GRID: About 600,000 Texans were still without power this morning as another winter storm bears down on the state. (CBS News)

ALSO:
• Federal regulators warned Texas its electric grid was vulnerable to winter weather after a similar 2011 storm, but many recommendations went unheeded. (Bloomberg)
• Marginalized, predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods were among the first to lose power, and experts say they’ll likely be among the last to see it restored. (New York Times)
• The governor of Texas and other conservatives continue to falsely blame wind turbines and renewable energy for the state’s electric blackouts rather than acknowledge weaknesses in its electric grid. (New York Times)
• Louisiana regulators launch an investigation into rolling blackouts that left state residents without power this week. (The Advocate, NOLA.com)
• The west Texas city of El Paso escaped the blackouts that hit the rest of the state because it’s connected to a different electric grid. (El Paso Times)

***SPONSORED LINK: Check out the Squeaky Clean Energy Podcast by NCSEA! Get a fresh take on North Carolina’s clean energy landscape with biweekly episodes. Available wherever you get your podcast or at: www.energync.org/podcast.***

WINTER STORMS:
• Entergy asks its Arkansas customers to reduce their electricity use in the evening to avoid a mandatory outage. (KAIT)
• Duke Energy warns that a midweek ice storm could result in the loss of power for more than a million customers across the Carolinas. (WRAL)
• Dominion Energy finishes restoring power to Virginia customers who lost power over the weekend while preparing for another ice storm. (WRIC)

COAL:
• Virginia lawmakers pass a bill to end costly coal tax credits, sending it to the governor for consideration. (Roanoke Times)
• A coal company owned by the family of West Virginia’s governor settles with environmental groups after it was found liable for discharging selenium into a waterway. (Associated Press)
• Production at central Appalachia’s 25 biggest coal mines dropped 14% in 2020. (S&P Global)

OVERSIGHT: North Carolina’s governor nominates an Environmental Defense Fund policy director to lead the state’s environmental regulatory agency, replacing Michael Regan, who was nominated to lead the EPA. (North Carolina Health News)

UTILITIES: Jacksonville, Florida’s municipal electric and water utility restructures its senior leadership after nine people were fired last year amid a failed attempt to sell the utility. (WJCT)

OIL & GAS:
• Texas temporarily prohibits its natural gas producers from selling to out-of-state customers, disrupting the market. (Natural Gas Intelligence)
• The cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and sale of its natural gas transmission and storage business hurts Dominion Energy’s 2020 earnings. (S&P Global)
• Tennessee customers see higher natural gas bills due to an 82% rise in transmission costs. (WJHL)

COMMENTARY:
• Eastern Tennessee is poised for economic growth in green industries such as solar and electric vehicle production, writes a newspaper editorial board. (Kingsport Times News)
• North Carolina is well positioned to become a regional leader in electrifying its transportation systems but must continue to support the transition with policy changes, writes a clean energy group. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)

Avatar photo

Mason Adams

Mason has worked as a journalist since 2001, covering Appalachian communities and the issues that affect them. He compiles the Southeast Energy News digest. Mason previously worked as a wildlife biologist before moving into journalism by freelancing at Coast Weekly in Monterey, California, before taking an internship in 2001 at High Country News. He wrote for the Enterprise Mountaineer in western North Carolina and the Roanoke Times in western Virginia before going freelance in 2012. His work has appeared in Southerly, Daily Yonder, Mother Jones, Huffington Post, WVPB’s Inside Appalachia and elsewhere. Mason was born and raised in Clifton Forge, Virginia, and now lives with his family and a small herd of goats in Floyd County, Virginia.