TVA’s gas plant decision leaves questions about oversight, lack of review

UTILITIES: Questions still abound about the Tennessee Valley Authority CEO’s decision to replace a Tennessee coal plant with a gas-fired plant and 122-mile pipeline without public approval by the TVA board, and despite warnings from the U.S. EPA that the environmental review underlying the project was inadequate. (WPLN)

ALSO:

• An analysis of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s energy mix shows it still relies on fossil fuels for most of its power, while nuclear energy remains a sizable source and wind and solar together account for just 4% of its power use. (WPLN)
• Jacksonville, Florida’s municipal utility board sets an emergency meeting for next week as a television station reports that its CEO will resign. (WJXT)

OVERSIGHT:

• Georgia regulators prepare to vote on Georgia Power’s plan to build new natural gas-fired plants, purchase out-of-state energy and add new solar to rapidly meet unexpected demand from large data centers and industrial facilities. (Georgia Recorder)
• Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp considers signing a bill to delay elections for a five-member state regulatory board until at least next year, even though two members’ terms have already expired and a third ends later this year. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

SOLAR: An energy company completes construction of a 637 MW solar farm in Texas. (Renewables Now)

POLITICS: A Florida Republican consultant admits to approving a plan by an ex-state lawmaker to recruit a third-party candidate to siphon votes and defeat a Democratic candidate targeted by Florida Power & Light. (Floodlight/​Miami Herald)

TRANSITION: Duke Energy experiments with microgrids and solar panel efficiency, and invests in grid improvements as it receives rate increases in North Carolina to transition from coal. (WRAL)

GOVERNMENT: A new study reveals federal grant funding to assist low-income Virginians with paying their bills is shrinking and already falls far short of the need, while a separate report suggests participation in a regional carbon market could provide another funding source. (Virginia Mercury)

OIL & GAS:

• Texas activists who want to stop the buildout of liquified natural gas export terminals are now lobbying in Europe to try to accelerate investment in renewables and slow gas demand. (Capital and Main)
• Community and conservation groups sue to overturn Louisiana’s approval of coastal use permits for a large liquified natural gas export facility and related pipeline. (E&E News, subscription)
• Environmentalists react in outrage to the Biden administration’s approval of a deepwater oil export terminal off the Texas coast, saying it contradicts his climate agenda. (Associated Press)
• A Georgia oil and gas company signs a tentative agreement to pay $2.8 million in civil penalties for alleged clean air violations, plus buy $12.2 million in greenhouse gas emission credits. (Georgia Current)

PIPELINES: A West Virginia gas cooperative association receives $2.1 million in federal money to relocate a natural gas pipeline from a flood-prone creek. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph)

COMMENTARY:

• A third of Virginia’s 95 counties have now enacted ordinances and other restrictions to block solar projects, threatening the state’s goal of reaching 100% clean energy by 2050, write a professor and clean energy advocate. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Clean energy continues to make big gains in the U.S. energy mix despite lagging electric vehicle sales and naysaying by oil and gas industry leaders, writes a climate journalist. (Orlando Sentinel)