PIPELINES: A court throws out federal approvals for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, resulting in another setback for the long-delayed, over-budget natural gas line. (Roanoke Times)

EMISSIONS: Duke Energy withdraws its request to meet jointly with regulators in both Carolinas about meeting North Carolina’s climate emissions targets after South Carolina lawmakers express concern that it might cause a rate increase. (The State)

UTILITIES:
• More than 20 energy companies propose building natural gas plants, solar farms or other energy generators for Memphis, Tennessee, as its municipal utility shops around for a new power supplier. (Commercial Appeal)
• The executive who transformed NextEra Energy from a small Florida utility into the biggest U.S. wind and solar company plans to step down next month. (Bloomberg)

OIL & GAS: A group of energy companies that includes Chevron and CenterPoint Energy form a trade group to kickstart geothermal power production in Texas. (S&P Global)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Tennessee Valley Authority begins operation of a fast recharging station in Alabama, the first of 80 it plans to install. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

GRID:
• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warns that potential racially or ethnically-motivated violent extremists have considered attacking power stations in the Southeast. (CBS News)
• Texas’ grid manager says most power generators and transmission facilities completed weatherization before the state’s deadline, ensuring the state will have enough power for the winter. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

SOLAR:
• A company eyes 1,750 acres in Texas for a solar farm, spurring neighbors to express their concerns about losing views. (KXII)
• A new study finds that fences around the rapidly growing number of Florida solar farms serve as an impediment to panther populations. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, subscription)

COAL:
• A coal company cited for toxic discharges at West Virginia surface mines files a remediation plan. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A growing number of banks shutter branches in Appalachian communities as the coal industry contracts, shrinking opportunities for investment. (S&P Global)

NUCLEAR: West Virginia lawmakers schedule a public hearing Friday on legislation to lift a state ban on construction of nuclear power plants, as the state Senate passes the bill outright. (Charleston Gazette-Mail, Parkersburg News and Sentinel)

CARBON CAPTURE: Oil-heavy states such as Texas and Louisiana push to take over regulatory authority from the U.S. EPA for carbon capture and storage sites. (Reuters)

CLIMATE: A Florida task force releases a report on the state’s toxic Red Tide blooms, but leaves environmentalists underwhelmed due to a lack of meaningful findings or recommended action. (Tampa Bay Times)

POLITICS:
• U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia gains international recognition as countries already ravaged by the climate crisis brace themselves for the U.S. to again fail to pass major climate legislation. (Guardian)
• A Democratic Texas Congress member known for his cozy relationship with the oil industry girds for a primary rematch against a challenger who came within 3,000 votes of unseating him in 2020 after campaigning on the Green New Deal. (E&E News, subscription)

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.