“Green Bank” could invigorate clean energy projects in Appalachia

CLEAN ENERGY: A federal green bank aims to channel $500 million to more than 75 community financial institutions to fund solar arrays, renewable energy apprenticeships, electrified public transit, and more in rural areas, with priority for projects in Appalachia. (Grist)

‍

OIL & GAS: Experts say the lack of communication to neighboring residents about a fire at a large Louisiana refinery is an example of the embedded culture of secrecy around chemical plants and refineries in “Cancer Alley.” (Guardian)

‍

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Hyundai unveils the first new electric vehicle that will be built at its new manufacturing plant in Georgia. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• More than 100,000 electric vehicles have now been registered in Georgia, although EVs make up only about 1.5% of all registered passenger vehicles. (Savannah Morning News)
• Labor advocates hail the successful unionization of an electric vehicle battery plant in Tennessee as a step toward unionizing the Southeast auto industry. (Tennessee Lookout)

‍

PIPELINES: A panel of federal judges seems skeptical of a lawsuit by environmental groups to reverse regulators’ 2023 approval of two pipelines to supply a liquified natural gas terminal in Louisiana. (Courthouse News Service)

‍

STORAGE: Texas ranks just behind California for development of grid-scale battery systems, with 4,832 MW deployed in total. (Reuters)

‍

GRID:

• Federal regulators discuss a Duke Energy interconnection study of what’s needed to bring about 1.9 GW of solar and battery storage online in North Carolina and South Carolina. (Utility Dive)
• Elon Musk’s planned supercomputer drives debate in Memphis, Tennessee, over its voracious demand for power and likely effects on several historically Black neighborhoods. (NPR)
• Virginia’s largest county passes new restrictions on where data centers can be built. (WDVM)

‍

HYDROGEN: A West Virginia economic development board approves a forgivable $10 million loan for a hydrogen project. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

‍

UTILITIES:

• Clean energy advocates criticize the Tennessee Valley Authority for raising electric rates when roughly 90% of its capital spending is directed toward building natural gas-fired power plants. (WPLN)
• The head of Memphis, Tennessee’s municipal utility says it’s fixed problems involving faulty electric meters and delayed bills. (WMC)

‍

CLIMATE:

• El Paso and 11 other Texas localities prepare to move forward with a wide-ranging climate action plan despite receiving a smaller federal award than they wanted. (El Paso Matters)
• A panel of experts hosted by the University of Florida discusses environmental, economic and societal problems around the Gulf of Mexico that have been worsened by climate change. (WUFT)

‍