N.C. eyes electric vehicles with Volkswagen settlement money

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: After first using Volkswagen settlement funding for diesel school buses and other gas-powered vehicles, North Carolina’s governor floats a plan to use the remaining two-thirds largely on deploying electric vehicles and achieving the state’s climate initiatives. (Energy News Network)

ALSO:
• Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announces an initiative to boost the state’s electric vehicle and mobility industry. (Capitol Beat News Service/​Brunswick News)
• Utilities, startups and local governments partner to build fast-charging networks for electric vehicles across the Southeast that may end up outpacing EV sales. (Wall Street Journal)

SOLAR:
• Florida Power & Light places 2,000 customers who want solar power on a waiting list after 48,000 residential customers buy up all the available solar power in the state. (Florida Politics)
• A New York-based hedge fund with an appetite for renewables fuels seven of the 16 proposed solar projects in Louisiana seeking tax incentives. (NOLA.com)

OIL & GAS:
• The chair of a Houston-based liquefied natural gas company says the financial timing is finally right to build an export terminal using carbon capture in Louisiana. (Houston Chronicle)
• An eastern Kentucky judge-executive says the county government cannot regulate a gas company that unexpectedly shut off service to 100 households due to ​“numerous leaks and imminent threat.” (Appalachian News-Express)

WIND: The owner of a 60-tower Oklahoma wind farm hires a contractor to remove broken blades from seven towers and topple others. (The Oklahoman, subscription; Associated Press)

PIPELINES:
• Even after the cancellation of the Byhalia Connection pipeline, activists in Memphis, Tennessee, continue to mobilize over concerns about indefinite rights to access land along its route. (Truthout)
• An Oklahoma county commission considers a permit for a crude oil pipeline to a regional refinery. (Woodward News)

TRANSITION: A U.S. Senate committee advances a bill with federal funding to pay for energy infrastructure and the cleanup of abandoned mine lands. (The State Journal/​WV News)

GRID:
• Texas’ grid manager says the grid should be able to withstand an expected surge in demand through a heat wave this week. (KZTV)
• A partnership between American Electric Power and an energy company begins soliciting public input on its plan to build an 80-mile transmission line in Oklahoma. (Tulsa World)

COAL: A coal train derails into the James River in Virginia. (WRIC)

INFRASTRUCTURE: A Virginia county considers a broadband internet expansion project that would involve a partnership between a broadband company, Dominion Energy and two electric cooperatives. (Winchester Star)

COMMENTARY:
• A Georgia family practitioner calls for electric cooperatives to pivot away from natural gas and its methane emissions that harm rural residents. (Savannah Morning News)
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to revamp the state power grid by creating incentives for coal- and natural gas-fired power plants and penalizing renewables is ​“political, not practical,” writes an editorial board. (Odessa American)
• A projected increase in demand for coal in China and India shows that West Virginia shouldn’t stop supporting the fossil fuel, writes an editorial board. (WV News)
• A Republican-backed North Carolina energy bill would give more power to Duke Energy, which has often fought accountability, while eroding the authority of regulators, writes an energy justice advocate. (News & Observer)