NUCLEAR: Construction of two new units at Georgia Power’s nuclear Plant Vogtle is running six years behind schedule while the cost has more than doubled to $30 billion, leading a think tank to conclude the company’s stockholders should carry more of the financial load to spare ratepayers. (Inside Climate News)

ALSO:
• Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee visits the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant and pledges support for the utility to create more nuclear power with small modular reactors. (Chattanooga Times News Press)
• West Virginia lawmakers advance legislation to lift the state’s restrictions on nuclear power plant construction, with identical bills moving forward in both chambers. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Two-thirds of U.S. states, including Oklahoma, say they’ll take a new look at nuclear power as an emissions-free source of power. (Journal Record, Associated Press)

OIL & GAS:
• A pipeline company temporarily walks back its threat to cut off natural gas to five power plants owned by Texas’ biggest power generator, but will continue its financial dispute stemming from last year’s winter storm. (Texas Tribune)
• Subfreezing temperatures forecast this weekend bring high potential for gas production to drop in Texas’ Permian Basin. (S&P Global)

GRID:
• San Antonio officials and a Texas A&M professor say the power from the Texas grid should hold up through winter weather this weekend. (Laredo Morning Times, Bryan College Station Eagle)
• Duke Energy launches a study of grid interactivity with customers who maintain their own batteries. (WCJB)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicle company Polestar will open its first dealership in Florida later this year. (Patch)

EMISSIONS: Virginia lawmakers seek state assistance for help to remedy emissions and odors from a landfill near the Tennessee border. (Bristol Herald-Courier)

COAL:
• West Virginia lawmakers consider creating an insurance company to prop up the state’s coal mine reclamation fund. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A Kentucky city hires a contractor to demolish a coal-fired power plant that was decommissioned in 2020. (Messenger-Inquirer)

CLIMATE: A West Virginia legislative panel advances a bill that would prohibit the state from banking with financial institutions that limit or restrict business with fossil fuel companies. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

SOLAR: A West Virginia solar company targets growth in three counties by offering a group discount to residents. (Times West Virginian)

UTILITIES: Florida regulators award Duke Energy a $314 million rate increase to cover higher-than-expected natural gas prices, while Tampa Electric requests a $165 million rate increase for the same reason. (News Service of Florida)

RENEWABLES: A North Carolina university looks to increase the share of power provided by renewables from 2% to 18% as it transitions to a new power provider. (GoBlueRidge)

COMMENTARY:
• A southwestern Virginia mayor touts a state program to encourage solar energy development on brownfield sites such as abandoned mine lands, landfills and former industrial sites. (Roanoke Times)
• Criticism of how electric vehicles might have done sitting for hours in frozen weather on Virginia’s Interstate 95 prompts a reporter to see what happens when an EV idles for 12 hours in Minnesota weather. (Inside Hook)

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.