TVA withdraws plans to build gas plant in resistant Tennessee community

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Southeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

FOSSIL FUELS

• After years of consideration, Tennessee Valley Authority announces a 280-acre site in a rural Tennessee county is no longer its ​“preferred alternative” for construction of a 900 MW gas-fired power plant to partially replace a coal plant that’s being converted to gas. (WTVF, WZTV)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Workers at Ford Motor Co. and South Korea-based SK On’s EV battery manufacturing plant in Kentucky say the companies have launched an anti-union campaign that’s disrupting their attempt to schedule an election on whether to join the United Auto Workers. (Lexington Herald-Leader)

UTILITIES

• Georgia regulators approve Georgia Power’s controversial long-range plan, which keeps the utility’s coal-fired power plants running and includes a historic expansion of 6 GW to 8.5 GW in electric capacity, which is likely to come largely from gas. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

• Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities seek permission from Kentucky regulators to spend $3.7 billion to build two 645 MW gas-fired power plants and a battery storage system, and to upgrade a coal-fired power plant to keep pace with data center demand, though critics question whether it’s all necessary. (Louisville Public Media)

• A Texas electric cooperative issues a request for proposals for 500 MW of dispatchable energy capacity. (news release)

OVERSIGHT

• A clean energy advocate secures the Democratic nomination for Georgia’s Public Service Commission after a runoff against a former state representative who won more votes in the first round of voting. (Georgia Recorder, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

• Sources report an official from Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency instructed the chair and top staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ​“rubber stamp” new nuclear reactors such as Texas-based Fermi America’s proposal to build the nation’s largest nuclear power complex. (Politico)

• Texas has relinquished $225 million over the last decade in federal grant money from a federal disaster program to pay for flood projection, tornado safety, and warning systems. (Politico)

• Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem defends the federal government’s response to Texas floods this month, rejecting claims that a new policy requiring her personal approval for contracts over $100,000 has slowed response and that the firing of contractors affected its ability to take calls for assistance. (Houston Chronicle)

GRID

• Texas regulators discuss a report finding the rapid growth of data centers and other large loads represents the largest threat to the state power grid’s reliability, with the grid operator projecting up to 70.5 GW of new load by 2028. (Utility Dive)

• West Virginia residents fight a company’s proposal to build a power plant and data center they say is being ​“crammed down our throats” by the state government. (AFP)

• The Center for Biological Diversity urges an Alabama city council to slow down and more carefully consider a $14.5 billion data center project that could affect protected species. (Inside Climate News)

SOLAR

• A Kentucky county holds a public hearing on a proposed 100 MW solar farm. (WBKO)

EMISSIONS

• A study finds air quality in the Great Smoky Mountains has improved since the ​‘90s, and that real pollution reductions began after 2005 because the Tennessee Valley Authority’s coal-fired power plants were required to install emission control devices. (WBIR)

CLIMATE

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirms that 131 people died in flash flooding over the Fourth of July weekend, but more than 100 people are still missing. (Houston Chronicle)