NUCLEAR: West Virginia lawmakers consider repealing a state ban on nuclear power plant construction as they court economic development by the industry. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

ALSO: The U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, receives a license for a new way to 3D print components for nuclear reactors. (Power Engineering)

WIND: Federal energy regulators begin reviewing the potential environmental impacts of offshore wind development for a 30 million-acre area in the Gulf of Mexico. (NOLA.com)

OIL & GAS:
• A corroded pipeline spilled more than 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel near New Orleans before it was discovered late last month. (Associated Press)
• A federal judge sends a wetlands damage lawsuit against six large oil and gas companies back to Louisiana courts, potentially setting a precedent for similar suits as parishes try to hold companies accountable for the state’s eroding coast. (NOLA.com)
• Texas oil companies have trouble finding workers due to a tight labor market, larger companies that offer better pay and weariness over the industry’s boom and bust cycles. (Marketplace)
• Texas’ oil and gas industry sees a 20% increase in taxes and royalties paid to the state in 2021 over 2020 as it recovers from the pandemic. (Houston Public Media)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• GreenPower Motor Company will locate a factory in West Virginia to build electric school buses, with the state committing to buy at least $15 million worth. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• General Motors secures a partnership with a Texas city to develop electric vehicle charging stations and research the industry. (KTSM)

EMISSIONS:
• A toxicologist says foul odors from a landfill near the Virginia-Tennessee state line are a nuisance for nearby residents, but unlikely to be a long-term health issue. (Bristol Herald-Courier)
• West Virginia residents press state officials for details about a data processing facility that’s applied for an air permit to run four natural-gas fired engines to generate its own electricity. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

SOLAR:
• Florida’s solar business community fights legislation backed by Florida Power & Light to alter the state’s existing net metering program in ways opponents say would devastate the solar industry. (Spectrum News, E&E News)
• Oklahoma Gas & Electric issues a request for proposals to add 450 MW of solar power over the next three years. (Journal Record)

COAL: Federal abandoned mine land funding will be used to build erosion controls and install drains to divert coal mine runoff from homes in southwestern Virginia. (WCYB)

CARBON CAPTURE: A eastern Tennessee startup develops a carbon nanotube from flue gas for a Tennessee Valley Authority gas plant that fossil fuel plans across the country may use to reduce carbon emissions. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

TRANSITION: A panel of West Virginia lawmakers who traveled the state last summer to develop revitalization proposals for coal communities has yet to produce a report or recommendations as the state legislative session begins. (Mountain State Spotlight)

GEOTHERMAL: The U.S. Department of Energy announces two geothermal projects in Texas, one in Oklahoma and one in Colorado will receive federal funding to establish energy and heat production from abandoned oil and gas wells. (news release)

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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.