SC residents organize to fight planned solar panel factory

SOLAR: South Carolina residents gear up to fight permits likely required for a solar panel factory that’s planned for a parcel within sight of land being cleared for a new elementary school. (Post and Courier)

ALSO:

• A Virginia school district begins installation of the largest school rooftop solar array in the state, four years after first initiating the project. (WJLA)
• A Virginia school board votes to seek bids for a power purchase agreement from a solar vendor, which could lead to the installation of rooftop panels on a new career and technical education building. (Cardinal News)
• A Virginia county board rejects a proposed 50 MW solar farm after finding it doesn’t align with its comprehensive plan for growth and development. (Lynchburg News & Advance)
• A Texas man wants to warn others after he was sold used solar panels by a door-to-door salesman. (KWTX)

PIPELINES:

• Dominion Energy announces plans to build a 45-mile pipeline in North Carolina to connect two new natural gas-fired power plants with the Transco Pipeline and perhaps Mountain Valley Pipeline’s planned Southgate spur. (Raleigh News & Observer)
• The Mountain Valley Pipeline’s developers say they’ll purchase $150 million in carbon offsets to ensure the natural gas transmission project is ​“carbon neutral” during its first decade. (WV News)

OIL & GAS: Cheniere Energy’s top executive says expansion at two liquified natural gas export terminals in Louisiana and Texas is still on track despite the Biden administration’s ​“pause” on permitting new LNG projects. (E&E News)

WIND: Dominion Energy announces it will sell a 50% non-controlling stake in its offshore wind farm to an investment firm for $3 billion, but North Carolina and Virginia regulators still must sign off on the deal. (Virginia Business)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Ford’s CEO says the automaker will have to ​“think carefully” about the location of future factories after last year’s strike by the United Auto Workers temporarily shut down its truck factory in Louisville, Kentucky. (Associated Press)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Experts say a federal judge’s ruling barring the U.S. EPA from using the ​“disparate impact” standard forbidding racial discrimination could ripple far beyond Louisiana, where it was applied to a since-dropped ​“Cancer Alley” investigation. (Verite News)

COAL ASH: The U.S. EPA flags concerns about Georgia Power’s plan to leave coal ash in place in a capped pond at a retired coal-fired power plant. (Georgia Recorder)

EMISSIONS: North Carolina’s greenhouse gas emissions fell 12% from 2019 to 2020 due to a shift from coal to natural gas and renewables, but scientists say changes aren’t happening fast enough to avert further climate change. (WRAL)

CLIMATE: Scientists worry that unusually warm temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean could lead to more storms when hurricane season arrives. (Tampa Bay Times)

UTILITIES:

• A Tennessee Congress member introduces a bill intended to increase public participation and make the Tennessee Valley Authority’s energy decisions more transparent. (WPLN)
• Fuel costs, energy inefficient homes and decisions by Alabama regulators are contributing to power bills that have doubled or even tripled for some residents. (WBHM)

COMMENTARY: The increased use of forests in Appalachia for carbon offset projects benefits landowners but does little to help people that live in the surrounding communities, writes a professor. (The Conversation)