Should Biden intervene in TVA’s gas plant plans?

OIL & GAS: Advocates urge President Biden and the U.S. EPA to intervene against the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to build a new Tennessee natural gas plant, even though last month’s rolling blackouts were caused in part by coal and gas failures. (WPLN)

ALSO:
• A federal court turns back environmentalists’ challenge to permits for a south Texas natural gas pipeline and export facility. (Associated Press)
• Energy analysts predict oil and gas drillers’ cautious approach to expanding production plus a general economic slowdown mean the industry will likely contract in 2023. (Louisiana Illuminator)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Jacksonville, Florida, issues permits for an electric vehicle maker to build a factory and showroom. (Jacksonville Daily Record)
• A third Hyundai parts supplier announces it will open a Georgia factory to work with the company’s planned electric vehicle and battery factory. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, subscription)
• Entergy announces a pilot electric vehicle charging station in Mississippi, the first company-owned charger of its kind in its four-state region. (news release)

NUCLEAR: Federal regulators consider extending the operating license for a 2,538 MW nuclear plant in north Texas. (The Texan)

SOLAR: Public school and utility officials break ground on a solar garden at an Oklahoma middle school that was pitched by members of a student club. (Norman Transcript)

GRID:
• Alabama Power builds an electrical substation and provides marketing support to an economic development megasite in Alabama. (Gadsden Messenger)
• Dominion Energy upgrades a Virginia electrical substation to meet growing power demand. (WHSV)
• An Arkansas planning commission approves a permit for Southwestern Electric Power Co. to build an electrical substation. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

BIOGAS:
• A Tennessee city council approves a design contract for a renewable gas facility intended to manage waste as the city plans to close a landfill. (WGNS)
• Florida’s first landfill-to-gas facility begins operations. (news release)

CLIMATE: Virginia announces $52 million in state flood resilience grants. (Virginia Mercury)

POLITICS: A Democratic West Virginia lawmaker plans to reintroduce a bill to strengthen state oversight of oil and gas wells. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

UTILITIES:
• A veteran of large Southeast utilities is named as Georgia Power’s new CEO. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
• Duke Energy Florida’s CEO discusses 2023 grid plans, rates and the clean energy transition. (Business Observer)

COMMENTARY:
• A new Dominion Energy report predicting solar will become its generation mainstay by 2040 confirms the economic logic of the clean energy transition, writes an energy columnist. (Virginia Mercury)
• Kinder Morgan’s proposed 32-mile pipeline in middle Tennessee threatens the area’s biodiversity and residents’ drinking water, writes an environmentalist. (Clarksville Now)
• North Carolina must investigate abnormally high rates of rare cancers in towns near a Duke Energy power plant that generates heaps of coal ash, writes an opinion editor. (Niner Times)
• An editorial board applauds a court’s decision to overturn a Louisiana county’s moratorium on carbon capture test wells, saying the regulatory permitting process should provide sufficient protection. (NOLA.com)