ELECTIONS: Climate change and its effects on sea level haven’t been a major campaign focus but still loom large in Tuesday’s “double barrel” runoff Senate elections in Georgia. (Savannah Morning News)

ALSO: The Georgia runoff for a seat on the state’s utility regulation commission has focused on whether the Republican incumbent is too friendly to Georgia Power at the expense of consumers. (Associated Press)

UTILITIES:
• South Carolina’s three biggest utilities — Duke Energy, Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper — face decisions about nuclear, coal and renewable energy that will shape the state’s energy profile for decades to come. (Post and Courier)
• South Carolina lawmakers request an investigation of NextEra as a prospective buyer of the troubled, taxpayer-owned Santee Cooper electric utility. (The State)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A startup maker of off-road electric vehicles plans to build a headquarters and manufacturing site in central Texas. (Austin American-Statesman)

SOLAR:
• A Texas community considers the financial benefits from a proposed 500 MW solar farm. (Times Record News)
• A 225 MW West Texas solar project begins operations with four separate power-purchase agreements. (Hill Country Community Journal)

COAL:
• The bankruptcy of central Appalachian and Wyoming coal operator Blackjewel will stretch into 2021 after a federal judge blocked a request to liquidate the company. (Casper Star-Tribune)
• A Texas city will consider whether to sell a coal plant it owns with three other cities. (Denton Record-Chronicle)
• West Virginians observe the 15th anniversary of the Sago mine disaster, which killed 12 coal miners. (WV MetroNews)
• Kentucky observes the 50th anniversary of the Finley Coal Company disaster, which killed 38 miners. (Lexington Herald-Leader)

OIL & GAS: Effects of the slumping oil and gas industry spread to real estate, as rental rates in two west Texas cities tied to the industry drop by more than a third. (KMID)

TRANSITION: A lucrative contract to modernize Louisiana State University’s energy systems has been delayed amid controversy over negotiations with two companies closely tied to the university. (The Advocate)

PIPELINES: Opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline hope that President-elect Joe Biden’s administration will contribute to the long-delayed project’s demise amid regulatory and legal obstacles. (Roanoke Times)

EFFICIENCY: Kentucky replaces 18,000 roadside lights with LEDs, which will reduce energy consumption by more than half. (Spectrum News 1)

COMMENTARY:
• Florida lawmakers and executives must take action, including passing a carbon tax, to counteract the disastrous effects of climate change, writes a newspaper editorial board. (Daytona Beach News-Journal)
• A clean energy advocate previews climate and energy bills that Virginia lawmakers will consider during their shortened 2021 legislative session. (Virginia Mercury)

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.