COAL: Coal baron Robert Murray announces he will retire after more than six decades as one of the industry’s most combative and outspoken advocates. (Wheeling News-Register)

ALSO: West Virginia University researchers develop methane sensors that could reduce the chance of explosions in longwall mining. (WBOY)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• General Motors is expected to announce today that it will build electric Cadillac SUVs at a Tennessee factory. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Chattanooga is set to give Volkswagen an industrial park site for an electric vehicle battery testing lab. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• A northern Virginia city unveils three electric buses — the first in northern Virginia — with eight more expected by 2021. (DCist)

UTILITIES: A nonprofit advocates for deregulating Oklahoma’s electrical utilities to let commercial customers choose where they buy electricity. (Oklahoman)

OIL & GAS:
• As market demand for oil has fallen, two Permian Basin shale producers look to consolidate and scale up. (Wall Street Journal)
• A power plant operator says it will convert a natural gas plant on the Ohio River to burn hydrogen with no carbon dioxide emissions. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)
• A Texas official disputes a study that says state taxpayers will pay $117 billion to cap abandoned oil and gas wells. (Center Square)
• Analysts at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas predict the oil industry won’t recover from the coronavirus pandemic until 2022. (San Antonio Express-News)

POWER PLANTS:
• An 88 MW North Carolina power plant that has routinely failed to meet state and federal clean air standards will shut down next year. (Coastal Review)
• A coal-fired Santee Cooper power plant hasn’t updated its water pollution permits for a decade, leading to fish consumption advisories and a lawsuit. (Charleston Post and Courier)

SOLAR:
• Virginia’s solar industry is growing but at uneven rates across different parts of the state. (WVTF)
• Duke Energy wants Florida regulators to approve a subscription-based program to fund $1 billion in new solar farms across the state. (Daytona Beach News-Journal)
• Entergy Arkansas and NextEra Energy Resources will begin construction next month of a 100 MW solar farm with battery power, the largest in Arkansas. (Arkansas Business)

EFFICIENCY: A Texas county considers a financing program to encourage commercial and multi-family property owners to invest in energy efficiency measures. (Community Impact Newspaper)

CLEAN ENERGY:
• A Georgia industrial park launches a tech incubator for clean energy and sustainability. (Savannah Morning News)
• An Oklahoma workforce group promotes a new program to train students for careers in the rapidly changing energy sector. (Tulsa World)

COMMENTARY: A pitch to cool data centers using water in abandoned coal mines may give southwestern Virginia an edge against places with better-trained workforces, says a newspaper editorial. (Roanoke Times)

Dan has two decades' experience working in print, digital and broadcast media. Prior to joining the Energy News Network as managing editor in December 2017, he oversaw watchdog reporting at the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, part of the USA Today Network, and before that spent several years as a freelance journalist covering energy, business and technology. Dan is a former Midwest Energy News journalism fellow and a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and mass communications from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.