Texas regulators to probe link between fracking and earthquakes

OIL & GAS: Texas regulators announce they’ll investigate whether fracking is responsible for earthquakes in a county that recently experienced 61 seismic events in a week. (Houston Chronicle, Abilene Reporter-News)

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ALSO:

• Federal and state plaintiffs ask a judge to approve a $1.75 million settlement with ExxonMobil over a 2013 pipeline spill in Arkansas. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, subscription)
• A Texas company settles its lawsuit over its partnership to build a $10 billion liquified natural gas terminal, allowing construction to resume while the company goes through bankruptcy proceedings. (San Antonio Report)
• Duke Energy completes its acquisition of Piedmont Gas and its 1 million customers for $4.9 billion. (Bloomberg, news release)

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TRANSITION: The Biden administration has ushered in billions in investment in West Virginia’s clean energy infrastructure while simultaneously opening the door for more fossil fuel growth, yet remains deeply unpopular with voters. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

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SOLAR: A federal board files a lawsuit challenging amendments to a law that extends Puerto Rico’s one-to-one net metering policy until at least 2031. (Associated Press)

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WIND: Federal officials again gauge interest in offshore wind lease areas in the Gulf of Mexico after a company expresses interest in developing a commercial wind facility near Texas. (Louisiana Illuminator)

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CARBON CAPTURE: The U.S. Forest Service is considering a draft rule to allow carbon storage under federal land after twice denying a company’s requests to do so under national forests in Louisiana and Mississippi. (Floodlight/Mississippi Today)

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GRID:

• A company announces it will open a Georgia transformer factory near a large nuclear power plant. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, subscription)
• A Texas grocery chain uses natural gas-powered microgrids to retain power during outages like those that struck Houston after Hurricane Beryl this month. (Houston Chronicle)

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BUILDINGS: A growing number of North Carolina officials call for a reversal of a state law that blocks building code updates until 2031, which Gov. Roy Cooper says will affect insurance and potentially cause the state to miss out on federal disaster recovery funding. (Port City Daily)

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TRANSIT: Public transportation advocates launch a campaign to secure tens of millions of dollars to restore New Orleans’ bus transit service to levels of service not seen since Hurricane Katrina severely disrupted the system. (NOLA.com)

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HYDROGEN: Researchers find elevated levels of hydrogen around geological features known as Carolina Bays, suggesting the possibility of “white” or “gold” hydrogen wells. (Sierra)

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EMISSIONS: A federal appeals court declines to block the U.S. EPA’s new rules restricting emissions from coal and new gas-fired power plants, though it will still consider a case brought by West Virginia and other states. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

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