GRID: The Texas state grid led the U.S. by adding 8,139 MW in new generating capacity in 2021, with 42% coming from wind and 40% from solar. (S&P Global)

ALSO:
• Records show that 40% of critical oil and gas pipeline and storage sites in Texas didn’t know whether they’d winterized before cold weather hit. (E&E News, subscription)
• More than 62,500 Memphis Light, Gas and Water customers were still without power on Monday, five days after an ice storm. (Commercial Appeal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• President Joe Biden is expected to announce today that an Australian company will build a factory in Tennessee that can make as many as 30,000 electric vehicle chargers annually. (Bloomberg)
• Luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors carves out a presence in Texas with locations in Dallas and Houston, and now what appears to be its first showroom in Houston. (Houston Chronicle)

PIPELINES: Federal records show a corroded pipeline that ruptured and spilled 350,000 gallons of diesel fuel near New Orleans did not have a fully working leak detection system. (Associated Press)

CARBON CAPTURE: A group of energy companies announce plans to build out infrastructure for carbon capture and “blue” hydrogen production in northern Appalachia. (E&E News, subscription)

SOLAR: An energy company begins construction of a 345 MW solar farm that will more than double Louisiana’s solar capacity from last year. (Canary Media)

WIND: North Carolina officials tout offshore wind manufacturing’s potential to bring in an estimated $140 billion and create tens of thousands of new jobs by 2035, but only if the state acts now. (Coastal Review)

OIL & GAS:
• A West Virginia activist says law enforcement isn’t investigating vandalism that resulted in a mineral oil spill. (WSAZ)
• Scientists say the widespread injection of fracked saltwater in the Permian Basin resulted in Texas recording more than 200 earthquakes in 2021. (Texas Tribune)

POLITICS:
• A Democratic Virginia lawmaker joins with Republicans to reject a bill to allow stricter energy efficiency standards over concern it would prevent affordable housing from being built. (Virginia Mercury)
• West Virginia lawmakers advance legislation to clarify who may profit from extracting rare earth elements from acid mine drainage, and to rewrite how the state determines tax assessments for natural gas-producing property. (Charleston Gazette-Mail, Weirton Daily Times)
• Virginia legislators consider one bill to prohibit local governments from denying building permits because the developer wants to use natural gas, and advance another to inventory waste coal piles. (WVTF, Cardinal News)

TRANSITION: West Virginia’s largest cities and universities announce a coalition to train solar installers, boost renewables and accelerate the growth of new economic sectors. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)

UTILITIES: The mayor of a Florida city downplays the idea of starting a new municipal utility as residents protest spiking electric rates from Florida Power & Light. (WKRG)

CLIMATE: A New Orleans chef sees climate change and environmental damage as a threat to Louisiana’s rich culture of food and fishing. (New York Times)

COMMENTARY: Louisiana should embrace a climate action plan that grows renewables but also includes carbon capture to protect the state’s petrochemical manufacturing industry, writes an editorial board. (The Advocate)

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.