Union gains foothold in Alabama Mercedes factory

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The United Auto Workers announce the majority of workers at a Mercedes plant in Alabama that makes two electric vehicle models have signed union cards. (Tuscaloosa News)

ALSO: Electric vehicle maker Canoo announces it’s received its first incentive payments from Oklahoma as it staffs up and tries to get its vehicles to market. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, subscription; news release)

CLIMATE:

• Ahead of hurricane season, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis questions the financial solvency of the state-run insurer of last resort. (Florida Politics)
• Strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures lead to wildfires across Oklahoma and Texas, resulting in power outages and the temporary shutdown of a nuclear weapons facility. (Oklahoman, Texas Tribune, Associated Press)
• A new poll reveals most North Carolina residents remain optimistic about the country’s ability to respond to climate change’s effects on water and energy availability. (Winston-Salem Journal)
• Some meteorologists are forecasting a ​“supercharged” hurricane season, but others say it’s too early to tell. (WGCU)

SOLAR:

• A planned 240 MW solar farm in Virginia moves through the permitting process and should reach a county planning commission this spring. (Smithfield Times)
• A rural Virginia county expects to generate $10.7 million in tax revenue by 2031 from the 20 solar projects it’s already approved, while four more are still under review. (Gazette-Virginian)
• Georgia’s U.S. senators announce $874,000 in federal grants to help businesses purchase and install solar panels. (WALB)

STORAGE: Appalachian Power asks Virginia regulators to approve two battery storage facilities totaling 7.5 MW. (Cardinal News)

UTILITIES:

• Former board members for Jacksonville, Florida’s municipal utility testify they should not have voted for an incentives plan that prosecutors say two executives used to pool money in an alleged fraud scheme. (Florida Times-Union)
• Memphis, Tennessee’s municipal utility prepares for the first of 11 planned public meetings to gather input on future priorities. (WHBQ)

COAL: A judge orders one of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies to pay $2,500 per day until it follows an order to pay an insurance company. (Associated Press)

OIL & GAS:

• Texas’ Gulf Coast is the frontline in the debate over liquified natural gas exports, with two terminals and accompanying pipelines in development as environmentalists try to stop the buildout. (Canary Media)
• Louisiana’s oil and gas industry responds to the Biden administration’s announcement it will only lease three new areas for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico between 2024 and 2029. (KPLC)

PIPELINES: Mountain Valley Pipeline protesters continue to push back against the project at two events in Virginia as the project sees ongoing delays and cost overruns. (VPM)

OVERSIGHT: South Carolina environmentalists protest state legislation to strip some protections out of energy regulation, warning that doing so could cause a repeat of a 2017 nuclear construction debacle that cost utility customers billions. (WIS, The State)

GRID: An energy group grades Texas’ standalone grid as one of the best in the U.S. for interconnection processes. (Utility Dive)

EMISSIONS:

• A Houston group that has fought expansion of a landfill near a historically Black neighborhood advocates for proposed federal methane regulations as a way to reduce its emissions and harmful effects. (Inside Climate News)
• Democratic Virginia lawmakers advance a provision to force the state to rejoin a regional carbon market. (WVTF)

MINING: A federal agency’s acting director calls for a 10-year moratorium on mining near the Okefenokee swamp in Georgia as a company moves forward with its plans to extract titanium dioxide. (E&E News, subscription)