OIL & GAS: Donald Trump and Joe Biden debate climate change and the future of oil and gas at the final presidential debate. (Texas Tribune)

ALSO:
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says Biden’s comments on transitioning from oil “killed” industry workers’ paychecks. (Newsweek)
• The oil and gas industry has given nearly $2 million to Trump in the 2020 election cycle, more than three times as much as to Biden. (E&E News)
• France seeks to cancel or delay an electric utility’s $7 billion deal to buy Texas shale gas because of concerns over its methane emissions. (Kallanish Energy)
• The oil industry hasn’t recovered jobs lost in the pandemic, and a new analysis suggests 70% of those jobs won’t return before the end of 2021. (Reform Austin)

PIPELINES:
• A natural gas company that once owned the Mountain Valley Pipeline wants to sell off its capacity in the project, which is running two years behind and $2 billion over budget. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A Virginia county board complains that the Mountain Valley Pipeline has made its rivers and streams “a lot more dirty” and passes a resolution asking state regulators to intervene. (Franklin News-Post)

SOLAR:
• A 50 MW solar farm that could power thousands of homes begins operation in Baton Rouge. (The Advocate)
• A pair of 200 MW solar farms will be built in eastern Texas, including one on a former coal mine. (KLTV)
• An Arkansas school district breaks ground on a solar project expected to provide more than 90% of its energy needs. (Camden News)

COAL:
• Georgia residents who live near the country’s largest coal-fired power plant call for it to clean up a coal ash pond and address concerns about air and water quality. (WABE)
• Arch Resources, the nation’s second largest coal company, outlines plans to divest from electricity-generating thermal coal. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• A North Carolina power plant that burns coal, wood and tires, and was recently cited for air quality violations, will close next spring. (Wilmington Star-News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Tennessee builds on this week’s announcement of a General Motors plant conversion to claim the title of the leading state for making electric cars. (Knoxville News-Sentinel, subscription-only)

GRID:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority seeks comments as it plans to build a new transmission line and substation in a fast-growing part of the Knoxville metro area. (WATE)
• South Carolina residents express concerns about construction of a 115kV high transmission power line near a tidal creek. (WCSC)

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.