TVA ignored EPA criticism of its gas plans — and the EPA let it go

OIL & GAS: The U.S. EPA let its criticism of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s decision to build a new gas-fired plant in Tennessee go by the wayside after the federal utility essentially ignored the complaint. (E&E News)

ALSO: Arkansas moves closer to a settlement with ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. over an oil spill more than a decade ago, with wildlife officials already discussing how some of that money could be spent. (KAIT)

COAL: A new federal rule intended to limit coal miners’ exposure to silica dust is set to take effect this month, but advocates say younger miners must educate themselves and ensure its enforcement to limit the spread of black lung disease. (West Virginia Watch)

PIPELINES:

• Residents along the Mountain Valley Pipeline call for more scrutiny of its potential safety risks after records reveal more than 100 potential problems along its 303-mile route. (WVTF)
• Federal officials and a pipeline company collect public comment on a proposed 690-mile pipeline to carry natural gas from the Permian Basin to export facilities in Texas and Louisiana. (KPLC)
• The former head of a federal pipeline agency discusses the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the agency’s role in regulating 3 million miles of pipeline. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• A midstream company sells its stake in a Permian Basin pipeline, with plans to use the revenue to fund its purchase of another company. (Offshore Technology)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• One of the leaders of Ford’s BlueOval City electric vehicle complex in Tennessee leaves for a job with a company about to embark upon construction of a $1.9 billion electric vehicle plant in Mississippi. (Commercial Appeal)
• North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper gathers with elected officials to celebrate the opening of an electric vehicle charging company’s $41 million North American headquarters. (WRAL)
• Central Texas residents complain Tesla entrepreneur Elon Musk’s development of nearby land for his businesses has transformed fertile land along the Colorado River into an environmentally hazardous industrial park. (Texas Monthly)

SOLAR: A company begins operating the first two of three planned solar facilities in a Mississippi community. (news release)

WIND:

• San Antonio, Texas’ municipal utility extends and expands its power purchase agreement to secure an additional 84 MW from a wind farm. (Renewables Now)
• A Texas city council asks for more information before it will approve a wind farm that proposes to work with liquified natural gas facilities there. (KBMT)

GRID:

• Appalachian Power asks for public feedback on its plan to upgrade roughly four miles of existing transmission lines and several substations in Virginia. (WDBJ)
• A nonprofit issues a report calling for more proactive transmission planning to accommodate electric vehicles and the shift from coal to renewables on the PJM Interconnection. (Weirton Daily Times)
• Florida Power & Light touts grid improvements and its burying of more power lines underground as hurricane season begins. (Florida Weekly)

CLIMATE: State officials in Florida, Louisiana and elsewhere beg insurers to keep covering climate-threatened homes as insurance companies raise rates and withdraw from those places altogether. (States Newsroom)

COMMENTARY: Florida’s new law removing the phrase ​“climate change” from state code does nothing to alter its position on the front line of increasingly severe storms and rising seas, writes a former federal official. (The Hill)