Virginia lawmakers fail to fill utility vacancies, while Florida faces challenges to abortion rights and carbon capture investments.

After months of deadlock, Virginia lawmakers have failed to fill two vacancies on a three-seat body that regulates utilities, threatening its quorum and ability to make decisions. Florida Power & Light’s push to restrict state residents’ ability to change the state constitution through petition is making it harder for activists to overturn Florida’s 15-week abortion ban. A battery materials maker in Tennessee sees a technological breakthrough that will let it double its production of synthetic graphite for electric vehicle batteries. A company in Virginia moves to secure an offshore wind manufacturing tenant as it moves to redevelop 111 acres at a coastal terminal into a hub for offshore wind, shipbuilding and ship repair. Louisiana activists are outraged over the federal government’’s plans to direct millions of dollars of investment into carbon capture projects instead of phasing out fossil fuels. West Virginia regulators’ draft rules for a new law requiring state approval before utilities can decommission fossil fuel plants eliminate requirements for public notice of comment periods even as power prices skyrocket.