Mountain Valley Pipeline ruptures during testing

ALSO:

• Pipeline inspectors blast policies that leave it to companies to decide when and how to address safety lapses, essentially leaving the monitoring and repair of pipelines to the private sector. (Politico)
• The CEO of a West Virginia gas company discusses its plans to build a new pipeline. (WV News)

OIL & GAS:

• Activists plan to gather in Nashville, Tennessee, this week to protest the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to build eight new natural gas-fired power plants and more than 160 miles of pipeline. (WPLN)
• “This hearing is a farce!” Critics of Duke Energy’s plan to build more natural gas-fired plants storm out of North Carolina regulators’ final public hearing on the utility’s updated carbon plan. (NC Newsline)
• West Virginia regulators grant a siting certificate for a 1,800 MW natural gas-fired power plant with the ability to incorporate carbon capture technology. (WV Metro News)

HYDROGEN:

• A group of oil and gas executives warn federal officials that billions of dollars in federal funding still won’t be enough to make the emerging hydrogen industry viable. (Houston Chronicle)
• A Virginia Tech official says work continues to progress on a $6.5 million hydrogen test facility and demonstration site near Virginia’s coast even though it was not selected to receive federal funding through the 2021 infrastructure law. (Virginian-Pilot)

UTILITIES:

• NextEra Energy’s CEO says the booming data center sector is driving demand for renewables — not just natural gas. (South Florida Business Journal, subscription; CNBC)
• The Southern Company announces a 28% increase in profits just days after it completes the long overdue, vastly over-budget expansion of nuclear Plant Vogtle. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

CLIMATE:

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis considers signing a bill to strip the term ​“climate change” out of state laws, repealing a 16-year-old law listing climate as a determinant in policy decisions and replacing it with energy affordability and availability. (CBS News)
• Heavy rain floods neighborhoods around Houston, prompting the evacuation of more than 400 people. (Associated Press)