Why oil is thriving amid the clean energy transition

OIL & GAS: The U.S. oil industry is booming, benefitting from cost-cutting and automation to produce record levels of crude from west Texas shale, generate more cash for shareholders, and disconcert clean energy advocates. (New York Times)

ALSO:

• Dominion Energy wants to build up to eight new natural gas plants in the next 10 to 15 years, but aside from plans to build the first at a Virginia coal plant, says the others won’t come until after 2030. (WVTF)
• Puerto Rico sues oil companies for more than $1 billion for failing to provide warnings about pollution, climate change and other risks from fossil fuels. (E&E News, subscription)
• A 40-mile pipeline enters commercial service, linking a Texas liquefaction plant to a facility with links to the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford. (news release)

GRID:

• A quarter million customers in Houston still lack electricity as utility workers continue to restore power after last week’s Hurricane Beryl, though 98% of customers are expected to have power by tonight. (Texas Tribune)
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott gives CenterPoint Energy until the end of the month to develop a plan to minimize future outages like the ones it’s struggling to restore in Houston after Hurricane Beryl, or face the threat of executive orders. (USA Today)
• CenterPoint Energy faces a $475 million bill to repair the grid around Houston from a derecho nearly two months ago — and that doesn’t count damage incurred by Hurricane Beryl since then. (Houston Chronicle)

SOLAR:

• A solar industry trade group announces new standards for sales practices after attorneys general in Florida and other states sued solar installers or lenders over shady business practices. (E&E News, subscription)
• A company seeks a permit for a 5 MW solar plant in Virginia. (Lynchburg News & Advance)
• An energy company contracts a firm to use goats and sheep to maintain vegetation around Georgia solar farms. (WMAZ)

NUCLEAR: Georgia Power says one of its new units at nuclear Plant Vogtle has been down for a week after a valve malfunctioned. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

CLIMATE:

• Analysts say damage from Hurricane Beryl will likely drive up insurance costs in Houston, which is already one of the most expensive cities for property insurance. (Houston Landing)
• Dallas has approved ordinances requiring landlords to provide air conditioning for tenants, but Texas and other states lack similar protections, raising questions as extreme heat kills a growing number of people. (Vox)
• A new U.S. EPA report finds rising seas and sinking land combine to make the Texas Gulf Coast one of the most frequently flooded regions in the U.S. (Houston Chronicle)

COMMENTARY:

• Elected officials should respond to climate change as a serious threat rather than as a wedge issue to turn votes, writes a conservative political strategist. (Invading Sea)
• The CEO of a renewable gas company touts the potential to capture emissions from Miami’s landfills and convert it into natural gas to reduce greenhouse gases and fight climate change. (Miami Herald)