Texas grid CEO fired over massive storm-driven outages

GRID: Texas’ grid operator fires its top executive and bars a second electric provider from operating on the grid as fallout from last month’s storm-driven outages and price spikes continues. (Associated Press, Reuters)

ALSO: A U.S. House committee launches an investigation of Texas’ power grid operator and seeks documents related to its preparation ahead of last month’s winter storm. (Associated Press)

***SPONSORED LINK: Check out the Squeaky Clean Energy Podcast by NCSEA! Get a fresh take on North Carolina’s clean energy landscape with biweekly episodes. Available wherever you get your podcast or at: www.energync.org/podcast.***

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• General Motors plans to build a second battery factory and is eyeing Tennessee as a probable location as it ramps up its investment in electric vehicles. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)
• The federal transportation department will review an international trade ruling in a dispute between Korean battery makers for its effects on domestic electric vehicle production. (Reuters)

NUCLEAR:
• Duke Energy begins the process for renewing its operating license on a South Carolina nuclear plant for another 20 years, while a nearby hybrid coal plant is set to close by the end of March. (Star News Online)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority begins upgrading an equipment upgrade at its oldest and biggest nuclear power plant. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

OIL & GAS:
• State regulators greenlight Oklahoma Natural Gas’s plans to defer an estimated $1.5 billion in costs from last month’s storms, which were five times more than the company’s total gas supply costs for the 2019 calendar year. (The Frontier)
• A federal judge fines Exxon Mobil $14.25 million for air pollution violations at a Houston-area refinery and petrochemical complex, in what lawyers claim is the largest penalty ever imposed in a Clean Air Act citizen suit. (E&E News, subscription)
• Exxon’s natural gas business sues the second largest U.S. gas marketer over missed deliveries during last month’s winter freeze and power outages. (Reuters)

CLIMATE:
• A West Virginia congressman counters climate legislation introduced by Democrats by reintroducing a Republican-sponsored plan with less ambitious goals and funding for carbon-capture technology that might extend the life of fossil fuel generation. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A Texas congressman balks at the new energy secretary’s goal of attaining net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, saying it would compromise the state’s oil industry. (WRIC)

WIND: A new report says North Carolina’s central location on the East Coast could make it a major player in the offshore wind industry as a destination and supply and services hub, but the state needs to make policy and regulatory changes if it wants to take advantage. (WFAE)

COAL ASH: Georgia lawmakers advance legislation requiring utilities to monitor coal ash ponds for the next 50 years, while declining to move a bill requiring ash to be stored in lined landfills. (Patch)

UTILITIES: A Texas city approves a program allowing local utility customers to pay a fee to receive 100% renewable energy. (San Marcos Daily Record)

COMMENTARY:
• The power and water crisis engulfing Texas and Mississippi shows how deregulation, partisan divides and systemic racism disproportionately put Black neighborhoods at risk from infrastructure failures, writes a Texas professor. (CNN)
• A wide-ranging review of energy efficiency policies gives Florida regulators a chance to significantly lower the state’s high electricity rates, writes the president of an air-conditioning installation company. (Herald Tribune)