OIL & GAS: A federal agency is undercounting the number of offshore worker deaths in the Gulf of Mexico due to inconsistent and missing data, as well as loopholes that allow some fatalities to go unreported. (Southerly/Drilled News/WWNO)

ALSO:
• Permian Basin gas producers frequently burn off excess gas, known as flaring, without required Texas state permits, according to a report from an environmental group. (Reuters)
• A Democratic Texas Congress member calls for more of the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill to be channeled toward natural gas-fired electricity generation. (San Antonio Express-News)
• Two Democratic Congress members touring a San Antonio power station to view winterization upgrades say they are committed to protecting oil and gas jobs but want to see Texas become a leader in clean energy. (San Antonio Report)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Louisiana uses plans to use money from the 2016 Volkswagen settlement to fund 79 electric vehicle chargers at local government agencies, universities and electric utilities. (NOLA.com)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority announces plans to replace 1,200 of its 3,800 vehicles with electric ones by 2030. (Associated Press)

CLIMATE:
• Duke Energy and Southern Company are tied as the top carbon-emitting U.S electric utilities but each plan to reduce carbon emissions through 2030 by less than 2% annually. (Facing South)
• A West Virginia U.S. senator and two Congress members respond to questions about climate change by touting carbon capture technology and the state’s fossil fuel industry, and all say “other countries” should shoulder emissions reductions.(Mountain State Spotlight)
• A report commissioned by Virginia lawmakers says climate change will have an “increasingly disruptive effect” on coastal areas with statewide repercussions. (Virginia Mercury)

SOLAR: A clean-energy company co-founded by a former Tennessee governor announces plans for a 1 MW solar farm in the state. (Associated Press)

TRANSITION:
• A new report by West Virginia University researchers projects spending bills in Congress will create thousands of jobs while transitioning the state to 79.4% emission-free electricity generation by 2030. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A growing number of speakers and exhibitors in wind and solar energy are participating in the Offshore Technology Conference, Houston’s signature event for the oil and gas industry. (Houston Chronicle)

COAL:
• U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh tours a West Virginia coal mine with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin. (Associated Press)
• The volume of coal exported from central and northern Appalachia spikes at mid-Atlantic ports, with increases of 32% in Norfolk, Virginia, and 102% in Baltimore, Maryland, compared to 2020. (S&P Global)

COAL ASH: Duke Energy reaches financial settlements with 14 insurers to recover costs for cleaning up coal ash across North Carolina. (WFAE)

EMISSIONS: Federal regulators extend the permitting process for a petrochemical facility in Louisiana, heartening environmentalists and members of a majority Black community fighting it over pollution concerns. (Guardian)

COMMENTARY:
• Texas’ two largest electricity generators, which made outsized profits during February’s winter storm, now can double-dip by using retail subsidiaries to access a state-created fund to help electric providers recoup some of the overcharges, writes the manager of a renewables company. (Dallas Morning News)
• Texas could reap $30-$40 billion from a federal infrastructure bill that would go largely to highway projects and a Houston rapid transit project that’s been in the works for nearly 20 years, writes an editorial board. (Houston Chronicle)

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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.