Virginia regulators approve largest offshore wind farm in U.S.

WIND: Virginia regulators approve Dominion Energy’s $9.8 billion plans to build America’s largest offshore wind farm, but impose a performance guarantee, requirements to report cost overruns, and other conditions to protect ratepayers. (Virginia Mercury, Associated Press)

KENTUCKY FLOODING:
• Kentucky’s historic floods raise questions about whether extreme weather driven by climate change combined with the long-term effects of strip-mining will make parts of Appalachia uninhabitable. (Inside Climate News)
• The historic coal mining town of Fleming-Neon, Kentucky, rallies after flooding devastates the community and surrounding region. (Associated Press)

PIPELINES:
• A Texas energy company that recently pleaded no contest to environmental crimes in construction of a Pennsylvania pipeline also discloses a July pipeline leak in Louisiana that released 8.2 million cubic feet of natural gas. (StateImpact Pennsylvania, Reuters)
• Provisions in Democrats’ climate spending package to accelerate construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline could affect a proposed 75-mile extension into North Carolina even though state regulators have rejected water-quality permits for it. (Winston-Salem Journal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• An aluminum foil manufacturing company announces a factory in Kentucky to make products for the electric vehicle battery industry. (Associated Press)
• A Texas lithium production company aims to make the state more of a player in the growing electric vehicle industry. (Spectrum News)

CARBON CAPTURE: Occidental Petroleum applies for substantial Texas tax breaks to finance its plans to build a massive carbon capture network in the state. (Inside Climate News)

OVERSIGHT: Email records reveal a member of a Virginia regulatory board likely to vote on a natural gas pipeline expansion permit lobbied elected officials to support it, but has declined to say whether he was paid for the work. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

UTILITIES: Southeast Texas community members speak out against a proposed Entergy power plant that would use a combination of natural gas and hydrogen. (Beaumont Enterprise)

COMMENTARY:
• An editorial board questions Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s ongoing efforts to withdraw the state from a regional carbon trading market that’s so far funded $378 million in grants to lower energy bills and fund energy efficiency and flood reduction projects. (Daily Progress)
• Reports that NextEra subsidiary Florida Power & Light hired a political consultancy firm to manipulate elections and news coverage raise questions about whether shareholders, regulators and the public should rein in its monopolistic profit-making power, writes an editorial board. (Palm Beach Post)
• A West Virginia lawmaker hails Democrats’ federal climate spending package as an opportunity for the coal-reliant state to become a leader in the clean energy economy. (River Cities Tribune & Register)
• U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin responds to the coal industry after receiving criticism for his role in drafting and supporting Democrats’ climate spending package in Congress. (news release)