POLITICS: Duke Energy has spent at least $1.2 million over the last year and a half as it promotes contentious North Carolina energy legislation that critics say will hamper utility oversight, harm ratepayers and slow the clean energy transition. (Energy News Network)

SOLAR:
• Florida regulators expect the installation of more than 13,000 MW of solar power over the next decade as state policies encourage larger-scale development and utilities pursue aggressive expansion plans. (S&P Global)
• Three Florida advocacy groups object to Florida Power & Light’s plans to raise electric rates to fund a solar expansion, saying it is unfair to residential customers. (WJCT, Palm Beach Post)
• Nearly 30 young Floridians from economically challenged communities participate in a summer training program to learn skills in solar-energy construction. (Palm Beach Post)

COAL:
• Tennessee residents react to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s planned closure of a coal-fired power plant with fear about lingering coal ash and hope for what the site can become. (Oak Ridger)
• Residents along the Ohio River express concerns about smokestack debris, including an intact metal liner that’s more than 100 feet long, that remains underwater after a retired coal plant was demolished in February. (WCPO)

GRID: Texas regulators tasked with drafting winterization regulations struggle to make progress as they await results of a study that’s not scheduled for completion until after their year-end deadline. (KHOU)

STORAGE: Florida Power & Light gives elected officials a preview of a 409 MW battery storage facility that will be the largest in the world once complete. (Herald-Tribune, WTVT)

CLIMATE:
• A new poll that shows 70% of southeast Louisiana voters feel that stronger hurricanes, increased coastal flooding and other effects of climate change have affected them personally. (NOLA.com)
• Government officials, nonprofits, advocacy groups, scientists, concerned citizens and others converge on Georgia for a two-day climate change conference. (Brunswick News)

EMISSIONS: A Louisiana company abandons plans for an iron pellet reprocessing plant while also agreeing to settle charges that one of its plants emitted caustic and flammable pollutants. (NOLA.com)

HYDROGEN: An energy company signs a deal with a Texas port to convert a refinery services facility into a blue hydrogen production plant, even as researchers warn the technology is riddled with “fugitive emissions” that can make it as bad as coal. (S&P Global, New Atlas)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Virginia school district adds two new electric buses through a Dominion Energy program. (WRIC)

UTILITIES:
• Federal regulators press Dominion Energy, the Tennessee Valley Authority and other Southeast utilities for more information about a regional energy exchange the utilities hope to form. (Utility Dive)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority sees a 10-year high in August power demand amid a summer heat wave. (Madison County Record)

COMMENTARY:
• West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s revival of a state natural gas and coal board looks like doubling down on fossil fuels when the state needs to diversify and transition away from them, writes an editorial board. (News & Sentinel)
• The president of the National Black Lung Association calls on U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin to back a tax increase on coal companies to support medical care and disability benefits for miners. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

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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.