Oil & gas see court victories, with big cases on horizon

COURTS: Federal courts gear up for cases that affect energy projects across the Southeast, from the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Appalachia to a massive oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. (E&E News)

ALSO:
• A federal judge rules a Louisiana parish can’t enforce a moratorium blocking a gas company from conducting seismic tests or building test wells for a carbon capture project. (The Advocate)
• An Oklahoma court finds a group of plaintiffs suing oil and gas companies over damages from earthquakes caused by hydraulic fracturing cannot form a class-action suit, but can seek damages individually. (Journal Record)

GRID:
• Duke Energy officials testify to North Carolina regulators for rolling blackouts in the Carolinas last month, as investigations begin into its weather and power-demand forecasts and its response to the winter storm. (NC Policy Watch, WRAL)
• The CEO of Memphis, Tennessee’s municipal utility promises grid improvements after the Tennessee Valley Authority’s rolling blackouts during last month’s winter storm. (WATN, Commercial Appeal)

OVERSIGHT:
• Six new members of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s board are sworn in, returning the board to a full complement for the first time in years. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• The CEO of a Texas municipal utility announces his retirement months after he was placed on administrative leave following a city-sponsored audit of its failed $118 million power plant project. (KVEO)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Tesla drops its pursuit of a tax abatement for a Texas lithium-battery refinery and plans to move forward with construction without it. (Spectrum News)
• Hyundai Motor America’s CEO says construction of its electric vehicles factory in Georgia is on track to begin production in 2025. (Coastal Courier)
• Two companies plan to build an electric aircraft at a Georgia factory beginning in 2024. (Associated Press)
• A North Carolina environmental group fights plans for an electric vehicle and battery factory over concerns about its effects on rivers and wetlands. (WRAL)

STORAGE: A Florida municipal utility announces a partnership with a company to develop a solar energy storage system that relies on molten salt. (Orlando Sentinel)

OIL & GAS: West Virginia’s second-largest gas utility secures a deal to purchase another gas company in the state. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

HYDROGEN: Two nonprofits, the University of Texas, and petrochemical and other companies apply to become a regional hydrogen hub on the Gulf Coast. (Houston Public Media)

COAL: A West Virginia county board courts buyers for a coal-fired power plant slated for closure. (WTAP)

CLIMATE:
• Archaeologists seek to protect a historic Virginia church in the nation’s first permanent English settlement against sea level rise and climate change. (Daily Press)
• Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore discusses regional and global climate policy as his Climate Reality Project trains environmental justice leaders in Texas and the Gulf South. (Texas Observer)
• Officials in Memphis, Tennessee, explain a new natural disaster alert system was not used during last month’s winter storm because ​“cold weather is not considered destructive.” (WATN)

COMMENTARY: Legal, regulatory and political setbacks may finally end the push to complete the long-delayed, over-budget Mountain Valley Pipeline, writes a climate activist. (Virginia Mercury)