ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Two South Korean electric vehicle battery makers resolve a long-running trade dispute with a $1.8 billion settlement that will allow SK Innovation to complete construction of sprawling factories in Georgia. (Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

ALSO:
• President Joe Biden hails the resolution between the two battery companies as a “a win for American workers and the American auto industry.” (Associated Press)
• The resolution between LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation salvages plans for the latter’s Georgia factories, but does not fix additional challenges to the company’s growth that analysts say still lie ahead. (Korea Herald)

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GRID:
• Texas lawmakers consider a range of fixes for widespread outages after February’s winter storm, but not the more obvious fix of opening its power grid to interconnect with other U.S. power supplies. (Houston Chronicle)
• Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs and other big companies sign on to a letter warning Texas lawmakers against passing a bill that would assign new service costs to wind and solar power. (Ars Technica)
• Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm discusses Texas’ independent power grid and how it may or may not be improved as part of a national infrastructure package. (KDFW)

PIPELINES: A transmission company asks federal regulators for more time to complete two compressor stations on a 500-mile pipeline from Alabama to Florida. (S&P Global)

OIL & GAS: West Virginia lawmakers pass a bill to revise how oil and natural gas wells are valued for property taxes while expanding the process to include property producing natural gas liquids. (The Journal)

WIND:
• Wind energy generated the most electricity in Texas’ power grid in March, outperforming natural gas in the state for the first time. (Reuters)
• Dominion Energy’s wind farm under construction off Virginia’s coast marks the cutting edge of a federal plan to build 30 GW of offshore wind power by the end of the decade. (Virginia Mercury)
• A Texas company announces a $10 million capital investment in an Oklahoma factory that will build wind turbines. (Lawton Constitution)

SOLAR: Homeowners and an environmental group petition a federal board to overrule Alabama regulators on a ruling upholding Alabama Power’s fees on home solar panels, which they say purposely discourage solar development. (Associated Press)

COAL:
• The physical legacy of coal mining on Appalachian landscapes has increased the likelihood of landslides after heavy rains and flooding. (Ohio Valley ReSource)
• West Virginia lawmakers pass legislation to require coal-fired power plants owned by public electric utilities to keep at least 30 days of fuel under contract for the rest of their lifespans, but reject an amendment that would’ve provided aid to declining coal communities. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)
• Alabama lawmakers extend the state’s coal severance tax through 2031. (Tuscaloosa News, subscription)

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UTILITIES:
• Texas regulators ordered electric utilities to suspend cutoffs and offer deferred payment plans to customers during the pandemic, but public documents show lobbyists worked with state officials to undercut the program. (Austin American-Statesman)
• A utility will close a portion of the Arkansas River Trail until early May to relocate 400 feet of underground natural-gas pipeline. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

COMMENTARY:
• West Virginia marks the epicenter of President Joe Biden’s plan to move fossil fuel-producing regions through a “just transition” marked by greater opportunity to work in the clean energy economy, writes a columnist. (Washington Post)
• Biogas digesters at North Carolina hog farms extract methane and more value from the mass production of pork, but do nothing to protect neighbors from the negative effects of pig waste or risk from coastal flooding, a journalist argues. (New Republic)
• An environmental journalist cites emerging green hydrogen technology, a shift toward electric vehicles and federal legislation with investment in clean energy as good news for the survival of Louisiana’s coasts. (NOLA.com)

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.