Mountain Valley Pipeline pulls back on N.C. extension

PIPELINES: The Mountain Valley Pipeline withdraws eminent domain actions for land along a proposed extension from Virginia into North Carolina, but leaves the door cracked for the future. (Virginia Mercury)

SOLAR:
• Tampa, Florida’s electric utility announces it will add six new solar projects by the end of 2025. (Florida Politics)
• Construction has reached the halfway point on the second of three planned 75 MW solar plants in a Florida county. (NorthEscambia.com)
• A Virginia elementary school adds solar panels that will provide about a third of its energy. (WRIC)

STORAGE: An energy company sells a 15.7 MW battery storage project in Virginia to Dominion Energy. (Greentech Lead)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• South Carolina U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham pledges to hold a hearing on electric vehicle batteries and sourcing issues if Republicans win control of the U.S. Senate in next month’s midterms. (Reuters)
• Arkansas moves to grow its electric vehicle charging network from a current count of about 170 charging stations, but motorists likely won’t start seeing new stations until at least 2024. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• Louisiana’s attorney general responds to a Tesla lawsuit by defending the state’s prohibition on direct-to-consumer car sales as a needed layer of protection for car buyers. (NOLA.com, subscription)
• A company breaks ground on an electric vehicle battery recycling and manufacturing facility in Kentucky. (news release)

RENEWABLE GAS: BP pays $4.1 billion to acquire a Houston-based energy company that captures natural gas emissions from landfills and farms. (KRIV)

GRID: Texas’ standalone grid and a regional grid in the south-central U.S. face wintertime power supply risks, but have implemented some reforms since a 2021 winter storm caused widespread outages. (Utility Dive)

CARBON CAPTURE: A New Orleans-based investigative reporter discusses growing momentum and opposition around carbon capture technology. (Texas Standard)

NUCLEAR: The Tennessee Valley Authority searches for more potential sites to build small modular nuclear reactors after winning a permit for its first in eastern Tennessee. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

CLIMATE: Satellite images reveal how drought has pushed water levels on the Mississippi River and its tributaries to record lows. (CNN)

UTILITIES: Independent South Carolina power producers announce a plan to diversify their energy supply instead of purchasing power from a natural gas-fired power plant planned by state-owned utility Santee Cooper. (Power Engineering)

EMISSIONS: Florida officials say the state’s emissions are the lowest on record, despite seasonal effects from Saharan dust and wildfires. (Florida Politics)

COMMENTARY:
• Reversing climate change to relieve extreme weather events affecting the Mississippi River should be a national priority given its importance as an inland waterway, writes a columnist. (Bloomberg)
• Florida power outages that followed Hurricane Ian point toward the necessity of burying power lines to improve grid resilience, writes a land developer. (News-Press)
• Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s aspirational proposal to build a small nuclear reactor in Southwest Virginia ignores likely opposition, as well as the technology’s lack of precedent, writes an editorial board. (Roanoke Times)