Political deadlock freezes key Virginia regulatory board

OVERSIGHT: After months of deadlock, Virginia lawmakers again fail to fill two vacancies on a three-seat body that regulates utilities, threatening its quorum and ability to make decisions. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

UTILITIES:
• In response to challenges of its long-term demand forecast, Dominion Energy releases agreements showing data centers plan to use up to 35% of the record flow of power the utility saw during last winter’s cold snap. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Florida Power & Light’s push to restrict state residents’ ability to change the state constitution through petition is making it harder for activists to overturn Florida’s 15-week abortion ban. (Orlando Sentinel)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A company places the last piece of steel on a Kentucky factory to build electric vehicle battery cells and modules for multiple manufacturers. (Kentucky Today)

STORAGE:
• A battery materials maker in Tennessee sees a technological breakthrough that will let it double its production of synthetic graphite for electric vehicle batteries. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• A company redevelops a West Virginia steel mill into its first commercial-scale battery manufacturing facility. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)

SOLAR: Advocates push for construction of a decentralized power grid on Puerto Rico that’s more reliant on solar power and less susceptible to hurricane-induced outages. (NPR)

WIND: A company in Virginia moves to secure an offshore wind manufacturing tenant as it moves to redevelop 111 acres at a coastal terminal into a hub for offshore wind, shipbuilding and ship repair. (Virginian-Pilot)

CLIMATE:
• Stronger hurricanes exacerbated by climate change create an insurance crisis in Louisiana, as companies jack up rates or move out of the state altogether. (Bloomberg, subscription)
• Research reveals a correlation between federal policies used to segregate communities in Miami with a greater number of emergency room visits and hospitalizations for heat in low-income communities and communities of color. (Inside Climate News)

CARBON CAPTURE:
• Louisiana activists are outraged over the federal government’s plans to direct millions of dollars of investment into carbon capture projects instead of phasing out fossil fuels. (Floodlight/​Guardian)
• Amazon signs an agreement to purchase 250,000 metric tons of carbon renewal over 10 years from a company building a carbon capture facility in Texas. (Bloomberg, subscription)

GRID: Consumer rights groups complain after Texas paid nearly $32 million to a crypto mining company for power it had bought at a low bulk rate and sold back on the spot-market for a much higher price. (KEYE)

OIL & GAS:
• Environmental and civic groups organize against a company’s plan to upgrade a Virginia natural gas plant’s compressor station and double the diameter of nearly 50 miles of existing pipeline. (Chesapeake Bay Journal)
• Operational issues result in a sharp decline in feedgas deliveries to a Texas liquified natural gas facility, tightening the gas market. (S&P Global)
• A liquified natural gas company that’s building an export terminal in Louisiana is in talks to contract natural gas to other companies. (S&P Global)

COMMENTARY:
• West Virginia regulators’ draft rules for a new law requiring state approval before utilities can decommission fossil fuel plants eliminates requirements for public notice of comment periods even as power prices skyrocket, writes a columnist. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)
• A Kentucky county’s judge-executive urges state regulators to reject utilities’ plan to retire four coal-fired power plants because he says that would raise prices and affect grid reliability. (Lexington-Herald Leader)