skeptic and proponent of fracking and offshore drilling to a seat on the state’s utilities commission. (Inside Climate News)

• Louisville, Kentucky’s air pollution regulator pushes back against the Trump administration’s termination of a $1 million grant to study air pollution health impacts in neighborhoods near an industrial complex. (Kentucky Lantern)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• Massachusetts advocates urge the governor to preserve EV goals even as automakers and Congress look to dismantle vehicle emission standards the state has adopted, Sarah Shemkus reports.

• Portable, plug-in balcony solar arrays fit perfectly in Germany, but the U.S. needs to make some regulatory changes before they can take off here, Akielly Hu reports for Grist.