Memphis fights TVA coal ash as it considers its power buying future

UTILITIES: The Memphis city council passes a resolution asking the Tennessee Valley Authority not to bury coal ash from the retired Allen Fossil Plant within the municipal utility’s territory — a symbolic gesture that also foreshadows whether the utility will continue to buy power from TVA. (Commercial Appeal)

ALSO:
• A Virginia electric co-op pitches a 20% fee increase critics say will harm low- and moderate-income customers and discourage consumer investment in solar or energy efficiency. (Energy News Network)
• Residents of a Louisiana parish see electric bills surge amid a newly approved rate increase and rising fuel costs that reflect growing natural gas and coal prices. (NOLA.com)

OVERSIGHT: A Congress member from Louisiana requests federal, third-party monitoring of air emissions of ​“nearly 150 oil refineries, plastics plants and chemical plants” to determine their effects on vulnerable communities. (The Advocate)

SOLAR:
• A growing number of Virginia planning commissions and county boards consider restrictions on solar energy development over concerns about views and land use. (WVTF)
• A Louisiana parish’s planning board votes to approve a zoning exception for a 2,400-acre solar farm. (American Press)

INFRASTRUCTURE: Memphis community activists and scientists consider threats to the city’s drinking water aquifer after months of discussion about the now-canceled Byhalia Connection pipeline’s potential effects. (Commercial Appeal)

OIL & GAS:
• Oklahoma landowners accuse a federal pipeline inspector of collusion with an energy company over a gas transmission line. (E&E News, subscription)
• The head of West Virginia’s gas and oil association says that despite what he calls ​“the attack on all oil and gas” from President Joe Biden, he expects natural gas production in the state to continue to grow. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)
• An Arkansas city approves the purchase of six compressed natural gas buses for its transit system. (TalkBusiness.net)
• A Tennessee school system purchases 11 propane-powered school buses, citing them as ​“much more affordable” than electric buses. (Johnson City Press)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Virginia policymakers consider the lack of funding for a state rebate program, highway user fees and how to grow charging infrastructure as they seek to support a growing shift to electric vehicles. (Virginia Mercury)

COAL: A Congress member says the decline in coal jobs is largely to blame for an 8.9% population decline in southwestern Virginia. (WJHL)

GRID:
• Oklahoma regulators receive criticism for placing the burden of $4.5 billion in additional energy costs from February’s winter storm on consumers instead of shareholders. (Ada News)
• Florida Power & Light plans to expand an electrical substation and build another transmission line in the Virginia Key area of Florida. (Miami Today)

COMMENTARY:
• A Texas city’s approval of incentives for a renewable gas plant represents a step toward greener power generation as energy companies also inch toward completion of new hydrogen and biodiesel plants, writes an editorial board. (Beaumont Enterprise)
• Virginia should continue to shift toward renewable energy but must also look to carbon capture and storage technology to buffer the clean-energy transition’s financial effects on low-income households, writes the director of the Virginia Energy Consumer Trust. (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)