Officials: Mountain Valley Pipeline construction nearly complete

PIPELINES: Mountain Valley Pipeline officials say the long-delayed, over-budget project has completed all water crossings, and ask federal regulators to issue an order by next month to allow it to be placed in service. (Roanoke Times)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• The United Auto Workers’ win at a Tennessee Volkswagen factory sets up another push next month at an Alabama Mercedes-Benz factory — and from there to auto factories in Georgia and South Carolina. (Politico; AL.com; Atlanta Journal-Constitution, subscription)
• The fate of a Tennessee electric vehicle charger factory is in question after its parent company declares insolvency. (Canary Media)
• Tesla shareholders consider whether to approve a 2018, $56 billion pay package for CEO Elon Musk, as well as whether to move the company’s state of incorporation to Texas. (CNN)

SOLAR:

• The Biden administration announces a $7 billion ​“Solar for All” program to bring solar energy to low-income neighborhoods, including $156 million for Georgia, $62 million for Kentucky, $125 million for South Carolina, and more than $400 million for Texas. (Grist, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kentucky Lantern, Charleston Regional Business Journal, Houston Public Media)
• A Florida town powered entirely by solar opens an educational facility with a three-story tower for visitors to view its extensive solar arrays. (WFTX)
• An Arkansas winery installs solar panels and energy efficiency improvements to make its operations entirely solar-powered. (KATV)
• A Florida professor who began studying solar power in the ​‘70s has influenced generations of students who now populate the ranks of the state’s biggest utilities. (WFTS)

WIND:

• Outraged Virginia Beach residents say they were misled into believing they wouldn’t be able to see Dominion Energy’s planned offshore wind farm from shore, when the utility was talking about just two pilot turbines. (WAVY)
• New Orleans hosts the country’s largest offshore wind conference this week. (WVUE)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• An Oklahoma lawmaker endorses a NextEra Energy project that includes a 250 MW solar farm, a 200 MW battery and an already completed 250 MW wind farm, citing ​“the rights of private landowners” over concerns from neighbors about pollution, fire and loss of farmland. (Enid News & Eagle)
• A Florida startup raises $20 million for its modular energy system that stores solar energy in the form of heat instead of electricity. (Refresh Miami)

OIL & GAS: Immigrants, including undocumented workers, make up much of the Permian Basin oilfield workforce, putting conservatives’ calls for more drilling and less immigration at odds. (USA Today)

UTILITIES:

• North Carolina regulators hold public hearings on Duke Energy’s plans to build more natural gas-fired power plants and delay emission reduction targets to meet escalating power demand. (NC Newsline)
• North Carolina utilities consider how to meet the U.S. EPA’s new drinking water standards to eliminate the presence of toxic ​“forever chemicals.” (Wilmington StarNews)

CARBON CAPTURE: An Arkansas cement plant is taking part in a program to capture and store carbon emissions as part of a $189 million federal initiative to test such technology. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, subscription)

CLIMATE: Texas prison rights advocates sue the state department of corrections over the lack of air conditioning in most prisons despite extreme summer heat. (Texas Tribune)